Earth – Facts and Information about the Planet Earth

Arecibo isn't the first radio telescope to unexpectedly fail. Here's what we can learn from Green Bank's collapse.

By Meghan Bartels

George Seielstad knows what it's like to have a massive telescope fall apart on your watch.

Space photos: The most amazing images this week!

By Doris Elin Urrutia

See the best photos on Space.com this week.

Arecibo Observatory's cable-suspended science platform, as seen before damage accrued in 2020.

Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is lost

By Meghan Bartels

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will decommission Arecibo Observatory's massive radio dish after damage has made the facility too dangerous to repair, the agency announced today (Nov. 19).

Losing Arecibo Observatory would create a hole that can't be filled, scientists say

By Meghan Bartels

Arecibo Observatory is facing a mid-life crisis — or something much worse.

Iconic Arecibo Observatory may be on the brink of collapse after cable failures

By Meghan Bartels

No one was expecting the snap on Nov. 6 as engineers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico weighed their options for dealing with damage to the facility from a cable failure over the summer.

A view of Hurricane Iota from the NASA/NOAA GOES-East satellite on Nov. 16, 2020.

Record-breaking Hurricane Iota churns toward Central America (satellite photo)

By Meghan Bartels

NASA and NOAA are monitoring the powerful Hurricane Iota as the record-breaking storm approaches Nicaragua and Honduras.

What if Earth shared its orbit with another planet?

By Charles Q. Choi

Earth is the only planet traveling within its nearly circular orbit around the sun. But what if Earth shared its orbit with another planet?

This photograph of the Tycho supernova remnant was taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Low-energy X-rays (red) in the image show expanding debris from the supernova explosion and high energy X-rays (blue) show the blast wave, a shell of extremely energetic electrons.

Supernova explosions may have helped shape Earth's climate history

By Mike Wall

The evidence is tentative but intriguing.

The Antarctic ozone hole reached its peak extent on Sept. 20, 2020, at 9.6 million square miles (24.8 million square kilometers). It was the 12th-largest ozone hole on record.

The seasonal ozone hole over Antarctica will remain active well into November

By Elizabeth Howell

The seasonal ozone hole over the Antarctic will persist well into November, according to satellite and weather balloon observations from NASA and NOAA.

The massive dish at Arecibo Observatory as seen in spring 2019.

Arecibo Observatory suffers more damage as second cable fails

By Meghan Bartels

The famed Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has suffered another major blow in a difficult year that has seen two snapped cables damage the fragile dish.

NASA research scientist Cindy Schmidt teaches a remote sensing workshop held with the Samish Indian Nation in what's often called Washington.

With pandemic thwarting workshops, NASA training for tribes goes digital

By Meghan Bartels

More perspectives often make for stronger problem solving — and it never hurts if one of those perspectives comes from high above the issue.

An artist's depiction of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite in orbit around Earth.

This new ocean-mapping satellite will help us all understand the impacts of climate change

By Elizabeth Howell

Examining coastal sea rise, tracking underwater ocean waves and adding to long-term data about climate change will be the main scientific return of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite mission.

NASA captured this view of Hurricane Zeta with one of the International Space Station's external cameras, on Oct. 28, 2020.

Hurricane Zeta spotted from the International Space Station (video)

By Hanneke Weitering

As Hurricane Zeta churned toward the northern Gulf Coast today (Oct. 28), the International Space Station captured some incredible views of the massive storm from orbit.

The growth of the Colorado wildfire can be seen from the GOES-East satellite between Oct. 21 and Oct. 22, 2020.

Explosive growth of Colorado wildfire seen from space

By Stephanie Pappas

The spread of the fire was visible from space.

A particle of light, called a photon (yellow, coming from the left), produces electron waves out of an electron cloud (grey) of a hydrogen molecule (red: nucleus). The result of those interactions is what’s called an interference pattern (violet-white). The interference pattern is slightly skewed to the right, allowing researchers to calculate the time for the photon to get from one atom to the next.

Meet the zeptosecond, the shortest unit of time ever measured

By Stephanie Pappas

Scientists have measured the shortest unit of time ever, the time it takes for a particle of light to cross a hydrogen molecule.

'Lost' tectonic plate called Resurrection hidden under the Pacific

By Stephanie Pappas

A new computer reconstruction of the tectonic plates of 60 million years ago reveals the existence of a lost plate called Resurrection.

An eerie lenticular cloud forms over El Chalten mountain in Argentina

Ghostly 'UFO cloud' hovering over mountains wows judges in weather photo contest

By Brandon Specktor

Lenticular clouds look like saucers and form when wind meets mountains. This photo is one of the Royal Meteorological Society's favorites of the year.