For those who enjoy viewing the night sky, a unique opportunity is just around the corner late this month. Six planets in the solar system are going to align in the western sky just after sunset. Those planets will include Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The latter two planets, Uranus and Neptune, will
The arrival of 3I/ATLAS in our solar system spawned multiple proposals for a rendezvous mission to study it up close. As the third interstellar object (ISO) ever detected, the wealth of information direct studies could provide would be groundbreaking in many respects. However, the mission architecture for intercepting an interstellar comet poses numerous significant challenges
A newly discovered fossil marine lizard withrazor-sharp teeth is offering scientists a rare glimpse into life at the very end of the dinosaur age. Called Khinjaria acuta, this fierce predator roamed the waters off what is now Morocco about 66 million years ago, and its remains reveal an ocean packed with massive hunters, nothing like
Immediately after the Big Bang boomed, the Universe was a trillion-degree ‘soup‘ of unimaginably dense plasma. In a breakthrough experiment, researchers have found the first evidence that this exotic primordial goo did actually slosh and swirl like soup. In slightly more scientific terms, this gooey soup is called quark-gluon plasma, or QGP. It was the
Some dinosaurs were scaly, some were covered in bony plates of armor, and others were even feathered. But now paleontologists have discovered a new species with a type of skin covering that’s never been seen in dinosaurs before: hollow spikes. Discovered in northeastern China, the new species has been named Haolong dongi. That means “spiny
A day after NASA said it was eyeing a potential March 6 launch date for the Artemis II lunar mission, the space agency now says new complications could derail all of the March launch dates. The rocket, seen here at the Kennedy Space Center launch pad on Friday, may need to be rolled back to
A remarkable discovery in Germany has uncovered fossilized vomit, or regurgitalite, dating back 290 million years, older than the dinosaurs themselves. Found at the Bromacker site, this rare specimen provides a snapshot of life during the Permian period. While fossilized vomit may seem like an odd subject of study, it is a valuable find in
The helium system on the SLS upper stage—officially known as the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS)—performed well during both of the Artemis II countdown rehearsals. “Last evening, the team was unable to get helium flow through the vehicle. This occurred during a routine operation to repressurize the system,” Isaacman wrote. The Space Launch System rocket
Arrokoth is a reddish, snowman-shaped asteroid in the Kuiper Belt and the most distant object explored by a spacecraft. You don’t need to be an astrophysicist to assume the asteroid formed via a slow, gentle collision—but the detailed physics involved aren’t that simple. Astronomers had long struggled to fully explain the exact physical mechanism behind
Off the coast of Western Australia, the Southern Indian Ocean is becoming significantly less salty, and scientists say it’s happening at a rate never seen before. This rapid freshening has raised alarms about its potential effects on global ocean circulation and marine ecosystems. While this may sound like a distant concern, the changes unfolding in