Astronomy

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Eclipses Look Even More Gorgeous From Outer Space

With roiling red Sun and the black disk of Earth, eclipses don't get much prettier than this

Jesper Kongshaug's Northern Lights display at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The Northern Lights—From Scientific Phenomenon to Artists’ Muse

The spectacular aurora borealis is inspiring artists to create light installations, musical compositions, food and fashion

Dennis Hope stands next to a map of the Moon, showing (in red) all the plots of land he’s sold.

Dennis Hope Thinks He Owns the Moon

Dennis Hope claims to own the Moon, and he wants to sell you an acre for just $19.99 plus taxes and fees

Life on Earth May Have Been Seeded by Comets

Researchers at UC Berkeley recently added evidence to the idea that life on earth came from a comet

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The (Natural) World, According to Our Photo Contest Finalists

From a caterpillar to the Milky Way, the ten finalists in the contest's Natural World category capture the peculiar, the remarkable and the sublime

A black and white (left) and color (right) map of Mercury’s surface.

Behold, The First Full Map of Mercury

"Every square meter of Mercury's surface" in one gorgeous map

How to Make a Sandwich in Space

Astronaut Hadfield is described as "the International Space Station's ambassador to the internet." Now, he's showing you how to make a sandwich, in space

A habitable planet orbits a white dwarf. Here the ghostly blue ring is a planetary nebula—hydrogen gas the star ejected as it evolved from a red giant to a white dwarf.

E.T. Phone Home: New Research Could Detect Signs of Life in this Decade

Thanks to a proposal by astronomers Avi Loeb and Dan Maoz, we could find evidence of extraterrestrial life very soon

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The Red Planet Is Only Red on the Outside

A rusty sheen turns Mars red, but beneath the rock is a plain gray

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William Shatner Hijacks Contest to Name Pluto’s Moon

For the Vulcan home world, or the Roman god of fire, Pluto's new moon may soon be named Vulcan

An experimental 3D representation of the nebula IC 1396

Amazing Astrophotography Lets You See Nebulae in 3D

Gorgeous animated gifs give depth to stunning nebulae

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Massive Meteor Breaks Up Over Russia, Sends Dozens to Hospital

The mid-air explosion of a 10-ton meteor injured more than 500 people

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Vote on Names for Pluto’s Teeny Moons

Styx, Orpheus, Erebus or something else? What should Pluto's moons be named?

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New Research Disproves Prehistoric Killer-Comet Theory (Again)

Maybe the problem here is that other prevailing theories of the Clovis’ decline are just super boring by comparison

The triumphant space traveler returned from his/her big adventure?

Traumatized-Looking

Western nations fear the technologies deployed in Iran's space program could be used to develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads

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Mona Lisa Travels by Laser, to Space And Back Again

To test the reaches of laser communication, NASA beamed a digital image of Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait to a satellite orbiting the moon

The NASA team assembling Curiosity back in 2011.

NASA’s Curiosity Team Gives Us a Geeky Reason To Go to the Inauguration Parade

Although the rover itself could not make the trip from Mars, a full-size model will roll in the parade alongside the real-life crew

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To Understand the Largest Structure Ever Found, We Need to Rethink the Basic Principles of the Universe

These 73 quasars—massive, extremely remote celestial objects—stretch for about 4 billion light years

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Doomed Satellite’s Final Act Was To Film the Moon’s Surface From Just 30,000 Feet Above

Get a jet airliner's view of the surface of the Moon

Apophis is the little dot in the circle.

Earth Escapes Most Dangerous Asteroid (That We Know About)

Once given a 1-in-45 chance of smacking into the Earth, the odds are now effectively zero

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