Another Private Moon Lander Just Touched Down—And Promptly Fell Over (Probably)
Intuitive Machines has done it again—sent a robotic explorer all the way to the moon, only for it to possibly face-plant the moment it arrived. Athena, the company’s latest lunar lander, touched down Thursday at 12:30 p.m. ET, making it the second private spacecraft...
Earth’s Oldest Crater Found—And It Might Have Helped Life Begin
A rock hurtled through space, slammed into Earth at 36,000 km/h, and left a mark that’s been hiding in plain sight for 3.5 billion years. Now, a team of researchers from Curtin University has finally found it, rewriting what everyone thought they knew about ancient...
Why Do Giant Planets Have Chaotic Orbits? The Universe Has a Story to Tell
Planetary orbits: simple geometry or cosmic warfare? Earth sticks to a near-perfect circle, like a disciplined soldier. Meanwhile, some exoplanets—those mysterious wanderers beyond our solar system—trace erratic, stretched-out paths like rogue agents ignoring the...
Gas Giant Exoplanets Formed Shockingly Fast—And Scientists Are Scrambling to Keep Up
The universe doesn’t wait for anyone—not even astronomers with carefully crafted theories. Turns out, massive gas giant exoplanets like Jupiter aren’t taking their sweet time to form. New research from Ohio State University suggests they’re assembling in nearly half...
The Milky Way’s Black Hole Won’t Stop Flickering—And No One Knows Why
The monstrous black hole at the core of the Milky Way is having an existential crisis. Instead of sitting quietly like a well-behaved abyss, it flickers, flares, and bubbles with bursts of energy—seemingly at random. Scientists aimed the James Webb Space Telescope...