Keith Cooper

A little moonlet, too small to be seen from Earth, could be playing cosmic sheepdog by shaping the thin rings around the distant minor planet Chariklo, according to new computer simulations.

Tests suggest the European Extremely Large Telescope will be able to detect crucial biosignatures on other worlds.

Stars around the outskirts of our galaxy may hint at a secret about the Milky Way's dark matter.

The motions of satellites in galaxy groups tell us that such groupings, and therefore possibly the universe, are younger than what standard cosmology tells us.

Comet Wild 2 formed 4.5 billion years ago and is a relic of the birth of the solar system. In 2006, NASA brought pieces of it down to Earth.

This galactic superstructure appears to us as it was over 9 billion years ago.

Young galaxies in the early universe adopted elongated shapes as they formed along filaments of the cosmic web, before evolving into more disc-like galaxies.

The Mars Express orbiter has detected enough water ice buried beneath the Red Planet's equator to cover the entire planet in a shallow ocean if melted.

The dark streaks in Venus' atmosphere — a potential sign of life, according to some researchers — can be explained by Iron-bearing sulfate minerals, a new study reports.

The search for alien technosignatures has dramatically expanded, thanks to a new experiment called COSMIC.

Space mysteries From carbon molecules and ozone on spacesuits to the nauseating odor of comets and the sweet tang of gas clouds, the universe is a natural laboratory for aromatic chemistry.

The new weather forecasting method could one day be used on more Earth-like exoplanets.

To stand the best chance of detecting technosignatures, SETI should survey exoplanets with atmospheres that are at least 18% oxygen.

Launched with faulty vision, the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA were a laughing stock – until seven astronauts performed a series of daring spacewalks to fix it.

Some of the strongest, longest, smallest, biggest and best reasons to celebrate space as the year comes to a close. There are a handful of awesome firsts in here too.

Gravitationally lensed images of two different supernovas in the same galaxy can be used to measure the expansion rate of the universe.

The observations are vital for piecing together the science objectives for a future mission to Uranus.

"We knew these galaxies were prodigious star factories, perhaps among the biggest the universe has ever seen."

Hot Jupiters are gas giants so close to their star that the star's heat and radiation can blow the planets' atmosphere away.

The winds extend tens of thousands of light years above and below galaxies.

Measurements of how fast the universe is expanding differ depending on how you measure the rate. Could a huge under-density of galaxies, including the Milky Way, be to blame?