Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Outer Space

The entrance to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

See Electric Aircraft, Rockets and Everyone’s Favorite ‘Star Wars’ Droid at the National Air and Space Museum’s Newly Reopened Galleries

Across five exhibition halls, the museum showcases the past, present and future of aviation and space travel

Fragments of the McDonough Meteorite, which fell through the roof of a home in Georgia in June

A Meteorite Tore Through a Georgia Home’s Roof. It Turns Out the Space Rock Is Older Than Our Planet

A planetary geologist finds that the meteorite, which fell in June, came from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

This year, a nearly full moon will make observing the Perseids harder. Here, a meteor is seen on August 3, 2025, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia.

The Popular Perseid Meteor Shower Will Peak This Week—Here’s How to Watch, Despite a Bright Moon

A waning gibbous moon will impact viewing the shooting stars, but the famous meteor shower is still worth observing

Jim Lovell while training for the Apollo 13 mission

Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 Commander Who Thrived Under Pressure, Dies at 97

The space explorer was determined throughout his life, says Teasel Muir-Harmony, the curator of the Apollo Collection at the National Air and Space Museum

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21. 

See the Sharpest Image Yet of an Interstellar Comet Passing Through the Solar System

Data from the Hubble Space Telescope unveils new information about this mysterious visitor

A researcher outlines how we could send a spacecraft to a nearby black hole. 

Could We Send a Superlight Spacecraft to a Theoretical Nearby Black Hole?

An astrophysicist argues that the interstellar mission would be extremely challenging but not completely unrealistic

The Perseid meteor shower in 2023. Although the prolific shower is not currently at its peak, astronomers recommend catching a glimpse before the moon gets too bright.

How to Watch This Week’s Stunning Dual Meteor Shower and More Upcoming Celestial Events

You can catch meteor showers and a special lunar display early this week, and keep an eye out for the popular Perseids

Scientists observed the faint companion star, shown in blue, by using a speckle imager mounted on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to capture several short exposures.

Astronomers Say They’ve Finally Spotted Betelgeuse’s Companion Star, Long Predicted to Exist but Never Seen

The discovery, if confirmed, could explain Betelgeuse’s mysterious six-year oscillations in brightness

The trans-Neptunian object nicknamed Ammonite moves across the sky over several hours in May 2023. Its diameter is estimated to be between about 135 and 235 miles.

Cool Finds

Astronomers Discover ‘Ammonite,’ a Mysterious Distant Object That Could Shed Light on Our Solar System’s History

The celestial body’s unusual orbit “implies that something extraordinary occurred” in the early days of the solar system—and throws a wrench in the Planet Nine idea

Darth Vader's lightsaber, used in the final two films of the franchise's original trilogy, will go up for auction in September.

Darth Vader’s Lightsaber From the ‘Star Wars’ Original Trilogy Is Heading to Auction for the First Time Ever

The iconic prop, which is expected to fetch up to $3 million, will be sold in September alongside other pieces of movie memorabilia

The meteorites could open up a new avenue to understand Mercury, pictured, which is notoriously hard to study due to its proximity to the sun.

Scientists Have Never Confirmed a Meteorite From Mercury. Could These Space Rocks From the Desert Be the First?

Two meteorites found in the Sahara show tantalizing similarities to the innermost planet, and while researchers say they are likely not direct samples, “one cannot rule out” the idea

Researchers announced they have discovered the most massive black hole merger by detecting gravitational waves.

Physicists Detect the Most Massive Black Hole Merger Ever Observed by Studying Gravitational Waves

A short-lived ripple in space-time revealed that two black holes merged into a giant black hole with the mass of 225 suns

Concentric star trails glow behind a single dragon's blood tree, an otherworldly species native to Yemen's Socotra island.

Check Out Ten Spectacular Space Images From the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest

The annual competition for professional and amateur astrophotographers released its shortlisted images, which capture the beauty of the cosmos seen from Earth

A NASA astronaut captured this odd weather phenomenon, called a red sprite, from the International Space Station.

Mysterious ‘Red Sprite’ Appears in NASA Astronaut Photo From the Space Station. What Is This Strange Electrical Flare?

Red sprites are among a class of enigmatic weather phenomena that appear over thunderstorms, known as Transient Luminous Events

Discovered in Niger in 2023, NWA 16788 weighs 54 pounds.

The Largest Martian Meteorite in the World Is Heading to Auction and Could Sell for $4 Million

Discovered in Niger in 2023, the rare chunk weighs 54 pounds and represents more than 6 percent of all Mars material on Earth

The comet 3I/ATLAS moves against a backdrop of stars. The ATLAS survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, was the first to report that the object came from interstellar space.

A Rare Interstellar Object Is Blazing Through Our Solar System, Marking Only the Third Cosmic Visitor on Record

The comet follows just two other deep space objects documented by astronomers in 2017 and 2019

An illustration of a red giant star and a white dwarf orbiting each other in a recurrent nova explosion.

Rare Appearance of Two Novas at Once Illuminates the Southern Sky. Here’s How to Get a Chance to See It

The “new stars” are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, but people have spotted them from the United States by looking near the southern horizon

An illustration shows a satellite damaged by space debris. Objects that don’t burn up in the atmosphere can pose a danger when they fall back to Earth.

With Space Junk on the Rise, Is a Catastrophic Event Inevitable?

Debris from rockets and satellites can fall back to Earth or collide with other objects, and wreckage that burns up can harm the ozone layer

A bright streak moves across the sky in broad daylight in Monroe, Georgia.

Ultra-Bright Meteor Seen in Broad Daylight, Stunning Residents Across the Southeast

More than 200 sightings were sent to the American Meteor Society, and a Georgia resident reported a rock falling through a roof around the same time

Relay 2 was an American communications satellite launched in 1964.

Astronomers Detected a Mysterious Radio Burst. It Turned Out to Be From a Dead NASA Satellite

The signal detected last year came from Relay 2, a communications satellite that has been defunct since 1967

Page 9 of 89