Articles tagged as Outer Space | Smithsonian Magazine

The Apollo 10 lunar module prepares for redocking.

Archival audio reveals eerie sounds heard by astronauts on the dark side of the moon

February 23, 2016

NASA's OSIRIS-REx project will send a craft to a near-Earth asteroid and take a sample to study back on Earth.

Cool Finds

NASA Wants You to Send Your Art to an Asteroid

The agency is looking for creative contributions as it readies its mission to study and sample a near-Earth asteroid

February 22, 2016

This artist’s impression shows the super-Earth 55 Cancri e in front of its parent star.

New Research

Hubble Gets a Whiff of Super-Earth Atmosphere For The First Time

The toasty planet’s atmosphere is similar to a gas giant’s

February 18, 2016

One of the world’s deadliest missiles could become a planetary life-saver

February 18, 2016

Meteorites embedded in ice sheets that run into the Transantarctic mountains can work their way to the surface, making it easier for scientists to collect these fragmented space rocks.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Iron Meteorites Play Hide-and-Seek Under Antarctic Ice

Meteorites give scientists a glimpse into our early solar system, but the sun’s rays and melting ice may make these extraterestrial crumbs harder to find

February 16, 2016

Cool Finds

OK Go Shot Their Latest Music Video in Microgravity

Singing aboard the Vomit Comet

February 12, 2016

A supercomputer simulation shows the gravitational waves produced as two black holes merge.

New Research

After a Century of Searching, We Finally Detected Gravitational Waves

Two merging black holes sent out a signal 1.3 billion years ago that now confirms a key prediction of Einstein’s relativity

February 11, 2016

A newly-released poster in NASA's Visions of the Future series heralds a future "grand tour" using gravity assists.

Cool Finds

NASA Went Retro With Their New Space Travel Posters

Travel to the world of tomorrow—today!

February 10, 2016

Cool Finds

Take 360-Degree Tours of Mars and the Moon

Earth’s neighbors have never seemed so tantalizingly close

February 10, 2016

An illustration of how gravitational waves ripple through the fabric of space-time.

The internet is abuzz with rumors of a big announcement—here are a few things you should know to decipher the news

February 9, 2016

An artist's rendering of the galaxies hiding beyond the veil of the Milky Way.

Think Big

Hundreds of Galaxies Were Found Hiding Behind Our Milky Way

The objects may help explain why our galaxy and its neighbors are hurtling towards a seemingly blank zone called the Great Attractor

February 9, 2016

When CO2 rises, wet and wild planets may lose their oceans to space.

New Research

Looking for Life Beyond Earth? Watch Out for Steam Bath Planets

Simulations show that water and CO2 can be a surprisingly deadly combo on some unfortunate worlds

February 9, 2016

A view of Earth from a replica of the Cupola Observation Module.

Cool Finds

Check Out This Scale Replica of The International Space Station

Pretend you’re in orbit without ever leaving the ground

February 4, 2016

Cool Finds

Adventure Through the Water Cycle With NASA’s New Comic Book

The comic brings whimsy and fun into the story of the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite mission

February 3, 2016

A picture snapped by Spirit near Home Plate shows silica formations poking out of the soil, which may have been formed by microbial life.

Mysterious Martian ‘Cauliflower’ May Be the Latest Hint of Alien Life

Unusual silica formations spotted by a NASA rover look a lot like structures formed by microbes around geysers on Earth

February 1, 2016

Inside Infinite Harvest's 5,400 square-foot grow facility in Lakewood, Colorado.

Astronauts and Arugula: Using Space-Station Technology to Grow Food

Infinite Harvest, an indoor vertical farm in Lakewood, Colorado, provides a glimpse into the future of global large-scale food production

January 29, 2016

Earth as seen on July 6, 2015 from a distance of one million miles by a NASA scientific camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory spacecraft.

The recent resurgence of this ancient idea reminds us that flat Earth believers have a long history

January 29, 2016

This visualization, built using data from the Planck satellite, shows the swirls of the Milky Way's magnetic field. The orange region represents the galactic plane.

Think Big

Where Are All the Aliens? Taking Shelter From the Universe’s Radiation

Earlier life-forms across the cosmos may have faced thousands to millions of times the cosmic ray dose that we do today

January 22, 2016

The Znamya 2 mirror-solar sail, deployed.

Cool Finds

How a Russian Space Mirror Briefly Lit Up the Night

In 1993, the 65-foot-diameter satellite, called Znamya, briefly lit the Earth like a giant orbiting night light

January 21, 2016

Rocky bodies that slammed into early Earth might have been integral in setting up the conditions for our magnetic field.

Journey to the Center of Earth

Humble Magnesium Could Be Powering Earth’s Magnetic Field

The common element could have been driving the planet’s dynamo for billions of years

January 20, 2016