Astronomy

How does water form on exoplanets and what could this mean for the search for life beyond Earth? This is what a recent study published in Nature hopes to address as an international team of scientists investigated the processes responsible for exoplanets producing liquid water. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the conditions for finding life beyond Earth, and specifically which exoplanets could be viable future targets for astrobiology.

NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto has forced astronomers to rewrite their textbooks — but that’s not all: In the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast, space scientist Les Johnson explains how New Horizons forced him to rewrite "Pluto," the final novel in Ben Bova's Grand Tour series.

Black holes are usually described as having an event horizon and a singularity, but there are alternative models that don't have these bothersome mathematical paradoxes.

So where do we go after years of empty searches for dark matter? We haven’t learned nothing.

The uncertainty inherent to quantum mechanics has long left physicists wondering whether the observations we make on the quantum level reflect reality - a new test suggests they do

The uncertainty inherent to quantum mechanics has long left physicists wondering whether the observations we make on the quantum level reflect reality - a new test suggests they do

We now have only the second high-quality genome from an ancient Denisovan human, which reveals there were more populations of this species than we thought

We now have only the second high-quality genome from an ancient Denisovan human, which reveals there were more populations of this species than we thought

A sheet of fabric that is three times stronger than Kevlar could stop a bullet despite being just 1.8 millimetres thick, thanks to the addition of carbon nanotubes that keep its molecules aligned

A sheet of fabric that is three times stronger than Kevlar could stop a bullet despite being just 1.8 millimetres thick, thanks to the addition of carbon nanotubes that keep its molecules aligned

Week in images: 27-31 October 2025

Discover our week through the lens

Existing tools that work out the carbon footprint of flights greatly underestimate their warming impact, say the makers of a new calculator

Existing tools that work out the carbon footprint of flights greatly underestimate their warming impact, say the makers of a new calculator

Rats given a faecal transplant from exuberant toddlers showed more exploratory behaviour, supporting the idea that gut bacteria might affect children’s emotional development

Rats given a faecal transplant from exuberant toddlers showed more exploratory behaviour, supporting the idea that gut bacteria might affect children’s emotional development

From Claire North’s new novel Slow Gods to a 10th anniversary edition of a brilliant Adrian Tchaikovsky book, there’s lots to watch out for in November’s science fiction

From Claire North’s new novel Slow Gods to a 10th anniversary edition of a brilliant Adrian Tchaikovsky book, there’s lots to watch out for in November’s science fiction

Horror movie composers use musical tricks to hijack your nervous system and put you on edge

Video: 00:46:03

What began with tragedy ended in triumph. This is the untold story of the European Space Agency’s pioneering 25-year Cluster mission to study how invisible solar storms impact Earth's environment.

Like a ship in a never-ending storm, Earth is bombarded by swarms of particles ejected from the Sun at supersonic speeds. Most of these solar wind particles are deflected by the magnetosphere and sail harmlessly by, but Earth’s shield is not bulletproof.

Since 2000, Cluster sailed the seas of the Sun and revealed the complexities of the Sun–Earth connection. After two-and-a-half incredibly successful decades in space, ESA took the decision to safely deorbit the four Cluster satellites throughout 2024–2026. The mission officially ended on 8 September 2024.

But a space mission is so much more than science. Experience Cluster’s story as told by the people who lived it: scientists and engineers Arnoud Masson, C. Philippe Escoubet, Gill Watson, Gunther Lautenschläger, Lean-Nani Alconcel, Bruno Sousa, Paulo Ferri, Patrick W. Daly, Mandred Warhaut, Silvia Sanvido and Jolene S. Pickett.

The film was produced by Space Rocks for the European Space Agency. It features an original soundtrack by Karlotta Skagfield and additional music by Bruce Dickinson.

See the film poster

Listen to the podcast series about the film

More information about the film from Space Rocks

Astronomers are hustling to use interplanetary spacecraft to study the interstellar comet dubbed 3I/ATLAS while the sun is hiding it from Earth