Astronomy

The Orionid meteor shower over the Songhua River in Daqing City, China, in October 2020. 

Here’s How to Watch The Orionid Meteor Shower This Weekend

The celestial show will peak on the night of October 21 to 22, with around 23 meteors expected per hour

In 1980, the Viking Orbiter took 102 individual images of Mars that scientists eventually assembled into this stunning composite photo. The dark gash across the planet’s face is the Valles Marineris, a canyon that’s up to 6 miles deep and over 2,500 miles long.

The Seven Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Mars

Scientists have learned a lot since they started sending crafts and rovers to our red neighbor

The Pyramid Texts cover walls within the pyramids of King Unis (shown here) and other royals at the site of Saqqara.

Did Ancient Egyptians Know Meteorites Came From Space?

Hieroglyphic texts suggest they understood the rocks, which contained valuable iron, did not originate on Earth

An annular solar eclipse, captured by the solar optical telescope Hinode as the moon passed between it and the sun.

How to Watch the Annular 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse on Saturday

A partial eclipse will be visible from all of the continental U.S., but only those in Oregon and the Southwest will have a chance to see the glowing ring

Shooting stars travel across the sky during the Draconid meteor shower.

How to Watch the Draconid Meteor Shower This Weekend

Though it’s usually a smaller display, the Draconids have historically produced breathtaking outbursts of shooting stars known as "meteor storms"

The James Webb Space Telescope captured this long-wavelength color composite image of the Orion Nebula using its Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument.

Mysterious Planet-Like Objects in the Orion Nebula Are Baffling Astronomers

The James Webb Space Telescope has observed dozens of Jupiter-mass, often paired objects, nicknamed JuMBOs, raising questions about how they formed

A supermoon appears above the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul on August 2, 2023. Thursday's supermoon will be the fourth and final of 2023.

See the Last Supermoon of 2023 Illuminate the Night Sky Thursday

This special type of full moon, which will be slightly larger and brighter than usual, will not occur again until fall 2024

A potential polar ring galaxy called NGC 4632. The composite image combines a capture of the galaxy's main disk, taken with the Subaru Telescope, with radio wave data of the hydrogen ring, which has been digitally colorized as white.

'Spectacular' Polar Ring Galaxies May Be More Common Than Thought, Study Suggests

Astronomers have found two candidates for this rare type of galaxy, surrounded by a halo of hydrogen gas—and they could provide insights about dark matter

An artist's rendition of exoplanet K2-18 b and the dwarf star it orbits. New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope support the idea that the world, discovered in 2015, has a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and water ocean.

This Exoplanet May Be a Distant Ocean World, James Webb Telescope Finds

The observatory detected evidence of methane and carbon dioxide—and tentatively observed a molecule that, on Earth, is only made by living things

Dimorphos, a moonlet orbiting the asteroid Didymos, as seen by NASA's DART spacecraft 11 seconds before impact from 42 miles away.

The Asteroid Hit by NASA Seems to Be Moving Strangely, High School Students Find

After the DART spacecraft made contact with Dimorphos last year, the space rock's orbit is declining more than expected, according to preliminary research

Comet Nishimura, as imaged on September 7. On Tuesday, the comet will pass within 78 million miles of Earth, the closest it will get for more than 400 years.

Newly Discovered Green Comet Is Passing By Earth This Week

Comet Nishimura, which appears only once every 435 years, is on track to approach the sun and shoot into deep space

An artist's rendering of the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission. The satellite will measure X-rays to deepen science's understanding of the universe. 

Japan Launches X-Ray Satellite and Lunar Lander to Space

The satellite will study large bodies in the cosmos, while the lander will attempt to land at a precise location on the moon's surface

Gemini South on the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile (left) and Gemini North on the summit of Maunakea in Hawai’i (right).

Hackers Target Telescopes, Forcing Them to Pause Operations

Two major telescopes in Hawaii and Chile and a handful of smaller observatories have been offline for weeks following an apparent cyberattack

A supermoon rises in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 2020.

How Rare Is the 'Super Blue Moon' Appearing in Skies Later This Week?

And why do they even call it a "blue moon" when it won't actually be that color?

Neptune, captured by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. A new study finds a link between the planet's cloud coverage and solar activity.

Neptune's Clouds Have Disappeared, and the Sun Might Be Responsible

Scientists have linked shifts in the distant planet's cloud coverage to the ever-oscillating solar cycle, which is due to peak soon

The "cosmic question mark" in an image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope

What Is This 'Cosmic Question Mark' Captured by the James Webb Space Telescope?

Astronomers say the distinct, punctuation-like shape could be a result of galaxies merging

In its second installment, “AeroEspacial” tells the story of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which housed the world’s largest radio telescope for over 50 years.

An In-Depth Look at Latino History Among the Stars and Skies

This summer, a podcast series from the National Air and Space Museum discusses Operation Pedro Pan, Latino Futurism and “Star Wars”

A group poses in front of Michigan State University's first observatory, circa 1888.

Students Unearth Forgotten 142-Year-Old Observatory Buried on Michigan State's Campus

Archaeology students have been working at the site since workers happened upon it in May

The surface of Mars’ Pontours rock contains a network of hexagonal mud cracks that hints at historical seasons of flooding and drying.

Mud Cracks on Mars Hint at Conditions That Could Have Formed Life Long Ago

Hexagonal ridges on the Red Planet's surface suggest an ancient cycle of wet and dry periods, ideal for creating molecules necessary for cells

An image of the Ring Nebula captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The interior of the ring is filled with hot gas and the ring itself is a complex structure made up of thousands of dense clumps of hydrogen gas.

James Webb Telescope Captures the Glowing Ring Nebula in Magnificent Detail

The colorful ring, located some 2,600 light-years away from Earth, is made from the remnants of a dying star

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