astronomy

In a recent NASA-supported study, researchers assessed Titan's resource base and how it could be leveraged for ISRU. Compared with other locations under study (the Moon, Mars, etc.), they concluded that there is unrivaled potential for human exploration and settlement.

Sponsored by Perplexity! This is truly a game-changer – Perplexity Computer built this insane tool in only one prompt! Check out my tool and build your own today: https://pplx.ai/cool-worlds-youtube-1 Today’s video explores the most terrifying calculation I’ve ever done, one that comes with some deeply unsettling implications for the Universe in which we live… Written […]

Today we interview Solar System scientist and expert in Rubin Observatory data, Prof. Mario Jurić from the University of Washington, for his Plenary Talk at #AAS248!

Meet Dr. Esra Bulbul: 2025 HEAD Mid-Career Prize winner, X-ray cosmologist, and the scientist mapping galaxy clusters to uncover the nature of dark energy.

The hunt for Planet Nine continues as new discoveries make the Solar System’s biggest mystery even harder to solve. Is there a massive undiscovered planet on the outer reaches of the Solar System? The idea has been around since before the discovery of Pluto in the 1930s. Labeled as planet X, prominent astronomers had put [...]

Every galaxy you’ve ever seen in a photograph is hiding something. Beyond the glowing disc of stars and gas that the camera captures lies a vast, ghostly outer region called a halo, too faint to see easily but packed with clues about how that galaxy came to be. ESA has just formally committed to a […]

NASA and Katalyst Space are preparing a robotic mission that could extend the life of the Swift Observatory while demonstrating a technology with major implications for future space operations.

Mercury will appear farthest from the sun in its current evening apparition on June 15.

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is leaving the International Space Station carrying research and hardware that could influence the future of space exploration and medicine.

Venus’ extraordinarily slow retrograde rotation was likely caused by a chance encounter with a moon-sized impactor. One that some 4.5 billion years ago likely slammed into our sister planet at a high angle and high velocity.

A spectacular new image from NASA combines Webb and Hubble observations to reveal the unusual dynamics of the Black Eye Galaxy.

Written in the 1860s, Jules Verne’s novels "From the Earth to the Moon" and "All Around the Moon" were highly speculative fiction in their time, but tell a tale that now seems remarkably familiar: three astronauts in a conical capsule on a free-return trajectory around the moon.

Astronomers have discovered a powerful “galaxy-killing wind” in the early universe that may help solve one of the biggest mysteries in modern astronomy: why so many massive galaxies stopped forming stars much earlier than scientists expected. The discovery suggests that some young galaxies grew rapidly and then died just as quickly, not because of exotic […] The post Cosmic “galaxy-killing wind” …

On June 14, 1949, a rhesus monkey named Albert II was launched into space aboard a V-2 rocket from White Sands, New Mexico. Prior to Albert II, animals including fruit flies, mice, and another monkey (Albert I) had been launched in rocket and balloon flights as part of American space biology research, but Albert II’s Continue reading "June 14, 1949: The first mammal in space" The post June 14, 19…

The nights surrounding the new moon on June 14 are the perfect time to hunt for planets and sparkling constellations in the late spring sky.

A new race to the moon is emerging between the United States and China. Unlike fifty years ago, the goal is no longer just about landing and leaving, but establishing a base that allows for a sustainable presence and extended stays on the surface of our natural satellite. The objective is now to use the […]

"We were totally amazed when we noticed this mass and size range of planet formation."

The four astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission captured more than they bargained for when they photographed the nightside of Earth, right after starting their historic journey to the moon.

What if some black holes aren’t black holes at all? A new theoretical study suggests that when a massive star collapses, it might not form a singularity hidden behind an event horizon. Instead, the collapse could trigger the birth of a tiny new universe inside the dying star. Driven by dark energy, this miniature cosmos would expand and push back against gravity, preventing complete collapse and …

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  June 13: Catch Comet 220P/McNaught Asteroid 14 Irene reaches opposition at 6 A.M. EDT tomorrow morning, making now a great time to catch it. Glowing at mid-9th-magnitude, Irene is already 20° high in the south an hour before midnight and stands highest Continue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, June 14: Irene nears oppos…