astronomy

Southern pole of the Moon

The historic mission to locate frozen water on the Moon could eventually lead to a permanent lunar base for astronauts.  

Two stars collide with a planet orbiting in the debris disk

By all accounts, this planet shouldn’t exist, new international research co-authored by UNSW Sydney shows.

enceladus

Phosphorus is the most elusive element crucial for life as we know it – and we now have the first evidence there’s some available in the oceans of Enceladus.

UNSW Astrophysicist, Ms Kirsten Banks

An astrophysicist from UNSW Sydney explains why it’s so important that we can all look up and see the stars. 

Artist's depiction of the Mars Rover on the surface of Mars

New research published today in Nature Communications suggests the rovers’ current equipment might not actually be up to the task of finding evidence of life.

intra-group_light_in_the_distant_universe._image_shutterstock_n_sakarin_reduced.png

Pioneering a new technique, researchers have peered into the extremely faint light that exists between galaxies to describe the history and state of orphan stars.

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A massive explosion from a previously unknown source – 10 times more energetic than a supernova – could be the answer to a 13-billion-year-old Milky Way mystery.

Artist's conceptual picture of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus.

To confirm life on other planets, we need to detect far more molecules in their atmospheres than we currently do to rule out non-biological chemical processes.

Artist's impression of the rocky terrain and lava rivers on the surface of Gliese 486b

A rocky planet discovered in the Virgo constellation could change how we look for life in the universe.

An ensemble of twenty-five disk galaxies

UNSW-led research will enable astronomers to look at any galaxy in the Universe and predict when it will stop producing stars.

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