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Astronomy

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Orion’s Return, Falling Fireballs and Other Treats in November’s Night Skies

A constellation rises as the Leonid and Taurid Meteor Showers return

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

New Research

92 Percent of Possible Earth Twins Have Yet to Be Born

Our young universe promises trillions of more planets to come

Trending Today

The Orionid Meteor Shower and Rare Planetary “Dance” Make This a Lucky Week for Stargazers

Here’s what the night sky has to offer this week

People around the world gathered to photograph and ogle the bright red glow of last night’s supermoon lunar eclipse.

The Photos of the Rare Supermoon/Lunar Eclipse Convergence Do Not Disappoint

Take in the majesty of the unusual astrophysical event with these photos captured around the world

Think Big

The Theory of Relativity, Then and Now

Albert Einstein’s breakthrough from a century ago was out of this world. Now it seems surprisingly down-to-earth

New Research

Black Holes Might Catapult Rogue Supernovas Into Space

Like being fired from a slingshot at 4.5 million miles an hour

A solar flare erupts from the Sun in 2012.

New Research

When Will the Next Solar Superflare Hit Earth?

The year 2209 just got a lot scarier

Trending Today

Watch the Perseids Peak This Week

Summer’s stunning meteor shower is sure to please stargazers

An artist’s vision of what the night sky would look like from a planet at the heart of an ultracompact galaxy

New Research

These Super-Dense Galaxies Are Bursting With Stars

Life in these systems would have trouble starting, but the night skies would be spectacular to behold

Philae snapped this image of 67P over a mile from the comet's surface.

New Research

Philae Proves There’s More to Comets Than Dust and Ice

The lander found organic compounds on comet 67P

Pluto may be home to a hazy atmosphere, nitrogen glaciers and possibly even an underground ocean.

New Research

There’s Flowing Ice on Pluto

And maybe an underground ocean

The Milky Way and moon illuminate a lone tree in the Atacama Desert, Chile.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

An Astronomer’s Paradise, Chile May Be the Best Place on Earth to Enjoy a Starry Sky

Chile’s northern coast offers an ideal star-gazing environment with its lack of precipitation, clear skies and low-to-zero light pollution

Trending Today

An Internet Billionaire Just Pledged $100 Million to Search for Extraterrestrial Life

More telescope time, better equipment could help scientists figure out what’s out there

New Horizons snapped this image of Pluto on July 12, 2015.

Cool Finds

How Pluto Got Its Name

New Horizons carries an instrument named for Venetia Burney, the 11-year-old girl who named Pluto

Cool Finds

Here’s What the Sun Looks Like Through an X-Ray Telescope

All of the wonder of Earth’s closest star, none of the retinal damage

The Cassini spacecraft took this image of three of Saturn's moons, Rhea, Mimas and Titan.

Cool Finds

See Three of Saturn’s Moons Pose in a Family Photo

While in orbit, Cassini captures a stunning shot of three crescents

An image of the galaxy NGC 1097, home to the black hole researchers just weighed

New Research

How Do Scientists Weigh a Supermassive Black Hole?

A new method puts the mass of one black hole at 140 million times the mass of our Sun

Cool Finds

There Will Be an Extra Week of Summer This Year

Cultural summer ensures 106 days of fun in the sun

The last of the data from the New Horizons flyby won’t arrive until late 2016.

One Man’s Lifelong Pursuit of Pluto is About to Get Real

When the New Horizons spacecraft races by the quasi-planetary body, Alan Stern will have finally met his match

None

Ask Smithsonian: How Many Rings Does Saturn Have?

The age, origin and purpose of Saturn’s rings have mystified scientists since the days of Galileo

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