LATEST
Space repair enters the robotic age
FEATURE: 12:50 16 November 2012 | 4 comments
Super-smart next-generation spacebots will fix or salvage spacecraft on the fly
Pumpkin pie craters on Mercury are solar system first
18:21 15 November 2012
With wrinkled crust and cracked filling, the unusual formations are unlike anything seen on other rocky planets
Astrophile: Lonely planet roams with stellar outcasts
15:05 15 November 2012
An odd object drifting with a small caravan of stars may be the closest known orphan planet
Hovering moon base may be on NASA's horizon
17:51 14 November 2012
Rumours that the space agency wants to park a spaceport in orbit near the moon carry a ring of truth, space policy experts say
Orbiting moon gives chilling clue to black hole heat
18:10 13 November 2012 | 1 comment
A small partner circling a black hole would make the hole wobble and reduce its temperature
Climate blindness risked as satellites lose their eyes
UPFRONT: 11:31 07 November 2012
By 2020, three-quarters of the US satellite instruments used to monitor Earth's weather and climate could be out of action. We need to launch more, and fast
Doubt cast on Fermi's dark matter smoking gun
THIS WEEK: 14:42 06 November 2012 | 16 comments
The strongest sign yet of dark matter interactions at the centre of our galaxy may have just faded into statistical insignificance
Why I've built my own satellite
INTERVIEW: 08:00 06 November 2012 | 4 comments
Technology-obsessed artist Hojun Song has built a DIY satellite, but is finding it much harder to sell T-shirts to pay for the launch
First stars' light seen through extragalactic fog
18:00 01 November 2012
Like headlights piercing the gloom, the bright cores of distant active galaxies have helped us glimpse how the first stars formed
Last life on Earth: microbes will rule the far future
THIS WEEK: 10:18 01 November 2012 | 6 comments
A timeline for habitability on rocky planets around sun-like stars offers a glimpse of Earth's future and a way to search for alien life in places we might have overlooked
Astrophile: Born-again star faked its death scene
16:30 31 October 2012
A flashy display seemed to mark a dying star's rare rebirth, but a closer look shows that the outburst actually came from a hidden partner
Galaxies could give glimpse of the instant time began
THIS WEEK: 11:22 31 October 2012 | 8 comments
Quantum fluctuations stretched out in the universe's first moments may still be detectable in the pattern of galactic clusters today
The universe: the full story
COVER STORY: 13:02 29 October 2012 | 2 comments
The grand sweep of cosmic history is about to be revealed in the crackle of giant radio waves, say astrophysicists Abraham Loeb and Jonathan Pritchard
SpaceX poised to bring back blood and cucumber plants
17:00 26 October 2012
When a commercial capsule splashes into the Pacific on Sunday, it will restore the capability to bring experiments back to Earth
Confounded by Mars: Climate history thrown into doubt
FEATURE: 08:00 25 October 2012 | 3 comments
The Red Planet was once warm, wet and life-friendly – or so we thought. The closer we look, the muddier the water becomes
ASTROPHILE
The outermost ocean in the solar system
Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, has a surface temperature of -235 °C. But below the surface, conditions could be warm enough to support a liquid ocean
COSMOLOGY
Square Kilometre Array contest ends in a draw
The world's largest radio telescope will be split between continents: one section will be built in South Africa, the other in Western Australia
