Outer Space

A mid-level solar flare captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2017.

Did a Huge Solar Storm Detonate Deep Sea Mines During the Vietnam War?

Dozens of underwater devices seemed to explode without cause in 1972

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Astrophysicist Michelle Thaller on Understanding Our Place in the Universe

Autodesk vice president Brian Mathews talks with the NASA science communicator about the search for life on other planets and why it’s important

A fin whale picked out from satellite imagery

Researchers Can Now Monitor Whales Via Satellite

The latest high resolution satellites can pick out whales surfacing in huge swaths of ocean, which will aid in conservation

The Milky Way

The Milky Way Ate One of Its Neighbors 10 Billion Years Ago

Star data shows we gobbled up a galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus about 1/4 the size of the Milky Way, leaving behind telltale signs of the merger

Kepler Space Telescope, Revealer of New Worlds, Officially Shuts Down After Historic Mission

Launched in 2009, Kepler discovered thousands of new exoplanets before finally running out of fuel earlier this month

Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin on a spacewalk in 2013, completing maintenance on International Space Station.

Hanging Out in Space Deforms Brain Tissue, New Cosmonaut Study Suggests

While gray matter shrinks, cerebrospinal fluid increases. What's more: These changes do not completely resolve once back on Earth.

A new Smithsonian Book asks the question: Is there a future for crewed missions to the Moon?

In the Wake of Apollo’s 'Giant Leap,' What’s Next for Lunar Exploration?

A new Smithsonian Book unpacks the possible future of missions to the Moon

Mars imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope during a close approach to Earth.

Salty Water Under the Surface of Mars Could Have Enough Oxygen for Life

New models suggest subsurface water could absorb enough oxygen to support microbial communities and even things like sponges

The southwestern city of Chengdu may bask in the glow of an artificial moon as soon as 2020

Chinese City Wants to Launch Fake Moon to Illuminate Its Streets

Proposed satellite would cover 6- to 50-mile wide stretch of Chengdu with light eight times brighter than that of the real moon

An enhanced-color image of Mercury taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft in 2012 as part of a mission to map the geologic features of the planet.

Spacecraft Launching This Week Will Explore the Mysteries of Mercury

The BepiColombo mission will study the geology and magnetism of the smallest planet to search for clues of our solar system's beginnings

Now held in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum are a 35 mm camera (left) and a digital camera. Each was used by John Glenn on his two journeys into outer space.

How John Glenn’s Encore Space Flight Lifted U.S. Spirits

Two cameras tell the tale of the first American to orbit Earth and his return to space 36 years later

We Haven't Been Zapped Out Of Existence Yet, So Other Dimensions Are Probably Super Tiny

In theory, other dimensions aren't big enough to form black holes and consume our universe or it would have happened already

Saturn's Rings Rain Organic Compounds Into Its Atmosphere

The Cassini probe's final flybys show that 22,000 pounds of material per second drops from the rings into the planet's ionosphere

The Green Bank Telescope pictured—and other radio telescopes like it—are listening for "technosignatures," or possible transmissions from intelligent life forms

In the Search for Aliens, We've Only Analyzed a Small Pool in the Cosmic Ocean

A new study estimates how much of outer space we've scoured for other life and finds we haven't exactly taken a deep dive

An artist’s conception of a distant Solar System Planet X, which could be shaping the orbits of smaller extremely distant outer solar system objects like 2015 TG387.

New Discovery Stirs Up Signs of the Elusive Planet 9

A new minor planet called "the Goblin" is the second most distant known object in the solar system

Illustration of NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) observing an M dwarf star with orbiting planets.

TESS Space Telescope Will Find Thousands of Planets, but Astronomers Seek a Select Few

NASA's new space telescope has already discovered two planets, but the hunt for a world like Earth is just getting started

Explorers Will Face Dangerous Amounts of Radiation On Their Trip to Mars

New data from the Mars Trace Gas Orbiter shows just the flight there and back alone will expose astronauts to 60 percent the lifetime radiation dose

The Universe's Strongest Material is a Cosmic Lasagna

A new study suggests that the "nuclear pasta" found in neutron stars is 10 billion times stronger than steel

Real Planet Discovered Where Vulcan Home World in "Star Trek" Is Set

"Fascinating, Captain"

SpaceX released an updated rendering of the Big Falcon Rocket launching into the solar system

Elon Musk Is Sending a Japanese Billionaire to the Moon, and He’s Taking a Group of Artists With Him

Yusaku Maezawa hopes to recruit six to eight artists for the week-long mission, which is expected to launch as early as 2023

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