Space

Silent neutron stars at the center of supernova blast sites may actually be whispering softly, following the detection of faint radio emissions coming from one such object for the first time. The discovery raises the prospect that there could be many more pulsars in our galaxy than we thought. When a massive star explodes as a supernova, the devastation leads to the star’s core collapsing…

Want to see Uranus for yourself? Independence Day morning offers one of the best opportunities in decades, as the distant ice giant passes extraordinarily close to Mars in the predawn sky. Although we often hear that only five planets are visible to the unaided eye, Uranus can also be seen from Earth under the right conditions. As the seventh planet from the sun, it is very faint — near the…

After Americans declared independence on July 4, 1776, a waning gibbous moon rose in the night sky. To the people celebrating the birth of a new nation, it would have looked much the same as the moon we see today. But there was one subtle difference: 250 years ago, the moon was about 31 feet (9.4 meters) closer to Earth than it is now. “The moon is currently drifting away from Earth at a…

A restless Earth-facing sunspot unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare on June 30, triggering radio blackouts across parts of North America. The X1.1 solar flare erupted from sunspot region AR4479, peaking at 4:50 p.m. EDT (2050 GMT) according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The intense burst of X-rays released during the eruption reached Earth in just over 8 minutes…