Category: Science

The drill is free at last. NASA‘s Perseverance rover almost had to let go of a precious drill bit on Mars after an attempt to collect a rock sample went awry. For the past week, the car-sized lab on wheels seemed to remain in its location on the rim of …

“I'm willing to fall on my sword.” In the summer of 1995, Robert Williams, then director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, which manages the Hubble Space Telescope‘s research program, was paid two visits by the renowned astronomer John Bahcall, considered one of Hubble’s founding fathers. Bahcall had, in hindsight, a strange request. He urged …

These Milky Way stars are soon-to-be estranged. Astronomers poring through a now-retired space telescope’s data have spotted a bizarre family of fledgling stars breaking all the rules of how they’re expected to behave. The star group, which scientists have recently named Ophion, consists of more than 1,000 stars that formed together but are now <a href="https://me.mashable.com/space/45443/a-star-like-thing-is-flying-1-million-mph-in-space-what-the-heck" …

It's not just churning out stars. Scientists have found an unusual neon glow near the center of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy for the first time. This gas needs an enormous amount of energy to shine — more than normal stars can supply. The discovery, based on data from NASA‘s James Webb …

A dark, silhouetted object. NASA‘s school-bus-sized telescope won’t quit. In what’s become a brilliant investment for scientists and taxpayers alike, the Hubble Space Telescope launched into space 35 years ago, and for decades has returned detailed insights into the universe. In recognition of Hubble’s longevity, NASA and the European …

An extraterrestrial drive. A Martian spacecraft spied a Martian rover rumbling through the red desert. The new image captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — which has orbited Mars since 2006 — shows the space agency’s car-sized Curiosity rover traversing the terrain below as it scales the …

New study uses computers to simulate the Red Planet's past. For the past four years, NASA‘s Perseverance rover has rambled over a region of Mars where scientists say a strong river once emptied into a crater, creating a large delta. But for that to have happened, a lot of water would have …

Here's why astronomers are excited. Astronomers have accidentally found a planet with a debris trail like a comet that stretches up to 5.5 million miles in space. This strange exoplanet, located 140 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Pegasus, appears to be rapidly falling apart. …

“This one is an all-timer.” Earth isn’t as extreme as the sci-fi desert planet Arrakis, of Dune fame. But it still hosts some colossal dust storms. On April 19, two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellites snapped footage of an immense dust storm sweeping across parts of New Mexico, Texas, and …

What happened to the Red Planet's ancient atmosphere? A NASA rover taking rock samples on Mars has uncovered a plentiful mineral that was invisible to orbiters studying the Red Planet from space. Scientists say the discovery of siderite, a type of iron carbonate, could be crucial evidence to support the theory that Mars …