Space Scoop 
Here you can read the latest Space Scoop, our astronomy news service for children aged 8 and above. The idea behind Space Scoop is to change the way science is often perceived by young children, as outdated and dull subjects. By sharing exciting new astronomical discoveries with them, we inspire children to develop an interest in science and technology. Space Scoop makes a wonderful tool that can be used in the classroom to teach and discuss the latest astronomy news.
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Help! I’m Trapped!
1 October 2020: Imagine being trapped in an enormous spider web that’s much larger than the Milky Way. What’s even scarier is that at the center of this web is a black hole. This is the haunting reality being faced by a newly-discovered group of galaxies!
Hubble Snaps New Image of Jupiter
17 September 2020: Jupiter is made up of gasses that form cloudy belts that can even be seen with a small telescope. This gas giant is also seen by larger telescopes, like the Hubble Space Telescope, which has captured a beautiful new snapshot of this gas giant!
A Surprise Planetary Companion
16 September 2020: Planets are not found around all stars. In fact, sometimes astronomers find them where we least expect them to be!
Life on Venus?
14 September 2020: Astronomers and the public are all eager to learn if there is life elsewhere in the Universe. Today, an exciting discovery has been announced that suggests there could be signs of life on a nearby neighbour.
A Missing Ingredient
10 September 2020: The Universe is full of unanswered questions. One of the biggest questions astronomers are trying to answer is what is the Universe made of? Astronomers know that the Universe is full of dark matter, but we still don’t fully understand it…
Tilted Wonder
3 September 2020: Imagine a giant dinner plate that could fit our entire solar system. Almost all of the planets would be touching the plate because our solar system is very flat.
But this is not always the case because some systems in the universe are tilted!
But this is not always the case because some systems in the universe are tilted!
New Worlds in Our Own Backyard
18 August 2020: Space is so big that sometimes surprises and new findings can pop up in our own backyard. A team of astronomers have done just that by finding around 100 new worlds known as brown dwarfs!
A Giant Mirror Called the Moon
6 August 2020: The Hubble Space Telescope is well known for its beautiful imagery of stars and galaxies throughout the Universe. However, Hubble recently turned its eyes to a target much closer to home... the moon!
Exoplanet Mismatch
4 August 2020: Although there are many planets in the Universe of various sizes, colors and characteristics, some are particularly unusual or unique!
When Stars Wobble
4 August 2020: Using the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), astronomers have found a Saturn-sized planet orbiting a small, cool star. What makes this planet special is not what it is, but how it was found.
Hidden Identity
30 July 2020: Things in space aren’t always what they seem...Sometimes you have to study a single object in space for a very long time to truly understand what it is!
New findings from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory now hope to have cracked a mystery that has been 33 years in the making!
New findings from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory now hope to have cracked a mystery that has been 33 years in the making!
A Special Family Portrait
22 July 2020: While all images of the cosmos are beautiful and exciting, some are particularly special because they capture something rare or for the very first time.
Keeping Watch
14 July 2020: Have you ever heard of solar flares? A solar flare is a giant and sudden explosion on the surface of a star, blowing billions of particles into space.
A new telescope in Okayama, Japan observed a superflare on a star in the constellation Leo (the Lion) to better understand how superflares on our Sun can affect technology and life on Earth.
A new telescope in Okayama, Japan observed a superflare on a star in the constellation Leo (the Lion) to better understand how superflares on our Sun can affect technology and life on Earth.
A Mosaic of Fireworks
2 July 2020: When building a puzzle, it’s not until the project is complete that we see the full picture. This is often the case in astronomy too, as astronomers can study the same object with different kinds of light and by using different instruments in order to get the full picture.
Poof! A Massive Disappearance
30 June 2020: Like a magician’s astonishing final magic trick, a giant star has recently disappeared from plain sight!
A Tale of Two Beauties
18 June 2020: The Hubble Space Telescope has captured two new beautiful images of two planetary nebulae. On the left is NGC 6302, which is commonly known as the Butterfly Nebula. On the right is an object that resembles a jewel bug and is formally known as NGC 7027.
A Super View of a Supergiant
16 June 2020: Not only planets like Earth have atmospheres, stars have them too! In order to better understand stellar atmospheres, a team of astronomers has mapped the atmosphere of a supergiant star in the most detail yet.
How to Feed a Galactic Monster
4 June 2020: Almost every galaxy - including our Milky Way - has a giant black hole at its center. These are known as supermassive black holes as they are the largest known type of black holes. Despite the number and size of these black holes, scientists still don't know where they come from or how they form/ A team of researchers has now provided new insights into the formation of supermassive black holes, by adding new ingredients to the black hole’s diet.
Cosmic Paleontology
3 June 2020: When paleontologists want to study how the earliest forms of life on Earth looked like, they look for fossils in very old rocks. Certain animals and plants are found in certain time periods throughout history. In a similar way, astronomers study galaxies that are very far away to find the earliest stars.
Treacherous Stellar Conditions
1 June 2020: Just like on Earth, stars can experience extreme weather and activity too! But some extreme activity on other bodies in the Universe is so treacherous that it’s hard to imagine. Astronomers using telescopes of the European Southern Observatory have found some peculiar activity in a cluster of small, bright stars.
The Twist Marks the Spot
20 May 2020: Thousands of exoplanets have been found so far, but we still know little about how they are formed. What we do know is that planets are born in dusty discs surrounding young stars. This happens when cold gas and dust clump together. By closely examining this nursery, astronomers now hope to understand how they are born. Astronomers have never observed direct evidence of a baby planet coming into existence within such a disc, until now.
A Stellar Waltz
6 May 2020: In a nearby star system, three objects are conducting a unique dance: two stars are waltzing with a black hole. This is also the closest black hole to Earth that we know of!
Cosmic Crashes
20 April 2020: Because space is so big, it is not often that objects in space collide. Although it is even more rare for us to find clues or evidence of these cosmic collisions, a team of astronomers might have done just that!
Forces Unleashed
9 April 2020: Astronomers have observed an extremely powerful and bright object in greater detail than ever before.
A Puzzling Geometry Conundrum
3 April 2020: Imagine standing on the planet Tatooine from Star Wars and seeing two stars in the sky...
Medium Monster, Big Mystery
30 March 2020: When you pick out a new shirt in the store, you must first find your size: small, medium, or large. Did you know that the dark monsters of the Universe, black holes, also come in different sizes?
Another One Bites the Dust
26 March 2020: When baking a cake, ingredients like flour and sugar are crucial for a delicious treat. Likewise, in space, dust is one of the crucial ingredients for making stars!
Stellar Metamorphosis
20 March 2020: When a butterfly experiences metamorphosis, it goes through several stages of change throughout its life: from an egg, to a caterpillar, to a chrysalis cocoon, and finally into a beautiful adult butterfly.
Scorching Downpour
11 March 2020: Sometimes, in the Summer months, we like to complain that the weather is too hot. But imagine living on a planet where it was so hot that the daily temperature could melt metal!
Slime and Space
10 March 2020: The single-cell organism known as slime mould (Physarum polycephalum) builds complex web-like networks in search of food, always finding the best path to its next meal. Similarly, in shaping the Universe, gravity builds a vast cobweb-like structure that ties galaxies and clusters of galaxies together along invisible bridges hundreds of millions of light-years long.
Something From Nothing
5 March 2020: How do the stars and planets appear in the night sky? Where do they come from and what are they made out of?
Most of the stars in the universe are accompanied by planets. These planets are born in rings of dust and gas, called ‘protoplanetary disks’. Even very young stars are surrounded by these disks. Astronomers want to know exactly when these disks start to form, and what they look like.
Most of the stars in the universe are accompanied by planets. These planets are born in rings of dust and gas, called ‘protoplanetary disks’. Even very young stars are surrounded by these disks. Astronomers want to know exactly when these disks start to form, and what they look like.
Deviant Behaviour
19 February 2020: A bright star in the night sky has begun to act a little strange and astronomers have taken notice.
Put On Your Sunglasses!
6 February 2020: Although it may look like popcorn, this is in fact the clearest image of the Sun ever taken!
Coming and Going
27 January 2020: When we hear about the possibility of “interstellar visitors” we would normally think of aliens and fast spaceships. It may surprise you to find out that our Solar System has been recently visited by 2 interstellar visitors. Sadly, these were both comets and not alien spaceships.
Black Hole Hide and Seek
20 January 2020: Hide and Seek can be a fun game, but imagine playing it with an invisible black hole that’s not where you expect it should be!
Galactic Pollution
14 January 2020: One of our biggest concerns on Earth today is climate change and its harmful effects on the environment, including pollution of the air and oceans.
For the first time, scientists have spotted the earliest environmental pollution in the Universe.
For the first time, scientists have spotted the earliest environmental pollution in the Universe.
A Gentle Giant
6 January 2020: Compared to us and anything humans could build on Earth, most objects in space are very big. But some cosmic objects are so big they are even hard to imagine.
What Does a Black Hole Eat for Breakfast?
20 December 2019: We typically eat breakfast cereal, fruit, eggs or toast in the morning. But even the largest objects in the Universe have to feed on something!
Cosmic Graffiti
16 December 2019: They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is particularly true for images of objects in space! Many telescopes can each observe the same planet, star, or galaxy and can each find something new or different!
A Mysterious Planet Nursery
6 December 2019: For a long time we've known that planets form and live around stars. For example, the Sun is the parent star of all the planets in our Solar System. But now, astronomers have found clues that planets may be tougher than we thought and could even have formed in the harshest conditions known in the Universe.
Dynamic Duo
4 December 2019: Much like when we get too warm in the summer months and wish to take off our extra layers of clothes, planets also shed the outer layers of their atmosphere when they get too hot!
Using a large telescope in the Chilean desert, astronomers have found clues of a giant planet that is doing just that!
Using a large telescope in the Chilean desert, astronomers have found clues of a giant planet that is doing just that!
Cosmic Building Blocks
26 November 2019: You can build some pretty amazing things simply by sticking blocks of Lego together. People have made life-sized lego houses, cities and lego rockets! Just like these impressive Lego structures, humans are built of tiny pieces too. Human building blocks are called organic molecules.
A Growing Family
5 November 2019: A group of scientists have found 20 new moons orbiting Saturn.
A Distant Visitor
31 October 2019: Our solar system is now playing host to a visitor from very far away.
Is Earth Special?
11 September 2019: In an exciting discovery, water vapour has been found in the atmosphere of a distant planet known as K2-18b.
A Ring in a Shadow
5 September 2019: While they’re not hiding in your closet or under your bed, monsters do exist in space. For the first time, astronomers have captured an image of the boogeymen of the Universe: a black hole.
The Mystery of the Shrinking Storm
8 August 2019: Various regions around the world have experienced extreme weather conditions this year, but nothing quite as extreme as the biggest storm in our Solar System. The gas giant Jupiter is home to the famous Great Red Spot. This giant storm is a mystery to scientists because it is getting smaller and smaller every year.
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