Artist’s depiction of an asteroid floating in space. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), Martin Kornmesser (ESA), Serge Brunier (ESO), Nick Risinger (Photopic Sky Survey) At this point in…
Category: Planetary Science
How do you fire someone into the sun?
Firing our villain straight at the Sun results in a big miss. Credit: Michael Brown, CC BY To point a rocket directly at the sun and hit would require great…
Cosmic ray puzzle resolved as scientists link ‘knee’ formation to black holes
LHAASO experiment. Credit: LHAASO Collaboration Milestone results released by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) on November 16 have solved a decades-old mystery about the cosmic ray energy…
If the supernova standard candle is wrong, it could solve the Hubble tension
An illustration showing how Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) expand with the universe. Credit: Gabriela Secara, Perimeter Institute CC-BY-4.0 Last time I wrote about new data that overturns the standard cosmological…
Chang’e-6 samples reveal first evidence of impact-formed hematite and maghemite on the moon
Graphical depiction of the formation scenario of ferric oxides in Chang’e-6 lunar sample. Credit: IGCAS A joint research team from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences…
When space junk comes home
Deployment of Starlink Satellites by SpaceX. Credit: SpaceX Early one February morning in 2025, Adam Borucki discovered something extraordinary behind his warehouse in Poland: a charred metal tank, roughly 1.5…
The hidden danger of lunar micrometeoroid storms
Lunar sample 61195 from Apollo 16 textured with “zap pits” from micrometeorite impacts. Credit: James Stuby from NASA image The moon has no significant atmosphere, no weather, and no wind.…
How to spot life in the clouds on other worlds
Artist concept of a cloudy Earth-like exoplanet with colorful biota in the clouds. Credit: Adam B. Langeveld/Carl Sagan Institute. Adapted from NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech. Cloud cover is bad for picnics and for…
Why the universe might be fluffier than we thought
Scanning electron microscope image of a interplanetary dust particle. Credit: NASA Space dust provides more than just awe-inspiring pictures like the Pillars of Creation. It can provide the necessary materials…
