If proto-Earth had all its parts and chemistry replaced to become the Earth we know today, can the two still be considered the same planet? That’s the planetary version of Theseus’s Paradox, an old philosophical puzzle about identity and perception. The popular consensus until recently was that Earth’s chemistry changed completely after a giant meteorite […]
The Asteroid Belt Is Vanishing
Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter lies a ring-shaped region called the asteroid belt, home to the vast majority of our solar system’s space rocks. The asteroid belt is as old as the solar system itself, having formed from leftover material that failed to coalesce into a full-grown planet due to Jupiter’s gravitational influence. […]
‘Failed Star’ Mimics a Key Sign of Life, Complicating Our Search for Aliens
For scientists, the urgent problem with phosphine—a molecule famously touted as a potential sign of life—isn’t so much about where it came from, but why it’s not where we think it should be. After a decade of searching, a long-awaited result has confirmed that our astronomical models aren’t a total bust. At least, for now. […]
Astronomers Spot ‘Unexpected’ Bead and Star Patterns in Saturn’s Atmosphere
Saturn already tops the list of the coolest-looking objects in our solar system, but a new finding might put it on another level. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers spotted strange, beady patterns spreading across the planet’s atmosphere—features never seen before on any other planet in the solar system. In a recent Geophysical […]
‘Dead’ Star Caught Snacking on Pluto-Like Object
Nature can get brutal. On a cosmic scale, things get even more destructive—leaving behind carnage made of stellar dust the size of an entire planet. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope spotted a white dwarf—the remnant of a dying star’s core—enjoying a meal of some fragment researchers later identified as coming from a Pluto-like object. […]
Scientists Think They Have Found a Brand-New Mineral on Mars
Scientists have a fairly good idea of what Mars’ surface looks like. But exactly what that surface is made up of is more of a mystery. Now, scientists believe they have discovered an entirely new mineral on Mars from an unusual layer of iron sulfate with a distinct spectral signature. In a Nature Communications paper […]
Wild New Image Shows a Twin of Our Solar System Being Born
The first-ever baby pictures of a solar system that’s not our own are finally here—and they’re beautiful—and as adorable as space entities can get. In a paper published today in Nature, astronomers presented HOPS-315: a Sun-like protostar cooking up a brew of hot minerals and silicon monoxide gas, located about 1,300 light-years away from Earth. […]