Saturn has 146 confirmed moons (more than any other planet in the solar system). However, the satellite called Enceladus stands out. It seems to have the ingredients for life. Cassini, a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency, explored Saturn, its rings, and its moons from 2004 to 2017.… Read More »
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.com. Why don’t the numbers end? – Reyhane, 7 years old, Tehran, Iran Here’s a game: Ask a friend to give you any number, and you’ll give back the larger one.… Read More »
There’s a newly discovered massive black hole in the Milky Way, and it’s lurking close to Earth! This sleeping giant was discovered by the European space telescope Gaia, which monitors the movement of billions of stars in our galaxy. Stellar-mass black holes form when a massive star runs out of fuel and collapses. The new… Read More »
Astronomers have imaged a feeding black hole-powered quasar at the very edge of the universe, far enough away to appear less than 1 billion years after the Big Bang. The quasar, named SDSS J114816.64+525150.3, is powered by a supermassive black hole with more than 3 billion times the mass of the sun, located in the… Read More »
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Astronomers have identified the largest known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy after detecting an unusual wobble in space. The “sleeping giant,” called Gaia BH3, has a mass almost 33 times that of… Read More »
When distant stars explode, they emit flashes of energy called gamma-ray bursts that are bright enough for telescopes on Earth to detect them. Studying these pulses, which can also come from the merger of some exotic astronomical objects such as black holes and neutron stars, can help astronomers like me understand the history of the… Read More »
The world installed 117 gigawatts of new wind power capacity in 2023, up 50% from the previous year, making it the best year on record for new wind projects, according to a new report by the industry’s trade association. The latest Global Wind Report, published Tuesday by the Global Wind Energy Council, explores the state… Read More »
Much more methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is being released from landfills and oil and gas operations around the world than governments realize, according to recent aerial and satellite research. This is a problem for both climate and human health. That’s why the U.S. government has tightened regulations on methane leaks and, more recently, waste… Read More »
The Winchcombe meteorite crashed in Gloucestershire, England Leaving a trail in the night sky on February 28, 2021It came from an asteroid that had been heavily altered by water, broken up and reformed many times. This is the result of a detailed analysis of the meteorite, fragments of which were found scattered across fields near… Read More »
A drawing of a black hole with two black holes inside a black hole. Black holes are monstrous, monolithic regions of space and time that have captured humanity’s imagination. Some are created by the death and collapse of a massive star; However, no single star can give birth to such massive black holes. These are… Read More »