Astronomy, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 26, 2024

You can pay to have your ashes buried on the moon. Should you?

When NASA attempted to return to the Moon for the first time in 50 years on January 8, more was at risk than just US$108 million worth of development and equipment. The agency earned the ire of the Native American Navajo people, who made a bid to stop the launch...

Jan 29, 2024

Japan's 'Moon Sniper' resurrected nearly 9 days after losing power, thanks to solar charge

Japan has re-established connection with its Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM) spacecraft, almost nine days after it touched down on the moon's surface and lost power. Communication with SLIM was successfully established last night, and operations resumed! the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) posted on X, formerly known...

Jun 13, 2023

Astronomers discover 2nd-ever 'Tatooine' star system with multiple planets orbiting multiple suns

For just the second time ever, astronomers have discovered multiple Tatooine worlds, or exoplanets orbiting a pair of stars, in the same star system. The discovery is further proof that these Star Wars-like planets are more common than scientists previously thought. Tatooine worlds, or circumbinary planets, are exoplanets that exist...

Jun 27, 2023

A 'captured' alien planet may be hiding at the edge of our solar system — and it's not 'Planet X'

In 1906, astronomer and businessman Percival Lowell launched a search for Planet X, a hypothetical giant planet orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. Lowell was convinced that Planet X existed based on some supposed irregularities he had observed in the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. His belief eventually led to the...

Jun 30, 2023

See Saturn disappear in eerie, unfinished James Webb telescope images

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has become synonymous with jaw-dropping, full-color photos of some of the most compelling cosmic landscapes in the universe. But, as new photos of Saturn reveal, even JWST's unprocessed black-and-white images are stunning. JWST captured the new images of the ringed planet between June 24...

Aug 11, 2023

Why Venus is now a slim crescent and will disappear from the evening sky this weekend

You may have noticed in recent weeks that the planet Venus has slipped from the post-sunset sky, slimming into a crescent shape as it drops from view. Its reign as the bright Evening Star in 2023 is over, as a relatively rare celestial phenomenon takes shape. On Aug. 13, Venus...

Aug 14, 2023

100-year-long 'megastorms' on Saturn are creating radio signals that scientists can't fully explain

Imagine a thunderstorm so massive that its dark outline wrapped around the entire planet. Such terrifying megastorms are common on Saturn. Also called Great White Spots, they erupt once every 20 or 30 years in the planet's northern hemisphere and rage nonstop for months. Astronomers have spotted six of these...

Aug 22, 2023

All of Neptune's clouds have mysteriously disappeared, and the sun may be to blame

All of Neptune's clouds have vanished, and scientists think the sun is to blame. The disappearance of the wispy, white strands of frozen methane that usually streak Neptune's azure face has been linked to changes in ultraviolet (UV) radiation as the sun's activity climbs to an 11-year maximum. The clouds...

Aug 24, 2023

Neptune keeps growing enormous dark and bright spots, and scientists don't know why

Astronomers have observed a huge, mysterious dark spot on the surface of Neptune from Earth for the first time — and discovered a puzzling bright counterpart close to it. While scientists still don't comprehend the origins of this shadowy patch on the blue surface of the distant ice giant, new...

Sep 6, 2023

NASA may have unknowingly found and killed alien life on Mars 50 years ago, scientist claims

A scientist recently claimed that NASA may have inadvertently discovered life on Mars almost 50 years ago and then accidentally killed it before realizing what it was. But other experts are split on whether the new claims are a far-fetched fantasy or an intriguing possible explanation for some puzzling past...

Sep 16, 2023

Historic space photo of the week: Voyager 2 spies a storm on Saturn 42 years ago

What it is: Saturn, the seventh planet from the sun, as seen by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft When it was taken: Aug. 11, 1981 Where it is: 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) from the sun — 9.5 times the Earth-sun distance Why it's so special: Taken 42 years ago...

Sep 18, 2023

'Modest, humble, and uncommonly smart': How a Soviet mathematician quietly solved the mystery of planet formation

We've only got to grips with how the planets in our solar system formed in the last 100 years. In the extract below from What's Gotten Into You (HarperCollins, 2023), Dan Levitt looks at the Soviet mathematician who spent a decade working on a problem that most astronomers had given...

Sep 18, 2023

Mysterious flashes on Venus may be a rain of meteors, new study suggests

The thick, acid-rich clouds of Venus continue to shroud the planet next door in mystery. Scientists have long-debated whether intriguing light flashes recorded by previous Venus missions are evidence of lightning strikes on the planet. If those flashes really represent lightning, future missions to the windy planet need to be...

Sep 21, 2023

Mercury reaches its highest point in the sky this weekend. Here's how to see it.

If you've never seen the smallest planet in our solar system with your own eyes, then this weekend brings an excellent opportunity. On Friday, Sept. 22, Mercury will reach its highest point in the sky all year while becoming half-lit. Also known as the 'Swift Planet' for its brisk 88-day...

Oct 7, 2023

Mercury is still shrinking after billions of years, and scientists can see its 'wrinkles'

The smallest planet in the solar system is getting even smaller. Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, has been cooling down and contracting for millennia, creating gigantic scars on its surface (known as lobate scarps) as the rocky surface buckles from the shrinkage. Geologists weren't sure when exactly these...