Space News & Blog Articles

Careful study of data from the New Horizons mission indicates that an iconic, caldera-looking feature isn’t an eruption site.

What seemed a lucky break — the discovery of a gamma-ray burst in the most distant known galaxy — might instead be the flash of passing space debris. As satellites fill low-Earth orbit, such events might become common.

Why do you stargaze? Amateur astronomer Jennifer Willis explores reconnection via the night sky.

A quasar is a supermassive black hole gorging on gas in the heart of a distant galaxy.

Gravitational waves offer a test of whether supernovae can produce black holes between 55 and 120 times the Sun's mass.

See nine unique open clusters in Cassiopeia while barely moving your telescope.

Take advantage of October's crisp, clear evenings and early-arriving dawns to explore the nighttime sky with our audio guided tour.

Venus shines in twilight; watch Antares and the head of Scorpius slide toward it. Check out Jupiter, and hop from Saturn to two binocular double stars. The evenings are dark for deep-sky observing; the waning Moon crosses Leo before dawn.

Catch one of the most active small bodies in the solar system during a rare superoutburst.

BepiColombo is set to make the first of several flybys past Mercury on Friday, October 1st.

Astronomers use cosmic magnifying lenses to peer into the universe's distant past.

Scientists have found massive ash deposits that formed over millions of years of volcanic super-eruptions, the first evidence for such explosive activity on Mars.

Jupiter and Saturn shine in the south-southeast at dusk, Venus low in the southwest. They're all close to the ecliptic, so a straight line from Jupiter through Saturn points almost exactly to Venus. Don't believe it? Stretch a string tightly between your hands wide apart, hold it up to the three planets, and see for yourself!

"Mushballs," first inferred to exist on Jupiter, may fall within the atmospheres of all the solar system's giant planets.

Some 10 million years ago, dying stars cleared a giant cavity in space and ultimately inspired a new generation of star formation.

Astronomers have used the death of a star to uncover details about a hidden intermediate-mass black hole.

Scientists have discovered the first meteorite that doesn't fall into one of two fundamental groups. The meteorite provides a unique glimpse into the era of asteroid formation and migration.

NASA’s VIPER rover will land and search for water ice in the unexplored Nobile region at the Moon's south pole.

These four globular clusters are easy to find in autumn skies and a perfect way to welcome the season.

A small mission will hitch a ride to space in late September to study interactions at the Earth-Sun boundary.

How’d a nice young ice giant end up in such a hot orbit? Scientists investigate the mysterious exoplanet AU Microscopii b.