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Asteroid strike simulation blasts New York City
It seems like play, but they're serious. Every year, at the Planetary Defense Conference, asteroid experts from around the globe run days-long simulations of asteroids headed for major cities. In 2019, it was New York City's turn.
May 13, 2019
What Mars’ giant dust storm taught us
Before we send people to Mars, we need to understand more about how Martian dust could affect astronauts and their equipment. Here are 3 things we’ve learned from the planet’s 2018 global dust storm.
May 12, 2019
Star formation burst created 50% of Milky Way disk stars
Analysis of data from the Gaia satellite shows a powerful burst of star formation - a stellar baby boom - in our Milky Way galaxy 2 to 3 billion years ago. This single burst might have created half the stars in the galaxy's flat disk.
May 10, 2019
India aims for 1st landing near moon’s south pole
The moon's south pole has never been explored from the ground, but India's new Chandrayaan-2 mission will attempt a 1st-ever landing there, with a rover, this September.
May 10, 2019
Unfathomably deep oceans on alien water worlds?
Distant water exoplanets might have oceans thousands of miles deep. That's in contrast to Earth's ocean, which is about 6.8 miles (about 11 km) deep at its deepest point.
May 9, 2019
Was moon created from proto-Earth magma?
A new study suggests that our moon formed from a splash of magma when a large object crashed into a proto-Earth covered in a fiery ocean.
May 9, 2019
Why Pluto is losing atmosphere: Winter is coming
Pluto's orbit is very elongated. Right now, it's in a part of its orbit where its distance from the sun is steadily increasing. That fact is devastating its atmosphere.
May 8, 2019
Researchers find water in samples from asteroid
Researchers have discovered water in tiny dust particles from asteroid Itokawa. Japan's Hayabusa spacecraft brought the asteroid dust to Earth in 2010.
May 8, 2019
Today in science: Neil Armstrong’s close call
On May 6, 1968 - more than a year before his famous first moonwalk - Neil Armstrong narrowly escaped disaster during a training exercise, at the same time demonstrating the right stuff.
May 6, 2019
Beetles steer by the Milky Way
When dung beetles grab a prized bit of food, they hurry off in a straight line. To be able to do this, they have to be able to see the stars.
May 6, 2019
