The star is a white dwarf, a cool, dead, dense star like our sun some 6 billion years from now. The planet fragment - made of heavy metals - survived a system-wide cataclysm that followed the star's death. Read more.
Glaciers in Alaska are losing ice and contributing to sea level rise. To monitor these changes, a team of researchers has been flying scientific instruments on a bright red, single-engine plane since spring 2009. Watch a video.
Idriss Dhoparee captured this image at La Prairie Beach on the island nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. He wrote: "We were at beach, and the sky was clear ... I looked up and saw this tropicbird or 'paille en queue' as we call in French. It was an amazing sight. The bird was flying high in the sky with such grace …" Thank you, Idriss.
