Outer Space

A picture of Saturn's moon Enceladus, with Saturn in the background, taken by the Cassini spacecraft.

A Moon of Saturn May Be More Habitable Than Expected

With the prediction of phosphorus in its oceans, Enceladus has become an even more promising candidate for hosting life

The Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Is Slowly Falling—and SpaceX Wants to Give It a Boost

NASA and SpaceX will jointly study whether the private company could lift the space telescope to a higher orbit

Among the eight exhibitions opening October 14, 2022, is "The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age," featuring the museum's iconic 1903 Wright Flyer.

A New Look for the National Air and Space Museum

Follow the October reopening of America’s most-visited museum with exclusive coverage from Smithsonian magazine

The spiral galaxy IC 5332, as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument

See the Eerily Beautiful Image James Webb Captured of a Spiral Galaxy

The spooky-looking structure, known as IC 5332, is about 29 million light-years away from Earth

James Earl Jones beside Darth Vader in 2002

James Earl Jones Retires From Voicing Darth Vader

Future "Star Wars" productions will recreate Jones' menacing voice using artificial intelligence

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft launched in November 2021 in California, riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.   

NASA Successfully Crashed a Spacecraft Into Its Asteroid Target

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a first step toward defending Earth from threatening space rocks

Just as songs repeat in choruses, formations in space take understandable shapes. Pictured here are the large Cartwheel galaxy and two smaller companion galaxies.

What Pop Stars and Actual Stars Have in Common

A songwriter and an astrophysicist discuss the art and science of repetition

An image of Neptune captured by the Webb telescope's Near-Infrared Camera. 

Webb Telescope's Images of Neptune Showcase Its Rings and Moons

They’re the clearest pictures of the distant planet's rings in over three decades

James Webb Space Telescope's first images of Mars, captured by its Near-Infrared Camera (right), and a reference map (left)

James Webb Captures Its First Images of Mars

With some adjustments, the highly sensitive telescope could successfully observe the bright Red Planet

A photo of Saturn taken by NASA's Voyager 1 space probe from a distance of 34 million kilometers in 1980. 

What Caused Saturn’s Rings and Tilt? Perhaps the Destruction of a Moon

Scientists propose that about 160 million years ago, the moon was torn apart, creating the planet’s iconic rings

A rendering of the MICROSCOPE satellite in space. 

Scientists Test How Objects Fall in Space

In the most precise experiment to date, researchers confirm a principle of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity

The James Webb Space Telescope's latest image: the Orion Nebula

See the Best View Yet of the Orion Nebula

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured young stars and vibrant gas and dust within the popular constellation

Spectators watch from Canaveral National Seashore as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink satellites launches.

How Is Starlink Changing Connectivity?

Elon Musk's venture has provided internet access for forces in the Ukraine and Hoh students in Washington, and the organization has a lot more planned

These telesopes in the Atacama Desert in Chile were used to discover the new planet. The project also has telescopes on Tenerife, an island west of Morocco. 

Scientists Discover a Planet With the Potential to Support Life

It orbits a small, cold star about 100 light-years from Earth

James Webb Space Telescope's mosaic image of the Tarantula Nebula

James Webb Space Telescope Snaps Spectacular New Photos of the Tarantula Nebula

The stellar nursery, located 161,000 light-years away, offers insights into a period of intense star formation in the early universe

Royal Caribbean tested SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service on its ship called Freedom of the Seas

SpaceX's Starlink Satellite Internet Is Coming to Cruise Ships

Royal Caribbean says it will begin installing Starlink terminals across its entire fleet immediately

Members of NASA's Mars 2020 project lower the oxygen-producing instrument, called MOXIE, into the Perseverance Mars Rover in March 2019.

A Lunchbox-Sized Device Is Making Oxygen on Mars

By scaling up the technology, NASA could allow future astronauts to breathe on the Red Planet

The Space Launch System Rocket on the pad on August 17

Artemis 1 Launch Postponed Again and What Else You Need to Know About the Mission

NASA’s historic return to the moon will begin when the rocket takes off from Florida

A mannequin named after Arturo Campos is headed into space on NASA's now-postponed Artemis 1 mission.

How Artemis 1 Honors an Apollo 13 Hero—and a Champion for Diversity in Space

A mannequin that will orbit the moon is named for Arturo Campos, a Mexican-American electrical engineer who worked on several NASA missions

E.T. looks out the window with Elliott (Henry Thomas) in a scene from the 1982 movie.

Why the Legacy of 'E.T.' Endures, 40 Years Later

A new book offers a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic Steven Spielberg movie

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