Why Pluto is still a planet and hundreds more lurk in the Solar System
The chief scientist on NASA’s New Horizons mission argues that Pluto is still a planet. And he believes there are hundreds of planets in the Solar System.
Space news
NASA’s TESS spacecraft will seek out Earth-like worlds around nearby stars
A NASA spacecraft is due to blast off on Monday, April 16th, 2018, to seek out Earth-like worlds and search for clues to alien life.
Missed! One of closest large asteroids on record flies by
Earth just narrowly escaped an impact by the closest large asteroid ever recorded. The space rock, which was up to 110 meters wide, shot by at half the distance of the Moon.
Superflare dents hopes of life on rocky planet orbiting nearest star
Hopes that life might exist on a rocky planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, have taken a knock after the star fired off a deadly superflare.
Vast cloud of glowing gas discovered near Whirlpool Galaxy
Astronomers have discovered a vast cloud of glowing gas close to M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, which is one of the most famous spiral galaxies in the night sky
Astronomers struggle to explain mysterious short-lived explosions
An international team of astronomers has discovered 72 new transients – bright explosions that fade away far more quickly than a supernova.
Hubble discovers the farthest star seen in the Universe
NASA’s Hubble space telescope has spotted the farthest star ever observed, nine billion light-years away, thanks to a natural magnifying glass in deep space.
Has alien life been detected in the clouds of Venus?
Alien beings could be living in the clouds of planet Venus, according to a new NASA-backed study by space scientists.
China’s space station Tiangong-1 is set to plunge to Earth – but where?
An out-of-control Chinese space station, speeding at 28,000 km per hour (17,000 mph), is expected to come crashing out of orbit this weekend.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is delayed again until 2021
NASA’s powerful, next generation observatory the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) faces fresh delays and will now launch no earlier than May 2020.
Hubble solves mystery surrounding Milky Way’s cosmic neighbours
The Hubble Space Telescope has solved a cosmic mystery about the source of a stream of gas between two dwarf galaxies and the Milky Way.
Cosmology professor’s slip announces discovery of Mars
A leading cosmologist is as red as a planet after his discovery of a brilliant nova turned out to be Mars.
