Space | Science News for Students

Space

an illustration of a ploonet

There’s a new kind of space object out there. The “ploonet.” This is a moon that escaped the gravity of a gas giant. These ploonets might explain the existence of comets around distant stars, shown here in an artist’s illustration.

Lynnette Cook/Fuse/NASA

Planets
 
Jul 18, 2019
What do you call a moon that escapes its planet? A ‘ploonet’
an illustration of a spinning star, called a collapsar, releasing a long gamma-ray burst from either pole

A collapsar is a massive, spinning star that collapses into a black hole. That collapse releases a blast of light known as a long gamma-ray burst (illustrated). It also leads to an explosion in the star’s outer layers.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Astronomy
 
Jun 7, 2019
Dying stars can make gold as they collapse into black holes
a photo of InSight lander’s seismometer on Mars

The InSight lander’s seismometer, shown here on Mars (protected by a dome), appears to have detected its first quake.

JPL-Caltech/NASA

Planets
 
Jun 4, 2019
Was that a Marsquake?
A photo of astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly

Astronaut Scott Kelly (left) spent a year in space on the International Space Station while his identical twin brother, astronaut Mark Kelly (right), remained on Earth. They were part of a landmark study to help researchers understand how space flight affects the human body.

NASA

Body functions
 
May 17, 2019
How a year in space affected Scott Kelly's health
an illustration of the Kuiper belt

Some interplanetary dust grains that end up in Earth’s atmosphere may have traveled long distances. They may hail from the Kuiper Belt (illustrated). It is a region of icy objects out beyond Neptune that orbit the sun.

ESA

Astronomy
 
Apr 26, 2019
Some dust in Earth’s atmosphere may hail from beyond Neptune
a photo of the three winners of the 2019 Regerneron Science Talent Search

Ana Humphrey (center), Samuel Weismann (left) and Adam Ardeishar (right) took home first, second and third place in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search.

C. Ayers/SSP

Young Scientists
 
Mar 13, 2019
Exoplanet hunting, HIV-fighting and math garner big prizes for teens
a long exposure of a meteor shower at night

Space dust rains down on Earth all the time. Most of these specks are too small to see. But when one the size of a sand grain hits the atmosphere, it blazes with visible light, becoming a micrometeor, or “shooting star.”

x-reflexnaja/istockphoto

Space
 
Mar 7, 2019
On the lookout for micro-missiles from space
an image of the moon and where the impact happened

During a lunar eclipse on January 21, amateur astronomers caught lucky views of an object roughly the size of a basketball smacking into the moon and producing a bright flash of light (inset).

Fritz Pichardo/Dominican Astronomical Society

Space
 
Mar 6, 2019
Caught on camera: A small rock hit the moon
an artist's illustration of ICESat-2 aiming green laser's at the Earth's surface

ICESat-2’s bright green lasers can monitor Earth’s glaciers and ice sheets by detecting changes in their heights.

NASA

Earth
 
Jan 31, 2019
ICESat-2 measures ice and more from space
an image of Ultima Thule, a space rock shaped like a snowman

This New Horizons spacecraft took this image at a distance of about 28,000 kilometers (17,400 miles). It shows the space rock’s unique shape.

SWRI/JHU-APL/NASA

Astronomy
 
Jan 29, 2019
There’s a snowman in space