Astronomy

Defrosting the Crests of Inca City, LAT: -81.5° LONG: 296.3° “The nature of this polygonal network, unique on Mars, remains poorly understood, but seems to be linked to volcanic dykes covered by eolian sand. These terrains are close to the South pole and undergo springtime defrosting in dark patches that become progressively larger as temperatures climb,” writes geophysicist Nicolas Mangold in This is Mars.

This Is Mars in Extremely High Resolution

French designer Xavier Barral pored over 30,000 images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera, selecting the most appealing for his book

5 Smithsonian Scientific Research Projects Shut Down by the Shutdown

The federal government shutdown has affected astronomy, paleontology fieldwork and research into animal behavior at the Smithsonian

NASA Found Propene, the Chemical Used to Make Your Tupperware, on One of Saturn’s Moons

This new discovery fills in a gap in that chemical line-up, though experts suspect that many more molecular surprises await

The Crab Pulsar, located in the Crab Nebula, is one of the celestial bodies Mickey Hart has translated into music.

Former Grateful Dead Drummer Mickey Hart Composes Music from the Sounds of the Universe

Hart teams up with a Nobel Prize-winning cosmologist to translate light and electromagnetic waves into octaves humans can hear

Get Paid $18,000 to Stay in Bed for Two Months, For Science

If your skill is staying in bed for extremely extended periods of time, well the perfect job for you has just opened up

Rosetta eyeing the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Europe’s Space Agency Is Going to Harpoon a Comet And Ride It Into the Sun

A three billion mile hunt will climax soon when Rosetta, quite literally, harpoons a comet

Four composite views of the Moon

NASA’s Captured the Intricate Beauty of the Dark Side of the Moon in One Short Video

Watch this time lapse trip all the way around the Moon

Here’s What We Thought Earth Would Look Like from Space

Before we actually went to space, we had some ideas about what Earth might look like

Yes, Astronauts Are Afraid to Go to Space

Actual astronauts never seem afraid to piece the atmosphere and plunge into the icy depths beyond our planet, but they are

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These Beautiful 16th Century Watercolors Illustrate the History of Comets And Meteors

Today, studying comets and meteors involves billions of dollars worth of equipment and teams from all over the world

The potential viewing area for tonight’s 11:27 pm launch from Virginia

Hey, Eastern Seaboard! Look Up, You’re About to See a Rocket Launch

A new orbiter is going to the Moon, and it's launching from Virginia

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The Star Tau Boo Flips Its Magnetic Field, Too

Scientists watched the magnetic field of a star 51 light years away flip back and forth

The Bullialdhus Crater. It looks little, but it ain’t.

The Moon Had Water Since the Day It Was Born

The Moon was birthed from the Earth—a blob of molten rock sent spiraling off into space in the aftermath of a massive collision 4.5 billion years ago

Luca Parmitano Shared Exactly How It Feels to Start Drowning in Space

During a spacewalk, the Italian astronaut's helmet filled with water

This Astronomer Recreated Starry Night with Hubble Space Photos

Alex Parker used the top 100 images from the Hubble Space telescope to create his rendition of Starry Night

Three elephants will be coming to the National Zoo from Canada’s Calgary Zoo in the spring.

HUGE News From the Zoo: Three New Elephants Are Moving In

Three female Asian elephants will come to the National Zoo from the Calgary Zoo in spring of 2014

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Cosmic Portraits Created From Hubble Space Telescope Images

Sergio Albiac generates images of people by collecting their head shots and replacing pixels with snippets from pictures of stars and galaxies

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These 1,397 Asteroids Are Pretty Darn Close to Earth, But NASA’s Not Worried

Nearly every potential impact event in the next century qualifies as having "no likely consequences"

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Talking Robot to Keep Japanese Astronaut Company at the ISS

The conversationalist robot Kirobo has just been launched into the abyss, and is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station by August 9

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Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates Maria Mitchell, America’s First Female Professional Astronomer

Today would have been Maria Mitchell's 195th birthday, and if she were still around she'd probably celebrate it by looking at the stars

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