Mysterious 'ribbon' at edge of solar system explained

NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has helped explain the striking narrow ribbon of charged particles emanating from the boundary of the solar system.

'Super-Earths' may not be so rocky after all

So-called super-Earths - rocky exoplanets much larger than our own - may actually be more like mini-Neptunes.

Where did all the dwarf galaxies go?


Habitable zone redefined - and we're barely in it ourselves


NASA launches next-generation tracking and comms satellite

NASA's ability to track satellites and orbiting spacecraft is about to get a big boost, following the launch last night of a next-generation communication satellite.

Old star may still be making planets


Ridges show evidence of Martian water


Iran sends monkey to space


NASA joins mission to investigate dark matter


Pulsar shows puzzling behavior


Low-cost telescope reveals sun's tumultuous 'braids'

In some dramatic images, astronomers have for the first time observed magnetic braids of super-hot matter on the surface of the sun, the first clear evidence of energy transfer from its magnetic field to the solar atmosphere or corona.

DARPA calls for proposals to scavenge satellites for spare parts

DARPA has released a video detailing some of the progress it's made with its Phoenix project for repurposing existing satellites.

Taking the universe's temperature


Deep Space Industries wants FireFly ships to mine asteroids


Team identifies auroras outside our solar system

University of Leicester planetary scientists believe they've found the first clear evidence that auroras occur outside our solar system.

Did cosmic collision flood medieval Earth with gamma rays?

Astronomers believe they've worked out the source of a mysterious burst of gamma rays that irradiated the Earth in the 8th century.

Martian crater may once have held lake

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has found evidence that McLaughlin Crater once contained a lake fed by flowing groundwater.

Hydrocarbon sand blurs Titan's features


NASA tests inflatable pod on space station

Call it a bouncy castle at your peril: it's an expandable space habitat, don't you know. And it's to be the next big addition to the International Space Station, arriving in 2015 for a two-year trial.

ESA teams with NASA for manned moon orbit
