Space/Planetary Science

Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM More than 30 years ago, the European comet mission Giotto flew past Halley's comet. The Bernese ion mass spectrometer IMS, led by Prof. em. Hans Balsiger, was on board. A key finding from the measurements…

Credit: University of Rochester / John Tarduno Deep within Earth, swirling liquid iron generates our planet's protective magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is vital for life on Earth's surface: it shields the planet…

New study finds surface waters on early Mars may have been habitable for microbial lifeCredit: NASA Presently, Earth is the only known location where life exists in the Universe. This year the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three…

Credit: MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez BOZEMAN -- A new search led by Montana State University has revealed more than a dozen massive black holes in dwarf galaxies that were previously considered too small to host them, and surprised…

Innovation shown to speed design of composite deployable structuresCredit: Juan Fernandez/NASA WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - An innovation that helps speed the design of fishing rods, skis and cell phone electronics soon will help NASA do its…

Toward the end of 2017, a massive new region of magnetic field erupted on the Sun's surface next to an existing sunspot. The powerful collision of magnetic energy produced a series of potent solar flares, causing turbulent space weather…

Credit: NAOJ/M. Tanaka Astrophysics, Galaxies: The most distant dying galaxy discovered so far, more massive than our Milky Way -- with more than a trillion stars -- has revealed that the 'cores' of these systems had formed…

Credit: NAOJ Astronomers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) have analyzed the paths of two objects heading out of the Solar System forever and determined that they also most likely originated from outside of…

High-precision plasma bubble observation from the initial generation by installation at the magnetic equatorCredit: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology The National Institute of Information…

A low-mass planet candidate orbiting Proxima Centauri at a distance of 1.5 AU An analysis of cyclical changes in the light spectrum emitted by Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the Sun, suggests it may be orbited by a second planet.…