Outer Space

Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan at the Geneva Summit.

Reagan and Gorbachev Agreed to Pause the Cold War in Case of an Alien Invasion

The 40th President of the United States was a big science-fiction fan

How NASA's Flight Plan Described the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

A second-by-second guide to the historic mission

The Pleiades Star Cluster

Look to the Skies This Month for the Pleiades Star Cluster

The Seven Sisters will shine bright from dusk till dawn for the rest of November

A new exoplanet was discovered by telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

A New Earth-Sized Planet Is Getting Astronomers Riled Up

It could be a rare opportunity for scientists to study an exoplanet’s atmosphere

Soon, space miners could lay claim to minerals in asteroids like this one.

Get Your Pickaxe and Spacecraft Ready, Space Mining Might be Legal Very Soon

The new Space Act would open up the potentially lucrative field of asteroid mining

A painted wooden coffin beside a looted tomb in the Abu Sir al Malaq necropolis in Bani Suef, Egypt.

This Ingenious Archaeologist Uses Satellites to Hunt Down Tomb Raiders

Can satellite imagery help protect humanity's priceless artifacts?

Mars' Gravity Is Slowly Shredding Its Moon Phobos

Telltale grooves on the moon's surface are an early sign of Phobos' grim fate

During the Cold War, the Military Had Plans to Wage War in Space

The U.S. Army's Future Weapons Office proposed theoretical ways to defend non-existant lunar bases

This composite image features Pluto and its largest moon Charon in enhanced color.

Sorry Pluto, You Still Aren’t a Planet

A new test for planetary status leaves the diminutive world and its dwarf planet kin out of the family portrait

This creamy expanse is Sputnik Planum, the western lobe of the heart-shaped feature on Pluto.

Pluto May Have Ice Volcanoes at the Bottom of Its Heart

Two southern peaks have depressions that hint they once spewed icy slurry onto the tiny world's surface

Watch 30 Minutes of Mesmerizing, Ultra-HD Sun

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory stares at the sun so you don't have to

An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission at Mars.

The Sun Stole Part of Mars' Atmosphere, and NASA Was Watching

Observations from the MAVEN spacecraft should help scientists figure out if and when Mars had the right conditions for life

These galaxies are smiling at you thanks to general relativity.

Seven Simple Ways We Know Einstein Was Right (For Now)

For the past 100 years, these experiments have offered continued evidence that general relativity is our best description of gravity

An artist's rendering of the MOA-2011-BLG-262 system, which hosts a potential exomoon orbiting a Jupiter-like planet.

In a Rare Pairing, a Venus-Like Planet Has Been Found Around a "Failed Star"

The system offers clues to the way planets and moons form and may aid in the quest to find habitable worlds across the galaxy

Hundreds of thousands of man-made fragments of debris orbit around the Earth, as depicted here in an illustration of the cosmic mess.

A Forgotten Piece of Space Junk is Headed for Earth

The object could be a lost piece of a rocket dating back to the Apollo missions

Light reflecting off Saturn illuminates the plumes shooting out of Enceladus in this 2013 Cassini image.

NASA Spacecraft Heads for Deepest Ever Dive Into Saturn Moon's Plumes

Cassini will plunge into the watery geysers to search for evidence of hydrothermal vents and other clues about the moon's hidden ocean

Planets forming around a young star (artist’s vision)

92 Percent of Possible Earth Twins Have Yet to Be Born

Our young universe promises trillions of more planets to come

An Asteroid Will Buzz by Earth on Halloween

Don't worry—it won't interrupt your Halloween plans

An artist’s rendering shows a white dwarf star shredding a rocky asteroid.

Dead Star Shredding a Rocky Body Offers a Preview of Earth's Fate

The stellar corpse spotted by a NASA telescope backs up a theory that white dwarf stars eat planetary remnants

New Video of Floating Blobs of Fizzy Water in Space

Microgravity is the best place to figure out why raindrops are round

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