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Thousands of stars, including our sun, destined to turn into crystals
Astronomers now have the 1st direct evidence that white dwarf stars form crystal cores. Our sun is destined to become a crystal white dwarf in about 10 billion years.
January 12, 2019
Europe is testing self-driving Mars rovers
Rovers on Mars today are amazing, but slow, and still mostly controlled by humans back on Earth. Europe is testing new self-driving software to help future Mars rovers travel faster and farther each day.
January 11, 2019
Astronomers find the brightest quasar yet
It shines with a brightness equivalent to 600 trillion suns. "We don’t expect to find many quasars brighter than that in the whole observable universe," said the astronomers.
January 10, 2019
New tool reveals ‘missing’ merging galaxies
Astronomers see many breathtaking merging galaxies, with their giant tidal streams of stars and unusual shapes. But some normal-looking galaxies might be merging, too. Now astronomers have a new tool to find out.
January 10, 2019
Probing the magnetar at the center of our galaxy
A new study analyzes pulses of radio waves coming from a magnetar - a rotating, dense, dead star with a strong magnetic field - located near the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way.
January 10, 2019
So long, Iridium flares
And hello, Iridium NEXT. The final launch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites is targeted for January 8, 2019, at 7:48 a.m. PST. Meanwhile, the beloved glints of Iridium flares are disappearing from Earth's night skies.
January 7, 2019
New Juno images of Io’s fiery volcanoes
Jupiter's moon Io is the most volcanically active world in our solar system. The Juno spacecraft - now orbiting Jupiter - has now gazed across a distance to acquire new images and insights about the "fires of Io."
January 6, 2019
Galaxy collision to send solar system flying?
A new computer simulation shows the Large Magellanic Cloud is hurtling toward our galaxy on a collision course. Could the collision knock our solar system out of the Milky Way?
January 6, 2019
Dark matter on the move
New evidence suggests that dark matter - the mysterious stuff that makes up a significant percentage of the universe's mass - can heat up and move around.
January 6, 2019
China’s Chang’e-4 lands on moon’s far side
China’s Chang’e-4 spacecraft set down last night, according to clocks in the Americas. It's a historic event, the first time a spacecraft has landed on the side of the moon we cannot see.
January 3, 2019
