Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. A “planet parade” during which six planets will appear to align in the sky near dawn is on the way, but only three planets will be visible with the naked eye — and the phenomenon […]
Goodnight, Sweet Prince The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope has revealed some of the saddest parts of our predominantly dark universe. As the agency explains in a press release, its dark matter-hunting deep space telescope has found seven new “rogue” planets that exist without stars to orbit or keep them warm. Along with its […]
A planetary parade, an alignment of several planets, will occur next week, but not all planets in tow will be visible to the naked eye. If you plan on looking skyward on June 3 to catch a glimpse of the action, make sure you know what will be in store to avoid disappointment. Planetary alignment […]
Didn’t catch the solar eclipse in April? Still bummed you missed the northern lights? You’re in luck, the skies will demand our attention again soon and this time you won’t need to travel elsewhere to experience the celestial event. On June 3, six planets — Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — will align […]
One of things that I have enjoyed in my more than 22 years of writing the Night Sky column for Space.com is alerting readers to hoaxes or celestial falsehoods that are widely circulated on the internet. While I have done my best to steer readers clear of such fallacies, I’m still amazed about just how […]
Six of the planets of the Solar System are about to line up for a rare sight in Earth’s sky. In the wee small hours of 3 and 4 June 2024, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus will appear in a straight line in an alignment known as a planet parade. Only Venus will […]
A scientist has learned more about the violent processes that rip atmospheres away from planets, finding that squashing and squeezing by a parent star can contribute to this process. The research, conducted by Guo Jianheng from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, could help astronomers better determine which extrasolar planets, or “exoplanets,” […]
Red and blue lines arc out of the north pole of Earth. One of Earth’s defining features is its magnetic field. It forms a protective shield against high-energy particles ejected by the Sun and thus arguably has provided life with a safer place to grow into the complex array of organisms we see today. The […]
“We reference the planets as symbols to better understand our lives,” PEOPLE’s resident astrologer Kyle Thomas says Getty Planets and their meanings in astrology We’re all affected by the planets in our solar system. Astrologically speaking, planets possess great significance, boasting specific meaning as they travel through different zodiac signs as they move through the […]
Located 163 light-years from Earth, a Jupiter-sized exoplanet named WASP-69b offers astrophysicists a window into the dynamic processes that shape planets across the galaxy. The star it orbits is baking and stripping away the planet’s atmosphere, and that escaped atmosphere is being sculpted by the star into a vast, cometlike tail at least 350,000 miles […]
Today, the atmosphere of our neighbor planet Venus is as hot as a pizza oven and drier than the driest desert on Earth – but it wasn’t always that way. Billions of years ago, Venus had as much water as Earth does today. If that water was ever liquid, Venus may have once been habitable. […]
Scientists may have discovered why the orbits of some planets decay, ultimately leaving these worlds to “death spiral” into their stars. This discovery may help astronomers spot which planets in star systems are doomed die a fiery death, and when. Recent research had revealed that as many as one in 12 stars may have cannibalized […]