How to find Andromeda – a spiral galaxy you can see with the naked eye

Amazingly, it is possible to see the spiral arms of Andromeda, our nearest galaxy 2.5 million…

Should SpaceX be allowed to contaminate Mars with Earth microbes?

The rise of the private space industry may mean allowing Earth microbes to escape to other…

Dark energy: Understanding the mystery force that rules the universe

Dark energy dominates the universe, and could lead it to a cold, bleak end. But that’s…

Big bang retold: The weird twists in the story of the universe's birth

It certainly wasn’t big, and probably didn’t bang – and the surprises in the conventional story…

Alien life could be weirder than our Earthling brains can ever imagine

Our conceptions of alien life are based on a sample of one: Earth’s life. That means…

We finally know how whole planets grow from tiny clumps of dust

Minuscule dust particles can clump together to form entire planets, and they seem to require help…

Saturn's moon Titan could be hiding underground reservoirs of methane

Titan’s lakes, seas and atmosphere are full of methane, and a simulation has revealed that it…

Interstellar comet Borisov is about to pass close to Earth and the sun

Astronomers are about to get their best opportunity to observe the interstellar comet Borisov as it…

Black holes formed from dark matter could be making dead stars explode

White dwarfs are burnt out stars that can explode into supernovae, and this process might be…

Exclusive: NASA has been quietly commercialising orbital safety

We thought NASA was just monitoring space junk for the US government, but it turns out…