
Space
Explainer: Stars and their families
Most pinpoints that light the night sky are raging infernos we call stars. As adults, many will create new elements that they later cast off into the cosmos.
By Ken Croswell
Most pinpoints that light the night sky are raging infernos we call stars. As adults, many will create new elements that they later cast off into the cosmos.
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a black hole blasted out 100 billion times as much energy as our sun ever will. One word for that: Wow!
New data on when massive volcanic eruptions happened do not match when the dinosaur mass extinction took place.
Scientists have spotted a massive galaxy from the early universe shrouded in dust. It turned up in a small survey by the ALMA radio telescopes in Chile.
How did our moon form? Scientists are still debating the answer. It may be the result of some one big impact with Earth — or perhaps many small ones.
Geologists are making the case for a new continent, that they would dub Zealandia. It can be found largely submerged beneath the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
Scientists had thought animals were slow to emerge because they would have needed oxygen-rich air to breathe. A new study finds that plentiful oxygen may have developed early. So animals may have been late on the scene for another reason.
Scientists find different ways of exploring places humans will never visit — and drawing maps to help us better understand such mysterious places.
The oldest stars should be made of only light elements. But these suns may have sucked up heavier elements, giving them a more youthful appearance, a new study finds.
At least two asteroids hit Earth 3.3 billion years ago. This superheated the atmosphere, boiled the oceans and shaped how early life evolved.