Venus, unlike Earth, has a single, unbroken crust with no signs of subduction or plate tectonic activity. This absence of plate movement has long intrigued scientists, especially considering that Venus was once thought to resemble Earth, complete with flowing water and a habitable environment. Over time, however, Venus transformed into the hostile and scorching planet…
UK-based Indian-origin scientist Professor Mahesh Anand has been entrusted with a rare and historic collection of lunar soil samples retrieved from the far side of the Moon by China’s Chang’e-6 mission, as reported by the BBC. This marks a groundbreaking milestone, as it is the first time any nation has successfully brought back material from…
A newly discovered astronomical event known as AT2024tvd has led scientists to uncover a supermassive black hole in an unusual location. This phenomenon, called a tidal disruption event (TDE), occurs when a star ventures too close to a black hole and is violently pulled apart by its immense gravitational forces. According to Dr. Yuhan Yao…
The number of super-Earth exoplanets in the universe is significantly greater than previously thought, according to astronomers. Although detecting planets that orbit close to their stars is relatively straightforward, those with much wider orbits are significantly harder to find. Nevertheless, researchers now estimate that roughly one in every three stars hosts a super-Earth with an…
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is preparing for a close encounter with a small asteroid this weekend as it continues its long journey toward the distant Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. Launched in 2021, Lucy is on an ambitious mission to explore 11 different asteroids, aiming to offer new insights into the early solar system and the remnants…
The habitability or possibly habitation of K2-18b, a planet circling a star some 120 light-years away, requires more investigation. While the quest for extraterrestrial life has taken scientists from Martian methane to Venusian phosphine, Earth remains the only confirmed home to living organisms. However, a new study offers what researchers say could be the strongest…
SpaceX is moving steadily toward its next big launch, as key components of the Starship megarocket have arrived at the launch pad in preparation for liftoff later this week. On February 25, the company shared images on X, showcasing the massive Super Heavy booster being carefully positioned onto the orbital launch mount at its Starbase…
NASA has selected SpaceX to launch a specialized space telescope designed to track near-Earth objects (NEOs). The agency announced on February 21 that it had awarded a task order under the NASA Launch Services II contract, assigning the Falcon 9 rocket for the launch of the Near Earth Orbit (NEO) Surveyor mission. The contract is…
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams remain aboard the International Space Station’s Harmony module as NASA adjusts its plans for an upcoming crew rotation. On Tuesday, the agency announced a change in the spacecraft assigned to its Crew-10 mission, opting to use a previously flown SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule rather than a newly built…
A new study suggests that humpback whales’ intricate songs follow structural patterns similar to human language, potentially making them easier to learn. Human language follows a universal statistical rule known as Zipf’s law, where the most frequently used word appears roughly twice as often as the second most common word, three times as often as…