Charles Q. Choi

Scientists have found nuclear weapons could actually help deflect an incoming cosmic impact — not by blowing an asteroid up, but by showering it with X-ray radiation.

"If there are lots of black holes out there, some of them must surely pass through our backyard every now and then."

Black holes may be behind why the newborn universe appeared to possess more huge galaxies than scientists could explain, a new study finds.

When Earth and our moon were much closer together than they are now, the duo could have had tiny companions, or a disk revolving around them in orbits around the pair's poles, a new study finds.

A new study suggests that stars may chomp on planets way more often than you'd expect.

Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanically active world in the solar system, may possess a global ocean of magma underneath its surface, as well as mysteriously warm poles, a new study finds.

Scientists want to split Martian water to make oxygen. They're employing AI to light the way.

Microbes could help unlock vital nutrients in lunar soil to one day help farms sustain astronaut crews on the moon, a new study reports.

The newborn Earth was struck by a Mars-size rock that helped create the moon, and the impact may have left behind continent-size remnants of the rock near Earth's core, a new study finds.

Scientists have wondered why Mars' core can be so big and light at the same time. Two new studies might have an explanation.

Lunar dust can be a hazard for off-world rovers — so scientists are suggesting we create a road system on the moon.

Self-sustaining chemical reactions that could support biology radically different from life as we know it might exist on many different planets, a new study finds.

Our host star's corona is hotter than its 'surface.' It's unclear as to why.

Astronomers have unexpectedly discovered the heaviest Neptune-like planet yet — one four times more massive than our solar system's Neptune.

Ancient mud cracks found by NASA's Curiosity rover suggest that Mars underwent a repeated cycle of wet and dry spells that could have supported the emergence of life.

Rocky exoplanets could possess large amounts of water from the moment they form, observations by the James Webb Space Telescope suggest.

The way in which the radiant displays of colors in the sky known as auroras form on Earth may be how these lights arise throughout the solar system, according to new findings from Mercury.

Gullies on Mars may have formed when the Red Planet was highly tilted on its side, triggering dramatic shifts in climate that sent water cascading down slopes to carve out ravines.

NASA's Perseverance rover has found an intriguing menagerie of organic molecules in a Martian crater, but their source remains unclear.

Strange, never-before-seen movements in the East Africa Rift Valley appear to be driven by super-heated rock from deep beneath Earth's surface.

Astronomers have now deduced what alien scientists might see when they gaze at the Milky Way from afar. Our home galaxy is unusual but not unique, at least when it comes to chemistry.