It has now been just over a year since the comet 3I/ATLAS first captured the world’s attention as the third known object to fly through our solar system from beyond. Astronomers are still learning new things about where exactly it came from. For the first time ever, they’ve been able to study charged particles in […]
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No cities on the moon — there isn’t enough water, scientists say (op-ed)
The discovery of water at the poles of the moon has inspired speculation about whether we can build there – cities, industrial neighborhoods, places where people work and live. But is there enough water, and can we use it efficiently enough? In their new article in Frontiers in Space Technologies, Dr. Martin Elvis and Dr. […]
Read MoreNASA, IBM launch new AI model for studying the moon
We’ve been studying the moon for a long time. NASA has gathered mountains of data over decades of lunar missions and studies. The data collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) alone, for example, exceeds that of all NASA’s other planetary missions combined. Analyzing all this information takes lots of time and effort from researchers. […]
Read MoreThe sun may once have swallowed a super-Earth planet and could still be hiding the evidence
Our star and primary energy source that makes life on this planet possible may also be a cosmic cannibal. That’s according to new research that suggests the sun may have swallowed a super-Earth planet billions of years ago in its early history. And our star may still be hiding the evidence. The scientists behind this […]
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Wavy alien dune fields stretch across Mars | Space photo of the day for Sept. 11, 2026
A dune field on Mars, as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona) Are those purple, wavy, alien thumbprints? Or perhaps an otherworldly ocean? Nope! It’s actually a dune field on Mars, colored purple. What is it? Across the Martian surface are all sorts of unique features in the rocky, dusty […]
Read MoreMercury is shrinking faster than we thought. What’s going on inside of it?
Wrinkles on the surface of Mercury have revealed that the closest planet to the sun is shrinking faster than scientists thought. New research suggests that Mercury is shrinking between 10% and 30% faster than had been previously estimated. The team behind this research calculated that the planet has lost nearly 12 miles (19 kilometers) of […]
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Iconic Star Trek filming location spotted from space | Space photo of the day for Sept. 10, 2026
This new satellite image shows Vasquez Rocks in southern California, where Captain Kirk once faced off against the Gorn. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison/CBS via Getty Images) Decades ago, Captain Kirk faced off against the Gorn on the uncharted desert planet Metron. But as we can see in new satellite imagery from NASA, that […]
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Indonesian volcanic eruption spotted from space | Space photo of the day for Sept. 9, 2026
The Anak Krakatau volcano began erupting on Sept. 4, 2026, as seen here on Sept. 5 by the Landsat 8 satellite jointly operated between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison) A volcano on an Indonesian archipelago began erupting on Sept. 4, and satellites in orbit have been watching […]
Read MoreDid Venus eat its own moon?
Scientists may finally know why Venus, Earth’s twin, lacks a moon, finding that the hottest planet in the solar system may have consumed its own natural satellite. Venus is often referred to as Earth’s twin due to its size, mass, rocky composition, and distance from the sun, but there are some glaring differences between the […]
Read MoreEarth’s moon could have formed in just 5 hours after giant impact
The moon could have formed in a matter of hours following the giant impact between Earth and a Mars-size protoplanet early in the history of the solar system. The theory comes from new simulations that take into account how the internal temperature of young protoplanets affected their geologic properties and therefore the collisions they experienced. […]
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The future of Earth observation: Private satellites and AI bring benefits but also pose risks
We are a planet-based species: With a few notable (astronaut) exceptions, everyone who has ever lived remained glued to our spinning Earth, which now houses 8.3 billion people. That’s the gravity of the situation. But we’re also a world of floods, typhoons, earthquakes, heat and cold calamities, volcanic eruptions and even encounters with sun-caused auroras […]
Read MoreScientists watch a comet being born 3 billion miles away
Astronomers have witnessed a small, icy body that orbits the sun out beyond Jupiter transforming into a comet, providing a missing link between comets and inert bodies called centaurs. The object in question is called 450P/LONEOS and is named after the Lowell Observatory survey that found it back in 2004. It is a centaur, which […]
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Comet McNaught put on a surprise show this summer: Here’s how to spot it before it fades
Comet 220P/McNaught has already put on an unexpectedly impressive show this summer as two dramatic outbursts of activity caused it to shine 20,000 times brighter than usual. Here’s how you can spot the icy interloper before it fades in the coming weeks. Comet 220P/McNaught orbits the sun once every 5.5-years. It reached perihelion — its […]
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The moon might be hiding a history of ancient supernova explosions
It’s now possible to disentangle the sprinkling of supernova dust on the moon from the lunar dirt it is mixed up in, thanks to a new computer model that opens up the moon’s surface as a time capsule holding details about the history of supernova explosions near the Earth as our solar system has travelled […]
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Pluto losing its planet status may be the best thing that ever happened to solar system diversity
Unpopular opinion time, but someone has to say it: I think Pluto being reclassified as a dwarf planet was a great thing for our understanding of the solar system and for the former planet itself. Let me try to convince you, too. First, a little background. The Pluto planet controversy began exactly 20 years ago […]
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Satellite sees Greenland’s most significant floating ice loss in over a decade | Space photo of the day for Aug. 24, 2026
ESA’s Sentinel-1 mission captured remarkable imagery showing significant ice loss and calving at the Petermann Glacier. (Image credit: ESA) The massive glaciers of Greenland are disappearing right before our very eyes in new satellite imagery. What is it? Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland connects the Greenland ice sheet to the Arctic ocean. Petermann’s “ice tongue” […]
Read MoreOn this day in space! Aug. 24, 2006: Pluto loses its planet status
On Aug. 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided that Pluto wasn’t a planet anymore. Since that date, Pluto has been officially classified as a dwarf planet along with four other confirmed dwarf planets in the outskirts of the solar system. This decision sparked outrage around the world, and the controversy is still very […]
Read MoreHow a huge fleet of 17 spacecraft discovered something surprising about solar eruptions
A misbehaving coronal mass ejection (CME) that blew out a hidden cloud of charged particles aimed at Earth has been tracked by a record 17 spacecraft spread throughout the solar system, revealing the CME to be surprisingly lopsided. CMEs are “burps” from the sun – huge clouds of magnetized plasma belched out from the sun’s […]
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Japan unveils Mars moon sample-return spacecraft ahead of Oct. 19 launch (photos)
The world just got its first good looks at some hardware that will make spaceflight history. Last Thursday (Aug. 13), Japan unveiled the spacecraft that make up its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which aims to snag samples of the Mars moon Phobos and haul them to Earth — something that has never been done. […]
Read MoreChina’s Chang’e 7 moon probe will launch this weekend on the most ambitious lunar mission in history
China’s moon exploration program is readying an ambitious robotic mission, one composed of an orbiter, a lander, a rover, a hopper, and a wide range of international experiments including a U.S.-supported payload. In April of this year, Chang’e-7 hardware was transported to the Wenchang launch site, targeting an Aug. 24 (Beijing time) launch atop a […]
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Mars Express orbiter captures detailed new video of the crater where Mark Watney was stranded in ‘The Martian’
Europe’s Mars Express orbiter has captured new, stunning imagery flying low over a geological region of the Red Planet shaped by ancient waterflow billions of years ago. Mars Express launched in 2003 and is operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It’s equipped with the High Resolution Stereo Camera, which scans multiple points of perspective […]
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Try not to be hypnotized by the ‘Eye of Africa’ | Space photo of the day for Aug. 20, 2026
The Richat Structure (also known as the “Eye of Africa” in Mauritania in Africa as photographed by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir from aboard the International Space Station. (Image credit: Jessica Meir/NASA) The “Eye of Africa” swirls across Mauritania in a hypnotizing snapshot captured from space. What is it? A 25-mile-wide (40 kilometer-wide) circular structure made […]
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Wildfire smoke blankets volcanoes across the Pacific Northwest | Space photo of the day for Aug. 17, 2026
(Image credit: NASA) Imagine orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth and seeing your home planet below — up in smoke. That was the reality recently for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) who captured this image of the volcano Mount Rainier covered in smoke from nearby wildfires. What is it? This past July, hundreds […]
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On this day in space! Aug. 17, 1877: Asaph Hall Discovers the Martian moon Phobos
On Aug. 17, 1877, American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered Mars’s moon Phobos. Moons of Mars: Amazing Photos of Phobos and Deimos Hall was working at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. and looking through a 26-inch refractor telescope — which was then the largest in the world — when he first spotted the moon. […]
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‘This goes beyond showcasing technological soft power’: China’s new moon map signals bold space ambitions (video)
Chinese researchers have presented a new map of the moon, updating a previous edition based on new scientific findings and recalibrating the moon’s ancient geologic eras. The comprehensive map of the moon, with a scale of 1:5 million, was unveiled by the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (IGCAGS) on Aug. 6. The […]
Read MoreWill the new moon race turn Earth’s nearest neighbor into a dumping ground?
An 8,800-pound (4,000 kilograms) Falcon 9 rocket stage hit the moon last Wednesday (Aug. 5), stirring lunar regolith in a massive plume of dust observable all the way from Earth. The rocket joined some 3,000 manmade objects scattered on the surface of our planet’s companion. Some experts think it’s about time we start treating the […]
Read MoreIndia-US space ties deepen as NASA invites ISRO to join moon base program
NASA has formally invited India to participate in its effort to build a permanent base near the moon’s south pole, adding a new dimension to the deep-space cooperation between the two countries. The invitation was extended last week at the Indian space agency ISRO‘s headquarters in Bengaluru during the ninth meeting of the U.S.-India Civil […]
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SpaceX rocket’s moon crash highlights ‘a tangible operational risk’ of lunar settlement
The moon dust has settled after a 4.5-ton SpaceX rocket body slammed into terrain near Einstein Crater on Aug. 5. That impact site was imaged by South Korea’s moon-orbiting Danuri spacecraft, as well as by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Reportedly, a Chinese commercial space debris monitoring satellite tracked and recorded the 5,400-mph (8,690-kph) moon […]
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Green comet caught soaring over Namibia | Space photo of the day for Aug. 12, 2026
Comet 220P/McNaught soaring over Namibia on August 8, 2026. (Image credit: Gerald Rhemann and Michael Jäger) What a view. Astrophotographers in Namibia have captured a bright green comet soaring overhead in a spectacular new photograph. What is it? In this incredible new photograph is the comet 220P/McNaught. Discovered by Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught, the […]
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1-billion-year-old Mars meteorite found in Algeria is like nothing we’ve seen from the Red Planet
A newly found Mars meteorite is revealing the secrets of a previously hidden time period of Red Planet geological history. The 1.27-billion-year-old space rock, called Northwest Africa (NWA) 13441, was discovered in Algeria in 2019 — but its age was not confirmed until recently. Now scientists say the meteorite helps answer questions about a huge […]
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Sharpest image of the sun ever captured! | Space photo of the day for Aug. 10, 2026
This image of the sun — the sharpest ever snapped — was captured by the NSF Inouye solar telescope. (Image credit: NSF, NSO, AURA, MPS, Inouye Tel) Scientists have captured the sharpest image ever of our sun’s surface. This view has revealed incredible new details about the inner mechanisms driving stellar activity. What is it? An international team of researchers […]
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