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Astronomy

An illustration of the Beta Pictoris system features the newly discovered planet, Beta Pictoris d, at the right. Its orbit is wider than those of the two other known planets moving around its star.

Astronomers Noticed a Mysterious Spot Appearing in Telescope Images. It Turned Out to Be the Faintest Exoplanet Ever Imaged From Earth

The gas giant, called Beta Pictoris d, had been hiding in plain sight for more than a decade, until two independent teams verified its existence

The sugar was detected near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, which shines brightly with stars in this artificially colored image.

In a First, Astronomers Find Sugar in the Space Between Stars, Providing New Clues About the Origins of Life on Earth

Sugars are crucial components of RNA and DNA, the basis of all known organisms alive today. In a new study, the sugar erythrulose was detected in a gas- and dust-filled cloud near the center of our Milky Way galaxy

At the end of the calculation, researchers found two symbols they deciphered to mean “so says Sak Tahn Waax.”

Cool Finds

Meet Sak Tahn Waax, a Maya Math Whiz Who Lived More Than 1,000 Years Ago and Left Behind a ‘Really Elegant, Complex’ Formula

For the first time, archaeologists identified one of the culture’s famed Classic era mathematicians and astronomers

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This Giant Planet May Have Survived the Death of Its Star. The James Webb Space Telescope Just Found Its Atmosphere

New observations of WD 1856 b, a gas giant closely orbiting a white dwarf, offer a preview of what could happen to Jupiter and Saturn after the sun dies in about five billion years.

The Crimson Vortex and Sapphire Blossoms of Andromeda

See Ten Spectacular Images From This Year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest That Capture the Wonders of the Universe

The pictures, on the competition’s shortlist, reveal the remarkable celestial objects that lie above our heads, both in deep space and closer to home

Image of the constellation Lupus taken by the LSST camera

‘The Greatest Cosmic Movie Ever Made’: The World’s Largest Digital Camera Begins a Historic, Decade-Long Survey of the Night Sky

After a year of testing, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has started capturing data as part of the much-anticipated Legacy Survey of Space and Time

The strawberry full moon rises behind the Empire State Building in New York City on June 29, 2026, as seen from Weehawken, New Jersey.

These 17 Stunning Photos of the Strawberry Moon Show Earth’s Natural Satellite in All Its Glory

The first full moon of the summer delivered dazzling visuals from across the globe. Its low position in the sky from the perspective of the Northern Hemisphere gave it a golden hue

The Perseverance rover inspects a Martian rock called Cheyava Falls using its Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument.

Mars Rover Spots Complex Carbon on the Red Planet, Marking Yet Another Detection of a Building Block of Life

Along with other recent discoveries, the new finding from Perseverance boosts the case that Mars once hosted conditions that could support living things—but it isn’t a definitive sign of ancient organisms

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, imaged here with its broad coma of gas and dust, has captivated astronomers since its discovery on July 1, 2025.

A Rare Comet Made History as the Third Known Interstellar Object to Fly Through Our Solar System. Studies Are Now Revealing the Mysterious Conditions in Which It Formed

In the latest research, telescope observations of 3I/ATLAS examine its chemical structure and suggest that it took shape in a peripheral region of a relatively calm planetary system

The new image of the center of the Milky Way, which is packed with stars

See the Most Detailed Photo of the Milky Way’s Heart Ever Taken in Visible Light, Which Will Help Astronomers Hunt for Exoplanets

The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope was built to study dark matter and dark energy, but for one day last year, it captured the densely packed stars brightening the center of our galaxy

Astronomers used galaxy cluster MACS J0416 (background), as a magnifying glass to view the extremely faint galaxy LAP1-B (inset), which is visualized here based on the James Webb Space Telescope's infrared data.

Astronomers Discovered a ‘Cosmic Fossil’ in the Making—the Most Chemically Primitive Galaxy Seen Yet—by Peering Back to the Edge of Time

The James Webb Space Telescope observed 13-billion-year-old light, using a closer galactic cluster like a magnifying glass. The work helps experts understand the universe’s earliest stars and mysterious ultra-faint dwarf galaxies

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is one of Colorado's International Dark Sky Parks.

Stay Up Late and Admire the Cosmos With This New ‘Stargazing Trail’ That Links Certified Dark Sky Destinations

The initiative debuts as Colorado gears up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its statehood

The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula is a region where stars are born, seen in Smithsonian Starstruck.

See a Diamond Planet, an Exploding Star and a Black Hole Up Close in a New Immersive Virtual Reality Experience

Informed by science from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and astronomers worldwide, this “documentary that you can walk through” visualizes the cosmos in a 3D introduction to the universe

A slice of the rare angrite meteorite NWA 12774 shows olivine crystal (green), a mineral rich in magnesium.

A Rare Meteorite Found in the Sahara Desert Offers Evidence of a Lost Protoplanet

Chemical signatures indicate the meteorite came from an early planet that met an untimely end during the formation of our solar system

Composite image of evidence for wind blowing away from Sagittarius A*, with the black hole shown as a white dot in the center, cold gas in orange and X-ray data in blue. 

The Supermassive Black Hole at the Heart of Our Galaxy Seems to Be Blowing Wind—Just as Scientists Long Theorized

Scientists have been searching for evidence of this breeze since the 1970s. They’ve seen intense wind from other black holes, but they’ve struggled to observe the one at the Milky Way’s center

An artistic rendition of the MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars

NASA Officially Ends the MAVEN Mission Months After Losing Contact With the Mars Orbiter

The agency last heard from the spacecraft on December 6. Recovered fragmentary data suggest that MAVEN was spinning unexpectedly, hinting at a change in its trajectory and draining its batteries

People across New England and eastern Canada witnessed an ultrabright meteor explode over the weekend.

A Bright Meteor Lit Up the New England Sky Before Exploding With a Loud Boom—and Its Pieces May Have Landed in Cape Cod Bay

People reported seeing the glowing space rock or hearing or feeling its breakup from Delaware to Montreal. Experts estimate that it was about three feet wide and traveling at 75,000 miles per hour when it broke apart

A blue moon in 2015

A Smaller Than Usual Blue Moon Will End the Month With a Lunar Spectacle. Here’s What to Know About the Full Micromoon

The blue moon will be the second of two full moons in the same month, a coincidence that only takes place about every two and a half years. It will also appear to be slightly smaller and dimmer than the average full moon

As the Psyche spacecraft approached Mars from its night side, the red planet looked like a crescent.

See NASA’s Stunning New Images of Mars Captured During an Asteroid-Bound Spacecraft’s Strategic Flyby

The Psyche mission, on its way to study an asteroid of the same name, approached within 2,864 miles of the red planet on May 15

Neptune, which appears blue because of methane in its atmosphere, has a strange set of moons.

Neptune’s Moon Nereid Might Be the Sole Intact Survivor of an Ancient Lunar Collision

A study suggests that the ice giant’s largest moon, Triton, made a dramatic entrance to the Neptunian system long ago, kicking Nereid outward and destroying the planet’s other original lunar companions

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