If the Sun's outer atmosphere - corona - is so hot, why does it always look so cool? The Sun's visible surface is 'only' 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but as you move outward the temperature shoots…

A new moon, designated S/2004 N 1, has been discovered orbiting the distant blue-green planet Neptune, the 14th known to be circling the giant planet. S/2004 N 1 is estimated to be no more than 12…

For the first time, astronomers have measured the true colour of a planet in orbit around another star, and it is cobalt blue. This blue however, is probably the colour of a continuous rain of liquid…

One day, perhaps, brave astronauts will set forth to colonize the planet Mars. However human colonies can't be sterilized in the way a rover can be, so they may conflict with the desires of…

How did numerous small, glassy spherules become embedded within specimens of the largest class of meteorites, the chondrites? British mineralogist Henry Sorby first described these spherules, called…

The International Astronomical Union, which declared itself the arbiter of names for the entire universe, is in hot water with "Star Trek" fans. A social media campaign, including endorsements by…

The Solar Impulse airplane, brain-child airplane of Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg (who co-piloted the entire journey) that can fly day and night without fuel or polluting emissions, has ended…

Martian micro-organisms would be of extraordinary interest for the life sciences, especially if interestingly different from Earth life. In the past Mars was much more habitable than it is now, so…

Spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way appear to be much larger and more massive than previously believed, according to new observations made with Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. The…

All stars begin their lives in groups, though most, including our Sun, are born in small, benign groups that quickly fell apart. Others form in huge, dense swarms that survive for billions of years…