
Where to Look for Life: Homing in on the Habitable Zone
Scientists are refining the definition of the habitable zone in an effort to aid future efforts at finding life.

The Aftermath of DART, Humankind’s First Planetary Defense Mission
Five new studies give a full accounting of the aftermath of the impact of NASA's DART mission on a nearby asteroid.

Tim Russ: Actor, Director, and Amateur Astronomer
Tim Russ is best known for his role as Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager, but his affinity for space goes further than that — he's an amateur astronomer, too.

Red Dwarfs Aren’t So Bad (For Planets) After All
Red dwarf stars appear to flare preferentially at high latitudes, which might keep their exoplanets habitable instead of hellish.

Two Extremely Red Asteroids Discovered Far from Home
Astronomers have discovered the two reddest objects in the asteroid belt, and their origin story might tell us more about planet formation.

"Liquid Water" Below Martian Surface Might Be Clay
Mysterious spots that scientists thought were subsurface lakes beneath the Martian south pole may instead be ancient clay deposits.

Astronomers Detect Potential Moon-forming Disk around an Exoplanet
Astronomers have made the first clear detection of a dusty disk surrounding an exoplanet, which could eventually go on to form moons.

Milky Way Magnetar Spits Gamma Rays on Schedule
A Milky Way magnetar surprises astronomers by burping up gamma rays right when their predictions anticipated.

Gravitationally Unstable Disk May Collapse to Form Planets
Astronomers investigate the spiral arms of a young star's disk and find evidence of a disk so massive that it could collapse to form planets.

NASA’s Kepler Finds Outcast Earths
Astronomers uncovered four new Earth-mass rogue planet candidates by searching for microlensing events observed with Kepler.

More Mysterious Buried Splotches on Mars Might Not be Liquid Water
Astronomers find more bright spots underneath Mars's south polar cap, but could they really be subterranean lakes?

Astronomers Map the Solar System's Edge in 3D
Collecting high-speed atoms has enabled researchers to trace the shape of our Sun’s protective bubble.

Iron Volcanos: Maybe Not Science Fiction After All
A new study of asteroid 16 Psyche suggests that ferrovolcanism, volcanoes that spewed molten iron, might have been present on this object.

From Starving Black Holes to Warped Galaxies
Hot topics from the American Astronomical Society summer meeting range from colliding galaxies, to warped galaxies, to starving black holes.

Not All Star-forming Clouds Are The Same
Astronomers have created the first high-resolution maps of the big, dense gas clouds that form stars within galaxies.