Astronomy

Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share

If you know where to look, you can see a thermonuclear explosion from a white dwarf star.

Does the Milky Way always rise between these two rocks?

What do you see when you look into this sky?

It's raining stars.

Why is there a spiral around the North Pole of Mars?

A collection of more than 50 pieces of memorabilia previously owned by Sally Ride, the first American woman to reach space, sold at auction last week for more than $145,000.

Surprising colors and stunning features are captured in a new image of Mars' surface.

In the latest attack on science by the Trump administration, researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center will no longer receive data from a fleet of military satellites.

Failed Orbital Mission Loses Human Remains, Space Pot

For long-duration missions, female astronauts generally use hormonal contraception to suppress their periods. But this method has potential health risks and requires special storage. Pads and tampons create waste in space. Now researchers have tested menstrual cups on a sub-orbital rocket flight, where they experienced the force of launch, and found they performed identically to ground control cups. This could provide a new option to female astronauts on future missions.

Rivers are one of the main ways that plastics get into the world's oceans, and now we can identify where plastic waste accumulates from space. Researchers used data from the Worldview-3 satellite to identify and map plastic material and polymer-coated surfaces in a watershed on the US-Mexico border. They collected different waste from stream channels and then identified their specific infrared absorption features, matching them to satellite imagery.

In principle, this impossible math allows for a glue-free bridge of stacked blocks that can stretch across the Grand Canyon—and into infinity

Sprites have been known to form above intense thunderstorms.

Some carbon dioxide absorbed by fig trees gets turned into calcium carbonate within the wood and the surrounding soil, ensuring that the carbon is kept out of the air for longer

Some carbon dioxide absorbed by fig trees gets turned into calcium carbonate within the wood and the surrounding soil, ensuring that the carbon is kept out of the air for longer

Are these trees growing on Mars?

A scene from Apple TV+'s "Invasion" Season 3

Humans have used the stars to navigate, keep time, and understand our place in the universe.