The universe

Latest about The universe

An image of a tardigrade as seen under a microscope.

Teeny tardigrades can survive space and lethal radiation. Scientists may finally know how

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

A new species of tardigrades with thousands of genes that become more active when exposed to radiation could help in devising better protection for astronauts on long missions.

Earth
An artist's illustration of asteroids, or near-Earth objects, that highlight the need for a complete Space Situational Awareness system.

'God of chaos' asteroid may be transformed by tremors and landslides during 2029 flyby of Earth, study finds

By Deepa Jain published

When the 'God of chaos' asteroid Apophis makes an ultraclose flyby of Earth in 2029, our planet's gravity may trigger tremors and landslides that totally change the asteroid's surface.

Asteroids
a faint comet with bright short tail hangs in space over a dark curve of earth, slightly illuminated in the atmosphere.

How comet Hale-Bopp can reveal the origins of life on Earth — and maybe beyond

By Victoria Corless published

Scientists are tracking the evolution of comet Hale-Bopp, one of the brightest comets ever seen.

Comets
a screen with flight information on the sides shows the image of a young chimpanzee puppet in a space suit in a space capsule.

'Beppo go home?' An astronaut monkey steals hearts in tear-jerking SNL skit

By Monisha Ravisetti published

Saturday Night Live released a heart-wrenching skit about Beppo the astronaut monkey.

The Universe
A large planet hued in vibrant oranges, yellows, and dark browns.

Venus' 'missing' giant impact craters may be hiding in plain sight

By Keith Cooper published

Venus' wrinkled, deformed "tesserae" terrain may be ancient impact features the size of continents, a new study suggests.

Venus
a bright flare of light on a wavy, fuzzy-looking background

Sun erupts with powerful X2.3 solar flare, triggers radio blackouts (video)

By Meredith Garofalo published

A X2.3 solar flare Wednesday morning (Nov. 6), leading to shortwave radio blackouts for parts of the southern hemisphere.

The Sun
A section of giant gaseous red has in space is magnified in a white box in the upper right, to show a red swirling cloud brightening to a white hot outer center and black center shooting out a jet of white purple spew.

'Fastest-feeding' black hole of the early universe found! But does it break the laws of physics?

By Keith Cooper published

The hungriest known black hole in the early universe has been found, thanks to teamwork between NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Black Holes
Two scientists in white coveralls examine a black piece of space tech with wires on one end.

New NASA coronagraph will measure temperature, speed of solar wind from ISS

By Conor Feehly published

We're about to learn more about the solar wind, thanks to NASA's Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX), which just arrived at the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft.

The Sun
An artist's depiction of NASA's Parker Solar Probe flying past Venus.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe flies by Venus before historic sun encounter

By Sharmila Kuthunur last updated

NASA's Parker Solar Probe swoops in for its seventh and final swing past Venus ahead of its history-making encounter with the sun on Christmas Eve.

The Sun
Red, blue and white smoke intermingle puntuated by bright orbs of orange white and purple

NASA's Chandra X-ray spacecraft finds 'danger zones' around stars

By Robert Lea published

Using NASA's Chandra spacecraft, astronomers have found "danger zones" for worlds where planet-birthing disks are blasted with high-energy radiation from massive young stars and rapidly disintegrate.

The Universe
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Archives