Science

The search for a rocky world swaddled in a protective atmosphere somewhere else in space has eluded scientists, but the James Webb Space Telescope has found a strong case. Webb, the leading infrared observatory run by NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies, has taken a closer look at super-Earth 55 Cancri e, an...

When Venus formed billions of years ago, the planet probably had about as much water as Earth. Thick carbon dioxide clouds in Venus’ atmosphere trap heat, making it the hottest planet in the solar system, despite it being farther from the sun in space than Mercury. The runaway greenhouse effect has raised the planet’s temperature...

The James Webb Space Telescope has detected the farthest supermassive black hole yet — a space vortex so far from home, it’s in one of the first galaxies of the universe.  Black holes were little more than a theory 50 years ago — a kooky mathematical answer to a physics problem — but even astronomers...

Two astronauts are getting ready to fly a new spaceship built by Boeing, making this only the sixth time in history that NASA has flown a new passenger-grade spacecraft. The pair, Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, are seasoned Navy test pilots who have each spent six months in space. They are expected to...

It’s May and it’s getting warm (in the Northern Hemisphere). At a time like this, the Eta Aquarid meteor shower is a great excuse to look up at the night sky. This year’s shower peaks close to the new moon — the opposite of a full moon — which is ideal. Dark skies mean better...

If someone had told NASA a decade ago that SpaceX would build a new ride for astronauts to get to the International Space Station before Boeing, the space agency might have laughed that person out of the room.  NASA contracted both companies in 2014 to make spaceships. SpaceX, considered a startup at the time, not...

After a recent rough landing, the damaged Ingenuity helicopter can’t fly again. Now, NASA’s Perseverance rover has spotted the grounded extraterrestrial chopper sitting alone in a valley on Mars. The NASA imagery below, processed and enhanced by the geovisual designer Simeon Schmauß, underscores the desolation of profoundly arid Mars, a desert planet that’s largely lost...

A NASA telescope orbiting our planet has spotted an intriguing super-Earth — a world some 30 to 70 percent bigger than Earth. This rocky planet is in another solar system 137 light-years away, which in the vastness of space is considered relatively close (a light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles). The exoplanet, called TOI-715 b,...

Behold the volcano-blanketed moon, Io. After swooping by Jupiter’s tortured moon on Feb. 3, NASA‘s Juno spacecraft beamed back some of the closest-ever images of this unique world. The agency’s deep space probe came within just 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of Io, following a similar pass just over a month ago. Planetary scientists hope these...

The nation is abuzz with questions about the Super Bowl and, it seems, foremost among them is: Will Taylor Swift be able to get to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl on Feb. 11 after performing in Tokyo on Feb. 10? The answer is pretty simple: Swift has a private jet, so yes.  You likely...