Space

In the nothingness of space, sound waves have no medium by which to travel.

Science in the Movies

The Science of Silence in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

The soundless lightspeed attack that baffled some fans was actually the film's most scientifically accurate moment

Kepler has been gazing out at the twinkle of stars since 2009, analyzing the light of hundreds of thousands of stars.

New Research

How AI Found the First Eight-Planet Solar System Beyond Our Own

Google’s neural network sifted through piles of NASA data to find a planet hiding in the spacestacks

Apollo 17's Saturn V launch vehicle sits atop pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Apollo 17 Was the Swan Song of Manned Space Exploration

Looking back 45 years later, is there hope humanity will once again push beyond Earth? President Donald Trump seems to think so

Natalie Batalha

American Ingenuity Awards

Meet Natalie Batalha, the Explorer Who's Searching for Planets Across the Universe

The Kepler mission's project scientist, she has guided the discovery of thousands of planets

Did a well-known Biblical eclipse really occur? Two physicists set out to investigate.

New Research

How Scientists Identified the Oldest Known Solar Eclipse ... Using the Bible

The new research by two physicists adds to astronomical knowledge—and overturns previous Biblical interpretations

An artist's impression shows two tiny but very dense neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova.

What the Neutron Star Collision Means for Dark Matter

The latest LIGO observations rekindle a fiery debate over how gravity works: Does the universe include dark matter, or doesn’t it?

Off to court…

Why NASA Needs To Establish Martian Law

Future Mars colonists may want to form their own legal system. What would stop them?

Behind Saturn's icy rings is the moon Tethys, illuminated by the planet's reflected sunlight.

How Scientists Engineered Cassini’s Final Demise

After a rich scientific life, Cassini went out in a blaze, becoming one with the planet it had revolved around for so long

The Moon Landing Was the Television Event of the Decade

On June 16, 1969, Americans filled highways, streets and homes to witness the launch of a rocket from the Kennedy Space Center: the legendary Apollo 11

A development test model of the Voyager spacecraft looms large in the Air and Space Museum's Exploring the Planets gallery.

Forty Years Later, the Voyager Spacecraft Remain Beacons of Human Imagination

Remembering the mission that opened Earth’s eyes to the vastness and wonder of space

To the naked eye, the Albireo star system looks like a single, brilliant star. In reality, this binary system consists of two stars, similar to the ones witnessed by Korean astronomers nearly 600 years ago.

New Research

The Secret Lives of Cannibal Stars Revealed, Thanks to 15th Century Korean Astronomers

For the first time ever, astrophysicists observe the entire life cycle of a binary star system

Backyard Worlds is using the power of citizen scientists to search for the elusive Planet 9.

The Universe Needs You: To Help in the Hunt for Planet 9

How one citizen science endeavor is using the Internet to democratize the search for distant worlds

Scott Kelly upon his return to Earth.

Scott Kelly's Journey Home After His Year in Space

America’s longest-orbiting astronaut describes his rocky return to Earth in this adaptation from his book 'Endurance'

This Pueblo rock carving in New Mexico might represent a remarkable solar eclipse dating back to 1097.

This New Mexico Petroglyph Might Reveal an Ancient Solar Eclipse

In 1097, a Pueblo artist may have etched a rare celestial event into the rock for all of posterity

Franklin’s lifelong quest was spreading scientific knowledge to regular people.

Benjamin Franklin Mocked Eclipse Astrology to Elevate Science

The founding father used his almanacs to promote a scientific understanding of celestial events—often with withering humor

On Earth, creatures from sharks to snails to these coral polyps light up the darkness. Are glowing aliens really that far-fetched?

Life in the Cosmos

Could We See Glow-in-the-Dark Aliens From Earth?

Extraterrestrial life might make its own light to protect itself from harmful radiation

There are mind-bogglingly vast quantities of alcohol in outer space. Sadly, it's so dispersed you’d have to travel half a million light years to make a pint of beer.

Guess What? Space is Full of Booze

We’ll toast to that

Illustration made using an 1851 portrait of Mitchell by H. Dassell and a false-color image of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A by NASA.

Women Who Shaped History

When Girls Studied Planets and the Skies Had No Limits

Maria Mitchell, America's first female astronomer, flourished at a time when both sexes “swept the sky”

An artist's rendering of a star colliding with the surface of a supermassive sphere. In recent years some scientists have surmised that black holes may be hard objects rather than a region of intense gravity and compressed matter.

Could You Crash Into a Black Hole?

Probably not, but it’s fun to think about

NASA's Earth-orbiting satellite Hinode observes the 2011 annular solar eclipse from space.

How Eclipse Anxiety Helped Lay the Foundation For Modern Astronomy

The same unease you feel when the moon blots out the sun fueled ancient astronomers to seek patterns in the skies

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