ASTRONOMY

An artist's rendering of the Europa mission's spacecraft. Main Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech Banner Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

How Will the Europa Lander Search for Life?

New details on the breaking-edge mission to the Jovian moon.

You Can Help NASA Prove the Existence of Planet 9

The space agency is funding a massive crowdsourcing effort to comb through 200,000 images in search of a theorized ninth planet.

Look Up! Jupiter Is Close, Bright, and Showing Its Stripes

Get your telescope: You’re going to see some magical things.

5 Teams Aim for the Moon This Year—and the $20 Million Google Lunar XPrize

They have to beat the December 31, 2017 deadline.

Astronomers Find Seven "Earth-Like" Planets Orbiting a Cool Star

“It’s the first time we have seven planets in this temperate zone … that can be called terrestrial,” lead author Michaël Gillon said in a press briefing.

10 Weird Planetary Phenomena Discovered by Amateur Astronomers

Some seriously stellar discoveries have been made by at-home stargazers.

ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Hubble Captures Incredible View of Galaxy-Sized Maser

Imagine a galactic-scale laser shooting a beam of microwaves across space.

Look Up! Venus Will Be Bright and a Little Strange Tonight

Get your telescope.

Look Up Again! The Final Supermoon of 2016 Rises Tonight

Good news: the supermoon will be bright! The bad news: it brightness will dampen your view of the Geminid meteor shower.

Look Up Tonight! Here's How to Find the Beehive in Space

Are you in? You’re going to need a pair of binoculars.

Scientists Seek Your Help to Photograph Another Sun's "Pale Blue Dot"

Project Blue is an effort by a group of scientists, engineers, and space organizations to launch a small telescope into space with the singular goal of directly imaging in visible light (i.e. the light we see with our own eyes) an Earth-like planet.

Look Up Tonight! The Super Beaver Moon Is Here

Yes, you heard us right.

Look Up Tonight! The Constellation Taurus Brings Fireballs to the Skies

Just before midnight, head outside.

Have We Detected Hundreds of Signals From Extraterrestrial Life?

The astronomical community is reacting with measured skepticism to a new paper making bold claims.

We're Closing in on Discovering Planet 9 From Outer Space

If it's out there, it could be as big as Neptune.

How A Misinterpreted Anagram Predicted The Moons of Mars

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Artist's view of plumes on Europa (right) // NASA

Plumes on Europa May Enable the Hunt for Alien Life

Jupiter's moon Europa is one of the most promising places for life in the solar system.

A lithograph of "ruby amphitheater," as it was printed in The Sun.

Beavers and Bat People: The Great Moon Hoax of 1835

In the summer of 1835, New York's 'The Sun' newspaper confirmed there was life on the lunar surface—including bat-people—and readers believed it.

Astronomers Find Earth-Like Planet Just One Star Away

Proxima b might be able to support life.

Hitomi Collaboration/JAXA, NASA, ESA, SRON, CSA

Take a Look at the Last Image Taken by Japan’s Hitomi Satellite Before It Died

Japan's space agency, JAXA, lost contact with Hitomi in late March.

Juno Is the First Solar-Powered Spacecraft in the Outer Solar System

From an engineering standpoint, Juno's July 4 arrival at Jupiter is fitting, as the endeavor is a sort of declaration of independence from the required use of nuclear power in missions to outer planets.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory via YouTube

The Juno Mission: NASA Celebrates Independence Day by Invading Jupiter

After a five-year journey, Juno will be ensnared by Jupiter's gravity and orbit the planet 33 times, then plunge beneath the clouds and disintegrate.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/L. Cieza (University of Texas at Austin) via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Growing Stars Are Tidying the Universe

Astronomers say rapid star birth is using up more cosmic debris than ever before.

It's Asteroid Day

“One of the major threats to intelligent life in our universe," said Stephen Hawking, "is a high probability of an asteroid colliding with inhabitable planets.”

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