For the first time, scientists have detected water molecules “glowing” around a planet outside our Solar System, giving us the best evidence yet of an exoplanet with a stratosphere. It’s a huge find, and one that could tell us a lot more about the science of Hot Jupiters – a mysterious class of insanely toasty

Typhoon Noru is barrelling northwest across the Pacific Ocean and taking aim at Japan, and possibly Korea or China, this weekend. Forecasters are intently tracking the storm. As of Sunday, it was a category 5 super typhoon with 160 mph (257 km/h) winds – equivalent to a category 2 hurricane and currently the most powerful

The innermost region of the Sun is hidden from our eyes, and it looks like this stealth has enabled the core to conceal a massive secret. For the first time, scientists have been able to accurately measure the rotation of the solar core, revealing that it doesn’t turn at the same speed as the surface

Our Solar System is littered with chunks of space rocks that whizz around in different orbits and varying speeds – and it’s no big deal until one of those rocks turns out to be on a nasty unexpected trajectory and smashes into Earth. It’s actually a pretty unlikely apocalypse scenario, but even with one in

An organic compound used in the manufacture of plastics has been detected in the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. While polymers of the chemical vinyl cyanide have plenty of uses on Earth in making acrylic garments and tent fabric, it’s feasible that under conditions on Titan they could form flexible structures similar to our

Astronomers have now discovered plenty of exoplanets – planets outside our Solar System orbiting suns like our own – but the hunt for smaller exomoons around these planets goes on. Now astronomers think they might have found the very first. The potential exomoon has been revealed thanks to the magnifying power of NASA’s Kepler telescope,

If you ask Craig Kletzing, the recordings echo the chirping of crickets. To his wife, they sound like a chorus of alien birds. But there is no life where these sounds are made, in the dazzling and dangerous stream of highly charged particles that surrounds our planet. For years, Kletzing has been monitoring the radio

A key sign of a recession is when the market can’t respond to greater supplies of raw materials with increased demand. Long before this century’s Great Recession the first galaxies in the Universe experienced a Great Galactic Recession lasting over a billion years. In work recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical

New research suggests up to half the matter in the Milky Way – including the atoms that make up all of us – could have come from outside our own galaxy, much more than scientists previously thought. That’s based on supercomputer simulations that identified a new phenomenon called intergalactic transfer, and it could help us

The search for life elsewhere in the universe is one of the most compelling aspects of modern science. Given its scientific importance, significant resources are devoted to this young science of astrobiology, ranging from rovers on Mars to telescopic observations of planets orbiting other stars. The holy grail of all this activity would be the

The most powerful kind of cosmic explosions known to science are called gamma-ray bursts – aka ‘death from space’ – galactic events so fierce their awesome intensity is only surpassed by the Big Bang itself. Now, an international team of astronomers has observed one of these violent outbursts of energy in unprecedented detail, witnessing a

An aluminium cargo container, built more than 15 years ago to move large equipment to space, will be transformed into a prototype of a space habitat where astronauts would live during long missions. The project is a step toward NASA’s next big human spaceflight project called the Deep Space Gateway, a “spaceport” in the Moon’s

New research shows that the outskirts of our Solar System are littered with many more large comets than has been previously estimated. These massive icy wanderers can take hundreds or thousands of years to circle our Sun, so it’s no wonder that we’re still learning more about them. And now astronomers have a fresh perspective

There’s way more water locked inside the Moon than we previously thought, according to a new analysis of satellite data. This unexpected finding about our planet’s grey companion is giving scientists new insights into how the Moon formed and what its internal structure is like. And it has potentially huge implications for any of our

There’s no denying that the ancient art of origami paper folding has given the world reams of brilliant miniature sculptures, and now NASA wants to take that intricate craftiness off-planet. The space agency is teaming up with crowdsourcing site Freelancer to find origami experts that can help it come up with a design for radiation

If you’ve been keeping up with the news in the UK, you might have heard about a morphing UFO appearing at a number of locations across Cornwall last week. We’re telling you guys straight up – this is not aliens, despite some hashtags on the footage. While it’s a little annoying that we’re not any

You’ve used Google Street View to check out a new apartment, map traffic before you hit the road and search for haunting slices of the everyday world. Now, the comprehensive terrestrial mapping system has gone Extra-Terrestrial, allowing users to peer inside the International Space Station (ISS) from their computer 248 miles (400 km) below with

In May this year astronomers detected a strange signal that lined up with a star 11 light years away. As usual, if it’s a little out of the ordinary we love to make a list of possibilities with ‘alien technology’ at the bottom, and then hope it’s aliens. Of course it never is, and this

One thousand years. That is the minimum length of time it would take us to get to the nearest star – Proxima Centauri – using current methods. But since we discovered that this star houses a potentially habitable planet, scientists have been more enthusiastic about the idea of interstellar travel than ever before. “It’s tantalising,”

You might have trouble getting strong Wi-Fi into your attic room but connecting the wider cosmos is on a whole different level – and one expert says it could take 300,000 years to hook up the whole of the Milky Way. Instead of stretching cables from planet to planet we could flash light from our

At the ISS R&D conference today, Elon Musk provided some much-anticipated updates on SpaceX’s upcoming manned mission to the Red Planet, explaining that the trip hinges on the success of the company’s Falcon Heavy. Once it launches this year, the Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world. It will be

In a classic swords-to-plowshares move, two converted WB-57F aircraft flown by NASA’s Airborne Science Program will greet the shadow of the Moon as it rushes across the contiguous United States on Monday, August 21st on a daring mission of science. “We are going to be observing the total solar eclipse with two aircraft, each carrying

You know that creepy black sphere used as a floating interrogation droid in Star Wars? It seems like scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) pretty much designed the complete opposite of that, and we want one for our very own. Called Int-Ball, this adorable little camera drone resembles something Pixar might have come

In January of 2016, astronomers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin published the first evidence that there might be another planet in our Solar System. Known as “Planet 9”, this hypothetical body was estimated to be about 10 times as massive as Earth and to orbit that our Sun at an average distance of 700 AU.

Astronomers have discovered a massive supercluster of galaxies located approximately 4 billion light-years from Earth – and not only is it one of the largest known structures in the cosmos, it’s also the most distant supercluster we’ve ever observed. See, in space, everything is a question of perspective. From where you sit, the planet you’re

Planetary scientists and Mars rovers have a special method for choosing vacation days – they wait for the Sun to get in the way. From July 22 to August 1, NASA won’t be sending communications to any of its Mars gear – two rovers and three orbiters – thanks to the joys of a Mars

The Milky Way Galaxy alone is home to between 100 billion and 400 billion stars, and each is potentially orbited by planets. There are probably at least two trillion galaxies like ours in the observable universe, each one populated by trillions of planets orbiting hundreds of billions of stars. Even if planets capable of sustaining

Giant Convecting Mud Balls of the Early Solar System might sound like a horror movie from the 1960s, but as a recently published paper it’s got fewer rubber alien suits and more evidence on how our planet might have formed 4.5 billion years ago. A recent study suggests that as terrestrial planets like ours formed

Astronomers say they have detected “strange signals” coming from the direction of a small, dim star located about 11 light-years from Earth. Researchers picked up the mysterious signals on May 12 using the Arecibo Observatory, a huge radio telescope built inside of a Puerto Rican sinkhole. The radio signals appear to be coming from Ross

Since we first spotted the TRAPPIST-1 system in February, scientists have been scrambling to learn more about these seven rocky planets circling around their red dwarf star – but research suggests the planets aren’t as hospitable as we’d hoped. Two more reports on TRAPPIST-1 again identify challenging conditions that would make it difficult for extraterrestrial

With just a month left to go, the buzz in anticipation of the Great American Eclipse of 2017 is real. On August 21, the path of totality will cross the entire North American continent, so it’s really time to get prepared. But even if you’re not lucky to catch this year’s eclipse, our planet does

In a tweet today, Elon Musk said that the highly anticipated Falcon Heavy launch would take place within the next few months. The rocket will transport the first space tourists, and it could take humanity farther in space than ever before. Elon Musk is having a rather good week. He put on an excellent showing

The enigmatic noble gas xenon has been presenting scientists with puzzling riddles for decades, including how it got to Earth, and then its apparent disappearance since arriving. But geochemists may have finally figured out where at least some of the xenon in Earth’s atmosphere might have originated – and it’s not from here. New results

A massive concept rover will be traveling the country this summer as part of NASA and the Kennedy Space Centre’s ‘Summer of Mars’ educational event, which is designed to inspire interest in the Red Planet. Each year, automakers around the world release futuristic concept cars that force us to reconsider our notion of what a

Late last year, an international group of scientists announced that they were going ahead with plans to launch the first ever private space-based nation, Asgardia. It sounded kinda nuts then, and it still seems nuts now, but according to a new FCC filing, plans are going full-steam ahead, as the brains behind Asgardia are looking

In 1977, the sound of extraterrestrials was heard by human ears for the first time – or so people at the time thought. The Wow! Signal was detected by astronomer Jerry Ehman using Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope. It is a radio signal detector that, at the time, was pointed at a group

We now have even more evidence that our galaxy sits inside an enormous void, and it could help settle a disagreement over the rate at which the Universe is expanding. The new study contradicts a basic assumption about how special our place is in the cosmos, and suggests that we’re sitting in what could be

Some 5,000 light-years from Earth, there’s a bizarre and mysterious nebula that clocks an average temperature of just 1 Kelvin (−272.15 °C or −457.87 °F), making it the coldest natural object in the known Universe. For decades, scientists have struggled to explain how this otherwise unremarkable cloud of gas maintains temperatures colder than empty space

Scientists have found one of the craziest exoplanets yet. It’s a huge gas giant not unlike our Solar System’s own Jupiter, but it travels around its star in just 1.5 days, with a surface hotter than most stars. The planet orbits a blazing star called KELT-9, which is some 650 light-years away. It’s the first

You’d think NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has seen everything there is to see on the Martian surface in the 11 years it’s orbited our nearest neighbour, but a snapshot taken over the planet’s South Pole has revealed something we can’t explain. While the planet’s entire surface is pocked with various depressions and craters, a

Spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX has just launched its 11th commercial supply mission, carrying with it supplies and a bevy of science investigations to the International Space Station. In a first for SpaceX, the company is reusing a Dragon spacecraft that has already seen action, having flown to the station in 2014 as part of SpaceX’s CRS-4

The effects of zero gravity on the human body are taxing, regardless of gender, and NASA has found no differences between men and women in terms of their psychological and behavioural responses to space flight. But sex does seem to have a role in how being in space for long periods of time affects astronauts’

Strange dips in the light from Tabby’s Star have been puzzling scientists since 2015, with some hopefuls refusing to rule out the chance that some kind of “alien megastructure” could be blocking the way. Experts have now come up with another explanation that doesn’t involve extraterrestrial technology, but rather a massive ringed planet some five

As the Fermi paradox states, the Universe is a vast, unknowable space, filled with trillions upon trillions of potentially habitable planets, so… where are all the aliens? In the latest attempt to solve this conundrum, a trio of researchers have suggested that advanced alien civilisations have gone into self-imposed ‘hibernation’ – waiting for a future

For the third time in two years, physicists have detected ripples in the fabric of spacetime, called gravitational waves, that Albert Einstein predicted the existence of more than 100 years ago with his theory of general relativity. “Einstein continues to rock, in the sense that we keep pushing the boundaries of his theory,” Vicky Kalogera,

Certain types of bacteria can mutate to reproduce more quickly when exposed to microgravity, and that’s not great news for our space tourist dreams, seeing as we humans are teeming with bacteria. It’s not clear why these bacteria have responded so positively to microgravity, but researchers are now figuring out ways to protect astronauts out

Is water the new oil of space? It may be to Middle Eastern oil states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who are looking at space as a way to diversify out of the earthly benefits of fossil fuel. “Middle East oil states are investing in satellite technology and trying to transform

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has done it again, detecting gravitational waves rippling away from a cosmic collision between a pair of black holes. Only this time, the pair met around 3 billion light-years away. This is the third time the observatory has successfully measured such an event, but just when you think you’ve