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Astronomy

Trending Today

Astronomers Name Five of Jupiter’s New Moons

A contest earlier this year helped determine the names of the new moons—all named after lovers or offspring of the god Jupiter, aka Zeus

Cool Finds

Nevada Has a Massive New Dark Sky Sanctuary

The night skies at 100,000-acre Massacre Ridge are some of the starriest in the world

New Research

New 3-D Map Shows Milky Way’s Big Twist

By mapping the distance of Cepheid stars, researchers reveal that our galaxy is warped

An artist's depiction of Earth during the Archean Eon, from 4 to 2.5 billion years ago, when life consisted of only single-celled microbes with no nucleus (prokaryotes). How these primitive organisms first formed from chemical reactions remains one of the greatest mysteries of science.

Future of Space Exploration

Searching for the Key to Life’s Beginnings

From exoplanets to chemical reactions, scientists inch closer to solving the great mystery of how life forms from inanimate matter

An artist's visualization of the star S0-2 as it passes by the supermassive black hole at the galactic center. As the star gets closer to the supermassive black hole, it experiences a gravitational redshift that is predicted by Einstein's general relativity. By observing this redshift, we can test Einstein's theory of gravity.

Future of Space Exploration

A Star Orbiting in the Extreme Gravity of a Black Hole Validates General Relativity

The star S0-2 gets so close to the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy that it can be used to test our fundamental understanding of gravity

Future of Space Exploration

First Moon-Forming Disk Detected Swirling Around an Exoplanet

Telescope observations suggest that a cloud of gas and dust around a planet 370 light-years away may be coalescing into planet-sized moons

Photos Capture the Great South American Eclipse

On July 2, residents of Chile and Argentina witnessed the first total solar eclipse since August 2017

Future of Space Exploration

Astronauts Capture Stunning Image of Volcano Erupting for the First Time in 95 Years

The ash plumes from Raikoke reach 42,700 feet

Anaxagoras, who lived in the fifth century B.C., was one of the first people in recorded history to recognize that the moon was a rocky, mountainous body.

An Ancient Greek Philosopher Was Exiled for Claiming the Moon Was a Rock, Not a God

2,500 years ago, Anaxagoras correctly determined that the rocky moon reflects light from the sun, allowing him to explain lunar phases and eclipses

Trending Today

Grand Canyon Will Soon Be a Dark Sky Park

After three years of retrofitting lights, the national park will soon be certified by the International Dark Sky Association

Future of Space Exploration

Astronomers Make Massive Discovery on the Far Side of the Moon

The heavy core of a giant asteroid may be buried beneath the moon’s South Pole-Aitken basin

All you'll need to see Jupiter is a pair of binoculars

Tonight Is the Best Time of the Year to See Jupiter and Its Many Moons

Jupiter will reach opposition the night of June 10, forming a straight line with Earth and the sun

Artist's rendering of the planets orbiting PDS 70.

Future of Space Exploration

Astronomers Snap a Rare Picture of Two Baby Planets

The Very Large Telescope imaged Planets PDS 70b and PDS 70c about 370 light years away creating a gap in the gas and dust disk around their star

Cool Finds

The Oldest Film of a Solar Eclipse Has Been Restored and Released Online

In 1900, magician, astronomer and filmmaker Nevil Maskelyne used a special adapter to film the astronomical event in North Carolina

The sixty Starlink satellites before being deployed.

Future of Space Exploration

Astronomers Worry New SpaceX Satellite Constellation Could Impact Research

The first of SpaceX’s 12,000 Starlink broadband satellites launched last week, raising fears they could interfere with ground-based telescopes

A volcano can provide a great deal of geothermal energy

Could Yellowstone’s Volcanoes Provide Geothermal Power and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Future of Space Exploration

One-Third of Exoplanets Could Be Water Worlds With Oceans Hundreds of Miles Deep

A new statistical analysis suggests seas hundreds of miles deep cover up to 35 percent of distant worlds

Image of planetary nebula NGC 7027 with illustration of helium hydride molecules. In this planetary nebula, SOFIA detected helium hydride, a combination of helium (red) and hydrogen (blue), which was the first type of molecule to ever form in the early universe. This is the first time helium hydride has been found in the modern universe.

Future of Space Exploration

NASA’s Flying Telescope Spots Oldest Type of Molecule in the Universe

An infrared telescope mounted in a Boeing 747 has detected the first type of molecule to form after the big bang

Harvard astronomers theorize that a meteor that struck Earth's atmosphere in 2014 could have been from another solar system, judging by what scientists know about 'Oumuamua, an interstellar object that zipped through our solar system in 2017. (An artist's depiction of 'Oumuamua is seen here.)

An Interstellar Meteor May Have Collided With Earth in 2014

Researchers have identified an object that, they theorize, was traveling too fast to have originated within our solar system

Cool Finds

Scientists Find a Tiny Speck of Comet Inside a Meteorite

The little fragment found in Antarctica was protected from the elements and preserves the chemical signature of the early solar system

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