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Astronomy

An artistic rendering of an exoplanet in a tight orbit, followed by a dusty, comet-like tail of debris.

Astronomers Discover a Doomed Exoplanet That’s Crumbling Away and Leaving Behind a Comet-Like Tail

The planet orbits its host star in just 30.5 hours, losing a mass of material roughly equal to Mount Everest each time

The Lyrid meteor shower coincided with a nearly full moon at its peak in 2024, seen here at Joshua Tree National Park. This year, conditions will be more favorable.

How to Watch the Lyrid Meteor Shower at Its Dazzling Peak

The annual spectacle, which is happening now, will last until around April 25—but the best viewing will fall between the 21 and 22

Divers found the Antikythera mechanism in a shipwreck in 1900.

New Research

How Well Did the Mysterious Antikythera Mechanism Actually Work?

Historians think the 2,000-year-old device was used to predict the positions of celestial bodies. A new digital simulation suggests that its gears may have frequently malfunctioned

An artist's impression of K2-18b and its distant host star, visualized as if the planet had water and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.

Chemical Hints on a Distant Planet Offer ‘Strongest Evidence Yet’ for Life Outside Our Solar System, Astronomers Say

The James Webb Space Telescope spotted possible signatures for life in an exoplanet’s atmosphere. Still, researchers caution it’s far too early to call the findings definitive

The far side of the moon—seen here, captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter—could be much drier than expected.

The Moon’s Far Side Is Strangely Dry—Lunar Samples Suggest It’s Much More Parched Than the Side That Faces Earth

Chinese researchers analyzed the first-ever soil samples returned from the far side of the moon, but further samples will be needed to verify their findings

Matteo Paz with Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum after winning the Regeneron Science Talent Search award.

High School Student Discovers 1.5 Million Potential New Astronomical Objects by Developing an A.I. Algorithm

The 18-year-old won $250,000 for training a machine learning model to analyze understudied data from NASA’s retired NEOWISE telescope

Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) captured from California. 

A Newly Discovered and Brilliantly Green Comet Is Dazzling Astronomers. Here’s What to Know About the Glowing Celestial Visitor

Initial observations suggest the comet, called C/2025 F2 (SWAN), will continue getting brighter as it approaches the sun. Northern Hemisphere viewers with binoculars can currently spot it in early morning skies

An artistic rendering of the moment when the first white dwarf explodes and spews material at the second white dwarf, which itself is about to explode. 

Astronomers Discover a Rare White Dwarf Pair Doomed to Explode in a Brilliant Supernova

The event will be ten times brighter than our Moon in the night sky, but never fear, it won’t happen for another 23 billion years

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover spotted a large dust devil (on the right) consuming a smaller, fainter twister (on the left in the foreground).

Watch a Spinning Martian Dust Devil ‘Consume’ Another in a New Video Captured by NASA’s Perseverance Rover

Tracking dust devils helps researchers learn more about Mars’ atmosphere, wind and weather conditions

An artist’s impression of ten hot planets similar to Jupiter outside our solar system that scientists have detected. Creative liberties were taken for the colors of the planets, which are currently unknown. The exception is the top-right one, which is known to sport a blue exterior.

From Worlds That Look Like Cotton Candy to Others Covered in Volcanoes, These Are the Strangest and Most Captivating Exoplanets

Scientists are using an array of instruments to detect other planets, some of which may harbor life—and others that most definitely don’t

Spectrum launched from the Andøya Space Center in Norway before plumetting into the icy sea.

First Orbital Rocket Launched From Western Europe Crashes Into Sea After Roughly 30-Second Flight

Isar Aerospace, the company behind the rocket, is still heralding the launch as a success due to the data it provided

A partial solar eclipse on June 10, 2021, rises at Lewes Beach in Delaware.

How to Watch a Live Stream of the Rare Sunrise Eclipse on Saturday and Catch a Glimpse of Solar ‘Devil Horns’

Early risers can observe a partial solar eclipse in areas of eastern North America on March 29, given clear skies and proper eye protection

At the left, an enhanced-color image of Neptune from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. At the right, that image is combined with data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to show auroras, represented by cyan coloring.

Check Out Neptune’s Beautiful Auroras, Captured for the First Time by the James Webb Space Telescope

Scientists suspected the ice giant hosted auroras—and had already observed them on Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. But an observation of Neptune’s lights remained elusive for decades

Saturn's iconic rings are not always clearly visible from Earth.

Saturn’s Rings Have ‘Disappeared’ in an Optical Illusion. Here’s Why We See This Temporary Vanishing Act

Every 13 to 15 years, Earth crosses through Saturn’s “ring plane,” making the gas giant’s most iconic feature become nearly invisible

JADES-GS-z14-0 is the most distant known galaxy, dating to less than 300 million years after the Big Bang. Scientists were surprised to find oxygen there.

Scientists Detect ‘Unexpected’ Oxygen in the Most Distant Galaxy Ever Found, Defying Ideas About the Early Universe

The findings suggest galaxies formed much more quickly than astronomers assumed

DESI, seen here beneath star trails, aims to create a 3D map of the universe.

Mysterious Dark Energy Might Be Weakening—and That Could Upend Predictions About the End of the Universe

Astronomers thought dark energy was a constant. But now, findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument provide even more evidence that it may be fluctuating

An artist’s rendering of Barnard’s Star, as seen from one of the newly discovered exoplanets orbiting it

Astronomers Find Four New Exoplanets Orbiting a Neighboring Star, the ‘White Whale’ of Planet Seekers

More than 60 years after the first debunked discovery of a planet orbiting Barnard’s Star, the closest single-star system to Earth, a pair of telescopes has revealed multiple rocky worlds around it

A mosaic of galaxies captured by Euclid as part of its first observations of the deep field areas

The First Big Data Drop From the Euclid Space Telescope Unlocks a ‘Treasure Trove’ of Insights on the Universe’s Mysteries

The European Space Agency’s “dark universe detective” discovered millions of new galaxies and offers potential clues about dark matter

Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin at Harvard College Observatory

A Century Ago, Pioneering Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Showed Us What Stars Are Made Of

The trailblazing Harvard scientist, who documented the dominance of hydrogen and helium in stars, is still inspiring researchers today

A "diamond ring" appears around the Earth, as seen by the Blue Ghost lander on the moon.

See Last Week’s Stunning Eclipse From the Moon in Photos Captured by the Blue Ghost Lander, Now at the End of Its Mission

The spacecraft carried out the longest commercial operation on the moon to date—and also made history during its rare chance to document this celestial event

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