Space News & Blog Articles

The waxing gibbous Moon shines with Spica, then occults Delta Scorpii. Meanwhile, all seven planets other than Earth are forming into a diagonal line across the east to southeast at dawn.

NASA’s Perseverance rover is recording the windy weather in Jezero Crater, chronicling its role in making the Red Planet dusty.

A new source of fast radio bursts raises questions about how much we really know about these mysterious flares.

We touch on the highlights of the memorable Tau Herculid meteor shower and also report on the recent outburst of the recurrent nova U Scorpii.

The Moon is our most obvious and immediate celestial companion. For many stargazers, the Moon was our first astronomical love.

For three nights running, the waxing Moon will pose equidistant from the two brightest stars of Leo. The Cassiopeia W lies exactly level in the north. And for that to happen, Kochab has to be straight above Polaris.

Under the right conditions, stars could become immortal. How is this possible, and what does it mean for these stars’ surroundings?

Download this month's Sky Tour podcast to find out where and when to spot a rare alignment of five planets in the sky before dawn.

All five naked-eye planets will line up in the dawn sky in June. Not only that, they’ll also be in their proper order from the Sun.

Meet Denebola, the tail of Leo, the Lion. This young star is a fast rotater but otherwise not that different from our Sun.

The crescent Moon passes Pollux and Castor in the western twilight. Jupiter aligns with Mars in the dawn, then they edge apart. And a strong new meteor shower will either happen or it won't!

Will there be a new meteor shower on the night of May 30–31? There's only one way to find out.

Astronomers think they might have a solution to the conundrum of the Sun's chemical composition.

Unlike most asterisms, many of the Big Dipper's stars really are physically connected. They belong to a loosely bound stellar stream called the Ursa Major Moving Cluster.

A piano concerto based on the solar system’s planets just had its world premiere. And you can hear a sampling of the music right here!

The Sun is ramping up activity, but contrary to some reports, this solar cycle is still consistent with scientists' predictions.

The advancing spring sends Vega high and Capella low. The Coma Berenices cluster glitters shyly way up, big and dim. Glance up anytime to check on changing Beta Lyrae. And now in the dawn, Jupiter aligns with Mars.

Astronomers are exploring a celestial particle accelerator in the Eel Nebula that surrounds a distant pulsar.

NASA’s Mars Insight lander witnessed the largest quake detected on another world at just the right time — as the lander begins to run low on power.

Astronomers connect the dots between two strange doppelganger galaxies, uncovering what might be a string of galactic pearls created in a cosmic collision 8 billion years ago.

You’ve heard of sunspots, but how about Sun dots? A recent solar mission has snapped photos of tiny, bright dots on the Sun, and astronomers are contemplating their cause.