When you buy through links in our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An illustration shows the moon Ariel orbiting the ice giant Uranus. | Credit: Robert Lea (created with Canva)/NASA Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered that Ariel, a moon of Uranus, may be hiding in … Read more
Scientists may have solved a long-standing mystery surrounding the ice giant Uranus and its faint radiation belts. It’s possible that the belts’ faintness is related to the planet’s oddly tilted and lopsided magnetic field, which could be causing “traffic jams” for particles racing across the world. The mystery dates back to Voyager 2’s visit to … Read more
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered that one of the closest “hot Jupiter” planets to Earth stinks of rotten eggs. The planet is already notorious for its deadly rains of glass, extreme temperatures and 5,000 mph (8,046 km/h) sideways winds, but this discovery makes it an even less friendly world. The … Read more
Planets beneath Neptune that dance in time with the rest of their planetary systems have lower densities than planets that don’t, planetary scientist David Brown has discovered. Though conspicuously absent from the solar system, the most common planets in the Milky Way are known as “sub-Neptunes,” or worlds with sizes between Earth and the ice … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. Hundreds of basketball-sized space rocks slam into Mars every year, leaving impact craters and rumbling on the Red Planet, according to new research. Mission planners can use the revelations, captured in data collected by a … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. Hundreds of basketball-sized space rocks crash into Mars every year, leaving impact craters and rumbling across the Red Planet, according to new research. Mission planners can use the revelations, captured in data collected by a … Read more
Star Wars fans will definitely get a kick out of binary star systems nicknamed “Tatooine” systems – a reference to the planet Luke Skywalker stands on to stare at the twin suns in Star Wars: A New Hope. It turns out that some planets in the real-life versions of these systems may have gotten a … Read more
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question that you would like an expert to answer, please send it to Curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why do astronomers look for signs of life on other planets based on what life is like on Earth? Couldn’t there be completely different types of life … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. Astronomers were in for a surprise when NASA’s Lucy mission flew past an asteroid called Dinkinesh in November and spotted a contact binary star — two smaller space rocks touching each other — orbiting the … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. Astronomers were in for a surprise when NASA’s Lucy mission flew past an asteroid called Dinkinesh in November and spotted a contact binary star — two smaller space rocks touching each other — orbiting the … Read more