New analysis reveals why Ganymede has a magnetic field when other moons do not
Ganymede has long looked like a contradiction in orbit. Jupiter’s largest moon is the only moon known to…
Sending short messages back in time may not break the laws of physics
A message from the future sounds like science fiction, until someone starts asking how many bits it could…
Astronomers can now measure newborn planet mass from dusty stellar rings
A bright ring of dust circling a young star can look calm from far away. In reality, it…
Mars’ atmosphere is changing how scientists see unmagnetized planets
Mars does not have Earth’s kind of magnetic shield, so it has often been treated as the solar…
Physicists believe that warp drive could exist in the next 100 years
Warp drive has long lived in science fiction, but physicists now treat it as a real, if deeply…
Scientists discover new state of matter inside Uranus and Neptune
Far beneath the thick blue clouds of Uranus and Neptune, matter may behave in ways never before seen.…
Ancient supernova remnants found in Antarctic ice
Earth is quietly collecting fallout from a blast that happened long before humans existed, and a new look…
Faint black hole ‘ringing’ provides a sharper test of Einstein’s gravity
When two black holes crash together, the violence does not end at impact. The newly formed black hole…
The biggest black holes grow by crashing into each other over and over again
Some of the biggest black holes ever picked up through gravitational waves may not have formed in a…
Rocky planets smaller than Earth may be too small to stay habitable
While a planet can orbit around a Sun-like star and sit comfortably within its habitable zone, it could…
Jupiter’s jet streams dive into extreme atmospheric regions
Jupiter does not sit still. Its atmosphere races around the planet in more than 20 east-west jet streams,…
Jupiter-like exoplanet helping scientists rethink how solar systems form
A planet so distant that its starlight began traveling toward Earth around the Middle Ages has given one…