Outer Space

Our ten favorite science books of the year covered everything from astronomy to undersea exploration.

The Ten Best Science Books of 2023

From stories on the depths of the ocean to the stars in the sky, these are the works that moved us the most this year

For the inner four planets in this solar system, each planet orbits the sun three times for every two orbits of the planet immediately to its outside. For the fourth, fifth and sixth planets, they orbit four times for every three orbits of its outer neighbor.

Astronomers Discover Rare Solar System Where Planets Orbit in Mathematical Harmony

The "resonant" planets could provide insight about how such systems form and evolve—and why our own solar system is not synced up

Half a century on, Kohoutek may be due a little more respect. Though it disappointed the media and the public, it proved to be a bonanza for serious scientists.

The 'Comet of the Century' Failed to Impress, but It Wasn't Such a Disaster After All

Highly anticipated before its arrival in late 1973, Kohoutek became an interplanetary punchline. But astronomers may have gotten the last laugh

An artist's rendition of the detection of the cosmic ray by the Telescope Array experiment. When high-energy cosmic rays reach Earth's atmosphere, they collide with and break apart atomic nuclei, creating a shower of particles that is picked up by detectors on the ground.

Scientists Mystified by Rare, High-Energy Cosmic Ray, the Most Powerful Since 1991

Researchers have been unable to locate an obvious source for the particle—it seems to have traveled from an empty spot in space

Why can't machines process CO2 the way trees do?

Why Can't Machines Process CO2 Like Trees? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

In 1958, dozens of red-breasted flycatchers, like the one pictured here, flew off course and visited the United Kingdom.

One Reason Migrating Birds Get Lost Is Out of This World

Solar energy can alter the Earth’s magnetic field and likely lead the animals astray

Researchers plan to launch the wooden artifical satellite in summer 2024. 

Could Wooden Satellites Reduce Space Junk? The First Is Set to Launch Next Year

NASA and Japan plan to test a biodegradable satellite made of wood, which burns up more easily than metal on reentry

The Leonids appear to originate from the constellation Leo, but you can see them throughout the night sky.

How to Watch the Dazzling Leonid Meteor Shower This Weekend

The celestial spectacle has been ongoing since the beginning of the month, but it will peak Friday night into early Saturday morning

A portrait of William Shakespeare at the edge of space in a still from the short film Lovers and Madmen

Shakespeare's Portrait Travels to Edge of Space

The stunt was planned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Bard's First Folio

Astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara were performing routine maintenance during a spacewalk outside the ISS when they lost the tool bag.

Astronauts Lost a Tool Bag During a Spacewalk—and You Can See It Floating From Earth

The bag slipped away while Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara were performing routine maintenance on the International Space Station

The James Webb Space Telescope's first image of Saturn.

Saturn's Rings Will Temporarily Disappear From View in 2025

From Earth’s perspective, we’ll be looking at the gas giant’s rings edge-on, making them nearly impossible to see

Euclid's image of the Perseus Cluster, a group of galaxies 240 million light-years from Earth. The view includes about 1,000 galaxies in the cluster, with more than 100,000 additional ones in the background.

See the First Dazzling Images From the Euclid Space Telescope

The European Space Agency's observatory will map one-third of the sky over six years in a mission to understand the universe's dark matter and dark energy

The asteroid sample that is now on display at the National Museum of Natural History. By studying the retrieved space rocks, scientists aim to better understand how water and organic material first arrived on Earth.

How to See NASA's Bennu Asteroid Sample in Person

A tiny piece of the space rock made its public debut at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, as scientists study the rest of the sample

The pair of asteroids, captured by NASA's Lucy spacecraft on November 1, 2023, from around 270 miles away.

NASA Finds a Surprise Second Asteroid During a Flyby Mission

While testing its tracking system, the agency's Lucy spacecraft discovered that Dinkinesh is not one space rock, but two

The four telescopes of the Very Large Telescope in Chile. Researchers used them to search for the source of the fast radio burst.

Astronomers Find Powerful 'Fast Radio Burst' That Traveled for Eight Billion Years

The strong blast of radio waves is the oldest known, and it could tell scientists more about the mysterious matter that lies between galaxies

An image of Pluto taken by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015

A Supervolcano on Pluto May Have Spewed Ice Just a Few Million Years Ago

An unusual crater on the dwarf planet hints at past volcanic activity—and a possible vast ocean beneath its surface, scientists say

Can every living thing be traced to a single cell?

Can Every Living Thing Be Traced to a Single Cell? And More Questions From Our Readers

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

NASA's InSight lander peers down at the Martian surface. The mission recorded more than 1,300 quakes during its four years of operation.

Mars' Most Powerful Quake Likely Triggered by Tectonic Forces

Researchers searched for signs of a meteorite impact that caused the quake but were unable to find any

In 1980, the Viking Orbiter took 102 individual images of Mars that scientists eventually assembled into this stunning composite photo. The dark gash across the planet’s face is the Valles Marineris, a canyon that’s up to 6 miles deep and over 2,500 miles long.

The Seven Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Mars

Scientists have learned a lot since they started sending crafts and rovers to our red neighbor

An artist's rendition of the Pysche asteroid. Data suggests that Psyche is between 30 and 60 percent metal, unlike any object in the solar system scientist's have observed up close before.

NASA Launches Mission to Study Distant Asteroid

The metal-rich object could hold clues about how our planet formed

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