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Astronomy

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, which is investigating a group of asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit around the sun, snapped this image on September 16 as 3I/ATLAS approached Mars. 

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Is About to Make Its Closest Approach to Earth. Here’s How to View It With Binoculars or a Telescope

On December 19, avid skywatchers can catch a glimpse of the mysterious visitor through powerful binoculars or a telescope when it’s around 170 million miles from our home planet

Elihu Vedder's 19th-century painting "Star of Bethlehem"

The Bible’s Star of Bethlehem May Have Been a Comet, Analysis of Ancient Records Suggests

An odd star brightened for more than 70 days in 5 B.C.E., according to a Chinese text. The object may have been a comet that looked like it rose, then stood still over Bethlehem

Supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, which sits within the Milky Way

Astrophysicists Found an Abundance of Odd Elements Essential for Life in the Leftovers of an Exploded Star

The surprisingly high amounts of chlorine and potassium in a supernova remnant could help solve the mystery of where these crucial elements come from

Astronauts Tom Stafford (left) and Wally Schirra (right) demonstrating with two model space crafts during an interview in the 1960s

Sixty Years Ago, When Instruments Were Played in Space for the First Time, It Was ‘Jingle Bells’ All the Way

Astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra delighted mission control with their rendition of the Christmas classic

An image simulating the contamination from satellite trails in observations by ARRAKIHS, a European Space Agency telescope planned to launch in 2030

More Than 500,000 Satellites Are Set to Orbit Earth by 2040. They May End Up Photobombing the Images Captured by Space Telescopes

Fleets of satellites interfere with snapshots taken by Earth-bound observatories. But a new study suggests these orbiters will also contaminate observations by four space telescopes, including Hubble

A supermoon in December 2017

Look Up This Week to See the Bright ‘Cold’ Moon, the Last Supermoon of the Year

December’s full moon will reach peak brightness on Thursday, but it will look striking for the next few nights—especially when it’s just above the horizon

A long-exposure view of the Milky Way, seen from Brandenburg, Germany, is cut through by the light trails of passing satellites.

Giant Mirrors in Space Could Bring Sunlight After Dark, One Startup Says—and Astronomers Are Concerned

Critics argue the satellites, billed as a way to harness solar energy at night, could hamper sky observations and may pose a threat to human and animal health

An artist's impression of a coronal mass ejection on a star

In a First, Astronomers Saw a Distant Star Shoot Some of Its Plasma Into Space

The powerful coronal mass ejection would have likely destroyed the atmospheres of any potentially habitable planets nearby

The 1999 Leonid meteors as seen from the Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign

Dark Moon, Shooting Stars: How to Catch the Stunning Leonid Meteor Shower This Weekend

A waning crescent moon will offer stargazers an optimal viewing experience this year, with 10 to 15 meteors visible each hour from Sunday into Monday

This glimpse of the northern lights was captured in Missouri on November 11, 2025.

The Sun Erupted With the Year’s Largest Solar Flare This Week, and Space Weather-Fueled Aurora Activity Could Continue

The last in a series of three coronal mass ejections hit Earth on Wednesday, so experts are keeping an eye on geomagnetic storm potential

A remnant of a Type Ia supernova

The Universe’s Expansion May Be Slowing Down, Not Speeding Up, New Research Suggests

A new study challenges a long-held idea that the universe’s expansion is accelerating

A clip from Georges Méliès' 1902 short film, A Trip to the Moon

In an Out-of-This-World Observation, a Museum Curator Filmed the Moon Getting Struck by Meteors—Twice

Lunar impacts could affect plans for future bases on the moon

An artist's concept of a supermassive black hole shredding a massive star

Astronomers Detect the Brightest and Most Distant Black Hole Flare Ever Seen

The enormous outburst was likely caused by an unfortunate star venturing too close to a supermassive black hole

A supermoon in July 2022

November’s Full Beaver Supermoon Peaks on Wednesday—and It Will Be the Year’s Biggest

Supermoons occur when full moons coincide with the moon’s closest position to Earth in its orbit

The Pleiades, also known as the “Seven Sisters,” is an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus. Because of its visibility to the naked eye, it has appeared in literature and cultures across time.

A Brief and Amazing History of the Pleiades, Stars That Captivated Ancient Civilizations and Inspired Poets

Also known as the “Seven Sisters,” the striking cluster has long been used as an important seasonal marker and appears high in the night sky around Halloween

The glowing red band represents high concentrations of gamma rays across the center of the Milky Way.

Is This Mysterious Glow at the Center of the Milky Way Caused by Dark Matter?

An excess of gamma rays in the center of our galaxy could mean scientists have finally detected dark matter particles—or not

A radio image of two black holes orbiting each other in Quasar OJ287. The light comes from the glowing gas surrounding the black holes and the particle jets being emitted.

Researchers Just Revealed the First-Ever Image of Two Black Holes Orbiting Each Other

A new study may visually solve an enduring mystery about a bright object that’s been studied since the 19th century

The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter captured images of 3I/ATLAS on October 3.

A Rare Interstellar Comet Just Flew by Mars—Here Are the Photos Captured by an Orbiting Spacecraft

The images offer the closest view yet of comet 3I/ATLAS, famous for being only the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) moves closer to the sun, as captured on October 2.

Here’s How to See Two Comets and a Meteor Shower Light Up the Sky This Month

Skywatchers are anticipating prime viewing conditions for an annual showing of shooting stars and two comet flybys

An illustration of the Wolf 1130ABC triple system, which is composed of a red dwarf star (left), a white dwarf (center) and the brown dwarf where phosphine was detected (right).

Scientists Finally Found Phosphine on a Brown Dwarf. Here’s What That Means for the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

The detection could force astronomers to reconsider their chemical models

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