Astronomy

Culture editor Alison Flood rounds up the New Scientist Book Club’s thoughts on our latest read, the science fiction classic Ringworld by Larry Niven

Culture editor Alison Flood rounds up the New Scientist Book Club’s thoughts on our latest read, the science fiction classic Ringworld by Larry Niven

In this short extract from Kaliane Bradley's sci-fi novel, her protagonist makes a startling discovery about the nature of time

In this short extract from Kaliane Bradley's sci-fi novel, her protagonist makes a startling discovery about the nature of time

The Ministry of Time author Kaliane Bradley on how she made time travel work in her bestselling novel, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club

The Ministry of Time author Kaliane Bradley on how she made time travel work in her bestselling novel, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club

The deadline to apply for ESA’s Junior Professional Programme (JPP) is fast approaching, with applications closing on 5 June. The JPP is a unique opportunity for recent graduates and early-career professionals to gain hands-on experience at one of the world’s leading space organisations. Successful candidates will work on real ESA projects alongside experienced experts in fields ranging from engineering and science to business and administration. If you are ready to take the first step towards a future in space, don’t miss this opportunity. Submit your application before the 5 June deadline. 

SpaceX launched an advanced GPS satellite for the U.S. Space Force today (May 30), less than three months after getting the official go-ahead.

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission shows us a rare, cloud-free view of Iceland captured on 17 May 2025.

In a universe of a billion galaxies, Earth is the world known to have life. If we're a common example of what happens in the Universe, then our location can tell us something about habitability. A new study is about to flip everything we thought we knew about habitability on its head, examining the potential for life in exotic environments, such as rogue planets, water worlds, and tidally locked planets, and calculate how habitable they would be compared to Earth. As we learn more about these other worlds, if they are more habitable, it can give new predictions.

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For half a century, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been serving Europe as its space agency and inspiring its citizens. On 30 May 1975, the ESA Convention was signed by 10 founding Member States and has since now expanded to 23 Member States, three Associate Members, four Cooperating States and a Cooperation Agreement with Canada. This anniversary year provides the opportunity to reflect not only on ESA’s past achievements, but even more so on its future perspectives.

Just when astronomers think they're starting to understand stellar activity, something strange grabs their attention. That's the case with a newly discovered stellar object called ASKAP J1832-0911. It lies about 15,000 light-years from Earth and belongs to a class of stellar objects called "long-period radio transients." That means it emits radio waves that vary in their intensity on a schedule of only 44 minutes per cycle. It does the same thing in X-ray intensities, which is the first time anybody's seen such a thing coupled with long-period radio transits.

Sixteen of 19 astronaut candidates named on May 29, 1980, and two European trainees as payload specialists pose for photographers in the briefing room in the public affairs facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

A supernova remnant (SNR) discovered by astrophysicist Miroslav Filipović of Western Sydney University displays an astonishingly spherical shape.

Tiny bone fragments from Alaska suggest birds started breeding and nesting in the Arctic 30 million years earlier than previously thought

Tiny bone fragments from Alaska suggest birds started breeding and nesting in the Arctic 30 million years earlier than previously thought

The history books say Europeans brought leprosy to the Americas, but analysis of ancient DNA reveals that a form of the disease was present in Argentina and Canada much earlier

The history books say Europeans brought leprosy to the Americas, but analysis of ancient DNA reveals that a form of the disease was present in Argentina and Canada much earlier

SpaceX is targeting a whopping 170 orbital liftoffs in 2025, which would shatter the record the company set just last year.

We've been gazing at the Moon for a long time, yet it's still mysterious. We've sent numerous orbiters and landers to our satellite, and even brought some of it back to our labs. Those rocks only presented more mysteries, in some ways. Lunar rocks are magnetic, yet the Moon doesn't have a magnetosphere. How did this happen?