Clumps of debris from a disrupted planetesimal are irregularly spaced on a long and eccentric orbit around the white dwarf. Individual clouds of rubble intermittently pass in front of the white dwarf, blocking some of its light. Because of the various sizes of the fragments in these clumps, the brightness of the white dwarf flickers in a chaotic way. Credit: Dr Mark Garlick/The University of Warwick Living with a star today means we have a nice planet at a nice enough temperature to thrive, and we occasionally get treated to amazing light shows in the form of aurorae. This is only temporary,...

Solar radiation heating the surface of a blue ice area. Photo taken during the 2023-​2024 fieldwork mission of the Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH) to Union Glacier, Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica. Credit: Veronica Tollenaar, Université Libre de Bruxelles. As...

Mohutsiwa Gabadirwe (center of photo) and Peter Jenniskens (left, kneeling) at the site of the second find of a piece of asteroid 2018 LA recovered in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in central Botswana. Credit: SETI Institute Our Solar System contains a whole lot...

Hydrothermal-vent chimney. In the center of the photo, you can see the vent fluid which appears like dark smoke due to the high levels of minerals and sulfides contained in the fluid. Look closely, and you will also see the chimney is crawling with Chorocaris shrimp...

Artist's impression of the massive star-forming region, with the planet-forming disk XUE-1 in the foreground. The region is drenched in UV light from massive stars, one of which is visible in the top left corner. The structure near the disk represents the molecules...