Space

Astronomy

One of Earth’s shimmering dust clouds has been spotted at last

Almost 60 years after a Polish astronomer spotted clouds of dust orbiting Earth near the moon, astronomers have detected those clouds again.

Planetary Science

China is about to visit uncharted territory on the moon

The next two Chinese missions to the moon will visit places no spacecraft has been before. The rest of the world wants a piece of the lunar action.

Planetary Science

Hints of Oort clouds around other stars may lurk in the universe’s first light

Sifting through the universe’s early light could reveal planetary graveyards orbiting other stars.

Astronomy

Hubble has been busy since coming back online

Since getting back to work on October 26, the Hubble Space Telescope has been studying red dwarf flares, among other celestial objects.

Planetary Science

Dawn, the first spacecraft to orbit 2 alien worlds, has gone silent

The Dawn probe, which hopped between two objects in the asteroid belt during its seven-year mission, ran out of fuel and stopped calling home.

Astronomy

The Milky Way feasted on a smaller galaxy 10 billion years ago

The Milky Way swallowed another galaxy billions of years ago, and the leftover stars are still roaming the sky.

Astronomy

Three gas clouds nearly grazed the edge of the Milky Way’s black hole

Gas clumps cozy up to the Milky Way’s enormous black hole, new observations reveal.

Astronomy

The planet-hunting Kepler space telescope is dead

The Kepler space telescope is officially out of fuel and will hunt planets no more, NASA announced.

Planetary Science

Saturn’s moon Dione has stripes like no others in the solar system

Icy moon Dione has long, thin, bright lines at its equator that run surprisingly parallel to each other for tens to hundreds of kilometers.

Astronomy

Readers wonder about a hydrogen wall, pig lung transplants and more

Readers had questions about a glow at the edge of the solar system, pig lung transplants, the use of the word promiscuous and more.

Astronomy

The Neil Armstrong biopic ‘First Man’ captures early spaceflight’s terror

At a time when NASA is considering how to return astronauts to the moon, ‘First Man’ is a sobering reminder of how risky the first giant leap was.

Astronomy

The first observed wimpy supernova may have birthed a neutron star duo

Scientists have spotted a faint, fast supernova for the first time, possibly explaining how pairs of dense stellar corpses called neutron stars form.