Space

The linchpin location of the "Star Wars" franchise was the planet Tatooine, home to both Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It, along with its twin suns, appeared in every movie of the franchise…

As a mathematician I'm used now to the proofs of scientists, which can seem puzzlingly non rigorous at first. But the mathematics of Planetary Protection are particularly eccentric, even bizarre.…

The search for extraterrestrial life goes on, sort of. We do it, as half-heartedly as we do anything in space, because we're more afraid of being alone than finding another civilization. Or vice…

We know now that asteroids are relics that can tell us what the planets in our solar system may have been like before they formed cores and mantles and crusts. But that wasn't always the case. Until…

Why were there old, enormously massive galaxies no longer forming new stars in the very early universe? The first stars already emerged in the very early universe about 200 million years after the…

We have learnt so much about the geology of other planets. Our spacecraft have discovered ancient oceans and rivers on Mars, and have found possible habitats for life. But we haven't discovered this…

It's easy to see geological features in our wonderful photographs of the solar system. Life though is more elusive. We could look straight at one of its habitats and see nothing.This is a photograph…

NGC 5194, also known as M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, is one of the most spectacular examples of a spiral galaxy, with two spiral arms curling into one another in a billowing swirl, this galaxy hosts…

10 years of Opportunity and Spirit on Mars have given us some interesting insights, like that the oldest minerals show that around four billion years ago Mars had liquid water so fresh it could…

Would you want to live on a "snowball planet", covered with ice sheets and glaciers all the way to the equator? Mars only looks warm because the photos are digitally adjusted to match brighter…