A giant exomoon hundreds of times the size of Earth is revealing secrets about how giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn formed. They might also help astronomers find planets where life may thrive.
Most people think that many millions of years ago, Saturn didn’t have rings at all. Instead, it had a big moon moving around it. Eventually, the moon burst and broke into pieces.
On June 5-6, 2012, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory collected images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun.
NASA/SDO, AIA
This hot, acidic neighbor with its surface veiled in thick clouds hasn’t benefited from the attention showered on Mars and the Moon. But Venus may offer insights into the fate of the Earth.
Near-Earth asteroids such as Bennu, and 2019 OK which passed close to Earth this week, pose a potential threat to our planet.
NASA
A 100-metre-wide asteroid passed just 70,000km from Earth on Thursday, and we had little warning it was about to happen. What threat is posed by asteroids and how do we find them?
When it was young, the Sun spun fast – very fast. It would do one rotation in a just one or two Earth days.
www.pixabay.com
Yes, the Sun absolutely spins. In fact, everything in the universe spins. Some things spin faster than the Sun, some are slower and some things spin ‘backwards’.
This second era of space exploration will include a diverse corp of astronauts.
studiostoks/Shutterstock.com
The new era of space exploration is characterized by an emphasis on diversity and international cooperation. But there’s a lot of work to do before there’s gender equality in STEM fields and at NASA.
‘Unknown Pleasures’ as you’ve never seen it before…
Freeda/Shutterstock
Whether anything could live in Europa’s subsurface ocean depends on what kind of salt it contains. Now scientists have found out.
The spectacular layers of blue haze in Pluto’s atmosphere, captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
Voyager 2 launched in 1977 and visited all four gas giants in our Solar System. It’s now almost 18 billion kilometres from Earth and has finally joined its twin in interstellar space.
An artist’s impression of `Oumuamua, the first interstellar object discovered in the Solar System.
ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESO, M. Kornmesser
We will never see ‘Oumuamua again, and we may never know exactly what it is. But with the right kind of media coverage it could inspire some kids to take up a career in science.
Pluto’s ghoulish cousin, 2015 TG387, lurks in the distant reaches of our own Solar System.
Illustration by Roberto Molar Candanosa and Scott Sheppard, courtesy of Carnegie Institution for Science.
Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland and Jake Clark, University of Southern Queensland
Whether you call it Planet X or Planet Nine, talk of another planet lurking in our Solar system won’t go away. So what does the discovery of a new object – nicknamed “The Goblin” – add to the debate?