Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

Astronomers provide 'field guide' to exoplanets known as hot Jupiters

By combining Hubble Space Telescope observations with theoretical models, a team of astronomers has gained insights into the chemical and physical makeup of a variety of exoplanets known as hot Jupiters.

October 21, 2021 Read more

New galaxy images reveal a fitful start to the Universe

New images have revealed detailed clues about how the first stars and structures were formed in the Universe and suggest the formation of the Galaxy got off to a fitful start.

October 21, 2021 Read more

Astronomers detect signs of an atmosphere stripped from a planet in a giant impact

Astronomers have discovered evidence of a giant impact in the nearby HD 17255 star system, in which an Earth-sized terrestrial planet and a smaller impactor likely collided at least 200,000 years ago, stripping off part of one planet's atmosphere.

October 20, 2021 Read more

Amount of information in visible universe quantified

Estimate measures information encoded in particles, opens door to practical experiments.

October 19, 2021 Read more

Carbon from a cosmic source

Computer simulations show that binary stars produce a large amount of this vital element.

October 19, 2021 Read more

Astronomers see white dwarf 'switch on and off' for first time

Astronomers have used a planet-hunting satellite to see a white dwarf abruptly switching on and off for the first time.

October 19, 2021 Read more

Seti: why extraterrestrial intelligence is more likely to be artificial than biological

We may want to rethink the term 'alien civilisations'. A 'civilisation' connotes a society of individuals. In contrast, extraterrestrials might be a single integrated intelligence.

October 18, 2021 Read more

Death in space: here's what would happen to our bodies

We need to start thinking about what it will be like to live in space - but also what will happen if someone dies there.

October 18, 2021 Read more

Did Venus ever have oceans?

Previous studies have suggested that Venus may have been a much more hospitable place in the past, with its own liquid water oceans. A team of astrophysicists investigated whether our planet's twin did indeed have milder periods.

October 15, 2021 Read more

Hubble finds evidence of persistent water vapor in one hemisphere of Europa

The Hubble Space Telescope observations of Jupiter's icy moon Europa have revealed the presence of persistent water vapor - but, mysteriously, only in one hemisphere.

October 14, 2021 Read more

A planetary defense against cosmic impacts

Physicists have laid out a proactive method for dealing with dangerous extraterrestrial space debris. The project is called PI, which affectionately stands for 'Pulverize It'.

October 13, 2021 Read more

Strange radio waves have emerged from the direction of the galactic centre

Astronomers have discovered unusual signals coming from the direction of the Milky Way's centre. The radio waves fit no currently understood pattern of variable radio source and could suggest a new class of stellar object.

October 12, 2021 Read more

Brain damage from long stays in space

Spending a long time in space appears to cause brain damage. This is shown by a study of five Russian cosmonauts who had stayed on the International Space Station (ISS).

October 12, 2021 Read more

Rover images confirm Jezero crater is an ancient Martian lake

The findings include signs of flash flooding that carried huge boulders downstream into the lakebed.

October 11, 2021 Read more

'Double' galaxy mystifies Hubble astronomers

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope uncovered what appears to be a pair of identical objects that look so weird it took astronomers several years to determine what they are.

October 7, 2021 Read more

An X-ray view of carbon: New measurement method promises spectacular insights into the interior of planets

At the heart of planets, extreme states are to be found: temperatures of thousands of degrees, pressures a million times greater than atmospheric pressure. They can therefore only be explored directly to a limited extent - which is why the expert community is trying to use sophisticated experiments to recreate equivalent extreme conditions.

October 5, 2021 Read more

Extreme exoplanet even more exotic than originally thought

Considered an ultra-hot Jupiter - a place where iron gets vaporized, condenses on the night side and then falls from the sky like rain - the fiery, inferno-like WASP-76b exoplanet may be even more sizzling than scientists had realized.

October 5, 2021 Read more

'Planet confusion' could slow Earth-like exoplanet exploration

When it comes to directly imaging Earth-like exoplanets orbiting faraway stars, seeing isn't always believing. A new study finds that next-generation telescopes used to see exoplanets could confuse Earth-like planets with other types of planets in the same solar system.

September 30, 2021 Read more