Astronomy

Scientists Used the Stars to Confirm When a Famous Sapphic Poem Was Written

Scientists from the University of Texas at Arlington used planetarium software to recreate the night sky of ancient Greece, the better to peg the date when lyric poet Sappho penned one of her most famous verses. They describe their findings in a new paper in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. “This is an…

Tech News Jennifer Ouellette

This Four-Planet System Features One of the Coolest Orbital Arrangements We’ve Ever Seen

Like snowflakes, no two planetary systems are the same. Astronomers have now observed one of the most unique planetary arrangements ever seen: four miniature Neptunes locked in perfect synch with each other—and it’s been like this for billions of years. Astronomers discovered the Kepler-223 star system several years ago using the Kepler Space Telescope, at…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Kepler Has Nearly Doubled the Number of Confirmed Exoplanets in Our Galaxy

Wait, you thought the Kepler Space Telescope was dead? Think again. Today, NASA’s Kepler team announced the discovery of a whopping 1,284 new planets—the largest number of exoplanets ever reported at once. Kepler’s latest haul nearly doubles the number of confirmed planets beyond our solar system, bringing the total to roughly 3,200. From 2009 to…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Teen Discovers Lost Maya City Using Ancient Star Maps [Updated]

Using an unprecedented technique of matching stars to the locations of temples on Earth, a 15-year-old Canadian student says he’s discovered a forgotten Maya city in Mexico. Images from space suggest he may actually be onto something—but experts say it’s something much simpler. William Gadoury, a teen from Saint-Jean-de-Matha in Lanaudière, developed an interest in…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Flawed Data Just Made That ‘Alien Megastructure’ Even More Unlikely

Remember all that fuss last year about the supposed discovery of an alien megastructure? A new study is taking issue with some of the data used in support of the theory, claiming that the observations were tarnished by the inconsistent use of telescopes down here on Earth. As you may remember, star KIC 8462852, also…

Tech News George Dvorsky

Planet Nine Just Got Weirder

If Planet 9 exists, it’s been through one hell of an ordeal. That’s the takeaway from a series of new studies that ask how in the name of Uranus a planet could have gotten itself into such a whacked-out orbit. This in turn might help explain the unlikely orbits of half a dozen Kuiper Belt…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

This Tiny Star Is Now the Best Place to Hunt for Alien Life

In a few years, powerful new telescopes will usher in a search for habitable worlds outside our solar system. And TRAPPIST-1—a dim, tepid star just a smidge larger than Jupiter—is one of the first places we’ll look. It’s only forty light years away, and it’s home to several promising, Earth-sized exoplanets. Three siblings, described today…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

This Stunning Map of Pluto’s Frozen Landscape Is the Most Complete Yet

It’s been eight months since New Horizons made its historic flyby of Pluto, but data keeps on trickling in from the intrepid space probe. Scientists have now produced a new composite map, creating the sharpest and most detailed look at the dwarf planet yet. The updated black-and-white global map of Pluto includes all resolved images…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

A Mysterious Object From Earth’s Distant Past Has Returned

A first-of-its-kind space rock filled with pristine material from the formation of the Earth itself has returned to the inner solar system, after billions of years in the cosmic boondocks. And it could help us piece together our planet’s origin story. Four and a half billion years ago, chunks of the same material that formed…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Distant Dwarf Planet Makemake Has Its Very Own Moon

Researchers working with the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a moon in orbit around Makemake, a distant minor-planet that’s about two-thirds the size of Pluto. Discovered in 2005, Makemake (pronounced mak-eh, mak-eh) is one of the brightest and largest objects in the Kuiper Belt. It’s one of several large trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) known to astronomers,…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

Four Laser Beams Will Create the World’s Most Powerful Fake Stars

Set lasers to star mode. The European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile now has four powerful laser beams with which to create artificial stars in the night sky. Engineers at the observatory have been testing the system since last September. The first successful use of the lasers yesterday marked the brith of the most…

Tech News Attila Nagy

A Dozen Black Holes Are Mysteriously Spewing Energy In the Same Direction

Something strange is going on in a distant corner of our universe. About a dozen supermassive black holes are all shooting enormous jets of energy in roughly the same direction. It could be a cosmic coincidence—but some astronomers suspect there are larger forces at play. Supermassive black holes, which are found at the center of…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

The Kepler Space Telescope Is Alive Again After Scaring the Hell Out of Everyone

After causing a minor panic when it went into Emergency Mode two weeks ago, the Kepler Space Telescope is back to doing science. As of 11:30 ET today, it’s continuing the search for planets beyond our solar system. Kepler is the most productive exoplanet-hunting machine humans have ever built, but it also has a history…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Breathtaking Visualization of the Universe Will Make You Feel Like an Ant

On the grandest scale, our universe is a network of galaxies tied together by the force of gravity. Cosmic Web, a new effort led by cosmologists and designers at Northeastern’s Center for Complex Network Research, offers a roadmap toward understanding how all of those tremendous clusters of stars connect—and the visualizations are stunning. The images…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 26th Birthday With Some Spectacular New Space Porn

What better way to celebrate Hubble’s 26th birthday than by releasing a gorgeous new photo taken by the intrepid space telescope. Behold the Bubble Nebula, a massive expanse of gas and dust located 8,000 light-years from Earth. The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed to Low Earth Orbit on April 25, 1990 by the Space Shuttle…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky

The Ghost of a Long-Dead Star Still Haunts Our Solar System

A few million years ago, humans’ ancestors might have gazed in wonder at a strange, brilliant blue spot in the night sky. It was the aftermath of an epic stellar explosion, maybe two. Had these supernovae occurred a little closer to home, life on Earth would have been toast. Obviously, things didn’t go down that…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

This Sky Map Was Created Using a Telescope Made From Water

You can look at the night sky in plenty of ways—but you might be surprised to learn that using gigantic drums of water is surprisingly effective, too, creating maps of the sky like this. The High Altitude Water Cherenko Gamma-Ray Observatory sits 13,500 feet above sea level on the slopes of Mexico’s Volcán Sierra Negra.…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Hawking’s Interstellar Starship Would Revolutionize the Search for Alien Life

Yesterday, Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner made the mind-blowing announcement that they want to build a fleet of interstellar spacecraft that can travel at relativistic speeds—up to 20 percent the speed of light. But it’s not just about reaching our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, although that is the new Breakthrough project’s moonshot. The technology…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Stephen Hawking and a Russian Billionaire Want to Build an Interstellar Starship

Last year, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence got a major boost when Russian billionaire Yuri Milner unveiled a $100 million effort to scan the skies for radio and light signals emitted by aliens. Not content to simply sit tight and wait for ET to hail us, Milner now plans to build interstellar spacecraft. Yes, you…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Astronomers Found Evidence for Exoplanets 100 Years Ago and Didn’t Know It

University archives are treasure troves of historic information, but it’s not every day they produce scientific discoveries. But now, a 1917 astronomical glass plate from the Cargenie Observatory’s collection is offering the oldest evidence for a planet orbiting another star—besting the first confirmed exoplanet detection by more than 70 years. It all started about a…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

Scientists Used the Stars to Confirm When a Famous Sapphic Poem Was Written

This Four-Planet System Features One of the Coolest Orbital Arrangements We’ve Ever Seen

Kepler Has Nearly Doubled the Number of Confirmed Exoplanets in Our Galaxy

Teen Discovers Lost Maya City Using Ancient Star Maps [Updated]

Flawed Data Just Made That ‘Alien Megastructure’ Even More Unlikely

Planet Nine Just Got Weirder

This Tiny Star Is Now the Best Place to Hunt for Alien Life

This Stunning Map of Pluto’s Frozen Landscape Is the Most Complete Yet

A Mysterious Object From Earth’s Distant Past Has Returned

Distant Dwarf Planet Makemake Has Its Very Own Moon

Four Laser Beams Will Create the World’s Most Powerful Fake Stars

A Dozen Black Holes Are Mysteriously Spewing Energy In the Same Direction

The Kepler Space Telescope Is Alive Again After Scaring the Hell Out of Everyone

Breathtaking Visualization of the Universe Will Make You Feel Like an Ant

NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 26th Birthday With Some Spectacular New Space Porn

The Ghost of a Long-Dead Star Still Haunts Our Solar System

This Sky Map Was Created Using a Telescope Made From Water

Hawking’s Interstellar Starship Would Revolutionize the Search for Alien Life

Stephen Hawking and a Russian Billionaire Want to Build an Interstellar Starship

Astronomers Found Evidence for Exoplanets 100 Years Ago and Didn’t Know It

Roku’s 2025 Streaming Stick HD Is 40% Off to Compete With Amazon Fire TV Stick During Spring Sale

Epstein Victims Sue Google, Claim AI Mode Exposed Personal Information

‘Wicked Spot’ Is a Fun, Sapphic Rom-Com That Yeets a Witch Into the Magical World of Influencer Culture

Anthropic and OpenAI Just Gave Us a Glimpse Into the Future of Model Pricing

Amazon Slashes 63% Off Acer Aspire Desktop for a Limited-Time Spring Sale, With Keyboard and Mouse Included

Smart Glasses Now Have One of the Vision Pro’s Best Features

Marvel Just Put ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 in a Very Weird Place in the MCU Timeline

Trump Drops $1B to Kill 2 Wind Farms, Then Watches a Bigger One Go Online

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

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Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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