A pulsar is a special kind of neutron star, which is the ultra-dense leftover core of a massive star. Pulsars emit beams of radiation that sweep out in circles as the pulsar spins. When those beams flash over Earth, we see them as regular, repeating pulses of radio emission. “Pulsars are spectacular objects themselves — … Read more
Researchers may have pinpointed the source of a famous supposed alien broadcast discovered nearly a half century ago. The prominent and still-mysterious Wow! Signal, which briefly blared in a radio telescope the night of Aug. 15, 1977, may have come from a sun-like star located 1,800 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. “The Wow! Signal … Read more
NASA has photographed the crash site of the mysterious rocket that smashed into the far side of the moon in March, and the unidentified spacecraft left behind a weird double crater that has scientists puzzled. Images of the crash site were taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on May 25 and released on June … Read more
Pentagon officials speaking at the first public hearing on UFOs since the 1960s have shown previously classified footage of an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP), a split-second video of a metallic sphere zooming across the flight path of a military jet. The object, captured through the cockpit window of an FA-18 fighter jet in 2021, was … Read more
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and the fifth planet from the sun. The gas giant features beautiful banded cloud layers; a set of thin, dusty rings; the famous Great Red Spot; and dozens of varied moons. How did Jupiter get its name? As the fourth-brightest object in Earth’s sky — after … Read more
Prehistoric giants used to populate the Earth. These behemoths included mighty dinosaurs, airplane-size pterosaurs, massive crocodiles and snakes, and even armadillos the size of cars. But today, there are just a few big animals on our planet. What happened? Why aren’t there many giants left anymore? First of all, there’s plenty of fossil evidence that … Read more
Antarctica’s so-called Doomsday Glacier is losing ice at its fastest rate in 5,500 years, raising concerns about the ice sheet’s future and the possibility of catastrophic sea level rise caused by the frozen continent’s melting ice. The finding comes from a study of prehistoric sea-deposits found on the shores surrounding the “doomsday” Thwaites Glacier and … Read more
A team of Chinese scientists has discovered a giant new sinkhole with a forest at its bottom. The sinkhole is 630 feet (192 meters) deep, according to the Xinhua news agency, deep enough to just swallow St. Louis’ Gateway Arch. A team of speleologists and spelunkers rappelled into the sinkhole on Friday (May 6), discovering that … Read more
If you look at an evolutionary diagram, you can see where Homo sapiens branched off from other primates. You can see where apples branched off from the rest of the rose family. But you won’t see where trees branched off from other plants. That’s because they never did. Trees are not a species, or even … Read more
With its resplendent ring system, Saturn is arguably the most stunning planet in our solar system. Located sixth in line from the sun, it is the second-largest world orbiting the sun, after Jupiter. Though Saturn is famous for its rings, all the other giant planets, including Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, feature ring systems. But Saturn … Read more
