Scientists have discovered the strongest evidence yet of a rocky planet with an atmosphere outside the solar system, challenging previous notions that small planets that orbit closely to their stars are unable to sustain a thick blanket of gases. TOI-561 b orbits a 10-billion-year-old star located about 280 light-years from Earth and has a vast […]
Trippy Image From Deep Space Shows Earth and Moon From 180 Million Miles Away
The Psyche spacecraft is on a six-year journey to reach a metal-rich asteroid by the same name. Well into its voyage, the probe looked back at its home planet and captured a rare view of Earth, accompanied by its Moon, as a mere speck engulfed by the dark void of space. NASA’s Psyche mission launched […]
Earth’s Unusual Rapid Spin Could Prompt First-Ever ‘Negative Leap Second’
The Earth has been spinning unusually fast recently. Last year on July 4, our planet set a record by completing a full spin 1.66 milliseconds (0.00166 seconds) faster than usual, according to timeanddate.com. One year later, on July 10, 2025, Earth completed a daily rotation that scientists estimate was 1.36 milliseconds faster than usual, giving […]
A Rogue Star Could Hurl Earth Into Deep Space, Study Warns
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 […]