Scientists caught Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus spraying a “huge plume” of watery vapor far into space — and that plume likely contains many of the chemical ingredients for life. Scientists detailed the eruption — glimpsed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in November 2022 — at a conference at the Space Telescope Science Institute … Read more
Rest easy: Earth probably won’t be creamed by a killer asteroid in the next 1,000 years. New research accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal and available on the preprint server arXiv.org finds that none of the kilometer-wide (0.6 mile) asteroids that travel near Earth are likely to hit the planet in the next millennium. … Read more
If intelligent aliens are searching for other advanced lifeforms in the galaxy, our cell phone towers could be the beacons that give Earthlings away. New research suggests that advanced aliens in nearby star systems could probably already detect radio signals from cell phone towers. And as these signals become more powerful, humanity’s calling card will … Read more
High-definition radar satellites have revealed more than 19,000 undersea volcanoes around our planet, providing scientists with the most comprehensive catalog of seamounts ever created. The new compendium, which was published April 6 in the journal Earth and Space Science, could provide a better understanding of ocean currents, plate tectonics and climate change. Prior to this, … Read more
After more than a year together on the Red Planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover and its hitchhiking “pet rock” have finally parted ways. The stone had been lodged in one of the rover’s wheels for more than half of its mission on Mars. Perseverance accidentally picked up the pet rock in its front left wheel on … Read more
Holes spewing warm fluids from the boundary between tectonic plates have been discovered at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Oregon. Researchers think this strange, never-before-seen phenomenon, dubbed Pythia’s Oasis after an ancient Greek priestess, could provide insight into earthquake risk along the dangerous fault — although exactly how it affects the … Read more
Deserts can take many forms — including sweeping sand dunes, rocky canyons, sagebrush steppes and polar ice fields. But they’re united by one thing: a lack of rainfall. Generally speaking, anywhere that gets less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain a year counts as a desert, said Lynn Fenstermaker, an ecologist at the Desert … Read more
The moon’s orbit around Earth appears so regular that civilizations have based the month on lunar motion for thousands of years. However, the moon is actually creeping slowly away from Earth. So will Earth lose its moon at some point? Scientists determined the rate at which the moon is drifting away from Earth with help … Read more
An ethereal whirlpool of light recently appeared in the night sky above Alaska, briefly stealing the limelight from a strong auroral display. But the bizarre, spiral-shaped object had nothing to do with the dancing polar lights. Instead, the luminous vortex was just the latest example of what astronomers have nicknamed “SpaceX spirals,” which are becoming … Read more
Gravity can turn itself into light, but only if space-time behaves in just the right way, a research team has found. Under normal circumstances, you cannot get something from nothing. Specifically, the Standard Model of particle physics, the reigning theory that explains the subatomic zoo of particles, usually forbids the transformation of massless particles into … Read more
