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This visualization shows a large asteroid hitting Earth. One new study suggests a new timeline for Earth's early history.

New Timeline for 'Giant Planet Migration' May Rewrite History of Our Solar System

By Chelsea Gohd

The largest planets in our solar system could have drifted away from the sun much sooner than scientists previously thought, one new study suggests.

This Hubble Space Telescope view of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet's trademark Great Red Spot, and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. One new study suggest that the gas giant's dilute core was formed by a massive collision billions of years ago.

Jupiter's Strange Core May Have Been Forged by a Colossal Head-On Crash

By Chelsea Gohd

Jupiter's dilute core could have been formed by a head-on collision 4.5 billion years ago, one new study suggests.

The Hubble Space Telescope, as seen in 2009 during the last space shuttle mission to service it.

Hubble Space Telescope

By SPACE.com Staff

Each of the different universes followed different theories for galaxy formation.

Scientists Create Millions of Virtual Universes to Understand Cosmic History

By Passant Rabie

Virtual universes on a supercomputer gave scientists more insight into galaxy formation.

This diagram shows possible ways by which methane might incorporate into Mars' atmosphere (sources) and disappear from the atmosphere (sinks).

Methane on Mars Isn't Being Released by Wind Erosion

By Mike Wall

One small piece of the Mars methane mystery may have just been solved.

An image based on data gathered by NASA's Voyager 1 mission shows Loki Patera in the lower right.

The Biggest Volcano on Jupiter's Moon Io Is Super Active. But Does It Run Like Clockwork?

By Meghan Bartels

It's stressful to hang out near the king of the solar system, and Jupiter's moon Io bears the scars of that close relationship on its surface, which is pockmarked by a host of volcanoes.

The ExoMars 2020 parachute deployment sequence.

Europe and Russia Have ExoMars Parachute Problems. It Could Threaten the 2020 Mars Launch

By Leonard David

The mission, which is scheduled to launch in July 2020, has suffered failures in two recent parachute tests.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission will grab a sample at one of these four collection sites, which have been nicknamed (clockwise from top left) Nightingale, Kingfisher, Sandpiper and Osprey.

A NASA Spacecraft Will Snatch Samples of Asteroid Bennu in 2020. Here's 4 Places It May Land

By Meghan Bartels

When NASA makes its move to grab a piece of space rock, will its spacecraft snatch at a sample of a dark, sandy Nightingale or of a very wet Kingfisher?

Scientists are learning more about the glitchy Vela pulsar 11,000 light-years from Earth.

Weird Star Slows Down Before 'Glitching,' and No One Knows Why

By Passant Rabie

The most famous glitching star, Vela, revealed clues about its superfluid insides.

The sun produces a constant stream of charged particles called the solar wind.

First View of 'Interplanetary Shock' Spotted by NASA Spacecraft

By Meghan Bartels

A team of four NASA spacecraft finally caught sight of a phenomenon scientists have been hunting for years: an interplanetary shock.

A chunk of orbiting debris (circled) is visible in this view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken by Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft in October 2015. Spanish astrophotographer Jacint Roger noticed the object in 2019, after going through Rosetta archival photos.

Meet 'Churymoon'! Photographer Spots Tiny Moon in 2015 Rosetta Comet Photos

By Mike Wall

Europe's Rosetta spacecraft wasn't the only object circling Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko back in 2015.

PSO167-13 was discovered by the Pan-STARRS telescope before being observed via Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Cloaked Black Hole Found Hidden Behind Gas Cloud in Early Universe

By Passant Rabie

A cloaked black hole found lurking behind a cloud of gas dates to the early cosmic years of the universe.

A new image from the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) reveals that the galaxy isn't so X-shaped after all.

Famous 'X-Shaped' Galaxy Isn't Actually X-Shaped

By Rafi Letzter

There's a galaxy not too far from our own that astronomers were very sure was shaped like an X, but a new, clearer radio telescope image shows that the galaxy is more like a stretched-out blob.

Mice have a long career in spaceflight experiments, like these that NASA injected with lunar rock after Apollo 11.

Before He Was a Rocket Engineer for Nazi Germany, Von Braun Was a Student Experimenting on Mice

By Meghan Bartels

Today, Wernher von Braun is remembered as a rocket engineer who spent his career singlemindedly focused on enabling human spaceflight, first for Nazi Germany and then for the U.S.

Following a successful deployment test of the James Webb Space Telescope's mission-critical secondary mirror, technicians and engineers visually inspect the support structure that holds it in place.

NASA's Next Big Space Telescope Aces Key Mirror Test (Video)

By Elizabeth Howell

NASA's next big space telescope is getting its light-collecting gear ready to go.

This new Hubble Space Telescope view of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet's trademark Great Red Spot, and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 observed Jupiter when the planet was 400 million miles (640 million kilometers) from Earth, when Jupiter was near "opposition," or almost directly opposite the sun in the sky.

Jupiter: Our Solar System's Largest Planet

By Charles Q. Choi

If Jupiter were the size of a basketball, Earth would be the size of a grape.

A "dying" star's last moments, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Over thousands of years it will cool and shrink until it becomes a white dwarf. One new study shows how the surviving cores of planets orbiting white dwarfs could emit radio waves, allowing scientists to detect them from Earth.

Doomed Planets Around Dead Stars Can 'Broadcast' Their Woes for a Billion Years

By Chelsea Gohd

The surviving cores of planets orbiting dead stars emit radio waves that scientists can detect from Earth for up to a billion years, one new study has found.

An animation shows the random appearance of fast radio bursts (FRBs) across the sky. Astronomers have discovered about 85 since 2007, and pinpointed two of them.

Mysterious, Ancient Radio Signals Keep Pelting Earth. Astronomers Designed an AI to Hunt Them Down.

By Rafi Letzter

An image of Jupiter appears to capture the flash of an asteroid striking the gas giant on Aug. 7, 2019.

Something Just Smacked Jupiter and Here's the Photo to Prove It

By Meghan Bartels

Ouch, that looks painful!

Artist's concept showing DG CVn — a binary system consisting of two red dwarf stars — unleashing a series of powerful flares seen by NASA's Swift spacecraft on April 23, 2014.

Can We Ever Understand the Size of Red Dwarf Stars?

By Paul Sutter

These stars, though extremely common, are tough to study.