No planet comes close to the life-giving properties of planet Earth — at least not yet

With the discovery of more than 5,600 planets orbiting other stars and images from robots we have sent to all the planets in our solar system, it is becoming abundantly clear that Earth is unique among worlds. Almost all of the exoplanets scientists have discovered since the 1990s fall into four main types: gas giants like Jupiter … Read more

Engineers attempt to fix a computer glitch on Voyager 1

Last November, the Voyager 1 spacecraft began sending gibberish radio signals back to Earth. Engineers have now identified the problem, but trying to repair a 46-year-old device on a craft 24 billion kilometres from Earth is not easy. Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 were both launched in 1977 on a reconnaissance mission to … Read more

Nasa’s James Webb telescope to explore mystical auroras of Uranus and Saturn

NEW DELHI: Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a cornerstone in modern astronomical observation, is preparing to embark on a groundbreaking study of the auroras lighting up the polar skies of Uranus and Saturn. Researchers from the University of Leicester are at the helm of this venture, with the goal of delving deeper into the … Read more

Hidden moons found orbiting Uranus and Neptune

Astronomers have detected new moons around two of our solar system’s most unique and intriguing planets. The hidden moons were discovered orbiting Uranus and Neptune, and the discovery brings the moon counts for these planets to 28 and 16, respectively. The discovery of these hidden moons is both exciting and unsurprising. In fact, it’s believed … Read more