Hubble snaps pic of faraway comet ISON
Hubble has given astronomers their clearest view yet of ISON, a newly-discovered sun-grazer comet that could light up the sky…
Ancient asteroid caused global firestorm on Earth
A new analysis of conditions after a Manhattan-sized asteroid slammed into Mexico in the dinosaur era indicates the event triggered…
Scientists propose test run for nuking asteroid
After five years of work, a team of scientists from Iowa State University are proposing a $500 million test launch…
New evidence that comets may have seeded life on Earth
A new experiment simulating conditions in deep space has shown that linked pairs of amino acids – essential building blocks…
Supermassive black hole spins super-fast
Imagine a sphere more than 2 million miles across spinning so fast that its surface is traveling at nearly the…
First discovery of extraterrestrial life will likely be around a white dwarf star, say astrophysicists
Detecting extraterrestrial life from tell-tale atmospheric signatures is much easier to do when the planet under observation is orbiting a…
Russian scientists locate meteorite fragments
Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency has reported that Russian scientists have located fragments from the meteor that broke up dramatically…
Rare strobe-like binary protostar found
The Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have teamed up to uncover a mysterious infant star that behaves like a strobe…
Earth-like planets may be closer than previously thought
A new analysis of data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope indicates that many red dwarf stars have habitable, Earth-sized planets,…
Asteroid belt spotted around Vega
Astronomers say they have spotted evidence for an asteroid belt encircling Vega, a star 25 lights years from Earth and…
Habitable planets galore, suggests Kepler data-crunching
A detailed analysis of the first three years of data from NASA’s Kepler mission, which already has discovered thousands of…
Radioactive elements may make extraterrestrial life more likely on exoplanets
An abundance of radioactive elements observed in a number of distant solar systems would make the constituent planets much warmer,…
New evidence for water and organics on Mercury
Scientists say data transmitted by the Messenger spacecraft provide compelling support for the notion that Mercury harbors abundant water ice…
Nomad planet spotted?
Astronomers say they have identified an astronomical body that is very probably a nomad planet – a free-floating planet that…
Asteroid belts’ location critical in evolution of complex life
New research suggests that the size of an asteroid belt – and its proximity to a giant Jupiter-like planet –…
Dark matter not so dark; may be peppered with rogue stars
Astronomers have suggested that the dark matter halos that envelop entire galaxies may not be completely dark after all, and…
Earth-sized planet found nearby in Alpha Centauri system
Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have discovered a rocky planet about the same mass as Earth orbiting a…
Surprising spiral structure observed around dying star
Astronomers using the ALMA telescope in Chile have observed an unusual spiral structure in the gas surrounding the red giant…
Mystery object delays Curiosity rover’s soil scooping
A mysterious bright object lying on the Martian surface has delayed the Curiosity rover’s soil sampling activities until mission control…
Ancient Buddhist statue, filched by Nazis, was carved from meteorite
A 1,000 year-old Buddhist statue discovered by a Nazi expedition to Tibet in 1938 has been analyzed by scientists and…
Hubble images provide farthest-ever montage of early Universe
Using multiple images from the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have assembled a new, improved portrait of our deepest-ever view of…
Sugar molecules observed in distant planet formation
For the first time, astronomers have identified molecules of glycolaldehyde – a simple form of sugar – in the gas…
Binary star has multiple orbiting planets
Astronomers have found the first multi-planet solar system orbiting a binary star (artist’s impression appears right). Importantly, the discovery shows…
Curiosity zaps first Martian rock
The rover Curiosity has zapped a fist-sized Martian rock with its laser, producing a cloud of ionized plasma that will…
First 3-D images from Curiosity
On its first Martian day, the rover has been self-checking its health and so far all activities appear to be…
Orbiter captures Curiosity’s descent
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has transmitted to Earth an astounding picture of the rover Curiosity as it descends by parachute…
Live! Curiosity: countdown to Mars landing
Curiosity Transmitting… The first thumbnail pics have been transmitted from its low-res hazcams. The rover’s shadow can be seen in…
Titan’s rivers create a puzzle for geologists
Titan’s thick, methane- and nitrogen-rich atmosphere has for many years kept astronomers from seeing what lies beneath. Saturn’s largest moon…
Earliest spiral galaxy “astounding”
Looking back 11 billion years, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have observed for the first time a spiral galaxy…
New moon discovery adds to Pluto’s mystery
The Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a fifth moon – dubbed P5 – orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The…