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The Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks This Weekend

Look up!

Noam Galai, Getty Images

10 Memorable Neil deGrasse Tyson Quotes

America's preeminent badass astrophysicist turns 60 years old today.

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Why Is It So Dark in Outer Space?

It's a question scientists have been asking for more than 400 years.

Galileo Before The Papal Tribunal by Robert Henry. Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Newly Uncovered Galileo Letter Details How He Tried to Avoid the Inquisition

The letter may solve a centuries-long mystery.

Smileus/iStock via Getty Images

Autumn Equinox: The Science Behind the First Day of Fall

Happy first day of fall! The season of colorful foliage, frosty mornings, and pumpkin-spice everything is upon us, thanks to the autumn or fall equinox.

NASA

NASA's New Exoplanet-Hunting Satellite Has Made Its First Big Discovery

Pi Mensae c is about 60 light years away from our solar system.

iStock

Is Pluto a Planet After All? A New Argument Emerges

The hapless dwarf planet got demoted in 2006, but some stubborn scientists are still lobbying for reinstatement.

Jonathan Nackstrand, AFP/Getty Images

A Solar Storm Could Make the Northern Lights Visible Over Parts of the U.S. Tonight

Catch the spectacle without taking a trip to the Arctic.

ESA/Hubble, NASA, A. Simon (GSFC) and the OPAL Team, J. DePasquale (STScI), L. Lamy (Observatoire de Paris)

Here's What the Northern Lights Look Like on Saturn

The phenomenon is not limited to our planet.

Silicon Republic, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0

Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Who Discovered Pulsars, Was Just Awarded $3 Million for Her Work—More Than 40 Years After Nobel Prize Snub

Her discovery received the Nobel prize in 1974 ... but it was her male professor who got the credit.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

5 Goals of the OSIRIS-REx Mission to the Asteroid 'Bennu'

The spacecraft will use a robotic arm to scoop up a sample of Bennu and then return it to Earth.

NASA

NASA Found 'Definitive Evidence' That There's Water Ice on the Moon

Huge news for future Moon explorers.

Earth as captured from near the lunar horizon by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2015.

The Science Behind Why the Earth Isn't Flat

Let's review why and how we've known for at least 2300 years that the Earth is round.

Bill Ingalls, NASA/Getty Images

The Perseid Meteor Shower Is Going to Be Amazing This Weekend

Here's what you need to know.

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The Longest Total Lunar Eclipse of the 21st Century Lights Up the Skies This Weekend

You'll have one hour and 43 minutes to catch a glimpse.

iStock

15 Podcasts That Will Make You Feel Smarter

Your education shouldn't end when you graduate.

ESO, A. Müller et al.

Here's the First Confirmed Image of a Planet Being Born

The baby planet is a few times bigger than Jupiter.

iStock

Saturn and a Strawberry Moon Will Brighten Night Skies This Week

The two bodies will appear close together in the sky on Wednesday.

iStock

NASA Has a Plan to Stop the Next Asteroid That Threatens Life on Earth

Don't panic—the U.S. government has a plan for doomsday.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0

7 Giant Machines That Changed the World—And 1 That Might

From a 17-mile-long particle accelerator to a football field–sized space observatory, these machines are marvels.

NASA

NASA's Hubble Telescope Captures the Lagoon Nebula's Explosive Core

At the heart of this nebula lies a star that's larger and brighter than our Sun.

NASA, JPL-Caltech

It's Official: Uranus Smells Like Farts

The planet's putrid atmosphere is a clue to where it first formed.

NASA

New NASA Satellite Called TESS Could Discover Thousands of New Planets

The new satellite follows on the heels of Kepler's discovery of more than 2,300 exoplanets over the last nine years.

Ansel Adams circa 1950

An Astronomer Solves a 70-Year-Old Ansel Adams Mystery

Donald Olson solves mysteries using celestial bodies.