Historic Mount Wilson Observatory survives close call with Southern California's Bobcat Fire By Doris Elin Urrutia Firefighters protected the historic observatory as the wildfire crept dangerously close.
Satellites monitor California wildfires from space (photos) By Doris Elin Urrutia Satellites have snapped true-color images of the West Coast wildfires and also detected aerosols caused by the burning material.
NASA to stop using racist nicknames for cosmic objects By Doris Elin Urrutia The Aug. 5 statement was issued by NASA’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity (ODEO).
A Russian cosmonaut successfully performed tissue engineering in space with a magnetic field By Doris Elin Urrutia A cosmonaut has bioengineered human cartilage tissue at the International Space Station for the first time, according to a new study.
Citizen scientists and astronomers find two strange, ancient brown dwarfs By Doris Elin Urrutia Citizen scientists recently helped direct astronomers to a pair of objects that straddle the line between planets and stars.
Heat gave Jupiter's icy moon Europa layers. That may be good news for the search for life. By Doris Elin Urrutia There are many items on the habitability checklist, and Europa may have experienced an important life-supporting phenomenon.
Subsurface vortexes could be behind Saturn's mysterious hexagon By Doris Elin Urrutia Two researchers investigated the dynamics of Saturn's churning atmosphere to figure out what sorts of planetary fluid dynamics are creating its mystifying hexagon.
'A truly dark night sky can change someone's life forever': Q&A with 'The World at Night' photobook author Babak Tafreshi By Doris Elin Urrutia Two of Babak Tafreshi's major astrophotography programs were canceled or postponed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, he told Space.com.
Radiation poses major obstacle to future deep-space astronauts bound for Mars By Doris Elin Urrutia There are already several robotic missions to the Red Planet, and sending humans there is an exciting future prospect.
At Thirty Meter Telescope protest, native Hawaiian elders leave mountain over coronavirus threat By Doris Elin Urrutia Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, native Hawaiians who oppose construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project on Maunakea in Hawaii have reduced their presence on the mountainside.
Long-lost astronomy observatory in Puerto Rico rediscovered by university students By Doris Elin Urrutia Amid natural disasters and a spreading pandemic, three Puerto Rican students found hope in a project to restore an abandoned observatory on their university's campus.
How to see the best meteor showers of 2020 By Doris Elin Urrutia This year's best meteor shower might be the Geminids in December, but if you don't want to skywatch in the cold, the summertime Perseids will also put on a show.
With coronavirus spreading, NASA may tweak astronaut prelaunch quarantine plans By Doris Elin Urrutia The procedure to ensure that astronauts don't bring an illness to the International Space Station is under evaluation as NASA enacts tactics to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
NASA still aiming for 2024 moon landing despite SLS megarocket delays By Doris Elin Urrutia The first launch of NASA's back-to-the moon program has slipped into the second half of next year, but 2024 remains the target for the first crewed lunar landing since the Apollo days.
Meet the 17-year-old who discovered an alien planet: A Q&A with high school student Wolf Cukier By Doris Elin Urrutia 17-year-old high school student Wolf Cukier made a major discovery on the third day of his NASA internship, when he noticed the telltale signs of a distant planet orbiting two stars.
Fortnite flashback: Just how accurate was the black hole that launched Chapter 2? By Doris Elin Urrutia The Event Horizon Telescope captured the first picture of a black hole. How did Fortnite's black hole compare?
10 brilliant discoveries NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory made in its first decade in space By Doris Elin Urrutia This week, NASA is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Solar Dynamics Observatory, a sensitive spacecraft that has shown the world never-before-seen imagery of the sun.
Farewell, Spitzer Space Telescope! NASA shuts down prolific observatory. By Doris Elin Urrutia One of NASA's great telescopes will go offline today (Jan. 30) after 16.5 years of observations that helped to paint a more complete picture of the universe.
'Vampire' star sparks brilliant 'super-outburst' while gorging on its neighbor By Doris Elin Urrutia This rare finding was made by "accident," according to the research team that found the super-outburst.
High school student discovers alien planet with twin suns just days into a NASA internship By Doris Elin Urrutia A high school junior found a distant planet that orbits two stars, one of just a dozen such worlds known to scientists.
Tour the colorful Crab Nebula with this stunning new 3D visualization By Doris Elin Urrutia A new 3D movie highlights the Crab Nebula, beginning with its location in the constellation Taurus and zooming in to show off its dynamic features.
Scientists study plasma 'bubbles' in Earth's magnetic field with Gamera model named for Japanese monster By Doris Elin Urrutia Auroras and satellite function might be influenced by ''bubbles'' of plasma near the tail of Earth's magnetosphere.
Giant 'Rubin's Galaxy' stars in stunning Hubble photo named for dark matter pioneer By Doris Elin Urrutia Two cosmic love birds lit the way to the discovery of dark matter, and a new Hubble image features a behemoth galaxy that played a part in the groundbreaking finding.
Lunar Eclipse 2020 Guide: When, Where & How to See Them By Doris Elin Urrutia Four penumbral lunar eclipses will appear across Earth's skies in 2020.
Happy Perihelion Day 2020! Earth Is Closest to the Sun Today By Doris Elin Urrutia Earth is about to have a close encounter of the stellar kind.