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Space News & Blog Articles
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Debris from Chinese rocket crash found in Indonesia and Malaysia
Some pieces of the big Chinese rocket that fell to Earth over the weekend have been found on the ground in Southeast Asia.
This Australian experiment is on the hunt for an elusive particle that could help unlock the mystery of dark matter
The ORGAN Experiment, Australia's first major dark matter detector, recently completed a search for a hypothetical particle called an axion in an attempt to try to explain dark matter.
Watch California's largest wildfire of the year spawn a massive 'fire cloud' visible from space
Weather satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have revealed "explosive growth" in a massive wildfire currently burning in northern California.
Watch Mars and Uranus meet up in night-sky webcast tonight
Mars and Uranus are night-sky neighbors at the moment, and you can get good views of their unusual meetup online tonight (Aug. 1).
In 'A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman,' a personal story of coming to planetary science
Lindy Elkins-Tanton offers a very human view of her experiences in science and life alike in her new memoir, "A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman."
Watch Rocket Lab launch a US spy satellite early Tuesday
Rocket Lab will launch a U.S. spy satellite in the wee hours of Tuesday morning (Aug. 2), and you can watch the action live.
Why Are Jupiter's Rings So Thin?
Why does the biggest planet in the solar system have such flimsy rings? New research shows Jupiter's moons may be to blame.
K2 PanSTARRS Still a Fine Binocular Comet Through late 2022
Long anticipated comet K2 PanSTARRS puts on its best show through the end of 2022.
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is disappearing
Utah’s Great Salt Lake dropped to its lowest recorded water level last month as a megadrought persists across the US southwest, forcing the fast-growing city to curb its water use. From space, satellite images show how water levels have fallen from 1985 to 2022 – exposing large expanses of lakebed.
Where do electrons get energy to spin around an atom's nucleus?
Electrons were once thought to orbit a nucleus much as planets orbit the sun. That picture has since been obliterated by modern quantum mechanics.
Astronomers image the star-birthing web of a cosmic Tarantula Nebula
New research shows how the push and pull inaction of energy and gravity shapes the cosmic web of 30 Doradus — the Tarantula Nebula — a site of rapid star formation.
August: Saturn & the Perseids
August marks the return of the Perseid meteor shower — and as you’re looking out for shooting stars while listening to this month's Sky Tour podcast, look for Saturn low in the southeast as soon as night begins to fall.
Even Citizen Scientists are Getting Time on JWST
Over the years, members of the public have regularly made exciting discoveries and meaningful contributions to the scientific process through citizen science projects. These citizen scientists sometimes mine large datasets for cosmic treasures, uncovering unknown objects such as Hanny’s Voorwerp, or other times bring an unusual phenomenon to scientists’ attention, such as the discovery of the new aurora-like spectacle called STEVE. Whatever the project, the advent of citizen science projects has changed the nature of scientific engagement between the public and the scientific community.
Stellar Flybys Leave a Permanent Mark on Newly Forming Planetary Systems
What do UX Tauri, RW Aurigae, AS 205, Z CMajoris, and FU Orionis have in common? They’re young stellar systems with disks where planets could form. It appears those disks were disturbed by stellar flybys or other close encounters in the recent past. Astronomers want to know: did those events disrupt planet formation in the disks? What do they do? Does this happen in other systems? And, did our own solar system experience a strange encounter in its youth?
Planet 9 is Running out of Places to Hide
We have a pretty good idea of what lurks within our solar system. We know there isn’t a Mars-sized planet orbiting between Jupiter and Saturn, nor a brown dwarf nemesis heading our way. Anything large and fairly close to the Sun would be easily spotted. But we can’t rule out a smaller, more distant world, such as the hypothetical Planet 9 (or Planet 10 if you want to throw down over Pluto). The odds against such a planet existing are fairly high, and a recent study finds it even less likely.
Watch the full moon dance over one year in stunning time-lapse video by photographer
A new time-lapse video from astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy shows the moon's dance, or libration, over a year of full moons.
In photos: Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti takes Europe's historic 1st female spacewalk
Samantha Cristoforetti posted numerous photos of her historic International Space Station spacewalk July 21, when she became the first European female spacewalker.
See China's huge uncontrolled rocket debris fall from space in fiery skywatcher videos
A huge Chinese rocket fell back to Earth this weekend in a dazzling (if fiery) display as it broke apart during reentry as it plunged from space over the Indian Ocean.
Strange 'alien' holes discovered on the ocean floor
Explorers have discovered a series of mysterious, "perfectly aligned" holes punched into the seafloor roughly 1.6 miles (2.6 kilometers) beneath the ocean.
Astronaut's Battlestar Galactica Starbuck cosplay in space thrills sci-fi convention fans (video)
Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has once again brought cosplay to space dressed as Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica.
