An asteroid could hit the moon in 2032, scattering debris toward Earth
Researchers are keeping an eye on the building-sized asteroid 2024 YR4, which has a 4 percent chance of hitting the moon seven years from now. More
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New Hubble images may solve the case of a disappearing exoplanet
A massive collision between two asteroid-sized bodies around a nearby star offers a rare look at the violent process of planetary construction. More
A new hunt for an Earth analog begins
The Terra Hunting Experiment will track the wobbles of dozens of stars nightly for years in the most focused hunt yet for an Earth twin. More
Dark matter ‘nuggets’ could explain the Milky Way’s mysterious glow
A mysterious excess of far-ultraviolet light seen across the Milky Way could come from the annihilation of clumpy dark matter. More
How these strange cells may explain the origin of complex life
The tiny pantheon known as the Asgard archaea bear traits that hint at how plants, animals and fungi emerged on Earth. More
Listen to the crackle of Martian ‘mini-lightning’
When the wind blows on Mars, electricity crackles through the air.
For the first time, scientists have detected electricity in the Red Planet’s atmosphere. A microphone on NASA’s Perseverance rover captured the sounds and electrical interference of dozens of electrical discharges generated by colliding dust grains, researchers report November 26 in Nature.
The jolts are relatively small, packing a punch that’s akin to the shock from touching a doorknob on a dry, winter day. Nonetheless, they could pose a hazard for future astronauts and electronics and hamper the search for Martian life, if it ever existed, the researchers warn. More
Boiling oceans may sculpt the surfaces of small icy moons
Small, icy moons might be boiling under their surface.
Many moons in the outer solar system are thought to harbor subsurface oceans beneath their icy crusts. New computer simulations, reported November 24 in Nature Astronomy, suggest that changes in the thickness of these icy shells can cause water in the underlying oceans to boil at low temperatures. This boiling may lead to geologic features, such as the ridgelike formations called coronae seen on Uranus’ moon Miranda. More
America risks losing its role as a space science pioneer
McKenzie Prillaman is a science and health journalist based in Washington, DC. She holds a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She was the spring 2023 intern at Science News. More
Early views of a supernova’s first moments reveal a lopsided blast
When one supernova commenced, it looked like an olive — at least before it got shaken and stirred.
This insight, reported in the Nov. 12 Science Advances, comes from new observations taken in the wake of a massive star’s death. As some of the most comprehensive views ever captured of a supernova’s first moments, the findings give astronomers important clues about how these explosions begin.
On April 10, 2024, a supernova was detected in a nearby galaxy. Over the next 26 hours, an international collaboration of astronomers sprang into action to gather additional observations of the explosion before it progressed too far. Their efforts produced the earliest look at the shape of any supernova — the explosive death of a massive star — and revealed its blast wave breaking through the stellar surface. More
