Buried in the Cat’s Paw Nebula Lies One of the Largest Space Molecules Ever Seen – Space.com

A view of space with an illustration of molecules on the right and a telescope array on the bottom left.

Scientists have discovered a hitherto unknown space molecule while probing a relatively nearby region of intense star formation, a cosmic point about 5,550 light-years away. It is part of the Cat’s Paw Nebula, also known as NGC 6334. The team, led by Zachary Fried, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), examined … Read more

Ancient rocks have evidence of Earth’s magnetic field. Here’s why this is weird – Space.com

A person with a neon yellow jacket stands in front of a huge wall of rock with cool striations.

A 3.7-billion-year-old record of our planet’s ancient magnetism has been discovered, providing evidence that Earth’s magnetic field existed very early in history. However, this discovery is quite surprising. Rocks approaching 4 billion years old are hard to find; most are recycled earthIts tectonic activity, sliding into the mantle through subduction zones before sliding out of … Read more