'Cosmic monster' star spits energy with the force of a billion suns By Mindy Weisberger published 4 January 22 Scientists just collected the first measurements of violent eruptions in extremely dense magnetic stars called magnetars.
Some black holes are anything but black – and we've found more than 75,000 of the brightest ones By Sabine Bellstedt, Jessica Thorne published 4 January 22 New research has road-tested a way to spot some of the most voracious black holes of all, making it easier to find them buried deep in the hearts of distant galaxies.
Watch 'coronal streamers' streak off the sun in close-up video from Parker Solar Probe By Elizabeth Howell published 4 January 22 A new video of solar streamers evokes the streaking stars seen during spacecraft hyperdrives in "Star Wars."
Things are getting tense for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, literally By Elizabeth Howell published 3 January 22 On Monday (Jan. 3), James Webb Space Telescope controllers began tightening the tension on its massive sunshield.
China's Mars orbiter snaps amazing selfies above Red Planet By Andrew Jones published 3 January 22 China's Tianwen 1 spacecraft at Mars has snapped with stunning images with a small camera that captured images of the orbiter above Mars.
We may finally be able to test one of Stephen Hawking's most far-out ideas By Paul Sutter published 3 January 22 The recently launched James Webb Telescope should help determine if dark matter is made up of primordial black holes.
Toxic gas released by ancient microbes may have worsened Earth's largest mass extinction By Doris Elin Urrutia published 3 January 22 Microbes released a toxic gas called hydrogen sulfide that subsequently prolonged the Permian extinction event 250 million years ago, according to a new study.
Tour Mars' Jezero Crater with this gorgeous Perseverance rover mosaic (video) By Mike Wall published 3 January 22 A detailed new image provides a great look at the Perseverance Mars rover's Red Planet home and shows why the mission team is so excited to explore it.
Why can't we put a space station on the moon? By Ian Whittaker published 2 January 22 A space station on the moon could be very useful to provide future space missions with a stopping point between Earth and deeper space. Why haven't we built one yet?
James Webb telescope: How it could uncover some of the universe's best-kept secrets By Martin Barstow published 2 January 22 If all goes according to plan, the James Webb Space Telescope, launched on Christmas Day 2021 after years of delays, will usher in a new era of astronomy.
James Webb Space Telescope unfurls massive sunshield in major deployment milestone By Mike Wall published 1 January 22 The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope unfolded its huge sunshield on Friday (Dec. 31), pulling the five-layer structure out by sequentially deploying two booms.
The 10 strangest space structures discovered in 2021 By Brandon Specktor published 31 December 21 The closer we look at the universe, the more beautiful and baffling it becomes. Here are the 10 most epic space structures discovered in 2021.
2021: a year physicists asked, 'What lies beyond the Standard Model?' By Aaron McGowan published 31 December 21 The Standard Model explains the physics of how the world works. But in 2021, physicists started probing fundamental gaps in this long-established concept.
2021 was an epic year for Mars exploration By Mike Wall published 31 December 21 During this very eventful year, two nations joined the Mars club, a robot plied Red Planet skies for the first time ever and humanity kicked off an ambitious interplanetary sample-return campaign.
The 10 biggest exoplanet discoveries of 2021 By Doris Elin Urrutia published 31 December 21 These are some of the top exoplanet discoveries made in 2021.
Frozen tardigrade becomes first 'quantum entangled' animal in history, researchers claim By Brandon Specktor published 31 December 21 A new pre-print study claims to have quantum entangled a tardigrade with two superconductor qubits, though experts are skeptical.
Imaginary numbers could be needed to describe reality, new studies find By Ben Turner published 31 December 21 Theories based only on real numbers are incapable of explaining the results of this new experiment.
Why the James Webb Space Telescope's sunshield deployment takes so long By Mike Wall published 31 December 21 NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is three days into the deployment of its massive sunshield — and it still has about three days to go.
Skywatcher spots James Webb Space Telescope from Earth in telescope photos By Chelsea Gohd published 30 December 21 Thanks to images from a robotic Earth telescope, you can now watch the James Webb Space Telescope travel through space.
James Webb Space Telescope uncovers massive sunshield in next step of risky deployment By Chelsea Gohd published 30 December 21 The James Webb Space Telescope has unwrapped its sunshield, crossing another important item off of its lengthy and risky deployment to-do list.
