Sep 24, 2024
In the quest to find life beyond Earth, icy worlds within our solar system are full of potential. Europa, one of Jupiter's four largest (Galilean) moons, is one possible target because of the vast ocean beneath its icy shell. That ocean, heated by the push and pull of Jupiter, could contain life. The Europa Clipper...
Sep 17, 2024
There are supermassive black holes. There are stellar mass black holes. And based on the idea that galaxies evolve as they merge, there should be black holes in between -- intermediate mass black holes. However, finding these middle-of-the-road beasts has been difficult. Now, a new paper in Nature identifies the first...
Sep 10, 2024
When a star at its life's end explodes, a debris cloud expands away from the now-dead star. The debris forms intricate and amazing structures in the expanding cloud and can cause the formation of a variety of molecules. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have collected information regarding Cassiopeia A...
Sep 3, 2024
Scientists now can work out what the atmospheres of worlds outside our solar system are made of. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, we have seen water, carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases. Could we, from this distance, know how those gases formed? Possibly. Looking for planets with signs of being...