Articles tagged as Astronomy | Smithsonian Magazine

A long-exposure of Perseids taken in August 2004.

The Perseid Meteor Shower Looks Even More Beautiful When You Know Where It Comes From

Each streak across the sky is a fragment of the original material of our solar system

August 10, 2016

NASA's Kepler spacecraft launched on March 6, 2009. Today, technology and international collaborations are democratizing the space race.

Opening the Space Race to the Entire World

A new era of collaboration and affordable technology has scientists across the globe sending spacecraft into outer space

August 9, 2016

Cool Finds

Look Up! The Perseid Meteor Shower Is Going to Be a Doozy This Year

The number of shooting stars could double this year

August 5, 2016

An image of a nebula used in "The Hubble Cantata."

Cool Finds

The Cosmos Sings in This Fusion of Astrophysics and Music

The Hubble Cantata brings the stars down to earth

July 28, 2016

An artist's conception of four of the new planets, orbiting a single dwarf star. These small, rocky worlds are far closer to their star than Mercury is to our sun, but the star is smaller and cooler than our own.

New Research

Kepler Just Found 104 New Planets Outside of Our Solar System

Is anyone home?

July 19, 2016

A Delta Aquarid meteor streaks across the sky.

Cool Finds

Keep Your Eyes to the Sky for the Delta Aquarid Meteors This Month

The late-July meteor shower heralds the popular Perseids

July 18, 2016

This spectacular image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.

New Research

Breathtaking New Images Capture Failed Stars and Planet-Sized Objects Inside the Orion Nebula

It’s the deepest look into the nebula ever seen before

July 13, 2016

Galaxy GN-z11 seen in its youth by the Hubble telescope. GN-z11 is shown as it existed 13.4 billion years in the past, just 400 million years after the Big Bang.

Life in the Cosmos

If Telescopes Are Time Machines, the JWST Will Take Us the Furthest Back Yet

The James Webb Space Telescope promises to peer back into the making of the first galaxies

July 7, 2016

An artist's rendition of Juno in orbit around Jupiter. The craft is powered entirely by the sun's rays.

Space Hub

It’s Official: We Are Now in Orbit Around Jupiter

After a nerve-wracking entry, NASA spacecraft Juno successfully entered the gas giant’s orbit

July 5, 2016

Photograph of the megalithic cluster of Carregal do Sal, one of the passage graves in Portugal that may have doubled as an ancient telescope.

New Research

These Ancient Tombs May Have Been Both Grave and Observatory

The best view of the heavens could be from within the tomb

July 1, 2016

Ultraviolet images overlying a photo of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

Jupiter’s Auroras Are the Best Light Show in the Solar System

June 30, 2016

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

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

June 30, 2016

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.

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

June 28, 2016

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

June 27, 2016

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”

June 17, 2016

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

It all goes down July 4

June 16, 2016

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

June 14, 2016

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

June 14, 2016

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

June 10, 2016

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

June 7, 2016