Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

RSS Subscribe to our Space Exploration News feed

CHEOPS, the profiler of exoplanets

A quarter of a century after the discovery of the first extrasolar planet, the CHEOPS space telescope will finally enable researchers to determine what exoplanets are made of.

Dec 16th, 2019

Read more

A galactic dance

Galaxies lead a graceful existence on cosmic timescales. Over millions of years, they can engage in elaborate dances that produce some of Nature's most exquisite and striking grand designs. Few are as captivating as the galactic duo known as NGC 5394/5, sometimes nicknamed the Heron Galaxy.

Dec 13th, 2019

Read more

Interstellar comet 2I/Borisov swings past sun

This mysterious visitor from the depths of space is the first identified comet to arrive here from another star. We don't know from where or when the comet started heading toward our Sun, but it won't hang around for long.

Dec 12th, 2019

Read more

Astronomers confirm planet-mass objects in extragalactic systems

Astronomers are reporting the detection of extragalactic planet-mass objects in a second and third galaxy beyond the Milky Way after the first detection in 2018. With the existing observational resources, it is impossible to directly detect planet-mass objects beyond the Milky Way and to measure its rogue planetary population.

Dec 12th, 2019

Read more

Revealing the physics of the sun with Parker Solar Probe

Nearly a year and a half into its mission, Parker Solar Probe has returned gigabytes of data on the Sun and its atmosphere. Following the release of the very first science from the mission, five researchers presented additional new findings from Parker Solar Probe.

Dec 12th, 2019

Read more

Water common - yet scarce - in exoplanets

The most extensive survey of atmospheric chemical compositions of exoplanets to date has revealed trends that challenge current theories of planet formation and has implications for the search for water in the solar system and beyond.

Dec 11th, 2019

Read more

How did supermassive black holes grow so fast?

Black holes in the early universe pose a bit of a problem. Based on observations from telescopes on Earth and in space, we know that some black holes grew to be a billion times the mass of the sun just one billion years after the Big Bang. Current models of black hole growth, however, can't explain this speed of growth.

Dec 10th, 2019

Read more

How to build a 3D map of the universe - and why

Because we don't know what's pushing the universe outward ever more quickly, 'dark energy' is scientists' shorthand for the mysterious process. To understand the history of our universe, researchers are collaborating with scientists around the globe to build elaborate 3D maps of space and time.

Dec 7th, 2019

Read more