Why the Milky Way is shaped like a spiral
A team of astronomers reconstructed a 3-part history of the Milky Way Galaxy by comparing the physics and chemistry of 10 million red giant…
Category: What is out in space?
What is matter and dark matter? What kinds of things happen in space? What do we know about the physics in space?
Exoplanets with weird orbits might be more habitable
Astronomers modeled the ideal climatic and atmospheric conditions for exoplanets and found that planets with non-circular orbits had more…
Could life survive in the plumes of Enceladus?
Researchers showed that simple microorganisms could survive rapid boiling in conditions mimicking the geysers of water shooting out of…
Astronomers discover new rare hot Neptunes
Scientists discovered 2 new examples of medium-sized, closely-orbiting exoplanets whose characteristics shed light on how planetary systems…
Could tardigrades survive on Mars?
Researchers found tiny, indestructible “water bears” survived exposure to high levels of toxic salts similar to those found in Martian…
Machine learning has its limits when studying hard-to-see galaxies
Scientists in South America and Italy found that a machine-learning algorithm astronomers commonly use to analyze large datasets classified…
How did Saturn’s moon Titan get its haze?
Researchers found that meteoroids ejected from Enceladus could impact Titan’s atmosphere to form its iconic organic haze.
Could planets orbiting dwarf stars have liquid water?
A team of planetary scientists in Japan found Earth-like planets orbiting dwarf stars could still harbor liquid water if they started out…
Scientists found neutron stars merge to make heavy elements
A team of astrophysicists in China simulated collisions between the remains of former stars and showed the resulting explosions could…
Could “iron snow” fuel life in Europa’s ocean?
Scientists calculated that microorganisms breathing iron oxide “snow” could produce enough energy to survive on Jupiter's icy moon…