Latest articles by Keith Cooper
Jupiter's mysterious moon Amalthea spied crossing the Great Red Spot (photo)
NASA's Juno spacecraft has spotted the elusive fifth moon of Jupiter transiting the giant planet's Great Red Spot, giving astronomers a rare view of this small but intriguing natural satellite.
The surface of this volcanic exoplanet is hotter than some stars
Described as being like "Io on steroids," a newly discovered exoplanet is the victim of a tug of war between its neighboring planets and its star.
China's Chang'e 6 probe to the moon's far side has a big lunar mystery to solve
By retrieving rare volcanic samples from the lunar far side, Chang'e-6 aims to provide answers as to why volcanism was so limited on just one side of the moon.
A failed star and an ammonia trail could reveal how some giant exoplanets form
The James Webb Space Telescope is teaching us about how planets form.
Spacecraft captures absolutely incredible video of plasma swirling on the sun
The video gives an insight into the energetic events that transfer energy and plasma into the solar corona that ultimately drives the solar wind.
Long ago, a lake on Mars might have been sprawling with microbes
The presence of manganese oxide on Mars has positive implications in the search for life beyond Earth.
Einstein Probe X-ray telescope releases 1st images taken with 'lobster vision'
Einstein Probe, which is the new Chinese–European X-ray mission, has revealed its first widescreen views of the universe.
Scientists reveal Southern Ring Nebula's unexpected structure: 'We were amazed'
The molecular gas ejected by a dying star within the Southern Ring Nebula will one day be recycled into a new generation of stars and planets.
Evidence for Planet 9 found in icy bodies sneaking past Neptune
The hypothetical ninth planet may be slingshotting Oort Cloud objects onto orbits that come closer to the sun than Neptune does.
During the solar system's chaotic era, Jupiter may have helped form Earth's moon
The great planetary instability coincides with the collision that formed Earth's moon — could the two events be linked?
Ancient rocks hold proof of Earth's magnetic field. Here's why that's puzzling
Earth's ancient magnetic field appears to have had a strength similar to what we see today, and it may have protected ancient life from harmful cosmic radiation.
Iconic British meteorite 'Winchcombe' found to have a smashing past
A detailed analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite has found evidence that its parent asteroid was altered by water before being smashed apart multiple times.
In a virtual reality universe, upcoming 'JUICE' mission flies by Jupiter's moon Callisto
To test its autonomous software, the JUICE mission team pretended to fly the spacecraft past Jupiter's fourth moon, and passed the exam with flying colors.
Monster star gains magnetic personality following stellar merger
A rare massive star possessing a magnetic field could have produced its dynamo after merging with another star.
Stars make a bigger mess in old galaxies, and scientists just figured out why
More evolved galaxies demonstrate a greater range of stellar motions compared to the orderly, circular orbits of stars like our sun in the Milky Way.
The faintest star system orbiting our Milky Way may be dominated by dark matter
The stars of a possible ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, known as UMa3/U1, could be held in place by the gravitational glue of dark matter.
Life on Enceladus? Europe eyes astrobiology mission to Saturn ocean moon
The future European Space Agency mission could include an orbiting spacecraft as well as a lander, both of which would sample ocean material in Enceladus' plumes.
Most quasars are a ferocious force of nature, but not this one
A quasar over three billion light-years away was found to be rather gentle on its host galaxy, allowing its black hole to keep growing.
Europe's upcoming Mars rover now has a detailed map to aid its search for ancient Red Planet life (video)
The European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin Mars rover now has a detailed map with which to help find its way around the Red Planet when it lands sometime in the next decade.
The Europa Clipper may only need 1 ice grain to detect life on Jupiter's ocean moon
A single icy moon grain could host tiny microbes or cellular remnants of life. If so, NASA's Europa Clipper may one day be able to find life near Jupiter.
Life after Ingenuity: How scientists hope to reach the skies of Mars once more
The concept for a flying, wing-heavy drone called MAGGIE could one day show us an entirely new perspective on Mars.
NASA's DART mission hammered its target asteroid into a new shape. Here's how
When NASA's DART spacecraft crashed into the small asteroid Dimorphos in September of 2022, the impact's energy changed the asteroid’s trajectory and substantially altered its shape.
3D map of over 1 million black holes traces where the universe's dark matter lies
Nearly 1.3 million quasars are included in a vast cosmic map, with the most distant having existed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
