Outer Space

Mercury's Great Valley is the dark blue stripe across the center of the image.

Mercury's Newly-Discovered "Great Valley" Puts Earth's Grand Canyon to Shame

The vast scar across the tiny planet is remarkable in itself—but it also reveals that Mercury may still be tectonically active

Jeff Bezos

Is Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin the Future of Space Exploration?

No one had ever launched, landed and relaunched a rocket into space until the company's historic achievement

Sarah Parcak

Space Archaeologist Sarah Parcak Uses Satellites to Uncover Ancient Egyptian Ruins

The Indiana Jones of low Earth orbit harnesses 21st-century technology to uncover long-buried treasures

LIGO's founding fathers, from left: Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish. Not pictured: Ronald Drever

Meet the Team of Scientists Who Discovered Gravitational Waves

This year, the geniuses behind LIGO announced that they had finally found what Albert Einstein had predicted a century ago

Sputnik Planitia is a 325,000-square-mile, ice-covered basin on Pluto.

How the Pull of an Icy “Heart” Sent Pluto’s Poles Wandering

Using New Horizons data, scientists determine that the erstwhile planet has a more dynamic past than we thought

Behold: The World's Largest Radio Telescope

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array, located in the Atacama Desert, is the product of a 20-year global effort by Europe, North America, and East Asia

Sylvester James Gates, a theoretical physicist and voice for faith and science.

Why Theoretical Physicist Sylvester James Gates Sees No Conflict Between Science and Religion

“I got used to the idea that questions had answers.”

ALMA Reveals Planets Born Earlier Than We Thought

In 2014, astronomer David Wilmer aimed the ALMA Array at a young star 450 light years away

The Biggest Supermoon in 68 Years Will Leave You “Moonstruck”

It hasn't been this close since 1948 and won't be again for the next 18 years

SPS-ALPHA concept and visualization

What's Next for Solar Energy? How About Space

Scientists are closer than ever to making the far-out concept of a space-based solar collection system a reality

Artist concept of a binary system similar to the one that originated the nova Sagittarii 2015 N.2.

Most Lithium in the Universe Is Forged in Exploding Stars

The recurring explosions of white dwarf stars produce the vast majority of this important element

Region R18 in the Carina Nebula

Stunning Images Capture the Carina Nebula's "Pillars of Destruction"

Caught by ESO's Very Large Telescope, the ten pillars of gas and dust are a hazy star nursery 7,500 light years away

Asteroid 2016 VA just before it passed into the Earth's shadow.

Astronomers Just Watched an Asteroid Skim Through Earth’s Shadow

The short video was tricky to shoot

An artist's rendering of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope atop the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea.

Canary Islands Selected as Alternative Spot for the Thirty Meter Telescope

This alternate fate could help smooth tensions over the embattled instrument

This Puerto Rican Telescope Was Built in a Massive Sinkhole

In 1958, the Pentagon wanted to build a 1,000-foot-long telescope for its ballistic missile program

Two natural color images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show the changing appearance of Saturn's north polar region between 2012 and 2016.

The Swirling Storm Above Saturn’s North Pole Changed Colors

The years-long shift may be a sign of changing seasons

Gemasolar Thermasolar Plant, 37.560755°, –5.331908° This image captures the Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant in Seville, Spain. The solar concentrator contains 2,650 heliostat mirrors that focus the sun’s thermal energy to heat molten salt flowing through a 140-metre-tall (460-foot) central tower. The molten salt then circulates from the tower to a storage tank, where it is used to produce steam and generate electricity. In total, the facility displaces approximately 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

These Photographs From Space Show What Humans Have Done to the Earth

In new book, vivid satellite images of the planet evoke what astronauts call "the overview effect"

First photo from space, 1946

American Scientists Took the First Photo of Earth From Space Using Nazi Rockets

70 years ago, researchers at White Sands Missile Base strapped a movie camera to a V2 rocket to get a bird's-eye view of our planet

A new map reveals the most detailed picture of hydrogen atoms in the Milky Way ever made.

This Breathtaking Map Traces Hydrogen Throughout the Milky Way

Scientists have made the most detailed map of our home galaxy’s hydrogen currently possible

Schiaparelli Mars Lander Likely Crashed on Descent

The European Space Agency lost contact with the Schiaparelli probe after it jettisoned its heat shield and deployed its parachute

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