If you thought dark matter was difficult to study, studying dark energy is even more challenging. Dark energy is perhaps the most subtle phenomenon in the universe. It drives the evolution of the cosmos, but its effects are only seen on intergalactic scales. So to study dark energy in detail, you need a great deal of observations of wide areas of the sky.
Space News & Blog Articles
China's next moon missions get the green light
China's government has officially approved three robotic moon missions that will lay groundwork for a permanent lunar base.
Blazar's Outburst Hid Repeating Signal
Pulses originating almost a billion light-years away hint at extreme physics near a supermassive black hole.
Star blasted stellar nursery in 'Orion's sword' seen in detail
Using the Keck Observatory astronomers have imaged the Orion nebula, an intense star-forming region close to Earth, in unprecedented detail.
Massive Stars don’t Always Grow Their own Planets. Sometimes They Steal Them
Recently astronomers have discovered Jupiter-sized planets orbiting at extremely large distances from giant stars. How can these stars end up with such big planets at such extreme orbits? A team of researchers has proposed that the answer is that the stars steal those planets from their neighbors.
Blue Origin's New Shepard grounded until FAA completes mishap investigation
Blue Origin is working to understand what caused Monday's accident, and the FAA is overseeing the investigation.
3D print the cosmos: An interview with the authors of 'Stars in Your Hand'
The new book 'Stars in Your Hand: A Guide to 3D Printing the Cosmos' offers an overview of how 3D printing can help anyone learn about space, spaceflight and astronomy.
Outer space is not the "Wild West": There are clear rules for peace and war
Our increasing reliance on space infrastructure makes modern economies increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of accidents and unlawful or irresponsible acts in space.
James Webb Space Telescope spots baby stars cocooned in the Orion Nebula
Newborn stars still wrapped in cocoons of dust and gas are revealed in a new image of the famous Orion Nebula captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Pearl Jam 'travels' to Mars and beyond in cosmic Apollo Theater show (videos, photos)
Pearl Jam rocks cosmic "Gigaton" songs in SiriusXM's Small Stage Series performance at the Apollo Theater
A change in Jupiter's orbit could make Earth even friendlier to life
The most massive planet in the solar system, Jupiter has played a key role in shaping the inner planets and its orbit could influence how habitable our planet is.
Alien Artifacts Could Be Hidden Across the Solar System. Here’s how we Could Search for Them.
Do aliens exist? Almost certainly. The universe is vast and ancient, and our corner of it is not particularly special. If life emerged here, it probably did elsewhere. Keep in mind this is a super broad assumption. A single instance of fossilized archaebacteria-like organisms five superclusters away would be all it takes to say, “Yes, there are aliens!” …if we could find them somehow.
Galactic Photobombing
This image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, appears to show two spiral galaxies colliding. In fact, they are just overlapping from our vantage point and are likely quite distant from each other. The galaxies are named SDSS J115331 and LEDA 2073461, and they lie more than a billion light-years from Earth. This ‘photobombing’ of one galaxy getting in the same picture as another was originally found by volunteers from the Galaxy Zoo project, which uses the power of crowdsourcing to find unusual galaxies in our Universe.
Best used mirrorless cameras: save money on second-hand kit
Bag a bargain and save money by buying one of the best preowned mirrorless cameras at a great discount compared to new.
Inspiration4 astronaut shares 'blast-off' moment in new book
Hayley Arceneaux's new memoir chronicles her journey from childhood cancer survivor to one of four civilians on board a SpaceX mission in September 2021.
Best camera drones 2022: Capture stunning aerial photography and video
Drones are often thought of as flying cameras, so we’ve put together our list of the best camera drones for every budget.
NASA's tiny CAPSTONE probe suffers problem on its journey to the moon
Toward the end of a major engine burn on Thursday evening (Sept. 8), CAPSTONE experienced an anomaly that put the probe in a protective "safe mode," mission team members said.
Watch SpaceX launch 54 Starlink satellites from Florida Tuesday night
SpaceX will send another big batch of Starlink satellites to orbit on Tuesday night (Sept. 13) — and bring the first stage of a rocket back to Earth.
NASA probe ready to slam into an asteroid this month in landmark planetary defense test
On Sept. 26, DART will slam headfirst into a small asteroid, the rare case when a spacecraft's destruction is the desired outcome.
Mars rover and drone prototypes brave strong Iceland winds in analog test
Robots working together will assist astronauts on rocky worlds like the moon and Mars, if Earth tests like this show it's possible.
Handheld laser device can quickly diagnose astronaut health in space
Medical sample collection in low Earth orbit could be repurposed for future moon and Mars missions.