What creates the two gigantic donuts of radiation surrounding Earth called the Van Allen radiation belts? The Van Allen Probes launched in 2012 want to find out. The inner Van Allen radiation belt is…

Sometimes we have to wonder in amazement about things found out in the universe. Case in point: a slinky string of pearls twisted into a corkscrew shape. Nothing special about that. Except this…

As every Boy Scout knows, friction generates heat. A new study finds that friction could be the key to survival for some distant Earth-sized planets traveling in dangerous orbits. Earth-sized planets…

Olber's Paradox asks why the sky is not a sheet of white. Since just the galaxy we are in has 50 stars for every person currently on earth traveling to us at all time, how can it ever get dark when…

Planet Mercury's metal-rich composition is a puzzle in planetary science. According to a new simulation, Mercury and other unusually metal-rich objects in the solar system may be relics left behind…

Astronomers have studied the carbon monoxide in ALESS65, a galaxy over 12 billion light years away, and found that it's literally running out of gas. The future is not dark, it's 'red and dead'.…

Supermassive black holes in the cores of some galaxies drive massive outflows of molecular hydrogen gas. As a result, most of the cold gas is expelled from the galaxies. Since cold gas is required…

Astronomers have found a "hotspot" beneath the Big Dipper emitting a disproportionate number of the highest-energy cosmic rays, a discovery which may move physics toward identifying the mysterious…

A newly discovered planet now named OGLE-2013-BLG-0341LBb in a binary star system located 3,000 light-years from Earth is expanding astronomers' notions of where Earth-like—and even potentially…

Astronomers search for exoplanets by measuring shifts in the pattern of a star's spectrum - the different wavelengths of radiation that it emits as light. These "Doppler shifts" result from subtle…