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Outer Space

Backyard Worlds is using the power of citizen scientists to search for the elusive Planet 9.

The Universe Needs You: To Help in the Hunt for Planet 9

How one citizen science endeavor is using the Internet to democratize the search for distant worlds

The image of Antares captures by VLTI

New Research

This Is the Best Image of a Star Beyond Our Solar System (Yet)

A detailed convection map of the red supergiant Antares is spectacular, but it also shows we don’t know everything that’s going on

Scott Kelly upon his return to Earth.

Scott Kelly’s Journey Home After His Year in Space

America’s longest-orbiting astronaut describes his rocky return to Earth in this adaptation from his book ‘Endurance’

The Sun is seen setting through the Martian atmosphere by the Curiosity rover. Nighttime can bring turbulent snowstorms in the planet's atmosphere

Violent Snowstorms May Rack the Martian Night

Simulations show how the water snow falling on Mars may fall much differently than we’re used to here on Earth

A Near Earth Object

Trending Today

Meet Florence, the Giant Asteroid That Will Buzz by Earth This September

The 2.7-mile-long, near-Earth object will give astronomers a chance to study the asteroid up close

Astronaut Sunita Williams enjoying ice cream the last time it was sent to the International Space Station in 2012

ISS Astronauts Get a Sweet Taste of Real Ice Cream

The latest shipment to the station includes some frozen goodness for the crew

Have an hour or twenty? Take in the mesmerizing views from Slooh's live feeds of space.

Watch Free Live Streams of Outer Space

The astronomy website Slooh has lifted the paywall on footage from its telescopes

A meteor from the Perseids is seen falling over the Very Large Telescope array in Chile.

Catch the Perseid Meteor Shower’s Fiery Show

Though the moon will partially obscure the normally dazzling sight, the shower’s peak is still worth a peek

Asteroid 2014 MU69 may be composed of two spheres

Cool Finds

New Horizon’s Next Target Is an Oddly Shaped Asteroid

New data shows that MU69 is less than 20 miles long and may actually be two asteroids orbiting one another

Voyager 1 is currently zipping along at around 38,000 miles per hour​ nearly 13 billion miles from Earth.

Send a Birthday Message to Voyager 1, Humanity’s Most Distant Traveler

To mark its 40th anniversary, NASA is asking for your help crafting a message

On Earth, creatures from sharks to snails to these coral polyps light up the darkness. Are glowing aliens really that far-fetched?

Life in the Cosmos

Could We See Glow-in-the-Dark Aliens From Earth?

Extraterrestrial life might make its own light to protect itself from harmful radiation

The LEM model missing from the Armstrong Museum

Trending Today

Thieves Steal Solid Gold Lunar Lander Model From Armstrong Museum

The five-inch model was created by Cartier as tribute from French newspaper readers to the Apollo 11 astronaut

An illustration shows the satellite Cassini moving near Saturn and its largest moon Titan

Potential Ingredients for Life Found on Saturn’s Moon Titan

But that life likely wouldn’t look like what we’re used to here on Earth

The Aurora Australis as seen from the International Space Station in 2011

Cool Finds

Astronaut Captures ‘Awesome Sauce’ of Aurora From Space

Humans have been amazed for millennia by these atmospheric events

There are mind-bogglingly vast quantities of alcohol in outer space. Sadly, it's so dispersed you’d have to travel half a million light years to make a pint of beer.

Guess What? Space is Full of Booze

We’ll toast to that

Colors on this satellite image show areas where water was detected in ancient pyroclastic flows on the Moon's surface

New Research

Water May Lurk Beneath the Moon’s Surface

The surprising abundance of water could help future lunar settlers survive in the barren landscape

Looking out at Earth from the Cupola Observation Module of the International Space Station on Google Street View

Cool Finds

Explore the International Space Station With Google Street View

An astronaut and Google mapped the ISS for Street View with a DSLR and a lot of patience

Trending Today

Apollo 11 Moon Rock Bag Sells for $1.8 Million in Controversial Auction

NASA waged an unsuccessful legal battle to retrieve the bag, which contains traces of lunar dust, from a private collection

An artist's rendering of a star colliding with the surface of a supermassive sphere. In recent years some scientists have surmised that black holes may be hard objects rather than a region of intense gravity and compressed matter.

Could You Crash Into a Black Hole?

Probably not, but it’s fun to think about

New Research

“Space Archaeologists” to Examine the International Space Station

Using millions of photos and documents, researchers will reconstruct life on the ISS to see how visitors interact with their tools and each other

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