60-Second Space

Bacteria Got an Early Fix on Nitrogen

23 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

New evidence points to the evolution of the ability for bacteria to grab nitrogen from the atmosphere some 3.2 billion years ago, about 1.2 billion ye...

Stars Reveal Hidden Galaxy

17 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

A dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way may consist of more dark matter than regular matter.* Clara Moskowitz reports

Space Science Budget Gets Small Lift

10 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

NASA has to deal with the unexpected financial consequences of robotic missions that just keep going. Lee Billings reports

5 Rocky Planets Found in Ancient, Distant Solar System

02 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The oldest group of terrestrial worlds now known formed some 11.2 billion years ago, more than six billion years before our sun and planets. Clara Mos...

Long-Lost Lander Found on Mars

26 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

New images from a NASA orbiter reveal Beagle 2’s final resting place. Lee Billings reports

Look Up to See Latest Comet Lovejoy

15 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy’s latest comet find is naked-eye visible in the southeast sky until January 24. Clara Moskowitz reports ...

SpaceX Will Try Launch, Then Soft-Land Returning Booster

31 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The company hopes to send up a Falcon 9 rocket and then safely land the discarded first stage for reuse. Lee Billings reports

Humans on Mars Soonish Says NASA Bigwig

10 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

John Grunsfeld, the former astronaut who now heads NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, thinks that traveling light could get people to Mars by the 2...

UV Light Colors Great Red Spot

01 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is its particular crimson shade because of the interaction of ultraviolet light and specific chemical compounds in the gas gi...

It’s Hard to Dust in Space

20 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Over the summer researchers identified seven specks of dust returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft. But determining their true origin has been d...

Comet Reeks of Cat Crap and Rotten Eggs

03 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The Rosetta spacecraft has unexpectedly detected hydrogen sulphide and ammonia coming from Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Lee Billings reports      ...

Track Cosmic Rays with Smartphone App

16 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Take part in a citizen-science project by helping researchers track high-energy cosmic rays via a network of smartphone users. Clara Moskowitz reports...

Star-Forming Clouds May Spit Out Life’s Building Blocks

09 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Astronomers have discovered one of the largest and most complex organic molecules yet in a gaseous star-forming region of interstellar space. Clara Mo...

Dark Matter Looks WIMPy

24 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Data from the International Space Station-based Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment supports the idea that dark matter consists of the invisible pa...

Forensic Astronomer Dates Monet Vision

11 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Texas State University astronomer Donald Olson combined solar, tidal and weather data to identify the likely moment of the image in the Monet work Imp...

Milky Way's Home Supercluster Found

03 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Astronomers have identified the Milky Way’s cosmic address—inside the supercluster Laniakea, which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian. Clara M...

Neptune Visit Hits 25th Anniversary

24 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On August 24th, 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft rendezvoused with Neptune, making it the farthest planet to pose for a close-up, a record it still hold...

Air Pollution Could Reveal ET's Home

13 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

If intelligent aliens are dumb enough to pollute their atmosphere, NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope is powerful enough to spot some of the...

Martian Soil Salts May Make Water Ice All Wet

25 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Within a Mars-like laboratory environment, perchlorate salts known to exist on Mars were able to lower the freezing point enough to get ice to turn to...

Saturn Probe Ready for Its "Grand Finale"

09 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The Cassini probe readies for its final act with new flight patterns that will get unprecedented views of Saturn and culminate in a final dive into th...

Triple Black Hole System Found in Distant Galaxy

01 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

A galaxy four billion light-years from us was has three supermassive black holes at its center, with two in a tight formation. Clara Moskowitz reports

"Extremely Large Telescope" Breaks Ground

23 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The European Southern Observatory broke ground June 19th to build the world's largest telescope atop the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile. Clara Mosk...

Seemingly Strange Solar Cycle May Be Sorta Normal

16 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The current solar maximum appears to be weak. But the few previously measured maxes could have been unusually strong. Clara Moskowitz reports     ...

Dark Matter Shell Saved Wannabe Galaxy

02 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

A failed dwarf galaxy called the Smith Cloud apparently survived an ancient collision with the Milky Way because of a protective dark matter cloak. Cl...

Pluto Bids to Get Back Planetary Status

27 May 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Pluto has at least five moons and an atmosphere—and now a new analysis places its diameter as bigger than its outer solar system rival, Eris    

Jupiter's Great Red Spot Now Just Pretty Good

22 May 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Jupiter's Great Red Spot, once estimated to be 41,000 kilometers across, is just 16,500 kilometers wide in the latest Hubble Space Telescope observati...

Oddball Eclipse Makes Star Brighter

15 May 2014

Contributed by Lukas

When a white dwarf passes in front of its binary star system companion every 88 days, it acts like a lens to make the larger star appear brighter to u...

Galaxy Gave Star Cluster the Boot

07 May 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The star cluster HVGC-1 had been part of the M87 galaxy, but now it's fleeing that galaxy at more than two million miles per hour. Clara Moskowitz rep...

Chilly, Chilly, Little Star

30 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

A brown dwarf only about three to 10 times Jupiter's mass couldn't get fusion going and now sits freezing in space, in the nearby galactic neighborhoo...

Help ID Moon Craters from Your Couch

22 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Citizen scientists have helped professional astronomers locate more than 500 million lunar craters by using an app called MoonMappers. Karen Hopkin re...

Saltine-Sized Satellites Set for Space

13 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

More than 100 tiny satellites are set to launch into space on April 14th, in a demonstration of a possible future inexpensive technology that could pa...

Absence (of Weight) Makes the Heart Grow Rounder

07 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

After prolonged periods in microgravity, astronauts' hearts became more spherical, according to scans done on the International Space Station. Sophie ...

Rings: They're Not Just for Planets Anymore

26 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The asteroidlike object Chariklo orbits between Saturn and Uranus and has been found to have its own set of rings. Clara Moskowitz reports    

Planet X Gets X'd Out

11 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

An exhaustive search by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer has found no hints of a theorized planet or dwarf star in our neck of the cosmic wo...

Giant Black Hole Spins at Half Light-Speed

05 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The half-the-speed-of-light spin of a giant black hole suggests it grew by digesting another black hole in a galaxy merger. Clara Moskowitz reports 

Moon-Smashing Meteorite Recorded by Astronomers

25 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Spanish astronomers spotted a meteoroid impact at 61,000 kilometers per hour using a telescope network that automatically scans the moon. Clara Moskow...

Hubble Finds Possible Oldest Object Ever Seen

20 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The Hubble Telescope's new set of Frontier Fields images includes a galaxy some 13-billion light-years away, which makes it a candidate for the most d...

We Celebrate a Galilean Anniversary

13 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Galileo—who, among many accomplishments, was first to use a telescope to discover moons around Jupiter—was born 450 years ago this week. Clara Mos...

Wacky World Wobbles Wildly

05 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Exoplanet Kepler 413 b's tilt can vary by as much as 30 degrees over 11 years, leading to extremely erratic seasons. Clara Moskowitz reports   

Faraway Planets May Be Far Better for Life

31 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Astronomers have come up with a shopping list of what a planet needs to support life, perhaps even better than our Earth does, making them "superhabit...

Comet Spacecraft Wakes from Slumber

23 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On January 20th the European Space Agency woke its Rosetta probe after two-and-a-half years in hibernation, in preparation for its final approach to a...

Astronomers Cluster at Massive Meeting Conjunction

15 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

More than 3,000 astronomers assembled last week for the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Clara Moskowitz reports

Weird Supernovae Spin Faster Than Blender Blades

30 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Two recently found supernovae are much farther away and brighter than almost any star explosion ever seen, perhaps because they wound up as rapidly sp...

Asteroid-Hunting Satellite Returns from Dead

23 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite that went into hibernation in 2011 has been brought to life as an asteroid lookout. Clara Moskowitz ...

Preadolescent Astronomer Spots Supernova

17 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Ten-year-old Nathan Gray of Nova Scotia officially becomes the youngest person ever to identify a new supernova. Clara Moskowitz reports

Say I Saw ISON

25 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Don't miss viewing Comet ISON, visible in the east before dawn, with a tail now as long as the bowl of the Big Dipper. Clara Moskowitz reports

India Targets Red Planet

18 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

India aims to become the fourth entity to send a mission to Mars with its launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission, aka Mangalyaan. Clara Moskowitz reports.

Astronaut Sounds Alarm On Asteroids

04 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

At a symposium on the danger of asteroid impacts, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart said it's time for the planet to develop a strategy should a big ...

System Has Multiple Planets Off Kilter

21 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Two of the three known planets around the star Kepler 56 orbit their host out of line with the star's equator. Clara Moskowitz reports.

Voyager 1 Is Officially out There

16 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Voyager 1's own record of the plasma vibrations in its vicinity conclusively show that it has reached the space between the stars. John Matson reports

Home PCs Help Pinpoint Pulsars

04 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The distributed computing project Einstein@Home uses home computers to search through years of telescope data to find pulsars. John Matson reports.

Sky Map Satellite Becomes Asteroid Hunter

26 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

NASA's WISE satellite surveyed the universe before being mothballed in 2011. Now it's being resurrected as a near-Earth asteroid scanner.

Kepler Exoplanet Hunter Limps Into Sunset

21 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Although the Kepler space telescope's stabilization system is beyond repair, it has produced reams of data that have yet to be fully searched for exop...

Solar Magnetic Field Flip Poses No Problem

15 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The only issue related to the flip of the sun's magnetic field is that it corresponds with the peak of the sunspot cycle, when the sun is prone to lau...

Curiosity Celebrates an Earth Year on Mars

06 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Since it landed on Mars on August 6, 2012, the Curiosity rover has done photography, geology and roamed a good kilometer. John Matson reports

Milky Way Black Hole Had Hungry Past

29 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A huge cloud of plasma south of our galactic black hole could be evidence of a past feeding frenzy. John Matson reports

Neutrino Identity Switch Confirmed

22 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Theory said that muon neutrinos could transform into electron neutrinos. A neutrino detector confirms this by catching many more electron neutrinos th...

Giant Black Hole May Be Fugitive

15 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The black hole in galaxy NGC 1277 is way more massive than usual. Astronomers hypothesize it was ejected from another galaxy before settling in its ne...

Flare Star Goes Wild in Minutes

08 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The star WX UMa went from 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit to 30,000 degrees F in less than three minutes. Chris Crockett reports

Frigid Space Speeds Chemical Reaction

01 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A reaction between two common molecules occurs much faster at frosty interstellar temperatures than on our toasty Earth due to a cold-stabilized trans...

Texas Teens Take Rocket Title

25 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Three teenage Texas model rocketeers beat out teams from France and the U.K. to claim top honors at this year's International Rocketry Competition. Jo...

Primordial Galaxy Shows How to Make a Big One

20 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Looking at the Himiko Galaxy as it was just 800 million years after the big bang offers a glimpse at how the most massive galaxies took shape. John Ma...

Galaxy of a Thousand Stars

13 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Segue 2, one of dozens of "companion" galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, is now the smallest galaxy known. Michael Moyer reports

Curiosity Reveals Mars Astronaut Radiation Risk

31 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A side benefit of NASA's Curiosity rover mission is that we now know about how much radiation an interplanetary traveler would face. John Matson repor...

Earth and Moon Had Same Water Source

28 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Isotopic analysis of water trapped in volcanic glass in lunar samples show that the moon has more water than thought, and the water there and on Earth...

Mars Rover Sets Distance Record

22 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

After nine (Earth) years of slowly traversing Mars, Opportunity broke the U.S. off-world rover record held by Apollo 17's lunar buggy since 1972. John...

Exoplanet Building Blocks Found around White Dwarfs

14 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Silicon-rich rocky material was found around white dwarfs in the Hyades star cluster by the Hubble Space Telescope, despite the fact that almost no kn...

Milky Way Makes Small Massive Gain

03 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Based on the Milky Way's effect on the motion of a nearby dwarf galaxy, our galaxy seems to have more mass than we previously thought. John Matson rep...

Space Scope Spots 3 Possibly Habitable Planets

22 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

NASA's orbiting Kepler telescope recently spotted three exoplanets in or near their stars' so-called habitable zones, the temperate region where a pla...

Amateur Astronomers Spot Missing Russian Mars Lander

15 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Using imagery taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2007, amateur astronomers located an object that could be a Russian lander that went dark...

Water Ice Found across Saturn System

08 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Saturn's rings and moons contain a uniform distribution of water ice, which seems to reflect their common origins billions of years ago. John Matson r...

Universe May Be a Titch Older

25 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

New data from the European Planck satellite indicate that the universe is 13.8 billion years old rather than a mere 13.7 billion years old. John Matso...

Unfinished Chile Observatory Makes Starry Discovery

19 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

An incomplete version of Chile's ALMA telescope array found that star formation was in full swing earlier than had been thought. John Matson reports

Nearby Star Came In with the Bang

14 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A study of the star HD 140283, only about 190 light-years away from us, finds that it formed in short order after the big bang. John Matson reports

Third Van Allen Belt Came and Went

05 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The Van Allen Probes recently found a third belt of charged particles circling Earth, which was then destroyed by a solar shock wave. John Matson repo...

Shoo Away Asteroids with a Coat of Paint

26 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Heat radiating from an asteroid imparts a tiny push to the rock, meaning that we could subtly steer an asteroid by changing its reflectance. John Mats...

Meteor Shocks Russian City

15 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The Russian city of Chelyabinsk was awakened on February 15 when a meteor exploded overhead, with an energy equivalent to about 300 kilotons of TNT

Curiosity Drills Mars for Answers

12 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Even as a few of its sensors cause problems, the Curiosity rover became the first robotic visitor to bore into the Martian surface. John Matson report...

Past-Prime Star May Still Produce Planets

04 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The star TW Hydrae should be too old to still have planets forming around it, but its gas and dust indicate it still has planetary potential. John Mat...

Gamma-Ray Burst Fingered for Carbon 14 Spike in A.D. 774

21 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Tree-ring data from A.D. 774 show a sudden spike in radioactive carbon 14, pointing to a burst of charged particles or high-energy radiation that stru...

Following Flare-Ups, Star Finally Explodes

14 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

After a few false alarms, the star SN 2009ip appears to have gone supernova at last. John Matson reports

Mars Flight Habitat Volunteers Lost Sleep and Fitness

07 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Six volunteers spent 520 days in a simulation of a trip to Mars, and wound up experiencing sleep disturbances and becoming more sedentary. John Matson...

Civilian Spacefarers Face Medical Hurdles

03 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Opening the door to the paying public means that less healthy individuals will soon have access to space--if their doctors approve. John Matson report...

Titan Sports Hydrocarbon Nile

17 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The Cassini orbiter spotted a river system on Titan that NASA likens to a miniature version of the Nile River, but flowing with liquid ethane and meth...

Should Mars Get Another Rover?

10 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

NASA has plans for another Mars rover, but no trips scheduled for exotic places like Titan or Europa. John Matson reports

3-D Printer Makes Structures with Lunar-Like Material

04 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

A proof-of-concept 3-D printing job using lunarlike material shows that quick-and-dirty tools or spare parts could be manufactured on the moon. John M...

Thicker Atmosphere Still Would Have Left Mars Cold

28 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Global 3-D climate simulations for plausible Martian atmospheres show that even with a much thicker CO2 layer, the greenhouse effect could not have wa...

Galaxy Might Be Most Distant Seen Object

20 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Thanks to gravitational lensing by a cluster of galaxies, the light emitted by a small galaxy 13.3 billion years ago has reached Earth. John Matson re...

Star's Habitable Zone Includes Possible Giant Earth

13 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

A planet at least seven times as massive as Earth orbits comfortably in the habitable zone of the star HD 40307. John Matson reports

New Analyses Resurrect Contested Exoplanet Claim

06 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Fomalhaut b looked like an exoplanet to some astronomers and like dust to others. But new analyses strengthen the planet view. John Matson reports

Solar Wind Creates Traces of Lunar Surface Water

23 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

A chemical analysis of lunar samples now points to the solar wind being behind the ultrathin dusting of water molecules first detected in 2009 from sp...

Sensor Info Reveals Titan Probe Landing

15 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

An analysis of the Huygens probe's sensor data has reconstructed bouncing and skidding, moments before it came to rest on Titan. John Matson reports

Zippy Star Promises to Be Relativity Laboratory

05 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

A star orbiting the galactic center's black hole in just 11.5 Earth years should provide data for studying how gravity works near an extremely massive...

Good Things Come from Small Scopes

01 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Smaller ground-based telescopes produce research results that get more citations per dollar spent than the big guys. John Matson reports

Pre-Life Chemistry Happens at Space Temperatures

24 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

UV light, which radiates from stars and galaxies, can induce rapid changes in icy hydrocarbon molecules cooled to 5 kelvins, as on a comet. John Matso...

White Dwarf Binary Stars Make Merger Plans

17 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

In the J0651 binary system two white dwarf stars orbit each other in less than 13 minutes--and it's getting a little faster all the time. John Matson ...

Dawn Spacecraft Sets Sail for Dwarf Planet Ceres

11 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

On September 5th NASA's Dawn spacecraft left the asteroid Vesta and set sail for the dwarf planet Ceres, where it will arrive in 2015. John Matson rep...

NASA Spacecraft's Census Tallies Millions of Black Holes

04 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

NASA's infrared WISE spacecraft found about 130 glowing black holes in a small region of space, meaning that at least two million active black holes d...

Milky Way and Satellite Galaxies Are Rare Arrangement

28 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Only about 0.5 percent of Milky Way-like galaxies have companions like our satellite galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds. John Matson reports

Probes Will Live in Van Allen Belts

20 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes will fly through the Van Allen Belts for two years, measuring charged particles, plasma waves and magnetic fields...