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NASA finds key ingredient for life gushing out of Saturn's icy moon EnceladusScientists have discovered complex molecules in the gas and vapor plumes escaping from Enceladus's icy core — and one of them, hydrogen cyanide, is a precursor for life.
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James Webb telescope finds universe's smallest 'failed star' in cluster full of mystery moleculesAstronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have spotted what may be the smallest known brown dwarf, a "failed star" that's only three or four times larger than Jupiter.
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Enormous planet discovered around tiny star could break our understanding of solar system formationThe massive planet LHS 3154b orbits a star much smaller than Earth's sun, and its discovery could upend everything we think we know about how solar systems form.
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'Alien' spherules dredged from the Pacific are probably just industrial pollution, new studies suggestLast summer, a Harvard professor claimed tiny pellets of iron came from beyond our solar system. But new analyses suggest that they likely originated much closer to home.
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'Bouncing' comets may be delivering the seeds of life to alien planets, new study findsResearchers have simulated how comets pinballing from one planet to another could deliver critical organic molecules to exoplanets.
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Oxygen detected in Venus' hellish atmosphereIn a first, researchers discovered oxygen atoms on the dayside and nightside of Venus' atmosphere.
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Newfound 'moon' around asteroid Dinkinesh is actually two tiny moons touchingAdditional images from NASA's Lucy mission reveal that the "moon" orbiting asteroid Dinkinesh is actually a contact binary, made of two smaller moons touching.
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Scientists detect fastest-ever fast radio bursts, lasting just 10 millionths of a secondAstronomers have captured ultrafast radio bursts from 3 billion light-years away for the first time ever.
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James Webb telescope detects alien planet with clouds made of quartzThe exoplanet WASP-17b's atmosphere is full of quartz clouds, according to a new James Webb Space Telescope observations.
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How many animals have ever existed on Earth?Life's Little Mysteries To figure out this mind-bogglingly high number, we need to know how many species have ever lived, dig deep into the fossil record and do a lot of math.
Life's Little Mysteries -
What would colors look like on other planets?Here's how your brain might adjust to see color on another world.
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Evidence of mysterious 'recurring nova' that could reappear in 2024 found in medieval manuscript from 1217The star T CrB flares up every 80 years. A document from 1217 could help confirm its regularity.
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Why does Earth have magnetic poles?Earth is the only rocky body in the inner solar system with strong magnetic poles. But where do these poles come from, and what do they do?
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'Cosmic cannonballs' exploding out of dead star could explain mysterious flicker in the night skyThe enigmatic pulsar J1023 radically changes in brightness every few seconds. Astronomers may finally have an explanation.
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Bizarre new cosmic object is the most magnetic star in the universeThe record-breaking find of a star 43,000 times more magnetic than the sun could help unravel the mystery of how magnetars form.
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Bizarre 'failed star' the size of Jupiter is 2,000 degrees hotter than the sunThis Jupiter-size object is 80 times denser than a planet and hotter than the sun.
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Mars is spinning faster, and scientists aren't sure whyData from NASA's InSight mission shows that Mars's rotation is speeding up and its days are growing slightly shorter. Scientists have a few ideas why.
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Massive solar explosion felt on Earth, the moon and Mars simultaneously for the 1st time everInstruments in different parts of the solar system all captured radiation from the same coronal mass ejection for the first time ever.
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How long can an asteroid 'survive'?Asteroids are left over from the early solar system. Here's how they get destroyed.
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What happens if you get struck by lightning… and survive?Lightning is terrifying, but it's not always deadly. Here's what it does to the human body.
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Explosive 'star factory' image marks the James Webb telescope's one-year anniversary of operationsIn its first year of operations, the James Webb Space Telescope has already revolutionized our view of the cosmos. Its one-year anniversary image is a spectacularly beautiful addition.
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Star system with galaxy-like 'arms' may be holding a secret planetA distant star system has Milky Way-like spiral arms orbiting it. New research suggests a giant planet may be to blame.
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'Anomalous' metal spheres unlikely to be alien technology, despite Harvard scientist's claim
A prominent extraterrestrial-hunting scientist thinks that more than 50 tiny, metal spheres pulled from the Pacific Ocean might be the work of intelligent aliens. Others are skeptical.
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Dazzling 'shooting stars' discovered in the sun's atmosphere. What are they really?A phenomenon called coronal rain produces hot plasma clumps that streak through the sun's atmosphere like meteors, new data reveals.
