Star hurtling around a giant black hole proves Einstein right – again

We watched a star orbit the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy for…

Two incredibly fast-orbiting stars seem to be the wrong temperature

A pair of distant stars orbit one another in a fast-paced system that would fit inside…

Women in space: How having more female astronauts benefits us all

Getting more women into space is essential if we’re ever to run longer missions or even…

After years of sexism in space we urgently need more female astronauts

Getting more women into space is essential if we’re ever to run longer missions or even…

Tiny pebbles may be the reason most planets spin in the same direction

We thought planets are built as huge boulders smash together. But if it is pebbles instead,…

LightSail 2 unfurls solar sail and begins travelling through space

The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 spacecraft has unfolded its silvery sails, which will be propelled by…

The Milky Way devoured another galaxy and we've spotted the remains

We’ve identified the original stars that were in the Milky Way before it devoured another smaller…

Strange stars that go supernova may be dimming because of dark matter

Some stars that go supernova are dimmer than we expect, so something must be filching their…

India has launched its Chandrayaan 2 mission to the moon

India launched its second moon mission on 22 July. The mission will place a lander and…

Man on the moon? Why we said Apollo 11 was an empty, obsessional quest

New Scientist was opposed to the Apollo missions from the start, and complained for decades that…