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Planets

The Perseverance rover sampled Cheyava Falls, a rock with "leopard spots," on Mars last year.

NASA Discovers ‘Clearest Sign’ Yet of Ancient Life on Mars in a Rock Studied by the Perseverance Rover

Minerals in the rock might have been produced by microbes in chemical reactions, but researchers say they’ll need to examine the sample more closely to know for sure

The dwarf planet Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the main asteroid belt, might have once been hospitable for life, according to a recent study.

Did the Dwarf Planet Ceres Once Host Life? Astronomers Suggest Chemical Energy Could Have Fueled Microbes Long Ago

Though no direct evidence of life has been found, models suggest Ceres had hot water shooting into its underground oceans billions of years ago, offering potentially hospitable conditions

The James Webb Space Telescope, with data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, together captured the dusty core of the Butterfly Nebula.

See the Stunning Butterfly Nebula in a New Image From the James Webb Space Telescope

The observations offer an unprecedented look at the center of the nebula, which is shrouded in a band of dust

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

An image from the ALMA telescope array in Chile shows jets of silicon monoxide blowing away from the young star HOPS-315. The blue jet is moving towards Earth, and the red jet is moving away from us.

For the First Time, Astronomers Capture ‘Smoking Gun’ of Early Solar System Formation

Telescopes detected the first stages of hot minerals condensing from gas around a young star called HOPS-315

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

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

In this image, light from the star TWA 7 has been subtracted. The potential exoplanet TWA 7 b is the orange circle within the blue debris disk.

The James Webb Space Telescope Reveals Its First Direct Image Discovery of an Exoplanet

Researchers identified the likely planetary candidate’s infrared light after blocking out its host star’s overwhelming glare

An artistic rendering of the Odyssey spacecraft in orbit over Mars. 

NASA Spacecraft Orbiting Mars Captures Image of Giant Ancient Volcano Just Before Dawn

The perspective is what astronauts would see out their window if there was an International Space Station flying around the red planet

Water may have arisen as early as 100 million years after the universe began.

Did Water Form in the Earliest Years of the Universe?

A recent study suggests huge volumes of the molecule emerged during the cosmic dawn

The five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union are Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake—and these are pictured with 2017 OF201 in a telescope image.

Astronomers Discover a Possible Dwarf Planet Far Beyond Neptune, Where There Should Have Only Been Empty Space

As it orbits the sun once every 25,000 years, the celestial body 2017 OF201 travels beyond the Kuiper Belt into a region thought to be largely devoid of objects

Enceladus (center) orbits Saturn in this 2007 image captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

Should Scientists Inject Saturn’s Moon Enceladus With Life?

A new study proposes that seeding the orb’s underground ocean with microbes might help us learn how to make other worlds habitable

An artistic rendering of one of the Voyager probes.

NASA Engineers Revive Long-Dormant Thrusters on Voyager 1, the Farthest Spacecraft From Earth, in a ‘Miracle Save’

In the nick of time, NASA teams addressed clogging issues in the probe’s backup roll thrusters, before the only antenna capable of sending commands to it went offline

The sun launched a powerful solar flare on May 14, 2025, captured here by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Sun Launches Its Strongest Solar Flare of the Year So Far, Causing Radio Blackouts Around the World

The new sunspot responsible for this powerful blast is rotating into view, which could bring more solar activity—and potential aurora-causing coronal mass ejections—to Earth in the coming days

The first image in visible light of green auroras on Mars (left), compared to the night sky of Mars without auroras.

See the First Visible Auroras Captured on Mars, Glowing a Hazy Green Above the Planet

Scientists directed NASA’s Perseverance rover to take an image of the Martian sky after a solar storm in hopes that an aurora would show up

An artist's concept of K2-18b, the exoplanet at the center of the debate

A New Analysis Raises Doubts About Potential Hints of Life Recently Detected on a Distant Exoplanet

Astronomers published evidence of possible biosignatures on the planet K2-18b earlier this month, but another look at the data suggests the finding could be statistical noise

Workers prepare Venera 4, a Soviet space probe, for its flight to Venus' atmosphere in 1967.

A Soviet Spacecraft Is About to Crash Back to Earth After Being Stuck in Orbit for 53 Years

The Cosmos 482 lander was intended to reach Venus, but it has instead been circling Earth since 1972

An artistic rendering of an exoplanet in a tight orbit, followed by a dusty, comet-like tail of debris.

Astronomers Discover a Doomed Exoplanet That’s Crumbling Away and Leaving Behind a Comet-Like Tail

The planet orbits its host star in just 30.5 hours, losing a mass of material roughly equal to Mount Everest each time

An artist's impression of K2-18b and its distant host star, visualized as if the planet had water and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.

Chemical Hints on a Distant Planet Offer ‘Strongest Evidence Yet’ for Life Outside Our Solar System, Astronomers Say

The James Webb Space Telescope spotted possible signatures for life in an exoplanet’s atmosphere. Still, researchers caution it’s far too early to call the findings definitive

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover spotted a large dust devil (on the right) consuming a smaller, fainter twister (on the left in the foreground).

Watch a Spinning Martian Dust Devil ‘Consume’ Another in a New Video Captured by NASA’s Perseverance Rover

Tracking dust devils helps researchers learn more about Mars’ atmosphere, wind and weather conditions

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