Astronomy

Shri rapax, known from a fossil found in Mongolia, had strong hands and teeth which may have helped it tackle much larger dinosaurs

A declaration of dissent from past and present NASA employees warns that science and safety are at risk and joins similar documents from staff at other federal science agencies

If astronomers can find ancient, pristine galaxies with no metals, they will confirm our understanding of the Big Bang. Those galaxies have proven elusive, but a team of astronomers think they've found one. It may be the first Population 3 galaxy.

We’re getting better views of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS, as it makes its speedy passage through the inner solar system. This week, astronomers at the Gemini North observatory located on Mauna Kea in Hawai’i turned the facility’s enormous 8.1-meter telescope on the object, with amazing results.

Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope have discovered a new object in the Kuiper Belt, beyond the orbit of Pluto. Designated 2023 KQ14, it's categorized as a "sednoid," with an extremely eccentric orbit - only the 4th ever discovered. Its orbit is much different from other sednoids, which challenges the hypothesis that Planet Nine could be aligning their orbits. It was found at 72 AU, but its path takes it all the way out to 438 AU, taking almost 4,000 years to complete one orbit.

There’s a good reason for sky watchers to set their alarms this coming Sunday morning. If skies are clear, viewers across most of North America will have a rare chance to see the waning crescent Moon occult (pass in front of) the Pleiades open star cluster.

There are plenty of engineering challenges facing space exploration missions, most of which are specific to their missions objectives. However, there are some that are more universal, especially regarding electronics. A new paper primarily written by a group of American students temporarily studying at Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieria in Madrid, attempts to lay out plans to tackle several of those challenges for a variety of mission architectures.

Astronomers have found a young star bathing a planet in intense X-ray radiation, wearing it away at a rapid rate. The planet is Jupiter-sized and orbits its red dwarf star at a fifth the distance from Mercury to the Sun. It's only 8 million years old, and researchers estimate that within a billion years, it will lose its entire atmosphere, going from 17 Earth masses down to just 2 Earth masses. They estimate that it's losing an Earth's atmosphere worth of mass every 200 years.

The long-serving space telescope saw the third interloper to enter the solar system from beyond its limits late on Monday morning (July 21).

A hormone-free pill, called YCT-529, that temporarily stops sperm production by blocking a vitamin A metabolite has just concluded its first safety trial in humans, getting a step closer to increasing male contraceptive options

People who follow a gluten-free diet in the hope of it calming their irritable bowel syndrome may actually be able to tolerate the common dietary protein

People who follow a gluten-free diet in the hope of it calming their irritable bowel syndrome may actually be able to tolerate the common dietary protein

SpaceX aborted the planned launch of two of SES' O3b mPOWER communications satellites just before liftoff on Monday evening (July 21). The company will try again tomorrow (July 22).

New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are painting a new picture of Jupiter's moon Europa and revealing the hidden chemistry of the icy moon's interior.

Farms commonly spread crushed limestone on fields to make the soil less acidic – and this practice can also help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Farms commonly spread crushed limestone on fields to make the soil less acidic – and this practice can also help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

Our expert travel guide to the 2026 total solar eclipse in Greenland, Iceland and Spain is packed with insider tips, travel advice and skywatching secrets from seasoned eclipse chasers.

What's happened in Hebes Chasma on Mars?

U.K. scientists plan to send a small spacecraft to the moon's far side to detect faint radio signals emitted shortly after the Big Bang.

Optimists have similar patterns of brain activation when they think about the future—but pessimists are all different from one another, a brain scan study suggests