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NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter (upper right) using its Mastcam-Z camera on April 30, 2021.

Perseverance rover captures sounds of Mars helicopter Ingenuity's flight in awesome first (video)

By Mike Wall

NASA's Perseverance rover captured the whirring of Ingenuity's fast-spinning rotors during the little chopper's fourth Red Planet flight, which took place on April 30.

Follow along with Space.com senior writer Chelsea Gohd on an analog astronaut mission in a new mini-documentary.

This week on the forums: Going to Mars, SpaceX giveaway and an alternate Earth!

By Mohamed Mohammed

It’s been another week of enthusiastic space chatter and we've got some highlights for you. Be sure to sign up for the Space.com forums and join the discussions today!

A black hole tears down a star, leaving a long string of star material, which then wraps itself around the black hole.

'Spaghettified' star wrapped around a black hole spotted for the first time

By Tereza Pultarova

Astronomers observe as a giant black hole sucks in a spaghettified star.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took this photo during its fourth flight on April 30, 2021. The image shows “Airfield B,” where Ingenuity will seek to land on its fifth flight, on May 7.

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity will head to new airfield today on 5th flight

By Mike Wall

Ingenuity is scheduled to make its fifth Martian flight today (May 7), a jaunt that will be unlike anything the 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) chopper has attempted so far.

A dune-like aurora borealis.

Mystery of strange new 'dune' auroras solved, scientists say

By Elizabeth Howell

A Finnish-led team has new insights into auroral "dunes" first reported in scientific literature a year ago.

Venus is swathed in a thick atmosphere that is difficult for scientists to peer through.

How long is a day on Venus? It's always changing, new study reveals

By Meghan Bartels

Astronomers have long struggled to pin down how long a day lasts on Venus, but new research suggests the difficulty stems not from flawed measurements but from real variations in the planet's spin.

Galaxy clusters in the "cosmic web."

Is there a pattern to the universe?

By Paul Sutter

For decades, cosmologists have wondered if the large-scale structure of the universe is a fractal — that is, if it looks the same no matter how large the scale.

The Hope Mars mission captured this image of Mars on Feb. 26, 2021, showing Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system.

UAE Hope Mars orbiter: The Arab world's first interplanetary mission

By Jeremy Rehm, Meghan Bartels

The Hope Mars mission is the United Arab Emirates' first interplanetary spacecraft and will study the Red Planet's atmosphere.

The ground test model of the European Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover is about to leave the clean rooms of Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy. (Credit: Thales Alenia Space)

Pictures from space! Our image of the day

By Space.com Staff

The ground test model of the European Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover is about to leave the clean rooms of Thales Alenia Space to commence a test campaign at a nearby Mars Terrain Simulator.

An artist's impression of a gaseous exoplanet

Dark matter could be destroying itself inside the bellies of exoplanets

By Adam Mann

Researchers propose learning more about dark matter by looking for its effects inside exoplanets.

Long exposure star trail image taken at Hehuan Mountain, Taiwan.

Space junk is blocking our view of the stars, scientists say

By Ben Turner

The increasing number of satellites and space debris orbiting Earth could prevent astronomers from making crucial discoveries.

Scientists spot exoplanet PDS 70b while still forming 379 light-years away from Earth.

The youngest exoplanet found by the Hubble telescope is the size of Jupiter (and still growing)

By Chelsea Gohd

The Hubble Space Telescope peered out into the cosmos, 379 light-years from Earth, and spotted a giant planet forming, the youngest planet ever spotted by the space telescope.

Countless galaxies in the universe imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Is there anything beyond the universe?

By Paul Sutter

What's beyond the known limits? What lies outside the boundary of the universe? The answer is … well, it's complicated.

In this image, Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins captured the Earth with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the lunar module. Collins snapped this photo as the Apollo 11 lunar module "Eagle" was returning to the command module, on July 21, 1969.

The top space stories of the week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

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

An artist's conception of the early Earth, showing a surface bombarded by large impacts that result in the extrusion of magma onto the surface.

Earth's crust is way, way older than we thought

By Brandon Specktor

Earth's continents have been leaking nutrients into the ocean for at least 3.7 billion years, new research suggests.

Jupiter's volcanic moon Io boasts an atmosphere made from sulfur dioxide gas — when the satellite is in sunlight. For the first time, researchers have observed the atmosphere during the moon's daily pass through Jupiter's shadow, watching that atmosphere temporarily freeze and collapse.

Images: 10 incredible volcanoes in our solar system

By James Romero, All About Space magazine

These violent openings are windows into the inner workings and origins of our neighboring planets and their moons.

Artist's rendition of our solar system. Not to scale.

Solar System Planets: Order of the 8 (or 9) Planets

By Robert Roy Britt

There used to be nine planets. Now there are eight, or maybe there are nine after all. Whichever you prefer, here is a list of them in the order they appear in the solar system.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover acquired this image of the Ingenuity helicopter (upper right) using its Mastcam-Z camera on April 30, 2021.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity goes faster and farther than ever on 4th flight

By Mike Wall

Ingenuity aced its fourth-ever Martian flight this morning (April 30), going farther and faster than it ever had before.

Space Travel by MasterOgon.

This week in our Space.com forums: Astro-ethics, the expanding universe and space art!

By Mohamed Mohammed

The community gets into a deeper conversation about space colonization and the ever-expanding universe. Then, one member blows us away with some remarkable art!

mars dust storm

7 solar system worlds where the weather is crazy

By Jonathan O'Callaghan, Daisy Dobrijevic, How It Works magazine

What's the weather like on other worlds? Expect methane rain, global haboobs and a 10,000-mile-wide hurricane.