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A Soviet satellite crash sparks a wildfire in "The Walking Dead" season 10 premiere "Lines We Cross" on AMC.

A Soviet Satellite Falls to Earth in 'The Walking Dead' Season 10. How Realistic Is It?

By Tariq Malik

The episode "Lines We Cross" ends with an old Soviet satellite crashing to Earth, sparking a new plot point for the show. But how realistic is it? We asked a scientist.

Spiral galaxy M51 (NGC 5194), The Whirlpool Galaxy, displays its long arms which consist of stars and gas laced with dust arranged in long lanes. NGC 5195, the small, yellowish galaxy to the right, appears to tug on one of the Whirlpool's arms, but NGC 5195 actually floats behind the Whirlpool.

On This Day in Space! Oct. 13, 1773: Charles Messier Discovers the 'Whirlpool Galaxy'

By Hanneke Weitering

On Oct. 13, 1773, a French astronomer named Charles Messier discovered the "Whirlpool Galaxy," also known as Messier 51, or M51. See how it happened in our On This Day in Space video series!

A meteor lights up the midnight sky over the northeastern China provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang in this dashcam and surveillance camera video views taken on Oct. 11, 2019.

Brilliant Midnight Fireball Lights Up Sky Over Northeast China

By Tariq Malik

What appears to be a dazzling meteor lit up the sky over northeast China on Friday (Oct. 11), appearing as a brilliant fireball in surveillance video of the event.

The story of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" begins in comic book form with "Allegiance."

The Story of 'Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker' Begins with 'Allegiance'

By Chris Arrant

Don't wait until the movie. The rise of "Rise of Skywalker" began last week in comic books.

Don't let its humble appearance fool you; this so-called mudball meteorite holds important clues about how life began on Earth.

'Cosmic Mudball Meteorite' Smells Like Brussels Sprouts, Finds New Home at Museum

By Mindy Weisberger

A new meteorite addition to the Field Museum's collection resembles a malodorous mud brick, but it holds important clues about the origins of life on Earth.

A Boeing Starliner spacecraft is prepared for a planned December 2019 test flight to the International Space Station for NASA.

Boeing Aims to Launch Unpiloted Starliner Test Flight to Space Station in December

By Hanneke Weitering

Boeing has set a new launch date for the first orbital flight of its new commercial crew vehicle that will soon begin ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Tech

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A Russian Proton rocket launches Eutelsat's 5 West B communications satellite and Northrop Grumman's Mission Extension Vehicle-1 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 9, 2019.

First-of-Its-Kind Satellite Servicing Spacecraft Launches on Russian Rocket

By Mike Wall

Northrop Grumman's Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1) launched today (Oct. 9) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, kicking off a first-of-its-kind commercial-servicing mission.

Artist's illustration of an astronaut in the xEMU spacesuit with the Human Landing System in the background.

Moon 2024: NASA Wants Ideas for Lunar Spacesuit Tech

By Elizabeth Howell

NASA is looking to the private sector to help mature and manufacture the spacesuit it will need for its future moon missions, the first of which is targeted for 2024.

Spaceflight

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Artist's illustration of Spacebit's small "walking rover," which is scheduled to launch toward the moon aboard Astrobotic's Peregrine lander in 2021.

UK's 1st Moon Rover to Launch in 2021

By Mike Wall

The United Kingdom is set to make its own giant leap soon, with a very small rover.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) captured this unprecedented image of two circumstellar disks, in which baby stars are growing, feeding with material from their surrounding birth disk.

Space Photos: The Most Amazing Images This Week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

Here are our picks for the most amazing space photos of the week.

Science & Astronomy

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Artist's illustration of Spacebit's small "walking rover," which is scheduled to launch toward the moon aboard Astrobotic's Peregrine lander in 2021.

UK's 1st Moon Rover to Launch in 2021

By Mike Wall

The United Kingdom is set to make its own giant leap soon, with a very small rover.

A large space rock's orbit carries it past Earth.

Pyramid-Size Asteroid to Hurtle Past Earth (Again)

By Mindy Weisberger

A fast-moving visitor is approaching our cosmic neighborhood. Dubbed 2019 SX5, this near-Earth object is about the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Search For Life

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An artist's depiction of a molten exoplanet.

A Churning 'Molten Blob' of Planet May Be Easier to Find. Here's Why.

By Meghan Bartels

The smaller a planet, the more difficult it is to spot — which is frustrating for scientists hoping to find Earth-like worlds.

Glowing meteor, fireball entering Earth's atmosphere.

Falling Fireballs Crashed in Chile Last Week. They Weren't Meteorites, Experts Say.

By Nicoletta Lanese

Chilean officials are investigating a curious collection of burning objects that fell onto parts of the country last week.

A crane lifted the rocket-powered descent stage away from the Mars 2020 rover in a successful separation test at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in September 2019.

NASA Tests Mars 2020 Rover's Sky Crane Landing Tech

By Samantha Mathewson

NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission has reached another milestone with a successful separation test of the descent stage that will deliver the six-wheeled robot to the surface of the Red Planet.

Skywatching

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Full Hunter's moon over Bear River Valley

October Full Moon 2019: Hunter's Moon Is Smallest of the Year

By Jesse Emspak

The full moon of October, called the Hunter's Moon, will grace the skies Oct. 13, as the smallest full moon of the year. Don't miss Jupiter and Saturn, too!

Venus as it will appear in the evening sky on Oct. 29, 2019.

Venus Returns to Evening Sky After Weeks of Hiding Behind the Sun

By Joe Rao

After an absence of more than a year, the most brilliant planet returns to the evening sky.

The moon over Huntsville, Alabama.

International Observe the Moon Night 2019: Skywatching Livestreams

By Elizabeth Howell

As NASA continues its push to land humans on the moon again in 2024, you can celebrate International Observe the Moon Night via two livestreams (if you can't catch the moon outside).

Entertainment

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The story of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" begins in comic book form with "Allegiance."

The Story of 'Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker' Begins with 'Allegiance'

By Chris Arrant

Don't wait until the movie. The rise of "Rise of Skywalker" began last week in comic books.

Supertrain "Snowpiercer" barrels across a frozen Earth, in a new TNT series about the aftermath of a global climate catastrophe.

Frozen Earth in 'Snowpiercer' Is a Grim (and Possible) Future for Our Warming Planet

By Mindy Weisberger

The grim future of new TNT sci-fi series "Snowpiercer" began with climate change. Could our rapidly warming world undergo a global deep freeze?

Playmobil will go back in time in May 2020 with three new sets from the "Back to the Future" film franchise.

Playmobil Is Going Back to the Future in 2020!

By Tariq Malik

Dust off your DeLoreans, sci-fi fans because Playmobil will launch three new sets from the "Back to the Future" films in 2020 that will have you channeling your inner Marty McFly.