Lava oozed across the moon’s surface just 2 billion years ago, bits of lunar rocks retrieved by China’s Chang’e-5 mission reveal. A chemical analysis of the volcanic rocks confirms that…
Category: Space
Space rocks may have bounced off baby Earth, but slammed into Venus
Squabbling sibling planets may have hurled space rocks when they were young. Simulations suggest that space rocks the size of baby planets struck both the newborn Earth and Venus, but…
NASA’s Perseverance rover snagged its first Martian rock samples
The Perseverance rover has captured its first two slices of Mars. NASA’s latest Mars rover drilled into a flat rock nicknamed Rochette on September 1 and filled a roughly finger-sized…
The Parker Solar Probe is the first spacecraft to visit the sun’s atmosphere
For the first time, a spacecraft has made contact with the sun. During a recent flyby, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe entered the sun’s atmosphere. “We have finally arrived,” Nicola Fox,…
The only known pulsar duo sheds new light on general relativity and more
The only known duo of pulsars has just revealed a one-of-a-kind heap of cosmic insights. For over 16 years, scientists have been observing the pair of pulsars, neutron stars that…
The cosmic ‘Cow’ may have produced a new neutron star or black hole
A cosmic flare-up called the Cow seems to have left behind a black hole or neutron star. When the flash was spotted in June 2018, astronomers debated its origins. Now,…
This tiny, sizzling exoplanet could be made of molten iron
A newly discovered exoplanet is really making astronomers prove their mettle. Planet GJ 367b is smaller than Earth, denser than iron and hot enough to melt, researchers report in the…
Astronomers have found the Milky Way’s first known ‘feather’
The Milky Way has a “feather” in its cap. A long, thin filament of cold, dense gas extends jauntily from the galactic center, connecting two of the galaxy’s spiral arms,…
