Astronomers have discovered an exciting new “sungrazing” comet that will have a perilously close encounter with our home star in less than two months. Some experts predict the hefty ice ball could become bright enough to be visible to the naked eye, even in daylight — but only if the comet survives its deadly solar
Refresh 2026-02-10T11:05:39.176Z One week to go! We’re ready, are you? (Image credit: Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images) We’re just one week away from the first solar eclipse of 2026! Here’s what you need to know before a dramatic “ring of fire” annular eclipse darkens the sky over Antarctica on Feb. 17, likely confusing millions of
Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a new method that makes it possible to predict how irregularly shaped nanoparticles move through the air. These particles are a major category of air pollution and have long been difficult to model accurately. The new approach is the first that is both simple and predictive, allowing
A massive underwater canyon system in the North Atlantic, stretching over 500 kilometers, has baffled scientists for years. The King’s Trough Complex, a colossal and dramatic feature, was long thought to have been shaped by erosion, just like land-based canyons. But a surprising new study is challenging that assumption. This massive trench system, stretching more
In the early 1960s, Dutch astronomer Adriaan Blaauw observed stars moving at unusually high speeds moving through the Milky Way. These stars, as it turned out, were unbound objects that had been kicked out of the Milky Way and periodically looped back and forth through the disk. Blaauw proposed that these stars originated in binary
Europa has long stood out as a prime place to search for life beyond Earth, thanks to the global ocean hidden beneath its cracked ice shell. But water alone is not enough – life also needs energy. A new modeling study suggests that energy may be scarce at Europa’s seafloor. The researchers found that the
NASA and SpaceX are ready to send a new crew to the International Space Station (ISS) as soon as this week, pending the weather. On Monday (Feb. 9), mission managers adjusted their target date for the Crew-12 launch by at least a day due to a forecast of poor weather conditions on Wednesday (Feb. 11).
Known non-biological sources, from meteorites to surface chemistry, fall short of accounting for organic compounds detected by NASA’s Curiosity rover, according to a new study published in the journal Astrobiology. This graphic shows the long-chain organic molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane, and NASA’s Curiosity rover. Image credit: NASA / Dan Gallagher. In 2025, planetary scientists
Scientists analyzing decades-old data from NASA’s Magellan mission say they have identified what appears to be a vast underground tunnel carved by volcanic activity on Venus. If confirmed, the structure would mark only the second time a lava tube has been reported on Venus, adding to similar discoveries on the moon and Mars. The finding
Exotic states of matter known as time crystals are largely considered a quantum phenomenon. Now, a team from New York University (NYU) has shown that a classical time crystal can emerge in a far simpler way – using nothing but speakers and styrofoam. This system might not just be an extraordinarily clean example of a