These Mysterious Blazing-Fast Ripples Racing Around a Star Defy Explanation

Researchers have spotted strange, fast-traveling ripples speeding around the disk of dust surrounding the young star AU Microscopii. Images from the Hubble Space Telescope and ESA's Very Large Telescope show the ripples' movement over the course of four years. The scale bar at the top of the image stretches the length of Neptune's orbit around the sun.

Scientists were looking for planets forming in the large disk of dust surrounding a young star when they encountered a surprise: fast-moving, wavelike arches racing across the disk like ripples in water.

ESA's Proba-2 Satellite Sees Three Partial Solar Eclipses

ESA's Earth-orbiting Proba-2 satellite observed three partial solar eclipses on the morning of 13 September 2015 along with an additional passage of the Moon close to the edge of the Sun.

Salt flat indicates some of the last vestiges of surface water on Mars

A perspective rendering of the martian chloride deposit and surrounding terrain.

Digital terrain mapping and mineralogical analysis of the features surrounding the deposit indicate that this one-time lakebed is no older than 3.6 billion years old.

Is Mars humid enough to support life?

The Utopia Planitia region on Mars. (Credit: NASA)


It might look as dry and arid as a desert, but scientists claim that Mars has a surprisingly high amount of moisture in its atmosphere, leading some experts to ponder whether or not the Red Planet could actually be humid enough to support life.

Rosetta's Comet Is Developing Giant Sinkholes Before Our Eyes

Watch your step, Philae! 67P, the comet we landed a space probe on last fall, is apparently riddled with sinkholes. And as the massive ball of ice and dust hurls itself toward the sun, its surface is continuing to evolve.

Space Science Stories Which Should Watch in 2015

Almost there… the launch of New Horizons from Cape Canaveral. Credit: NASA.

A new Avengers movie. A reboot of the Star Wars franchise. The final installment of the Hunger Games. The Martian makes it to the big screen. Yup, even if the zombie apocalypse occurs in 2015, it’ll still be a great year. But trading science fiction for fact, we’re also on track for a spectacular year in space science and exploration as well.

Methane in Mars meteorites suggests possibility of life

Methane, a potential sign of primitive life, has been found in meteorites from Mars, adding weight to the idea that life could live off methane on the Red Planet, researchers say.

Sharp-Eyed ALMA Spots a Flare on Red Giant Star

Super-sharp observations with the telescope Alma have revealed what seems to be a gigantic flare on the surface of Mira, one of the closest and most famous red giant stars in the sky.

Our Galaxy Could be Mixing With Andromeda's Supersized Halo

The Andromeda galaxy, the nearest spiral galaxy to our Milky Way, is sporting a massive halo of hot gas spanning a million light-years into intergalactic space.