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Finding the ingredients for life is a very different prospect than finding the products of life. Perhaps the greatest quest in science today is to find life that originated beyond Earth. […]

‘Luck’ is the wrong word. The Universe cooperated, but we gave ourselves the opportunity by being prepared. It was already 28 years ago that the Hubble Space Telescope was launched […]

A very clever idea says there’s a ninth Solar System planet, larger than Earth, far beyond Neptune. Here’s why most scientists think it’s not real. It’s been nearly three years since […]

After a 16 year wait, the star SO-2 will speed past our galaxy’s supermassive black hole at 2.5% the speed of light. It will be the first-of-its-kind test of Einstein’s […]

With five moons orbiting it, Pluto is the richest rocky world known to date. How did it get that way? “We really expect the mission to be transformational. This is the […]

How three factors come together to unfreeze the ice, and unlock the potential for extraterrestrial life. “Day after day, day after day,We stuck, nor breath nor motion;As idle as a […]

In the search for the youngest planet in the Universe, astronomers may have accidentally stumbled upon something entirely new. Growing up is hard to do in the Universe. In the great […]

We’ve all heard the number: 4.5 billion years. But how do we know, and how certain are we that the Earth and Sun are the same age? Billions of years ago, […]

Unpredictable winters? Seasons that don’t line up? It’s possible with the right configuration, says physics. “Lord of Light! Come to us in our darkness. We offer you these false gods. Take […]

In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched, leading to a revolution in astronomy. But for many purposes, Earth is still the best place to be. When you think about what’s […]

Before we go venturing off to another star to look for life, why not look here? “If I had to describe myself to an alien I’d say I was bigger than […]

Glacier McGlacierface? Not likely. NASA has set some classy themes that will guide the naming of geographical features of Pluto and its moons.  

Why are we so hung up on Pluto’s planetary status? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson urges us to get over it already!

If it was good enough for more than 75 years, why not once again? “The cosmic game changed forever in 1992. Before then, logic told us that there had to be […]

There are no punches to pull here. If America believes in science, research, or basic truths about the Universe, we cannot cancel this mission. Last week, the White House released their […]

There’s a lot to learn about other worlds, but you can’t learn it all without looking up. “One should not need a teleportation device to decide whether a newly discovered object […]

This isn’t an XZibit joke; it’s a real scientific question. And the answer may be that it’s possible after all. “People who work every day are kind of scared of things […]

It isn’t about saving us from aliens at all. “To be on my very first spacewalk, to be outside, and to have contamination in my suit to the point that I […]

And what it found was a world swimming, literally, with possibilities. Just as a Chihuahua is still a dog, these ice dwarfs are still planetary bodies. The misfit becomes the […]

No other object this large has come so close to Earth in millions of years. In the 5th millennium, we might suffer the consequences. “Honestly, if you’re given the choice […]

Comet-like tail, X-rays and more discovered at Solar System’s edge. “Maybe some people don’t feel scared when they think about comets and supernovas. Maybe they think it is wonderful.” –Lydia Netzer […]

The event horizon is real, and we know it without even needing to see it directly. “Where we’re going, we won’t need eyes to see.” –Sam Neill, Event Horizon If […]

A small, icy planet with a weirdly elliptical orbit has been discovered beyond Pluto.

A new planet, bigger than Earth, could be lurking in the outer solar system. But new evidence says ‘probably not.’ “Although we were initially quite skeptical that this planet could […]

As its CEO, Bill Nye lays out the missions The Planetary Society would like to see NASA focus on over the next 20 years. NASA by nature goes where the future is, and Nye can’t help but think of another industry that should follow suit.

A massive chart of humankind’s 113 spacecraft so far and where they’ve gone.

Could there be a massive, giant planet beyond Neptune? Here’s what the science says… for now. “Finding out that something you have just discovered is considered all but impossible is one […]

Alpha Centauri A and B are just 4.37 light years away. Do they have planets around them? And possibly life? We just might find out! “Resources exist to be consumed. And […]

The Earth is round, Kyrie Irving. But not every world needs to be. “‘I’ll follow him to the ends of the earth,’ she sobbed. Yes, darling. But the earth doesn’t have […]

Combined with Hubble, it creates our longest-baseline view. “It used to be that Pluto was a misfit. Now it turns out that Earth is the misfit. Most planets in the […]