Study reveals how magma oceans may affect the evolution of hot exoplanets. Lava worlds, massive exoplanets home to sparkling skies and roiling volcanic seas called magma oceans, are distinctly unlike the planets in our solar system. To date, nearly 50% of all rocky exoplanets yet discovered ha
Planning is underway for NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory In early August, scientists and engineers gathered in a small auditorium at Caltech to discuss how to build the first space telescope capable of detecting life on planets like Earth. The proposed mission concept, called the Habitable Worl
NASA's Small Bodies Assessment Group wants the agency to send spacecraft to visit the asteroid Apophis before it makes a close approach to Earth in 2029.
NASA's Lucy spacecraft provides its first glimpse of asteroid Dinkinesh. Over a span of two months, Lucy will get closer, testing its systems before a close flyby on November 1, 2023. The small dot moving against the background of stars is the first view from NASA’s Lucy spacecraft of the main be
Astronomers uncover details of a massive star, ASASSN-14li, devoured by a black hole, challenging previous theories and hinting at new methods for cosmic exploration.
Researchers from the University of Arizona have found a youthful exoplanet that may shed light on this phenomenon and offer insights into how planets form. Illustrations of the Milky Way exhibit a spiraling design of "arms" loaded with stars that radiate from the center. Comparable formations are s
There are more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets in our galaxy. That number is going to rise significantly in the next decade. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has already cataloged more than 4,000 candidate exoplanets, and the PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) is scheduled to launch in 2026.
The Breakthrough Listen search for intelligent life is, to date, the most extensive technosignature search of nearby celestial objects. We present a radio technosignature search of the centers of 97 nearby galaxies, observed by Breakthrough Listen at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. We performed a narrowband Doppler...
India's sun-monitoring spacecraft has crossed a landmark point on its journey to escape "the sphere of Earth's influence", its space agency said, days after the disappointment of its moon rover failing to awaken.
Of all the objects in the Solar System, perhaps the most spectacular are the great comets that occasionally grace our skies. If you’ve been on social media in the past few days, you’ve probably seen articles proclaiming we have such a comet in our skies right now: C/2023 P1 (Nishimura).