View larger. | Artist’s illustration of Cassini spacecraft flying through the water vapor plumes of Enceladus. A new study from researchers in the UK has found that Enceladus’ subsurface ocean might have layers that make it difficult to find traces of life on Enceladus. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Space Science Institute. Saturn’s moon Enceladus has … Read more
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s super Neptune! But this Superman-mimicking planet is not blasting through space on its own. It is being dragged along by its parent star. NASA scientists have discovered what they suspect is the hypervelocity star racing through space with a Neptune-like planet in tow. The system … Read more
Caption: Venus is the brightest point of light shining at lower left in this gorgeous astrophoto of the February night sky. Credit: Toby Baier (Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0) Friday, February 14The dwarf planet 1 Ceres is in conjunction with the Sun at 5 P.M. EST today. While this means we can’t see Ceres for now, … Read more
Hypervelocity stars have been seen before but NASA scientists have just identified a potential record-breaking exoplanet system. They found a hypervelocity star that has a super-Neptune exoplanet in orbit around it. This discovery could reshape our understanding of planetary and orbital mechanics. Understanding more about these fascinating high velocity stars challenges current models of stellar … Read more
In Aug. 2024, a team of NASA researchers and partners gathered in Missoula, to test new drone-based technology for localized forecasting, or micrometeorology. Researchers attached wind sensors to a drone, NASA’s Alta X quadcopter, aiming to provide precise and sustainable meteorological data to help predict fire behavior. Wildfires are increasing in number and severity around … Read more
A University of Adelaide biomedical engineer has received an international award for her invention of 3D-printed hair-thin endoscopes that can see inside the human body. Associate Professor Jiawen Li received the Judges’ Commendation at the Sony Women in Technology Award with Nature, at the award ceremony in Tokyo last week. She is the only Australian … Read more
MSL Curiosity is primarily a rockhound. It’s at Gale Crater, examining the rocks there and on Mt. Sharp, which sits in the middle of the crater and rises 5.5 km above the crater floor. But Curiosity is also a skywatcher, and its primary camera, Mastcam, was built with Martian clouds in mind. When the sun … Read more
The hulk of metal moved silently through space, high above the blue Earth. Power no longer coursed through its wires, its instruments were dead to the outside universe, and its communications antenna was silent. To all intents and purposes it was deceased, and almost everyone back home had given up on it. Almost everyone. Despite … Read more
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jelieta Walinski of St. David, Arizona, captured this image on January 23, 2025, and wrote: “This single-exposure photo captures the Desert Bloom Observatory at its center, glowing with a warm red light. Above, a stunning planetary parade unfolds, with Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars visible to the naked eye.” … Read more
Credit: Vitalij Kopa/Dreamstime.com There are thousands upon thousands of questions related to the topic of astronomy, from the basics of the science to the complexities of the distant cosmos. Here are just 40 such questions that we as astronomers — professional and amateur — hear. I hope their answers help you explain some of these … Read more