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Astronomy

Help astronomers track asteroid 2010 NY65 as it streaks across the sky on Asteroid Day

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Track These Space Rocks From Your Couch on Asteroid Day

With just a click, you can help astronomers learn more about two nearby asteroids

The "Mystic Mountain" image released for the Hubble's 20th anniversary showcases a three-light-year tall pillar of gas and dust stretching out of the Carina nebula. Mostly made of cool hydrogen, the structure is created by stars releasing jets of gas, which is worn away by radiation from other nearby stars, giving it its eroded shape.

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Breathtaking Images to Celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope Getting Another Five Years of Life

These amazing views are just a selection of the beautiful images the craft has captured over the years

The Bullet Cluster, originally detected using weak lensing

Think Big

“Weak Lensing” Helps Astronomers Map the Mass of the Universe

By making galaxies a little bit brighter, it points the way to elusive galaxies and lets us detect that most mysterious of substances: dark matter

An illustration of asteroid 2016 HO3's orbit.

New Research

Scientists Spot Tiny Asteroid Tagging Along Behind The Earth

It’s our very own “quasi-moon”

This concept drawing shows Juno in orbit around the solar system's largest planet.

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Here’s What Will Happen When Juno Gets to Jupiter

It all goes down July 4

Artist's impression of the simultaneous stellar eclipse and planetary transit events on Kepler-1647. Such a double eclipse event is known as a syzygy.

New Research

This Jupiter-Sized Planet Is the Largest Found Orbiting Two Suns

Any orbiting moons could be habitable—but scientists have yet to spot them

The supernova designated SN 2016cok can be spotted at the edge of the Messier 66 galaxy, marked by the two rectangular crosshairs.

Cool Finds

Spy Two Supernovae in June’s Night Sky

After millions of years, their light is finally bright enough to see from Earth

Look up—there's more to the Grand Canyon than geology.

Cool Finds

Grand Canyon Turns Down Its Lights to Become a Dark Sky Park

Star gazers, rejoice—the skies above the Grand Canyon will never lose their sparkle

This artist's concept depicts select planetary discoveries made to date by NASA's Kepler space telescope.

Think Big

How Would You React If We Discovered Alien Life?

Experts weigh in on what the detection of other life forms might mean to the human race

Telescope array

Think Big

The Hunt for High-Energy Photons Takes Place From a Mountaintop in Mexico

A new telescope built from water tanks might help answer some of the biggest questions in astronomy

Brother Guy Consolmagno, a staff astronomer and the curator of meteorites at the Vatican Observatory

Think Big

Guy Consolmangno, the Vatican’s Chief Astronomer, on Balancing Church With the Cosmos

The MIT graduate speaks to how he ended up studying the stars for the Catholic Church

An artists' conception of a dust storm on Mars. New research may explain why the truly massive dust storms seem to occur irregularly on the Red Planet.

Mars Weather Forecast Calls for Massive Dust Storms — Here’s Why

Planetary-wide dust storms on Mars, lasting for months, may be linked to the motion of the Red Planet around the solar system.

The three brightest stars in the image make up the Summer Triangle.

Cool Finds

The Red Planet and Summer Triangle Will Soon Shine Bright

Mars is swooping closer to the Earth this week while the Summer Triangle rises in the sky

New Research

Astronomers Recreate Ancient Skies to Date a Nearly 2,600-Year-Old Greek Poem

Researchers narrow down the dates for when the lonely poet Sappho wrote “Midnight Poem”

An artist's depiction of Kepler's latest planetary find.

New Research

Kepler Discovers More Than 1,000 New Exoplanets

The space telescope is still alive and kicking

Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri mapped the positions and brightness of 481,215 stars.

Cool Finds

These Little-Known Nuns Helped Map the Stars

A century later, the identities of women who mapped over 481,000 stars are finally known

An illustration of the path Mercury will take across the sun on May 9.

Cool Finds

For The First Time in a Decade, Watch Mercury Cross the Sun’s Face

Next week’s transit of Mercury is one of the major astronomical events of the year

An Eta Aquarid meteor shower puts on a show in 2013 over the Canary Islands.

Cool Finds

Meteors Will Streak the Skies This Week Thanks to Halley’s Comet

Don’t miss this annual show

David Eagleman

Think Big

Neuroscientist David Eagleman on What Is Possible in the Cosmos

The author tackles where the human brain and astronomy intersect

Cool Finds

Astronomers Deploy a Laser System for a Clearer View of the Skies

A new four-laser system at the Paranal Observatory will help the massive telescope compensate for atmospheric turbulence

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