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This discovery supports the idea that planets form in much shorter timescales than previously thought and prompts a reconsideration of alternative planet formation scenarios.

Using data from NASA’s Great Observatories, astronomers have found the best evidence yet for cosmic seeds in the early universe that should grow into supermassive black holes.

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Weightlessness inspiring new fashion designers with Couture in Orbit

Europe now has 14 Galileo navigation satellites in orbit after its latest launch success

Named for the astronomer who pinpointed Earth’s true position in the Solar System, the Galileo satellite navigation system that will help Europe find its way in the 21st century now has 14 satellites in orbit after today’s double launch.

Scientists found evidence that supermassive black hole seeds can form directly from the collapse of a giant gas cloud, skipping any intermediate steps.

New technique allows scientists to “age” craters in the Moon’s darkest regions

Full replay of the launch and separation coverage of Europe’s thirteenth and fourteenth Galileo satellites

Europe’s 13th and 14th Galileo satellites lifted off by Soyuz on 08:48 GMT – watch replay here

An ESA-backed start-up company is working with fashion students to incorporate energy-harvesting devices in new space-inspired high-fashion designs. The results will be unveiled on a catwalk at the London Science Museum on 25 May.

Mysterious high-rise clouds seen appearing suddenly in the martian atmosphere on a handful of occasions may be linked to space weather, say Mars Express scientists.

Space science image of the week: An infrared view inside a distant star nursery has revealed a surprising amount of structure in the cloud

There’s still plenty of time to see Mars this summer, but here’s the main event.

Mysterious high-rise clouds seen appearing suddenly in the martian atmosphere on a handful of occasions may be linked to space weather.

Members of a galaxy type that lies somewhere between an elliptical and a spiral galaxy, lenticular galaxies such as NGC 5308 are disk galaxies that have used up, or lost, the majority of their gas and dust.

Why is Antarctic sea ice cover increasing while Arctic sea ice is diminishing rapidly? A NASA-led study finds the geology of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are responsible.

Follow the launch of Europe’s 13th and 14 Galileo satellites on Tuesday 24 May, live from 10:28 CEST

Our week through the lens: 16-20 May 2016

Clothes for the space age on show at London’s Science museum 25 May, with ESA and leading European fashion schools

The Sentinel-1A radar satellite has detected a potential oil slick in the eastern Mediterranean Sea – in the same area where EgyptAir flight MS804 disappeared early yesterday morning on its way from Paris to Cairo.

Mars is the star of the show this week, but comet fans and a few gas giants will make welcome appearances in the night sky.

New methods could pave the way to finding a true other Earth.

A team of European mission control experts will be watching closely next week when two Galileo satellites are boosted into space, ready to shepherd the craft through the first critical days in orbit.

Researchers detected low levels of carbon monoxide gas around the star in amounts that are consistent with the comets in our own solar system.

Sentinel-2A is demonstrating how it can be used to help forecast ocean waves around our coasts: sunlight reflected from the water surface reveals complex waves as they encounter the coastline and seafloor off the tip of Dorre Island, Weste…

Operations image of the week: A debris impact chip in a Space Station window illustrates the risk presented by space debris

Join us Friday, 20 May, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2A image of the Rub’ al Khali desert

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was welcomed at the ESA Astronaut Centre by DG Jan Woerner and Alexander Gerst

The team relied on gravitational lensing to see the incredibly faint object born just after the Big Bang.

You can follow along with the action here.

Each struck in different eras, leaving behind a breadcrumb trail of clues.

Operations Image of the week: Mission controllers gather for next week’s Galileo launch

A ‘blanket’ layer may keep the planet from a faint glow, unlike its neighbor, Neptune.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst has been assigned a new mission to the International Space Station, where he will fulfil the role of commander during the second part of his six-month mission in 2018. 

Images from Sentinel-2A over the last five months have been used to create a remarkable cloud-free view of Africa

Technology image of the week: this Lego model of Europe’s ExoMars 2020 rover on its lander is a tool, being used by robotics engineers during an ‘egress’ test campaign

Video briefing on the next Galileo launch on 24 May, including views of the satellites and an interview with ESA’s Navigation Director Paul Verhoef

The spacecraft has now twice observed 1994 JR1, a Kuiper Belt object orbiting more than 3 billion miles from the Sun.

Whether the jovian moon has the raw materials and chemical energy in the right proportions to support biology is a topic of intense scientific interest.

A NASA modeling study suggests the necessary balance of chemical energy for life could exist in the ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa, even without volcanic hydrothermal activity.

A new study finds a solar system whose planets may resemble the ancient configuration of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

ESA and London’s Science Museum are working with leading fashion schools around Europe to design clothes for the space age with Couture in Orbit

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: The International Space Station has now circled Earth 100 000 times

Space science image of the week: A fault cuts through an ancient crater on Mars

The impact would have triggered earthquakes orders of magnitude greater than terrestrial earthquakes, it would have caused huge tsunamis, and would have made cliffs crumble.”

It has two known satellites, an unusually high spin rate, and is also the “parent” of a large family of icy bodies in the outer solar system.

New Orleans and surrounding areas continue to sink due to a combination of natural and human-induced processes, finds a new NASA/university study using NASA airborne radar.

Planetary diversity suggests that around other stars, initially frozen worlds could be the size of Earth and provide habitable conditions once the star becomes older.

An expert on the solar system, in 1984 he launched a program that led to the discovery, with US astronomer William Hubbard.

A proposal for a Europa CubeSat mission could map the entire world, and maybe find evidence of life too.

Our week through the lens: 9-13 May 2016

Together with the London Science Museum and top European fashion schools, ESA is harnessing next-generation technology and exploring the future of fashion 

Presented at this week’s Living Planet Symposium, this image shows how the Sentinel-5P satellite will improve air-quality forecasts

Selected highlights of the Living Planet Symposium in Prague, 9-13 May

“Little lion” galaxy contains lowest level of heavy elements ever detected in gravitationally bound system of stars

Satellite readings show that atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide are continuing to increase despite global efforts to reduce emissions.

The surviving parts of Earth’s primitive mantle have been preserved for four and a half billion years.

René Forsberg joins the programme at the Living Planet Symposium in Prague to discuss collecting gravity data at the South Pole to support GOCE

By providing information on soil moisture around plant roots, ESA’s SMOS satellite is helping to forecast crop yield and monitor drought

Noel Gourmelen joins the programme at the Living Planet Symposium in Prague to discuss a new way of processing CryoSat data over ice sheets

Technology image of the week: this ice drill has been designed to penetrate 1–2 m into the surface of the Moon

The repetition helps distinguish seasonal effects from sporadic events.

Tabby’s star is still pretty weird, but at least one part of the mystery was a false lead.

The size, evolution, and duration of standing bodies of water, such as lakes, on Mars’ surface are still a matter of great debate.

There are 42 worlds that might be Earth-like out there. We can’t see them directly, yet. But here’s where to find out cosmic cousins.

With each planet in resonance, there’s little room to move for the four planets around Kepler-223.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has completed its second Martian year since landing in 2012, recording environmental patterns through two full cycles of Martian seasons.

New results from NASA’s Kepler/K2 mission reveal the largest unnamed body in our solar system and the third largest of the current roster of dwarf planets.

Thousands of scientists are at the Living Planet Symposium in Prague this week to present the latest findings on our changing planet. Between the mountains of data coming from multiple satellites and the high level of expertise needed to t…

Space science image of the week: Saturn’s monstrous south pole vortex is a hurricane-like structure almost two thirds the diameter of Earth

Presented at the Living Planet Symposium, this map uses radar images from Sentinel-1A to show that Antarctic Peninsula ice flows up to a metre per day

Astronomers combined data from two space observatories to reveal something surprising: This dwarf planet is significantly larger than previously thought.

Scientists found typical galaxies forming stars in the universe two billion years after the Big Bang have only twenty percent of metals compared with those in the present day universe.

Two teams mentored by NASA centers were in the winning alliance at the national FIRST Championship in St. Louis on April 30.

NASA’s Kepler mission has verified 1,284 new planets — the single largest finding of planets to date.

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet tries out a spacesuit

With more than two years of measurements by ESA’s Swarm satellite trio, changes in the strength of Earth’s magnetic field are being mapped in detail.

Europe’s latest Galileo satellites have been filled with fuel in preparation for their joint launch on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 24 May.

As the smallest planet in the Solar System crossed the fiery face of the Sun on Monday 9 May, one of ESA’s smallest satellites was watching

Meet your 1,200 new exoplanet neighbors.

These atoms were found in the upper layers of the martian atmosphere known as the mesosphere.

Wolfram Mauser, Chairman of the Earth Science Advisory Committee, joins us at the Living Planet Symposium in Prague to discuss some of the highlights from ESA’s Earth Explorer missions

One of the biggest Earth observation conferences in the world got off to a flying start today as thousands of scientists from around the world gathered in the Czech Republic to present their latest findings on our changing planet.