Sign Up for Our Amazing Newsletter!
A daily update by email. Science news, great photos, sky alerts.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Posts by
Deborah Byrd
Giant planets and comets battle in planet-forming disk
A study of dust in the disk around the star HD 163296 suggests we're glimpsing a gravitational interaction between giant planets and much-smaller objects, the future asteroids and comets of this newly forming solar system.
May 28, 2019
Tiny dips in star brightnesses reveal 3 exocomets
It's amazing we can detect comets in distant solar systems at all! These are the first 3 exocomets found in data gathered by TESS, NASA's newest planet-hunter. The comets orbit the famous star Beta Pictoris.
May 26, 2019
Stolen comets and free-floating objects
What happens when young stars brush past each other? A lot, according to a new study suggesting our solar system contains comets stolen from another star 4.5 billion years ago.
May 26, 2019
Wow! The SpaceX Starlink satellite train
"Here is the video I shot, be prepared to be mind-blown!" Marco Langbroek wrote on his website SatTrackCam Leiden (b)log, where he shared an amazing capture of dozens of SpaceX Starlink internet satellites chugging along, in a straight line, across the heavens.
May 25, 2019
The Crow and the Southern Cross
The constellations Corvus the Crow and Crux the Southern Cross cross the sky together, and reach their highest point in the sky at about the same time. Here's a photo from Dr Ski in the Philippines, showing their relationship.
May 23, 2019
Why the moon’s near and far sides look different
New research suggests that a wayward dwarf planet collided with the moon in the early history of the solar system, causing the stark difference between the moon’s heavily-cratered far side and the lower-lying open basins of its near side.
May 22, 2019
What Chang’e 4 learned from the moon’s far side
Early results from China's historic 1st landing on the moon's far side. Chinese scientists have used in situ data from a far side crater to identify materials on the moon's surface that originated deeper inside the moon.
May 22, 2019
Close encounter sets galaxy ablaze with new stars
A cosmic collision in action. Read more about what happens when 2 galaxies sideswipe each other.
May 20, 2019
Bound for Mars in 2020
The spacecraft for NASA's next Mars mission - Mars 2020 - is really beginning to take shape now. Here's the complete cruise stage, suspended in a cleanroom at JPL. It'll power and guide the spacecraft on its 7-month voyage to Mars.
May 19, 2019
Waxing moon with Golden Handle
Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe, caught this photo of a waxing moon, setting, with what's called a Golden Handle (the curved feature at top right, jutting up along the line between light and dark on the moon).
May 18, 2019
