A water world ruled by octopus-like creatures.
A planet divided by light and dark where the sun never rises.
And a lava hell where molten rock rains from the sky.
These are not descriptions of foreign worlds in science fiction novels, these are some of the ‘exoplanets’ most likely to be harboring aliens right now.
Dozens of these exoplanets – planets that orbit stars outside our solar system – which have been classified as ‘potentially habitable’ or ‘Earth-like’ have been
When it comes to building enormous, complex space telescopes, agencies like NASA have to plan far in advance. Even though the James Webb Space Telescope only launched recently, astronomers are already busy thinking about what will come after Webb — and they’ve got ambitious plans.
The big plan for the next decades of astronomy research is to find habitable planets, and maybe even to search for signs of life beyond Earth. That’s the lofty goal of the Habitable Worlds
A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the stunning and distinctive Ring Nebula — a gorgeous structure of dust and gas located in the constellation of Lyra. This nebula is a favorite among sky watchers as it faces toward Earth so we can see its beautiful structure, and because it is visible throughout the summer from the Northern Hemisphere. It is different from the Southern Ring nebula, which Webb has also imaged, but both are a type
A series of new images from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the dusty, irregular galaxy NGC 6822 — and the different views captured by various Webb instruments.
Located relatively close by at 1.5 million light-years from Earth, this galaxy is notable for its low metallicity. Confusingly, when astronomers say metallicity they do not mean the amount of metals present in a galaxy, but rather the amount of all heavy elements — i.e., everything which isn’t hydrogen or helium. This
It is a telescope which has provided answers on the deep universe – but now it may be raising a question.
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a perfect and rather spooky question mark in the depths of space, close to a pair of young stars called Herbig-Haro 46/47.
It is unclear if the universe has questions for us, or is providing a gift for Dr Who fans, to reflect the question mark the Time Lord used to wear
It is a breathtaking image that offers a glimpse of what our sun might look like when it dies.
Taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the picture reveals the intricate and ethereal beauty of the iconic Ring Nebula in never-before-seen detail.
Also known as Messier 57, the mesmerising object is around 2,600 light-years away from Earth and was born from the remnants of a dying star.
It is this expulsion of stellar material that gives the cosmic masterpiece
One of the big open questions about Earth and how life formed here is where the planet’s water came from. Water is essential to life as we know it, but many scientists think that water did not originally form on Earth — rather, it may have been carried here by asteroids. Recently, though, astronomers have discovered water vapor in the planet-forming region of a star, suggesting that future planets which form here might have access to water right from the
Google’s new AI chatbot made an embarrassing gaffe because it was ‘rushed’ out ahead of schedule amid growing competition from ChatGPT and Microsoft, tech industry experts claimed today.
The mistake – which saw Google’s Bard get a question wrong in a video posted to Twitter – wiped off £100 billion from the firm’s value.
It happened as Google faces the biggest threat to its dominance in web search, with commentators suggesting that the hurried unveiling of Bard was done to
Of all the moons in the solar system, Saturn’s largest satellite might be the most extraordinary. Titan is enveloped in a thick, hazy atmosphere, and liquid methane rains gently from its sky, tugged downward by a fraction of the gravity we feel on Earth. The methane forms rivers, lakes, and small seas on Titan’s surface. Beneath the frigid ground, composed of ice as hard as rock, is even more liquid, a whole ocean of plain old H2O.
The wildest part
Engineered organs that could end transplant waiting lists, abortion pills on demand and mass-marketing military drones that will revolutionize warfare are among those listed on MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2023.
The list also includes the use of CRISPR to edit away people’s problems with high cholesterol by rewriting a sliver of their DNA, artificial intelligence that makes artwork and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which is set to remodel our knowledge of the cosmos.
The 22nd annual
