A new image captured by NASA’s Juno Jupiter explorer reveals features in the turbulent atmosphere of the solar system’s largest planet in the same colors a human observer would see them. Juno(opens in new tab) took the image on July 5, 2022, during its 43rd close flyby of Jupiter(opens in new tab) using its JunoCam instrument. The spacecraft … Read more
The James Webb Space Telescope captured mysterious concentric rings around a distant star that astronomers are still working to explain. The image, taken in July, was released on Twitter (opens in new tab) by citizen scientist Judy Schmidt, prompting a torrent of comments and head-scratching. It shows a star (opens in new tab) known as … Read more
All life on Earth owes its existence to the sun’s radiant heat. But what happens when that radiation surges out of control, and billions of tons of charged solar material suddenly barrel our way at thousands of miles a second? What happens when Earth takes a direct hit from a solar flare — and could … Read more
The shell of Jupiter’s famous ice moon may be formed, in part, by pure underwater snow that floats up instead of falling down. A new study, published in the August issue of the journal Astrobiology, finds that Europa’s icy crust might be built partially by “frazil ice,” a fluffy accumulation of ice crystals that also … Read more
Space: the final frontier. The region between our home planet and everything else in the universe is a big unknown — full of untold wonders, celestial objects so big they boggle the mind, and some truly catastrophic events. Here are seven of the most terrifying things in space. Are you ready for a “megacomet”? The … Read more
Gigantic deserts of almost complete nothingness that make up most of the universe may be causing the expansion of the universe to speed up, new research suggests. That means these vast tracts of nothingness could explain dark energy, the mysterious force that seems to be flinging the universe apart. Welcome to the desert Zoom all … Read more
Bright-green fireballs that streaked across the skies over New Zealand last month may finally have an explanation. On July 7, 2022, a bright-green meteor was spotted crashing into Cook Strait between New Zealand’s North Island and South Island. The meteor, likely about 3.3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, struck with explosive power equivalent to 2,000 … Read more
The sun moves in such a predictable way across the sky that you might never suspect that its relationship with Earth is changing all the time. In fact, the average distance between Earth and the sun is not static year over year. So do we know if Earth is getting closer to or farther from … Read more
Scientists can finally explain why some massive stars appear to dance around in the sky even though they are not actually moving: The stars have unusually bubbly guts that cause their surfaces to wobble, thus changing the amount of light they give off, according to a new study. The dancing stars are known as red … Read more
In 2012, a shriveled white star in a nearby galaxy reached the end of its life and exploded in a violent, thermonuclear supernova. Such explosions — known as type 1a supernovas — are a common end for billions of stars in our universe, typically resulting in the utter obliteration of the old star at the … Read more
