Space

In August of 2006, astronomers at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) democratically voted to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet — but 20 years later, with our greater knowledge and understanding of planetary systems, is it time to revisit the controversial decision? Should Pluto be called a planet again? For several years before the IAU vote, there had been agitators among the…

New research suggests that if dark matter is composed of “dark photons,” it would not have heated the early cosmos like scientists previously thought. If correct, this discovery could represent a paradigm shift in the hunt for the universe’s most mysterious stuff. Dark matter remains so elusive because, despite outweighing the everyday matter that composes stars, planets, moons…

Imagine looking at a vast city on Earth from a great distance, knowing nothing about that city; you may assume that its only buildings are the largest, most visible skyscrapers. But, get closer or look with a far more powerful tool, and you would begin to discover smaller buildings between mountainous skyscrapers. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered that this looks like that is a…

I woke up on the morning of Aug. 12 and looked out of the window to something I hadn’t dared hope for: blue sky. After days of scrutinizing weather models that seemed determined to test the nerves of everyone aboard the HX Expeditions ship MS Spitsbergen, somehow, against the odds, the clouds had cleared. Even then, I didn’t trust it (especially after my 2024 eclipse experience). We…