Astronomy

It’s easy to measure the rotation rate of terrestrial planet by tracking surface features but the gas and ice giants pose more of a problem. Instead, previous studies have relied upon indirect measures like measuring the rotation of their magnetic fields. Now a team of astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope to refine the rotation rate of Uranus with an incredible level of accuracy. This time though, instead of studying the rotation of the magnetic field, they tracked aurora to measure one rotation!

We all know that black holes can devour stars. Rip them apart and consume their remnants. But that only happens if a star passes too close to a black hole. What if a star gets close enough to a star to experience strong tidal effects, but not close enough to be immediately devoured? This scenario is considered in a recent paper on the arXiv.

Asteroid 2024 YR4, once a potential Earth threat, likely originated from the main asteroid belt's central region, a surprising origin for Earth-crossing space rocks, a new study finds.

Trump officially nominated Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut to lead NASA, shortly after taking office.

An investigation of the changing behaviour of a single quantum bit through time has uncovered a tantalising similarity to the geometry of three-dimensional space

An investigation of the changing behaviour of a single quantum bit through time has uncovered a tantalising similarity to the geometry of three-dimensional space

Black holes power some of the most energetic phenomena in the known universe, but could they ever power an advanced human civilisation?

Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro says that these are strange times for the space agency.

This March 4, 2020, image shows Deep Space Station 43, a 70-meter-wide (230-feet-wide) radio antenna at NASA’s Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia. The facility celebrated its 60th anniversary on March 19, 2025, while also breaking ground on a new radio antenna. The pair of achievements are major milestones for the network, which communicates with spacecraft all over the solar system using giant dish antennas located at three complexes around the globe.

An extreme protocluster gathering of infant galaxies is hiding a vast cosmic fuel tank that is powering 400 million years of intense star formation.

It’s incredibly tricky to pin down the origin of the language that led to the words spoken everywhere between Spain and India – and it’ll be even harder to be sure we’ve got it right

It’s incredibly tricky to pin down the origin of the language that led to the words spoken everywhere between Spain and India – and it’ll be even harder to be sure we’ve got it right

Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting says the United States military needs orbital weapons in order to be successful if war ever comes to space.

Bangladesh has added its name to the growing list of Artemis Accords signatories, continuing NASA's efforts to establish internationally cooperative space exploration.

Bright yellow tulips make for a striking foreground for the launch of a new crew to the International Space Station.

Unusual rocks on an Icelandic beach were dropped there by icebergs, adding to evidence that an unusually cool period preceded the collapse of the Roman Empire

Unusual rocks on an Icelandic beach were dropped there by icebergs, adding to evidence that an unusually cool period preceded the collapse of the Roman Empire

The most distant and earliest "dead" massive galaxy ever seen shows some galaxies lived fast and died young shortly after the Big Bang.

In 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a report detailing recently-declassified information on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). Since then, the Department of Defense has released annual reports on UAP through the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Nevertheless, there is still a lack of publicly available scientific data on the subject. To address this, a new study led by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and the Galileo Project proposes an All-Sky Infrared Camera to search for potential indications of extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Arriving on Oct 10, 'Tron: Ares' stars Jared Leto and.... wait no come back, the trailer looks good we swear!