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A pair of spacecraft draw closer to Mercury after nearly decade-long voyage

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. | Two Mercury-bound spacecraft left their mother ship behind on Thursday and headed down the home stretch of their nearly decade-long voyage to the solar system’s smallest and closest-to-the-sun planet. The linked European and Japanese spacecraft separated as planned from their cruiser, but controllers had to wait two anxious hours to receive […]

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Faint new planet is revealed around a young star after a decade in hiding

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. | Astronomers have discovered a faint, elusive planet orbiting a young star after more than a decade of cosmic hide-and-seek. In an unusual twist, two groups working independently detected the cold gas giant a few days apart late last year using different telescopes. It’s the dimmest planet ever directly imaged from Earth, […]