Outer Space

How to Catch a Glimpse of This Weekend's Lyrid Meteor Shower

Conditions are expected to be favorable, and experts say the shower might produce as many as 18 meteors every hour

Four of the seven newly named Mercury's faculae lie in the Caloris basin, shown here.

Sci-Fi and Snakes Rule in New Official Names for Features on Pluto's Largest Moon and Mercury

Stanley Kubrick and Octavia Butler are among the figures honored

These Rare NASA Photos Were Saved From the Trash

The 1,500 press images up for sale cover the agency's manned missions from 1961 to 1972

NASA Sends Human Sperm to the International Space Station

Astronauts will study how microgravity affects the motility of the little swimmers

Icarus, the most distant star ever detected

Meet Icarus, The Most Distant Star Yet Detected

The blue supergiant lies 9 billion light-years away

An artist's illustration of the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit.

China's Tiangong-1 Finally Crashes Back to Earth

Most of the craft likely burned up as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere

Diffuse galaxy NGC1052-DF2

Scientists Thought All Galaxies Had Dark Matter, but They Just Found One Without It

The find defies the assumption that the mysterious matter is necessary for galaxy formation

Marvin, a trailblazer in more ways than one, surveys the Antarctic terrain on her meteorite-hunting expedition of 1978-79.

The Rockstar Geologist Who Mapped the Minerals of the Cosmos

A professor told Ursula Marvin she should learn to cook. Instead she chased down meteorites in Antarctica

This past fall, astronauts harvested Mizuna mustard, Waldmann's green lettuce and Outredgeous red romaine lettuce from the Veggie plant growth chamber on the International Space Station.

If Humans Want To Colonize Other Planets, We Need To Perfect Space Cuisine

At this year's Future Con, researchers will describe a future of food in space that is anything but bland

One of the clean rooms at the Johnson Space Center has been found to be contaminated with fungi.

NASA Clean Room Storing Meteorite Samples Is Contaminated With Fungi

Contamination of the not-so-clean room could meddle with results

This self-portrait of Curiosity shows the vehicle at a drilled sample site called "Okoruso," on the "Naukluft Plateau" of lower Mount Sharp. It combines multiple images taken with the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on May 11, 2016, during the 1,338th Martian day.

Looking Back at Curiosity’s 2,000 Martian Days on the Red Planet

The rover has taken incredible images and made wild discoveries since landing in 2012

70,000 Years Ago, a Passing Star Shook Up Our Solar System

The red dwarf likely came within one light-year of the sun, altering the course of some asteroids and comets

NASA’s Psyche mission to a distant metal asteroid that pass near Mars will carry a revolutionary Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) package. This artist’s concept shows Psyche spacecraft with a five-panel array.

NASA Plans to Send High-Definition Video of Mars to Earth With Lasers

In 2022, NASA will launch the Psyche mission, carrying sophisticated communication technology

How It All Began: A Colleague Reflects On the Remarkable Life of Stephen Hawking

The physicist probed the mysteries of black holes, expanded our understanding of the universe and captured the world's imagination, says Martin Rees

An artist's illustration of the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit.

Five Things to Know About China's Falling Space Station

For one, it's exceedingly unlikely to cause you harm

The eight cyclones orbiting Jupiter's north pole.

New Juno Data Gives Unprecedented Glimpse Beneath Jupiter's Stormy Shell

The massive planet's storm go much deeper than previously suspected and its interior rotates nearly as a solid mass

Bigelow's inflatable modules, called B330, could host commercial ventures and travelers in the near future.

A Space Hotel Could Be Coming Soon to Skies Near You

Bigelow Aerospace wants to launch two inflatable modules for a space habit as early as 2021

Artist's illustration of PTScientist's Audi Quattro Lunar Rover visiting NASA's 1972 rover.

4G Coverage Bound for the Moon in 2019

A private moon mission scheduled for next year will use an ultra-compact network to beam back live images of the lunar surface

Nicknamed the Hand of God, this pulsar wind nebula is powered by a pulsar: the leftover, dense core of a star that blew up in a supernova explosion. Before astronomers had any idea what they were, Jocelyn Bell Burnell found the signal of a pulsar in her telescope data in 1967.

Fifty Years Ago, a Grad Student’s Discovery Changed the Course of Astrophysics

By identifying the first pulsars, Jocelyn Bell Burnell set the stage for discoveries in black holes and gravitational waves

If you look closely at the lower right of galaxy NGC 613, the baby supernova pops into existence at the end of one of the galaxy's spiral arms.

Amateur Astronomer Captures Supernova's First Winks of Light

Scientists say the chances were less than one in a million

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