A planets axial tilt—the angle of its rotation axis relative to its orbital plane around a star—may be crucial for fostering complex life. Earth remains the sole confirmed host of life, boasting an extraordinarily diverse biosphere. Astrobiologists therefore target rocky exoplanets in the habitable

Chinas National Space Science Center is proposing to launch more than 20 rockets to alter the trajectory of asteroid Bennu, a potential threat to Earth. If Bennu sounds familiar, its because NASAs OSIRIS-REx mission recently visited it. Launched from Florida four years ago, the probe successfully co

NASA has awarded a $935 million contract to Northrop Grumman to build and integrate the first habitation module for the Lunar Gateway, the orbiting outpost that will serve as a vital hub for deep-space exploration between Earth and the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA aims to return humans to t

According to The Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk plans to launch into space aboard Virgin Galactics VSS Unity. The SpaceX CEO has reportedly made a $10,000 deposit to secure his seat. Richard Branson and his team achieved a milestone this Sunday with Virgin Galactics first official (non-test) crewed

Jupiters moon Europa harbors a vast subsurface ocean ripe for life—but not on the surface. A new study reveals that micrometeorite impacts and Jupiters intense radiation destroy potential microbes unless theyre buried at least 30 cm deep. Europa ranks among top targets in astrobiology, alongside Mar

Astronomers have discovered a rare Type Ia supernova precursor in our cosmic neighborhood—though it wont explode for millions of years, if humans are still around to witness it. Supernovae mark the explosive deaths of massive stars, at least eight times the Suns mass. Two primary types exist: core-c

A few days ago, an anonymous bidder paid $28 million at auction for a seat on Blue Origins inaugural commercial flight. Unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts, theyve passed the ticket to 18-year-old Dutch student Oliver Daemen. A New Passenger Joins Blue Origins Historic Flight Blue Origins N

Astronomers from New Zealands University of Canterbury have captured the first evidence of a faint coma around the colossal comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein), as it edges into the inner solar system. This could be the largest comet ever observed. Discovered in Dark Energy Survey images fr

After more than a month in safe mode, NASAs Hubble Space Telescope is back online. The iconic observatory halted operations on June 13, 2021, due to a payload computer malfunction. Navigating Hubbles Aging Systems Hubble entered safe mode on June 13, 2021, following a failure in its Science Instrume

Blue Origins New Shepard rocket is set for its first commercial crewed flight on Tuesday, July 20, 2021—the 52nd anniversary of Apollo 11s moon landing. Just a week earlier, Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic team completed their inaugural official (non-test) suborbital flight aboard VSS Unity,

Blue Origins New Shepard rocket is set to launch its first crewed commercial flight on Tuesday, July 20, following just a few hours of specialized training for all aboard. An Imminent Milestone for Blue Origin Blue Origins inaugural commercial New Shepard flight is scheduled for July 20 at 3 p.m. (F

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic showcase remarkable engineering in space tourism, yet they prompt vital questions about environmental effects amid pressing climate challenges. For Blue Origins New Shepard launch, what is its true planetary pollution footprint?The inaugural commercial flight of Jeff

Astrophysicists have leveraged advanced models to map the minuscule surface features on neutron stars, finding these mountains limited to less than a millimeter high by the stars immense gravitational pull. When massive stars explode as supernovae, much of their material scatters across the universe

Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts cultivate vegetables in a dedicated growth chamber, conducting vital experiments to identify plants ideal for space farming. Recently, space radishes returned to Earth via SpaceX, making way for a new crop of chili peppers. Why Radishes Captiv

Groundbreaking images from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) reveal a relativistic jet launched by the supermassive black hole in Centaurus A, with 16 times greater resolution than previous observations. This breakthrough offers key insights into matter dynamics near these cosmic giants. Over two ye

A groundbreaking telescope named SuperBIT is scheduled to launch from New Zealand in April 2022. Suspended by a helium balloon in Earths stratosphere, it promises high-resolution images rivaling those from the Hubble Space Telescope.Superpressure BalloonsResearchers from Durham, Toronto, and Princet

An amateur astronomer has identified a previously unknown small moon orbiting Jupiter, using data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope captured in February 2003. This object belongs to the Carme group, a cluster of retrograde satellites around the gas giant. Just four years ago, Jupiter was known

Since landing on Mars in February 2021, NASAs Perseverance rover has been preparing to collect its first rock sample. This specimen, along with future ones, will be returned to Earth for in-depth analysis, with the primary goal of detecting signs of ancient microbial life.After initial months calibr

Without an extraordinarily powerful magnetic field for protection, no life could endure a stars final stages before it becomes a white dwarf, according to recent research from the University of Warwick. Any life detected on planets orbiting these stellar remnants likely originated after the stars de

Astronomers using the ALMA telescope array in Chile have achieved the first unambiguous detection of a circumplanetary disk around an exoplanet—one massive enough to form multiple moons. Planets form within protoplanetary disks of gas and dust encircling young stars. These hot accretion disks cool o