All Stories by Lisa Grossman
- Planets
NASA’s Perseverance rover grabbed its first Martian rocks
Two finger-sized pieces of stone drilled from a basalt rock are the first bits of Mars ready to be brought to Earth.
- Planets
Pluto is no longer a planet — or is it?
In the 15 years since Pluto lost its status as a planet, some scientists continue to use whatever definition works best for them.
- Space
Here’s an easier new way to weigh a black hole
The timing of flickers in the gas and dust of a black hole’s accretion disk correlates to its mass, a new study finds.
- Space
Huge arc of galaxies is surprising and puzzling cosmologists
The arc appears to violate a cosmic rule that on such large scales, matter will be evenly distributed.
- Space
The Milky Way’s ‘yellowballs’ are clusters of baby stars
The mysterious cosmic objects — first spotted by citizen scientists — turn out to be infant stars of various masses.
- Planets
The Perseverance rover split CO2 on Mars to make breathable air
This oxygen-making experiment shows that astronauts could one day make air to breathe and to help fuel their ride back home.
- Space
Raindrops on alien worlds will obey Earth-like rules
Their size will be similar no matter what they’re made of or on which planet they fall, a new analysis finds.
- Space
Ingenuity helicopter makes history by flying on Mars
The copter's 40-second-long flight in the Red Planet’s thin air is only the first in a planned series of daring flights.
- Planets
Signs of a hidden Planet Nine in our solar system may be an illusion
Hints of the remote planet, also called Planet X, relied on clumped up orbits of bodies beyond Neptune. A new study suggests that clumping doesn’t exist.
- Space
Exploding neutron star proves to be energy standout of the cosmos
This is what scientists had suspected. But until one showed up outside our galaxy, they couldn’t be sure. Now they are.
- Space
Star of science and movies, the Arecibo radio telescope is dead
Broken cables led to catastrophic damage of its history-making dish. The U.S. National Science Foundation will now dismantle what remains.
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Close-up of the sun reveals ‘campfires’
Solar Orbiter’s first images are in. The spacecraft’s pics show tiny, never-before-seen flares across the sun’s surface.
