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No big planets at Alpha Centauri, but maybe small ones
"Because Alpha Centauri is so close, it's our first stop outside our solar system. There are almost certain to be small, rocky planets around Alpha Centauri A and B."
December 18, 2017
Opportunity rover on Mars still going strong after 14 years
Opportunity has been exploring Mars for 14 years. It and its solar panels recently survived the winter darkness in its location and are now facing a possible planet-wide dust storm in 2018.
December 18, 2017
Astronomers spot primordial galaxies swimming in dark matter
Astronomers thought the 1st galaxies would be small. Now they've spotted 2 giant galaxies from when the universe was only 5% of its current age.
December 16, 2017
IAU approves 86 more star names
"These professional astronomers are claiming the exclusive right to give 'approved' names to the stars. But the stars - and the sky - belong to all of us."
December 15, 2017
Juno probes depths of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
Juno spacecraft data show the Great Red Spot - nearly 1.5 Earths wide - with roots penetrating some 200 miles (300 km) into Jupiter's atmosphere.
December 14, 2017
How to see rock-comet 3200 Phaethon
You can't see 3200 Phaethon - parent of the Geminid meteor shower and a strange asteroid-comet hybrid - with the eye alone. But backyard telescopes can pick it up. Charts and more here.
December 13, 2017
Astronomers chart galaxy orbits in our Local Supercluster
"For the first time, we are not only visualizing the detailed structure of our Local Supercluster of galaxies, but we are also seeing how the structure developed over the history of the universe."
December 12, 2017
Giant black hole at cosmic dawn
Meet J1342+0928, now the most distant quasar yet known, containing the most-distant-yet supermassive black hole. Both exist at a time just 690 million years after the Big Bang.
December 6, 2017
Are alien microbes hitching a ride on the International Space Station?
Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov found the bacteria in samples swabbed from outside surfaces of ISS. They weren't present at launch. Where did they come from?
December 5, 2017
