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Asteroids are harder to destroy than we thought
What if we learned an asteroid was headed toward Earth? How much energy does it take to destroy an asteroid and break it into pieces? More than we thought, it turns out.
March 4, 2019
An ancient white dwarf star with rings
"This white dwarf is so old that whatever process is feeding material into its rings must operate on billion-year timescales," said one of the scientists involved in the discovery.
March 4, 2019
Planet 9 hypothesis gets a boost
A large, unknown Planet 9 in our solar system continues to elude astronomers. But a new review article in Physics Reports explains why some scientists still think they'll find it.
March 3, 2019
Hubble solves puzzle of Neptune mystery moon
Meet Hippocamp, the smallest known moon of the planet Neptune. Scientists have puzzled over its origin, and over why we see it orbiting where we do. Now, new Hubble data has shed light on these mysteries.
March 2, 2019
Ceres had meltwater reservoirs for millions of years
Life on Ceres, largest body in the asteroid belt? Maybe, at one time. New research points to ancient subsurface reservoirs of salty meltwater that might have lasted millions of years and let life's chemistry begin.
February 28, 2019
Touchdown marks on asteroid Ryugu
A new image from Japan's Hayabusa-2 spacecraft reveals a large, dark, irregular spot where the craft landed on asteroid Ryugu's surface last week.
February 26, 2019
New NASA consortium to study how life began
How did life originate on Earth and, possibly, other worlds in space? A new NASA consortium has the goal of probing one of nature's most perplexing mysteries.
February 26, 2019
Help name 5 new moons of Jupiter
You can help astronomers select names for 5 newly discovered moons of the planet Jupiter. Look here for contest details and how to enter.
February 25, 2019
Astronomers find a nearby river of stars
Researchers used Gaia data to find a stellar stream of at least 4,000 stars that have been moving together in space since they formed, about a billion years ago.
February 24, 2019
Weird hexagonal dune field seen on Mars
Mars has sand dunes, as Earth does. But now, NASA's Odyssey orbiter has revealed something odd: a large dune field shaped roughly like a hexagon. The finding is expected to provide more clues as to how dunes form in Martian winds.
February 22, 2019
