Moon

Researchers propose storing genetic material from each of Earth's 6.7 million species of known organisms to safeguard life on our planet from annihilation.

Sending DNA From Earth's 6.7 Million Species to the Moon to Safeguard Life

Researchers propose constructing a 'lunar ark' to provide our planet with a 'reset button' in the event of a world-ending catastrophe

Although the planets seem like they are close in proximity and we can see them in the Earthly skies they are millions of miles far away with Saturn being the farthest at billions of miles away.

A Rare Astronomical Phenomenon of Three Planets Aligning Occurs This Week

Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury are visible in the pre-dawn sky this week, along with a crescent moon

Tianwen-1 is now officially in orbit around Mars.

China's Tianwen-1 Mission Successfully Begins Mars Orbit

After a few months of observing Mars from orbit, the mission will attempt to land a rover on the planet's surface

Alan Shepard, who was both an astronaut and a golf lover, said he got the idea while training for his Apollo 14 mission. “I thought: What a neat place to whack a golf ball.”

When Astronaut Alan Shepard Hit the Golf Shot Heard 'Round the World

“The Moon is one big sand trap,” the astronaut said after he brought the game to a new frontier

On December 21, 1968, Apollo 8 launched from Kennedy Space Center at 7:51 a.m. EST with Frank Borman in command. His crew became the first humans to ride the mighty Saturn V rocket, breaking the bonds of Earth’s physical pull and entering the gravitational field of another celestial body.

How Apollo 8 Delivered Christmas Eve Peace and Understanding to the World

In a new book, Smithsonian curator Teasel Muir-Harmony examines the geopolitics during NASA’s space flight program

Surveyor 2 launched on a Centaur/Atlas rocket in September of 1966. The upper stage, called Centaur, was lost in space until it returned to Earth's orbit this November.

Astronomers Confirm Earth's Newest Mini-Moon Is Actually a Long-Lost Rocket

The piece of space debris, called 2020 SO, is the upper stage rocket booster from a failed 1966 mission to the moon

The only photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon resurfaced in the 1980s after years of obscurity.

You Could Own the First Space Selfie, Only Photo of Neil Armstrong on the Moon

Online Christie's sale features 2,400 photographs from "the golden age of space exploration"

Laboratory tests reveal that ice blocks containing different salts glow differently after being exposed to radiation.

Radiation Might Make Jupiter's Salty, Icy Moon Europa Glow

Europa is one of Jupiter's four largest moons and a prime candidate for finding life beyond Earth

Scientists have known about ice in the dark, deep craters at the moon's poles, some of the coldest known places in the universe, but voyaging into one just wouldn't be likely.

The Moon Has More Water and Ice Hidden All Over Its Surface Than Originally Predicted

Scientists discovered that water is stored in tiny patches all across the moon's surface, not just in the deep, freezing craters of its south pole

Halloween features a full moon every 19 years, and it's always a blue moon.

This Halloween, Look for the Hunter’s Blue Moon

The second full moon of the month gives Halloween an extra spooky atmosphere

The waxing gibbous Moon as we viewed it on December 3, 2011.

Is the Moon Fluffy?

Before spacecraft (and humans) set off to explore our nearest neighbor, these were some of the questions scientists were asking

In 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong took this photo of Buzz Aldrin on the first-ever moon walk. Humans haven't walked on the moon since 1972.

Eight Countries Sign NASA’s Artemis Accords, New Legal Framework for Maintaining Peace on the Moon

Nations must sign and uphold the agreement if they plan to join NASA's mission to send astronauts back to the moon

The projected path for 2020 SO, a space object that astronomers predict will become Earth's mini-moon in October, possibly staying until May 2021. The blue object in the center of the circle is Earth.

Earth May Soon Get Another Mini-Moon, but It's Probably Just a Piece of Space Trash

It could be an asteroid—or, as one astronomer suggests, it could be a rocket booster from the 1960s

On Earth, most people are familiar with ultraviolet radiation’s harmful effects on our skin, but in space, astronauts are also subjected to galactic cosmic rays, accelerated solar particles, neutrons and gamma rays.

Moonwalking Humans Get Blasted With 200 Times the Radiation Experienced on Earth

The new findings will inform how much shielding future astronauts will need to safely explore the moon

The blue areas in this composite image from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) aboard the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 orbiter show water concentrated at the Moon's poles. Homing in on the spectra of rocks there, researchers found signs of hematite, a form of rust.

Why Is the Moon Covered in Rust? Even Scientists Are Stumped by This Metal Mystery

Without oxygen and water, how is the substance

Here, scientists at the Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory use the visible, green wavelength of light to shoot lasers at the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The laser facility at the Université Côte d’Azur in Grasse, France, developed a new technique that uses infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, to beam laser light to the Moon.

Scientists Shot Lasers at a Lunar Orbiter for a Decade. Then, One Bounced Back

The success might help scientists troubleshoot problems with a data-collection project that dates back to the Apollo era

Goodnight Exomoon takes the classic children’s book Goodnight Moon and explores planetary science in a way that is relatable for the very young.

Inspire Your Toddler’s STEM Career With This ‘Goodnight Moon’ Parody

Astronomer Kimberly Arcand releases her new children’s book ‘Goodnight Exomoon’

To understand the ozone's composition, scientists analyzed sunlight that filtered through the Earth's atmosphere and reflected off the moon.

Scientists Use Moon as Mirror in Hunt for Extraterrestrial Life

The Hubble Telescope captured reflections of ultraviolet light to test for ozone layers

NASA has allotted $35,000 to be split among the three winning designs.

NASA Needs Your Help Designing a 'Lunar Loo'

Entries need to balance size, weight, functionality in microgravity and lunar gravity—and, of course, user experience

A near-infrared, color image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the sun glinting off of north polar seas on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Similar glints were spotted from Earth in 2000 at Titan's equator but Cassini found no evidence of liquid there.

Bright Patches on Saturn’s Largest Moon Are Dried-Up Lake Beds

New study tackles a 20-year-old mystery about Titan, the second-largest moon in the solar system

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