Space News & Blog Articles
Euclid: ESA’s mission into the unknown
Video: 00:03:29
ESA’s Euclid mission is designed to bring the dark side of the Universe to light. Based on the way galaxies rotate and orbit one another, and the way in which the Universe is expanding, astronomers believe that two unseen entities dominate the composition of our cosmos. They call these mysterious components dark matter and dark energy, yet to date we have not been able to detect either of them directly, only inferring their presence from the effects they have on the Universe at large.
Astronomers See the Same Supernova Four Times Thanks to a Gravitational Lens
Measuring cosmic distances is challenging, and astronomers rely on multiple methods and tools to do it – collectively referred to as the Cosmic Distance Ladder. One particularly crucial tool is Type Ia supernovae, which occur in binary systems where one star (a white dwarf) consumes matter from a companion (often a red giant) until it reaches the Chandrasekhar Limit and collapses under its own mass. As these stars blow off their outer layers in a massive explosion, they temporarily outshine everything in the background.
Live coverage: Indonesian communications satellite ready for launch on SpaceX rocket
Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with PSN’s SATRIA communications satellite from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.
The moon, Venus, Mars and bright stars shine in a summer celestial gathering this week. Here's how to see it.
The crescent moon joins Mars, Venus and some of the brightest stars to kick off the summer 2024 skywatching season.
Disney's new Tron Lightcycle Run ride immerses fans in high-speed sci-fi action
Space.com experienced the Tron: Lightcycle Run ride at Walt Disney World. Here's what you can expect from this high-speed cyberpunk adventure.
Humans are pumping out so much groundwater that it's changing Earth's tilt
The way humans pump groundwater from the planet's interior has changed Earth's tilt by 31.5 inches (80 centimeters) between 1993 and 2010.
US Space Force wants private companies to help it counter 'emerging threats' in space
The U.S. Space Force recently opened the COSMIC center, a new office aimed at taking advantage of a thriving commercial space industry.
Watch SpaceX launch Indonesian satellite this evening
SpaceX will launch an Indonesian communications satellite to orbit and land the returning rocket at sea this evening (June 18), and you can watch it live.
Astronaut Sally Ride brought women and the LGBTQ+ community to the final frontier 40 years ago
Sally Ride's journey to space not only continues to inspire young students 4 decades later, but shows the value of diversity and respect, a woman engineering dean argues.
The Best Particle Collider in the World? The Sun
Recently astronomers caught a strange mystery: extremely high-energy particles spitting out of the surface of the Sun when it was relatively calm. Now a team of theorists have proposed a simple solution to the mystery. We just have to look a little bit under the surface.
We Could See the Glint off Giant Cities on Alien Worlds
How large would an extraterrestrial city have to be for current telescopes to see it? Would it need to be a planet-sized metropolis like Star Wars’ Coruscant? Or could we see an alien equivalent of Earth’s own largest urban areas, like New York City or Tokyo?
JWST is Powerful Enough to See a Variety of Biosignatures in Exoplanets
The best hope for finding life on another world isn’t listening for coded messages or traveling to distant stars, it’s detecting the chemical signs of life in exoplanet atmospheres. This long hoped-for achievement is often thought to be beyond our current observatories, but a new study argues that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) could pull it off.
China launches national-record 41 satellites on single rocket (video)
A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from China on June 15, carrying 41 satellites to orbit. China's previous single-launch record, set just a few days earlier, was 26 satellites.
El Niño is officially here, scientists say
After months of warning, experts have confirmed that the ocean-warming event El Niño is here and will gradually strengthen into the winter, with a potential worldwide climate impact.
Alien green flash: Lightning crackles in vortex near Jupiter's north pole (photo)
NASA's Juno spacecraft snapped a photo of a lightning strike high in the swirling clouds near Jupiter's north pole.
Where did Earth get its water? It was sucked up from space, new theory says
New research suggests our planet was born from a rapid accumulation of tiny pebbles and icy fragments in just a few million years.
New parachute system could ease some of China's rocket-debris issues (video)
A new parachute system could reduce the risk posed by Chinese satellite launches from inland spaceports.
Phosphates Swim in the Ocean of Saturn's Moon Enceladus
Scientists detected phosphorous in an extraterrestrial ocean for the first time when they analyzed data from Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Use the dark new moon of June to see 5 visible planets in the sky tonight
The new moon phase officially occurs on June 18 at 12:38 a.m. EDT (0438 GMT). During this phase, the moon will not be visible, making it a great night for skywatching.
