60-Second Space
Channel Details
60-Second Space
Leading science journalists provide a daily minute commentary on some of the most interesting developments in the world of astronomy and space exploration
Recent Episodes
168 episodes
Bacteria Got an Early Fix on Nitrogen
New evidence points to the evolution of the ability for bacteria to grab nitrogen from the atmosphere some 3.2 billion years ago, about 1.2 billion ye...
Stars Reveal Hidden Galaxy
A dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way may consist of more dark matter than regular matter.* Clara Moskowitz reports
Space Science Budget Gets Small Lift
NASA has to deal with the unexpected financial consequences of robotic missions that just keep going. Lee Billings reports
5 Rocky Planets Found in Ancient, Distant Solar System
The oldest group of terrestrial worlds now known formed some 11.2 billion years ago, more than six billion years before our sun and planets. Clara Mos...
Long-Lost Lander Found on Mars
New images from a NASA orbiter reveal Beagle 2’s final resting place. Lee Billings reports
Look Up to See Latest Comet Lovejoy
Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy’s latest comet find is naked-eye visible in the southeast sky until January 24. Clara Moskowitz reports
SpaceX Will Try Launch, Then Soft-Land Returning Booster
The company hopes to send up a Falcon 9 rocket and then safely land the discarded first stage for reuse. Lee Billings reports
Humans on Mars Soonish Says NASA Bigwig
John Grunsfeld, the former astronaut who now heads NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, thinks that traveling light could get people to Mars by the 204...
UV Light Colors Great Red Spot
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is its particular crimson shade because of the interaction of ultraviolet light and specific chemical compounds in the gas gi...
It’s Hard to Dust in Space
Over the summer researchers identified seven specks of dust returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft. But determining their true origin has been d...
Comet Reeks of Cat Crap and Rotten Eggs
The Rosetta spacecraft has unexpectedly detected hydrogen sulphide and ammonia coming from Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Lee Billings reports
Track Cosmic Rays with Smartphone App
Take part in a citizen-science project by helping researchers track high-energy cosmic rays via a network of smartphone users. Clara Moskowitz reports
Star-Forming Clouds May Spit Out Life’s Building Blocks
Astronomers have discovered one of the largest and most complex organic molecules yet in a gaseous star-forming region of interstellar space. Clara Mo...
Dark Matter Looks WIMPy
Data from the International Space Station-based Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment supports the idea that dark matter consists of the invisible pa...
Forensic Astronomer Dates Monet Vision
Texas State University astronomer Donald Olson combined solar, tidal and weather data to identify the likely moment of the image in the Monet work Imp...
Milky Way's Home Supercluster Found
Astronomers have identified the Milky Way’s cosmic address—inside the supercluster Laniakea, which means “immense heaven” in Hawaiian. Clara Moskowitz...
Neptune Visit Hits 25th Anniversary
On August 24th, 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft rendezvoused with Neptune, making it the farthest planet to pose for a close-up, a record it still hold...
Air Pollution Could Reveal ET's Home
If intelligent aliens are dumb enough to pollute their atmosphere, NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope is powerful enough to spot some of the s...
Martian Soil Salts May Make Water Ice All Wet
Within a Mars-like laboratory environment, perchlorate salts known to exist on Mars were able to lower the freezing point enough to get ice to turn to...
Saturn Probe Ready for Its "Grand Finale"
The Cassini probe readies for its final act with new flight patterns that will get unprecedented views of Saturn and culminate in a final dive into th...
Triple Black Hole System Found in Distant Galaxy
A galaxy four billion light-years from us was has three supermassive black holes at its center, with two in a tight formation. Clara Moskowitz reports
"Extremely Large Telescope" Breaks Ground
The European Southern Observatory broke ground June 19th to build the world's largest telescope atop the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile. Clara Mosk...
Seemingly Strange Solar Cycle May Be Sorta Normal
The current solar maximum appears to be weak. But the few previously measured maxes could have been unusually strong. Clara Moskowitz reports
Dark Matter Shell Saved Wannabe Galaxy
A failed dwarf galaxy called the Smith Cloud apparently survived an ancient collision with the Milky Way because of a protective dark matter cloak. Cl...
Pluto Bids to Get Back Planetary Status
Pluto has at least five moons and an atmosphere—and now a new analysis places its diameter as bigger than its outer solar system rival, Eris
Jupiter's Great Red Spot Now Just Pretty Good
Jupiter's Great Red Spot, once estimated to be 41,000 kilometers across, is just 16,500 kilometers wide in the latest Hubble Space Telescope observati...
Oddball Eclipse Makes Star Brighter
When a white dwarf passes in front of its binary star system companion every 88 days, it acts like a lens to make the larger star appear brighter to u...
Galaxy Gave Star Cluster the Boot
The star cluster HVGC-1 had been part of the M87 galaxy, but now it's fleeing that galaxy at more than two million miles per hour. Clara Moskowitz rep...
Chilly, Chilly, Little Star
A brown dwarf only about three to 10 times Jupiter's mass couldn't get fusion going and now sits freezing in space, in the nearby galactic neighborhoo...
Help ID Moon Craters from Your Couch
Citizen scientists have helped professional astronomers locate more than 500 million lunar craters by using an app called MoonMappers. Karen Hopkin re...
Saltine-Sized Satellites Set for Space
More than 100 tiny satellites are set to launch into space on April 14th, in a demonstration of a possible future inexpensive technology that could pa...
Absence (of Weight) Makes the Heart Grow Rounder
After prolonged periods in microgravity, astronauts' hearts became more spherical, according to scans done on the International Space Station. Sophie...
Rings: They're Not Just for Planets Anymore
The asteroidlike object Chariklo orbits between Saturn and Uranus and has been found to have its own set of rings. Clara Moskowitz reports
Planet X Gets X'd Out
An exhaustive search by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer has found no hints of a theorized planet or dwarf star in our neck of the cosmic wo...
Giant Black Hole Spins at Half Light-Speed
The half-the-speed-of-light spin of a giant black hole suggests it grew by digesting another black hole in a galaxy merger. Clara Moskowitz reports
Moon-Smashing Meteorite Recorded by Astronomers
Spanish astronomers spotted a meteoroid impact at 61,000 kilometers per hour using a telescope network that automatically scans the moon. Clara Moskow...
Hubble Finds Possible Oldest Object Ever Seen
The Hubble Telescope's new set of Frontier Fields images includes a galaxy some 13-billion light-years away, which makes it a candidate for the most d...
We Celebrate a Galilean Anniversary
Galileo—who, among many accomplishments, was first to use a telescope to discover moons around Jupiter—was born 450 years ago this week. Clara Moskowi...
Wacky World Wobbles Wildly
Exoplanet Kepler 413 b's tilt can vary by as much as 30 degrees over 11 years, leading to extremely erratic seasons. Clara Moskowitz reports
Faraway Planets May Be Far Better for Life
Astronomers have come up with a shopping list of what a planet needs to support life, perhaps even better than our Earth does, making them "superhabit...