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Is bright Comet ATLAS disintegrating?
Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) has been fainter during the last few nights. It's possible it's disintegrating (as comets sometimes do). Details here.
April 8, 2020
Was Mercury once habitable?
As unlikely as it may sound, Mercury may have once been able to support subsurface microscopic life, according to a new study from the Planetary Science Institute.
April 5, 2020
What is dark energy?
Dark energy is one of the great unsolved mysteries of cosmology. It's now thought to make up 68% of everything in the universe.
March 31, 2020
Astronomers announce 100 new minor planets beyond Neptune
They're called trans-Neptunian objects, or TNOs. Astronomers analyzed data from the Dark Energy Survey - which just completed 6 years of observations - to find over 100 new little worlds in the cold outer reaches of our solar system.
March 29, 2020
Quasar tsunamis rip across galaxies
Astronomers using the Hubble Telescope found that the region around a quasar's black hole pushes out material at a few percent the speed of light. These quasar tsunamis wreak havoc on the galaxies in which the quasars live.
March 27, 2020
Will we soon see potentially habitable exoplanets more clearly?
Because stars are so much brighter than their planets, we've barely begun to glimpse distant exoplanets, or planets orbiting distant stars. Now a new technology promises to provide better imaging of these potentially habitable exoworlds.
March 27, 2020
See Curiosity’s epic new selfie from Mars
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has taken a beautiful new selfie.
March 26, 2020
Meet the giant exoplanet where it rains iron
The temperatures on the day side of giant exoplanet WASP-76b are scorching, high enough for metals to be vaporized. But the night side is cooler, and winds carry an iron "rain" from the day side to the night side.
March 21, 2020
What’s cool about Curiosity’s discovery of organic molecules on Mars
The Curiosity rover has found organic molecules called thiophenes, which, on Earth, are associated with biological systems. Are they evidence for once-living microbes on Mars?
March 19, 2020
Have the first proteins been found in meteorites?
Researchers say they've discovered the first complete proteins inside 2 meteorites. It's tantalizing, since proteins play a key role in the cells of living creatures. But will the results hold up to scrutiny?
March 17, 2020
