Astronomy, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 8, 2023

How to see bright Venus dance with a glowing crescent moon this week

If you're willing to rise early, you may spot a beautiful sight in the eastern sky on Tuesday, Oct. 10. About three hours before sunrise, the bright planet Venus and a 17%-lit crescent moon will appear just 5 degrees from each other, and the pair will be easily visible to...

Oct 11, 2023

Astronomers spot violent afterglow of 2 massive planets that collided in a distant star system

Astronomers have spotted the wreckage left by a massive collision between two huge icy planets around a distant, sunlike star. Using a NASA spacecraft that monitors the sky for asteroids, the scientists also detected the bright afterglow generated by the planetary smash-up and the resulting dust cloud that crossed the...

Nov 2, 2023

Pluto may have an ice-spewing 'supervolcano' the size of Yellowstone, New Horizons data reveals

Demoted planet Pluto may have an ice volcano on its surface the size of Yellowstone, scientists recently discovered. The newly discovered volcano, Kiladze Caldera, was originally pegged as a crater via images captured by NASA's New Horizons mission. After taking a second look at data from New Horizons, scientists now...

Nov 10, 2023

Oxygen detected in Venus' hellish atmosphere

Venus' atmosphere is notoriously hellish. Its air is corrosive and hot enough to melt lead. Its billowing clouds are poisonous to humans. Sometimes, it rains acid. But researchers just discovered that, sandwiched between layers of toxic gas, this inhospitable atmosphere contains a thin layer of molecular oxygen. Historically, Venus has...

Dec 5, 2023

Mercury may have a 'potentially habitable' region below its surface, salty glaciers suggest

Planetary scientists have discovered salty glaciers near the north pole of Mercury, raising the possibility that the closest planet to the sun may be capable of hosting life. The new findings, which were made using past observations from NASA's retired MESSENGER probe, were published in The Planetary Science Journal in...

Dec 10, 2023

How many times has Earth orbited the sun?

When you're standing on Earth's surface, it's easy to forget that our planet is hurtling around the sun at more than 67,000 mph (107,800 km/h). And it's even easier to forget that there are seven other planets also making their way around our home star at similar breakneck speeds, or...

Dec 10, 2023

Signs of life shooting from Saturn's moon could be collected with spacecraft, scientists say

When NASA's Cassini spacecraft turned its instruments to Saturn's moon Enceladus, it observed plumes of ice shooting up from the moon's surface at speeds of about 900 miles per hour (1,448 kilometers per hour). These geysers seemed to be the tendrils of a vast subsurface ocean — and made scientists...

Dec 14, 2023

'Almost unbelievable': Rare void from the sun briefly blew up Mars' atmosphere last year, and it could happen to Earth too

Late last year, Mars' atmosphere briefly blew up to around three times its normal size without warning, leaving scientists puzzled. Now, researchers have discovered that the expansion was triggered by a rare gap, or void, in the charged particles that continuously stream out of the sun, known as solar wind....

Dec 19, 2023

NASA finds key ingredient for life gushing out of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus

Saturn's moon Enceladus has a secret lurking beneath its icy outer crust. In the plumes of vapor jetting from its surface, scientists have detected a molecule that might be a precursor for life: hydrogen cyanide. On Earth, hydrogen cyanide is toxic to most organisms. But scientists believe it played an...

Dec 31, 2023

Space photo of the week: Uranus 'rings' in the New Year in stunning James Webb telescope image

What it is: Uranus and 14 of its 27 moons When it was taken: Dec. 18, 2023 Where it is: 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) from the sun Why it's so special: This photo of Uranus, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, reveals the ice giant planet in...

Jan 5, 2024

Neptune isn't as blue as you think, and these new images of the planet prove it

The solar system ice giants Neptune and Uranus have finally revealed their true colors — thanks to images collected by Voyager 2 three decades ago that have been polished with data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Neptune was previously thought to be a dark...

Jan 9, 2024

Wispy ice clouds may form above Venus' hellish surface

Ice clouds may form briefly in Venus' hellish atmosphere, satellite images and computer models suggest. In a study published late last year in the journal Advancing Earth and Space Sciences, researchers found that both water and carbon dioxide could condense into ice particles high in the Venusian atmosphere. These ice...

Jan 10, 2024

Mysterious 'magic' islands that come and go on Saturn's moon Titan finally have an explanation

Saturn's moon Titan may be known for its methane lakes, but it also has magic islands — mysterious bright spots atop the lakes that come and go, with no known explanation. However, a new study, published Jan. 4 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, proposes a surprisingly simple explanation for...

Jan 14, 2024

Which planet is closest to Earth? (Hint: There's more than 1 right answer.)

If you ask an astronomer which planet is closest to Earth, you'd probably expect to get a single, simple answer in response. And if you were paying attention at school, you'd probably be reasonably confident you could guess which one of the seven other planets in our solar system it...

Jan 22, 2024

2-mile-thick layer of frozen water found buried at Mars' equator

A European Space Agency (ESA) probe has found enough water to cover Mars in an ocean between 4.9 and 8.9 feet (1.5 and 2.7 meters) deep, buried in the form of dusty ice beneath the planet's equator. The finding was made by ESA's Mars Express mission, a veteran spacecraft that...