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Outer Space

A view from a camera onboard the Icarus craft as it reaches the stratosphere.

Trending Today

How Engineers Got a Vinyl Record to Play in the Stratosphere

Fittingly, it took notes from Carl Sagan

Must all molecules of life be handed?

Think Big

Must the Molecules of Life Always be Left-Handed or Right-Handed?

They are on Earth, but life on other planets could play by different rules

An image of a nebula used in "The Hubble Cantata."

Cool Finds

The Cosmos Sings in This Fusion of Astrophysics and Music

The Hubble Cantata brings the stars down to earth

A false-color image of the Great Red Spot of Jupiter from Voyager 1. The white oval storm directly below the Great Red Spot has approximately the same diameter as the Earth.

New Research

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Also Red Hot

The giant storm pipes out temperatures over 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit

Data from the Viking biology experiments, which is stored on microfilm, has to be accessed using a microfilm reader.

Cool Finds

NASA Is Finally Digitizing the Viking Mission’s 40-Year-Old Data

No more microfilm

A 3D view of the console of the Apollo 11 "Columbia" command module.

Cool Finds

Explore the Apollo 11 Command Module in 3D

For the first time, you can peek inside the craft that enabled “one giant leap for mankind”

An artist's conception of four of the new planets, orbiting a single dwarf star. These small, rocky worlds are far closer to their star than Mercury is to our sun, but the star is smaller and cooler than our own.

New Research

Kepler Just Found 104 New Planets Outside of Our Solar System

Is anyone home?

Visitors take a guided tour of the Barringer Meteorite Crater in northern Arizona.

American South

Big Boom: The Best Places to See Meteorite Impact Craters

Ancient impacts changed landscapes and perhaps even the course of evolution—here’s where to see the coolest craters this summer

An artist's illustration of the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit.

Trending Today

No, China’s Tiangong-1 Will Not “Rain Molten Metal Down Onto Earth”

It’s not spiraling out of control, and even if it was, it wouldn’t enter the atmosphere until 2017

This spectacular image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.

New Research

Breathtaking New Images Capture Failed Stars and Planet-Sized Objects Inside the Orion Nebula

It’s the deepest look into the nebula ever seen before

An astrophysicist makes the case that it might be worthwhile to revisit the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 to safeguard the practice of science on the lunar surface.

Can There Be Real Estate on the Moon?

A Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist thinks a legal crisis is waiting for us on the surface of the moon.

Apollo 11 on the launchpad

Cool Finds

The Code That Sent Apollo 11 to the Moon Just Resurfaced Online and Is Chock-Full of Jokes

Published on GitHub, the array of in-jokes, pop culture and Shakespeare asides in the comments on the code show the human side of the project

Jupiter's moon, Europa, is one of the most promising candidates for life elsewhere in the solar system.

Cool Finds

Juno Will Eventually Go Up in Flames to Protect Theoretical Alien Life

Juno, we hardly knew you

An artist's concept of a moon-sized body slamming into a Mercury-sized world in another solar system. High speed collisions like this were more likely to occur in systems with gas giants, but they took place early in a planet's life, allowing time for the world to recover. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Space Hub

How a Young Jupiter Acted as Both Protector and Destroyer

Like a boisterous older sibling, the gas giant both beat up and protected young Earth

Cool Finds

This Is What Jupiter Sounds Like

Listen as Juno bursts into the gas giant’s magnetosphere

An artist's rendition of Juno in orbit around Jupiter. The craft is powered entirely by the sun's rays.

Space Hub

It’s Official: We Are Now in Orbit Around Jupiter

After a nerve-wracking entry, NASA spacecraft Juno successfully entered the gas giant’s orbit

Photograph of the megalithic cluster of Carregal do Sal, one of the passage graves in Portugal that may have doubled as an ancient telescope.

New Research

These Ancient Tombs May Have Been Both Grave and Observatory

The best view of the heavens could be from within the tomb

Ultraviolet images overlying a photo of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

Trending Today

Catch the Solar System’s Best Light Show With New Images of Jupiter’s Auroras

Jupiter’s Auroras Are the Best Light Show in the Solar System

Help astronomers track asteroid 2010 NY65 as it streaks across the sky on Asteroid Day

Trending Today

Track These Space Rocks From Your Couch on Asteroid Day

With just a click, you can help astronomers learn more about two nearby asteroids

The "Mystic Mountain" image released for the Hubble's 20th anniversary showcases a three-light-year tall pillar of gas and dust stretching out of the Carina nebula. Mostly made of cool hydrogen, the structure is created by stars releasing jets of gas, which is worn away by radiation from other nearby stars, giving it its eroded shape.

Trending Today

Breathtaking Images to Celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope Getting Another Five Years of Life

These amazing views are just a selection of the beautiful images the craft has captured over the years

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