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Outer Space

An artist's illustration of a planet-like body in the Kuiper belt.

New Research

A Brief History of the Hunt for Planet X

The flutter over a possible new world beyond Neptune highlights the long, legitimate search for planets in the solar system’s fringe

Surprising bright spots lurking in Ceres’ Occator crater, as spotted by the Dawn spacecraft

New Research

We Finally May Know the Cause of Ceres’ Bright Spots

It’s not aliens

An artist's depiction of the Akatsuki spacecraft in orbit around Venus.

Trending Today

Japan’s Akatsuki Spacecraft May Finally Be Orbiting Venus

The five-year wait is over (almost)

An artist's rendition of what the Juno spacecraft will look like as it flies by Jupiter

Cool Finds

NASA Needs Your Help Snapping and Processing Images of Jupiter

The public will help direct JunoCam as it twirls past Jupiter next July

The LISA Pathfinder probe on display in September, 2015.

Trending Today

A Space-Based Physics Lab Could Help Scientists Study How Gravity Warps Spacetime

The LISA Pathfinder Probe could help reveal the ripples caused by black holes and supernovae

The volcano Sapas Mons rises over the landscape in a computer generated image of Venus based on data from the Magellan spacecraft.

New Research

Venus May Have Surprisingly Youthful Skin

Based on a new analysis of its impact-driven blemishes, the surface of our sister planet may be much younger than thought

Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan at the Geneva Summit.

Cool Finds

Reagan and Gorbachev Agreed to Pause the Cold War in Case of an Alien Invasion

The 40th President of the United States was a big science-fiction fan

Document Deep Dive

How NASA’s Flight Plan Described the Apollo 11 Moon Landing

A second-by-second guide to the historic mission

The Pleiades Star Cluster

Trending Today

Look to the Skies This Month for the Pleiades Star Cluster

The Seven Sisters will shine bright from dusk till dawn for the rest of November

A new exoplanet was discovered by telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

New Research

A New Earth-Sized Planet Is Getting Astronomers Riled Up

It could be a rare opportunity for scientists to study an exoplanet’s atmosphere

Soon, space miners could lay claim to minerals in asteroids like this one.

Trending Today

Get Your Pickaxe and Spacecraft Ready, Space Mining Might be Legal Very Soon

The new Space Act would open up the potentially lucrative field of asteroid mining

A painted wooden coffin beside a looted tomb in the Abu Sir al Malaq necropolis in Bani Suef, Egypt.

Cool Finds

This Ingenious Archaeologist Uses Satellites to Hunt Down Tomb Raiders

Can satellite imagery help protect humanity’s priceless artifacts?

New Research

Mars’ Gravity Is Slowly Shredding Its Moon Phobos

Telltale grooves on the moon’s surface are an early sign of Phobos’ grim fate

Cool Finds

During the Cold War, the Military Had Plans to Wage War in Space

The U.S. Army’s Future Weapons Office proposed theoretical ways to defend non-existant lunar bases

This composite image features Pluto and its largest moon Charon in enhanced color.

New Research

Sorry Pluto, You Still Aren’t a Planet

A new test for planetary status leaves the diminutive world and its dwarf planet kin out of the family portrait

This creamy expanse is Sputnik Planum, the western lobe of the heart-shaped feature on Pluto.

New Research

Pluto May Have Ice Volcanoes at the Bottom of Its Heart

Two southern peaks have depressions that hint they once spewed icy slurry onto the tiny world’s surface

Cool Finds

Watch 30 Minutes of Mesmerizing, Ultra-HD Sun

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory stares at the sun so you don’t have to

An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission at Mars.

New Research

The Sun Stole Part of Mars’ Atmosphere, and NASA Was Watching

Observations from the MAVEN spacecraft should help scientists figure out if and when Mars had the right conditions for life

These galaxies are smiling at you thanks to general relativity.

Think Big

Seven Simple Ways We Know Einstein Was Right (For Now)

For the past 100 years, these experiments have offered continued evidence that general relativity is our best description of gravity

An artist's rendering of the MOA-2011-BLG-262 system, which hosts a potential exomoon orbiting a Jupiter-like planet.

New Research

In a Rare Pairing, a Venus-Like Planet Has Been Found Around a “Failed Star”

The system offers clues to the way planets and moons form and may aid in the quest to find habitable worlds across the galaxy

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