Over 47 million light years away, in a galaxy called NGC 4845, there's one hungry black hole. In fact, scientists have watched in awe as, soon after it stirred from dormancy, it chomped away at a planet 30 times the mass of Jupiter. Read More >>
Some briny deeps are brinier than others. The Atlantic Ocean has two huge "deserts" of extra-salty water, the result of little rainfall and lots of evaporation. Read More >>
Featured comment by jibberjabba:
"Quite! The setting of my pre-having-kids-holiday, and where I intend to go back to for my 10 year wedding anniversary. Only 5 and a bit years to go th..." More »
If I were Pluto, I would be really pissed off with the astronomers that just announced the tiniest planet ever discovered. It's a new planetary system called Kepler-37, which is centred around a star similar to our sun about 210 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Lyra. Read More >>
Most simple explanations of climate change suggest that rising sea levels are a result of melting ice in the polar regions. While that's true to an extent, there's a simple piece of physics behind the rising waters that you might not have been made aware of. This video helps explain why it's thermal expansion that's the real problem—now we just need to work out how to stop it. [YouTube] Read More >>
Featured comment by Glenbot3000:
"'Tis the problem with science videos for stupid people. I could site a thousand references that say the Earth is flat, but it doesn't make it so. Thes..." More »
What you’re looking at here is an illustration showing just how many planets there really are in our humble little bit of the universe, the Milky Way. While we think our 3rd rock from the Sun is unique, actually there are billions of planets, with a minimum of 1,500 of the things within just 50 light-years of Earth alone – one of them must be ET’s home. Read More >>
Scientists looking at Earthshine reflected from the moon have concluded that, indeed, there is life on our planet. Though the result may be obvious, the findings can help in the search for life on other worlds. Read More >>
Zachory Berta says that "GJ1214b is like no planet we know of." Like Berta, part of a team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics lead by David Charbonneau, his colleagues were surprised when they discovered that this planet is made mostly of water. Read More >>
Featured comment by xiandel:
"Larger then Earth but smaller then Uranus does not narrow down the size much, Neptune sits between these in size, also Uranus is over 4 times bigger t..." More »
Astronomers have found two more new planets orbiting binary stars: Kepler-34b and Kepler-35b. Their discovery, which follows the original Tatooine discovery back in September 2011, is quite important: now we know there are millions of planets orbiting binary stars. Read More >>
The possibility of alien life has captivated our imaginations for generations. Now that possibility just got a big boost as Kepler's managed to find and confirm a potentially Earth-like planet. It's just 600 light years away and occupies that magic 'habitable zone' around its star, like the Earth does around the sun. Read More >>
Featured comment by Sam Gibbs:
"Considering they've coined the phrase 'Earth's twin' for Kepler missions, perhaps. But then maybe not -- they'd probably have preferred the full headl..." More »
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