Billions of years from now, the Sun will swell into a red giant, swallowing Mercury, Venus, and Earth. But that’s not the only way our planet could meet its demise. A new simulation points to the menacing threat of a passing field star that could cause the planets in the solar system to collide or […]
Huge Impact Crater in Australia Breaks Record for World’s Oldest by Over a Billion Years
Scientists in Australia say they’ve found the world’s oldest impact crater, surpassing the previous record-holder’s age by more than 1.25 billion years. The meteorite impact—in Western Australia’s Pilbara region—dates back 3.5 billion years, while the former record-holding impact crater is just 2.2 billion years old. By far, the Pilbara crater is the oldest known on […]
Astronaut’s Remarkable Image Captures Milky Way Beyond Earth’s Horizon
An astronaut recently captured an image of Earth from the International Space Station that offers an entirely different view of our world and what lies beyond. Astronaut Don Pettit captured the image when the ISS was about 265 miles above the Pacific Ocean on January 29, 2025. The image was taken just before sunrise, so […]
New Asteroid Tops NASA’s Impact Risk Chart, 1.2% Chance of 2032 Collision
2024 YR4 is a newly spotted asteroid with the potential to hit Earth—and its chances of smashing into our planet in 2032 is definitely more than zero. I realize that “definitely more than zero” will cause some disquiet in the comments, so to be specific: There is a 1.2% chance the asteroid hits Earth based […]