Space

According to the results of a new study, stars orbiting near the centers of massive clusters have a much harder time forming planets than their smaller siblings located nearer the edge, and they may have themselves to blame.

A team of international researchers has confirmed the existence of an Earth-like exoplanet only 4.2 light-years from the Sun. The ESPRESSO spectrograph found Proxima b has a mass of 1.17 Earths and orbits in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri.

NASA and SpaceX were forced to scrub the Demo-2 mission 17 minutes before its scheduled liftoff. The first manned mission to launch from American soil since 2011 and the first commercial manned launch was called off due to storm conditions.

We still don’t know where most of the universe's regular matter is. Now, an international team of astronomers has developed a creative new method to detect this missing matter, using the equally-mysterious fast radio bursts.

The universe is full of explosions, and now astronomers have described a brand new class of space signals. Named fast blue optical transients (FBOTs), these events are very bright and throw off incredible amounts of energy in a short amount of time.

Space debris is a serious problem that won’t be going away anytime soon, but researchers have put forward a novel way to keep things in check, making a case for charging satellite operators an “orbital-use fee” to reduce the risk of collisions.

Astronomers have discovered a “cosmic ring of fire” – a galaxy shaped like a gigantic donut. This extremely rare galaxy was likely caused by a collision with a smaller galaxy that can still be seen lingering near the scene of the accident.

Virgin Orbit has come up short on its first attempt to reach orbit today after the mission was terminated soon after ignition of its LauncherOne rocket, with the team now working through the data and gearing up for its next attempt.

It’s generally believed that it took billions of years for galaxies to take on the familiar disk shape, but now astronomers have discovered an ancient disk galaxy, which emerged at least 4.5 billion years earlier than previously thought possible.

The stage is set for a landmark launch for NASA, with the final dress rehearsal now complete ahead of Wednesday’s Demo-2 mission that will see US astronauts launched into space from American soil for the first time in nine years.

Scientists using the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System telescope have discovered an asteroid that shows the property of a comet. Designated 2019 LD2, the Trojan asteroid shares the same orbit with Jupiter, yet exhibits a comet-like tail.

A UK-based company has carried out the first static engine test of a space rocket in Britain in over half a century. The Skylark L rocket carried out a full-scale launch test while restrained to the ground at the Kildemorie Estate in North Scotland.