SPACE

Look Up! 'Once in a Blue Moon' Happens for Real on May 21

It's not often that you can tilt your neck a mere 15 degrees and learn something new, so here is your big chance.

A Massive Asteroid Slammed into Earth 3.5 Billion Years Ago

Scientists say it was probably bigger than the one that likely killed the dinosaurs.

This NASA Satellite From the ‘70s Looks Like a Space-Bound Disco Ball

...it's also been a valuable source for scientific research and discovery for four decades.

NASA, ESA, and AURA CalTech // Public Domain

Scientists Use Star Maps to Date Sappho’s 'Midnight Poem'

The fragment makes mention of the time of night as well as the position of the Moon and the Pleiades.

The International Space Station Has Made Its 100,000th Orbit

The spacecraft reached the major milestone after 17 years in space.

Astronomical Watch Gorgeously Depicts the Real-Time Orbits of Planets

Watch the entire solar system rotate (very slowly) around your wrist.

The Sun Melts a Rock in an Experiment Simulating Earth's Future

The experiment shows what will happen when our Sun becomes a red giant.

SpaceX Taps Hollywood Costume Designer to Create Its Space Suits

The goal: to design a stylish new space suit for the 21st century.

Look Up! On Monday You Can Watch Mercury Cross the Sun

But please: Do not stare at the Sun.

Meet the Unsung "Rocket Girls" Who Helped Get NASA Into Space

These "human computers" were an integral part of the early space program, but were largely unheralded.

Look Up! A Pre-Dawn Meteor Shower Arrives for Cinco de Mayo

Watch stars rain down from the sky in the best meteor shower this month—and if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, the best meteor shower of the year.

How Can Water On Earth Be Older Than the Solar System?

An answer from our friends at Quora.

Mouse Cells Become First Mammal Embryos Successfully Grown in Space

Mouse cells riding aboard the science satellite SJ-10 reached the blastocyst stage last week.

Space Travel Causes Liver Damage in Mice

Even a short trip aboard the space shuttle was enough to induce liver disease.

Look Up! The Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks on Earth Day

If conditions are good, you might see 10 to 20 meteors per hour.

Look Up Tonight to Spot the Pink Mini-Moon!

Giant red moons are so last year.

Exploring the Psychology of Why Astronauts Feel Awe

Psychologists are attempting to pin down the precise components of the so-called overview effect.

A Lost 1917 Image Shows the Earliest Evidence of Exoplanets

It was found in an observatory basement.

Mars Opportunity Rover Captures Image of Dust Devil Whirling Behind Its Back

The Opportunity Rover turned to see the vortex forming in the valley below.

By NASA/Robert Markowitz via Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

8 Remarkable Sets of Identical Twins

These duos take it to a whole new level.

The Plan to Send a Submarine to Titan, Saturn's Largest Moon

We may release the (submarine into) Kraken, a liquid hydrocarbon sea on Titan, sometime in the 2040s. How cool is that?

What Is an Ice Volcano?

Not all volcanoes are hot, as Pluto, Enceladus, Titan, and other celestial bodies are teaching us.

Every Inch of Ceres Is Now Mapped—and Yet Mysteries Remain

“This is a body different than any we’ve examined thus far.”

5 Space Missions Under NASA Consideration

Here are five missions that NASA is presently evaluating. At least one of them will eventually visit other worlds.

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