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Outer Space

Boldly going where no curatorial object has gone before.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

The Mission to Restore the Original Starship Enterprise

The beloved 1960s studio model stars in Building Star Trek, a documentary premiering on Smithsonian Channel this Sunday

An artist's impression of the Milky Way six million years ago, depicts an orange bubble at the galactic center and extending to a radius of about 20,000 light-years. Scientist think that outside of that bubble, a pervasive "fog" of million-degree gas might account for the galaxy's missing matter.

Solving the Mystery of the Milky Way’s Missing Mass

Smithsonian scientists have discovered a huge cloud of super hot gas expanding from the middle of our galaxy

The Ratan-600 radio telescope, which reported the signal to the SETI Institute

Trending Today

That “Strong” SETI Signal Probably Isn’t Aliens

Sorry folks, E.T. is still not phoning home

The dark galaxy Dragonfly 44

New Research

Discovery of a New Class of Galaxies Challenges Our Understanding of How Galaxy Formation Works

Dragonfly 44 near the Coma cluster has the same mass as the Milky Way but only 1 percent of the visible matter

An artist's impression of Proxima b

New Research

Astronomers Have Discovered an Earth-Sized Exoplanet in Our Cosmic Backyard

But what would potential life look like on this planetary neighbor?

Astronomy students at the Banneker and Aztlán Institutes in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Space Hub

Why the Universe Needs More Black and Latino Astronomers

Astronomy has one of the worst diversity rates of any scientific field. This Harvard program is trying to change that

Cool Finds

After Two Years, Lost NASA Spacecraft Phones Home

Using the Deep Space Network, mission control has reestablished contact with the solar observatory STEREO-B

The first photo of Earth from the moon was taken on August 23, 1966.

Cool Finds

Fifty Years Ago, This Photo Captured the First View of Earth From the Moon

And Earth’s view of itself changed forever

Abell 370: Galaxy Cluster Gravitational Lens

Think Big

Long After Einstein, Cosmic Lensing Reaches Its Full Potential

How Hubble is taking advantage of Einstein’s theories to study the most distant galaxies

Grab your sunglasses—all of those far-off stars, black holes and celestial bodies contribute to your killer tan.

New Research

Part of Your Suntan Comes From Photons That Are Billions of Years Old

Thank bodies from beyond the galaxy for a bit of that golden glow

Maria Zuber, first woman to run a NASA spacecraft mission, says she has a "genetic predilection" to explore space.

Life in the Cosmos

This Scientist Seeks Out the Secret History of Other Worlds

Maria Zuber has spent her career enabling discoveries beyond Earth. She says the best is yet to come

Visualization of the giant impact that formed the moon

Journey to the Center of Earth

New Moon-Formation Theory Also Raises Questions About Early Earth

A new model of the impact that created the moon might upend theories about earth, too

An solar storm erupts on April 16, 2012, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in the 304 Angstrom wavelength.

New Research

The Solar Storm That Nearly Set the Cold War Ablaze

How radio interference from a 1967 solar storm spooked the U.S. military—and launched space weather forecasting

Winners at last year's Google Science Fair

Google Thinks These 20 Teenagers Could Change Our World for the Better

These kids from around the globe have created innovative new technologies, from malaria-testing apps to water-saving agriculture systems

This crater with curious ridges in its center is a possible future site for exploration

Cool Finds

Explore Far Out Views From Mars’ Surface With Over 1,000 New Photos

It’s the Martian “magic hour”

A long-exposure of Perseids taken in August 2004.

Space Hub

The Perseid Meteor Shower Looks Even More Beautiful When You Know Where It Comes From

Each streak across the sky is a fragment of the original material of our solar system

NASA's Kepler spacecraft launched on March 6, 2009. Today, technology and international collaborations are democratizing the space race.

Space Hub

Opening the Space Race to the Entire World

A new era of collaboration and affordable technology has scientists across the globe sending spacecraft into outer space

Cool Finds

Look Up! The Perseid Meteor Shower Is Going to Be a Doozy This Year

The number of shooting stars could double this year

In NASA's new "Mars Rover" game, players drive a rover through rough Martian terrain, challenging themselves to navigate and balance the rover.

Cool Finds

Take a Spin Around Mars in NASA’s New Rover Game

Tour the Red Planet without the risk of a multi-million dollar crash

This artist's conception shows a dim red dwarf surrounded by three planets. To hold life at their surface, red dwarf planets must orbit close to their star, putting them in the line of fire from dangerous flares.

Think Big

Why the Universe Is Becoming More Habitable

The universe is far more welcoming to life today than it was when microbes on Earth arose—and will only grow more so

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