Space News & Blog Articles

A monitoring camera on ESA’s BepiColombo mission captured this black-and-white view of a heavily cratered region on Mercury during a June 23 flyby. Volcanic plains are also visible in this image, which was captured from a distance of 873 miles (1,406 kilometers) from Mercury. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM

Following up on a first pass last year, the European-Japanese BepiColombo mission flew by Mercury again Thursday for a gravity assist to continue reshaping its course, setting up for a maneuver in 2025 to settle in an orbit around the planet closest to the sun.

A rare planetary alignment will peak predawn on Friday (June 24) when the crescent moon joins the party. An alignment like this will not occur again until 2040.

New footage shows the mysterious auroral phenomenon called STEVE emerging from a blood-red arc of light in New Zealand in 2015.

Mapping the Milky Way is a task similar in scope and size to the Human Genome Project. Here, we look at the journey of data collected by the Gaia telescope as it reveals the galaxy's secrets.

Planetary scientists have created a new, detailed map of the asteroid Psyche, providing a tantalizing preview of the target for a NASA mission set to launch later this year.

Image: Lunar science stirring on Mount Etna

The Mercury-bound space probe BepiColombo has taken its second look at its target planet today during a superclose flyby designed to slow it down and adjust its trajectory.

Astronomers have peered into the center of the Milky Way and discovered what appears to be a miniature spiral galaxy, swirling around a single large star.

Astronomers have mapped Orion in 3D to understand the origin of the large arc of Barnard’s Loop — and you can interact with the 3D image!

The second segment of SpaceX’s Starship launch tower was lifted at pad 39A Thursday morning. Credit: Spaceflight Now

The second section of the Florida launch tower for SpaceX’s huge Super Heavy and Starship rocket was lifted on top of the first tower segment Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center, continuing construction of a structure that will stand more than 400 feet tall.

After half a year of commissioning in space, the James Webb Space Telescope will release its first science images in July. Here's how you can tune in to the historic event for free.

Levels of methane, the second most important greenhouse gas in our atmosphere, continued their unrelenting rise in 2020 despite the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Big, brutal, comparatively slow but this lens has world-beating zoom capabilities.

Sifting through data from the Very Large Array Sky Survey, scientists have observed an object that might be a "​​pulsar wind nebula."

The moon will appear to hop over Uranus in the predawn sky as it continues its planetary tour. The event will occur between Friday (June 24) and Saturday (June 25).

Lego NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander is a set that doesn’t quite live up to its intergalactic potential.

The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a white dwarf star devouring material from its own system, suggesting that water and other volatiles might be common in the outer reaches of planetary systems.

The first stage for ULA’s next Atlas 5 launch was stacked on a mobile platform May 27 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance teams at Cape Canaveral are in the final week of preparations for the next flight of an Atlas 5 rocket, set for liftoff with two U.S. military technology demonstration satellites June 30, a one-day delay after bad weather held up launch processing.

Ariane 5 has delivered two telecommunications satellites, MEASAT-3d and GSAT-24, into their planned geostationary transfer orbits.

A European Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from the Guiana Space Center with the MEASAT 3d and GSAT 24 satellites. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/JM Guillon

Two multi-ton geostationary communications satellites for Malaysian and Indian operators took off on top of an Ariane 5 rocket Wednesday from French Guiana, leaving four Ariane 5s left to fly before retirement of the European workhorse launcher.

NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket on Launch Complex 39B earlier this month. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Foregoing another countdown rehearsal, NASA plans to return the first Space Launch System rocket to its assembly hangar at the Kennedy Space Center next week for a hydrogen leak repair and continued preparations for liftoff on the Artemis 1 moon mission.