Trending

Science & Astronomy

Latest

NASA plans to launch the Europa Clipper mission in 2023 or 2025.

NASA's Europa Clipper Mission to Jupiter's Icy Moon Clears Big Hurdle on Path to Launch

By Mike Wall

A highly anticipated NASA mission to Jupiter's possibly life-supporting moon Europa remains on track for a mid-2020s launch.

An illustration of exoplanet LHS 3844b, which may have a rocky surface similar to that of Earth's moon.

This Weird, Rocky Planet Has No Atmosphere

By Passant Rabie

A nearby, rocky exoplanet may be just a plain rock with no atmosphere — supporting a theory that planets orbiting small stars are more susceptible to lacking an atmosphere.

An artist's visualization of a black hole swallowing a neutron star.

Did a Black Hole Swallow a Neutron Star 900 Million Years Ago?

By Chelsea Gohd

Researchers at LIGO and Virgo may have detected a gravitational-wave signal from the merger between a black hole and neutron star. This would be a major first.

Artist's illustration of Astrobotic's Peregrine lander on the surface of the moon.

Astrobotic's Private Moon Lander Will Launch on a Vulcan Centaur Rocket in 2021

By Mike Wall

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will send Astrobotic's Peregrine lander on its way toward Earth's nearest neighbor two years from now.

Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the National Space Council, will preside over the sixth meeting of the organization on Aug. 20, 2019.

Vice President Pence Chairs Space Council Meeting Today: Watch It Live

By Mike Wall

The National Space Council (NSC) will convene for the sixth time today morning (Aug. 20), and you can watch the proceedings live.

Can you spot the meteor in the Milky Way? After taking this photo of the night sky over Mount Rainier in Washington state on July 30, astrophotographer Tony Corso was surprised to find a tiny trail of a meteor near the center of this image. Look for the short streaker on the right edge of the Milky Way's dusty band. The meteor was likely a member of either the Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower or the Alpha Capricornids, both of which peaked at the end of July. It could have also been a Perseid meteor, although that shower didn't peak until about two weeks later.

Pictures from Space! Our Image of the Day

By Hanneke Weitering

Can you spot the meteor in the Milky Way?

Flying through the cosmos some 3,400 light-years away from Earth is a bird-shaped cloud of dust and gas known as the Seagull Nebula, or Sharpless 2-296. The European Southern Observatory's VLT Survey Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile captured this new view of the cosmic seagull, which is rich with new star formation.

Space Seagull! Telescope Captures a Celestial Gull in Flight (Video)

By Elizabeth Howell

Are those cosmic wings? A new image of the Seagull Nebula shows a shape that looks just like a glittering gull in flight across the night sky.

Saturn's moon Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere.

What Secrets Does Titan Hold?

By Paul Sutter

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is one of the most enigmatic bodies in the solar system.

a meteor enters earth atmosphere

America's Largest Asteroid Impact Left a Trail of Destruction Across the Eastern United States

By Brandon Specktor

America's largest impact crater wreaked havoc on the land and water. Scientists are just beginning to understand it.

What looks like a delicate dance between two galaxies is actually a slow-motion collision of colossal proportions in this Hubble Space Telescope photo. The two galaxies, called UGC 2369, are merging into one about 424 million light-years from Earth.

Hubble Telescope Spots Two Galaxies in a Doomed (but Dazzling) Dance

By Elizabeth Howell

Two galaxies are caught in a crazy cosmic dance, pulling at each other in a fresh image from the Hubble Space Telescope.

These record-setting wildfires raged across the Northwest Territories of Canada in 2014.

NASA's Investigating the Impact of Arctic Wildfires on Earth. Here's Why

By Passant Rabie

Arctic wildfires are becoming more frequent, and NASA is trying to find out how that will impact the surrounding population and the globe.

NASA's climbing robot LEMUR (Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot) scales a cliff in Death Valley, California during field trials in 2019. The robot uses special gripping technology to climb steep terrain.

Top Space Stories of the Week!

By Doris Elin Salazar

These are the top space stories this week from Space.com.

In this new image from the Hubble Space Telescope, what looks like a top-down view of a jellyfish glowing in deep space is actually the planetary nebula NGC 2022. The cosmic orb of ionized gas was expelled from a dying red giant star located at its center. As the star sheds material into space, its core shrinks and grows hotter while emitting ultraviolet radiation that illuminates its gassy shell.

Hubble Spots Purple 'Jellyfish' Star Glowing in Abyss of Deep Space

By Elizabeth Howell

The latest Hubble image appears to capture a cosmic jellyfish floating in space, but in reality this structure is no living creature.

A scene from the Netflix series "Stranger Things."

'Stranger Things' Science: What If You Needed to Know Planck's Constant to Save the World?

By Amy Thompson

Season 3 of the Netflix hit series "Stranger Things" again shows the series' appreciation for science, giving a staple of quantum mechanics an important cameo.

Some exploration advocates would like to terraform Mars, making it an easier place for humans to live.

Elon Musk Floats 'Nuke Mars' Idea Again (He Has T-Shirts)

By Mike Wall

Nuking Mars is still on Elon Musk's wish list, it would seem.

An animation of the moon overlaid with data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope shows light tens of millions of times more energetic than the light our eyes can see. The image becomes more detailed as more observation time is added, beginning at two months and ending at more than 10 years.

The Moon Is Brighter Than the Sun in These NASA Gamma-Ray Telescope Views

By Meghan Bartels

The sun is the brightest object in our skies — but it wouldn't be if we could see incredibly energetic gamma-rays as well as visible light.

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) observed a comet dive directly into the sun on Aug. 15, 2019.

A Doomed Comet Just Fell Into the Sun. Here's the Video.

By Chelsea Gohd

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) observed a comet diving directly into the sun yesterday (Aug. 15).

Artist's illustration of HD 21749c, the first Earth-size planet found by NASA's Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite, as well as its sibling, HD 21749b, a warm sub-Neptune-sized world.

Beyond TESS: How Future Exoplanet-Hunters Will Seek Out Strange New Worlds

By Sarah Wells

Ground and space telescope missions plan to further explore exoplanets discovered by NASA's TESS spacecraft.

Dehydrated tardigrades that crash-landed on the moon in April won't come back to life anytime soon

There Are Thousands of Tardigrades on the Moon. Now What?

By Mindy Weisberger

What might it mean for the moon to have thousands of tardigrades as new inhabitants?

The reflections of two spacecraft technicians are captured in the gold-plated mirrors of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Currently under construction at Northrop Grumman's Los Angeles facility, JWST is scheduled to launch in 2021. According to one new study, Webb could help scientists to detect and study atmospheres in the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system.

NASA's Next Space Telescope Could Reveal Details About the TRAPPIST-1 Planets, But There's One Problem

By Chelsea Gohd

The James Webb Space Telescope could gather critical information about the atmospheres of planets in the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system, one new study finds.