NASA’s Lucy spacecraft made a successful flyby of the second asteroid on its must-see list over the weekend, and sent back imagery documenting the elongated object’s bizarre double-lobed shape. It turns out that asteroid Donaldjohanson — which was named after the anthropologist who discovered the fossils of a human ancestor called Lucy — is what’s known as a contact binary, with a couple of ridges in its narrow neck.
Space News & Blog Articles
Astronaut Don Pettit Celebrates his 70th Birthday By Returning to Earth's Crushing Gravity
After spending 220 days on board the International Space Station, astronaut Don Pettit is back on Earth. He returned to Earth on Sunday, April 20th, which coincides with his 70th birthday.
SpaceX launch creates a 'nebula' | Space picture of the day for April 21, 2025
The plume from a rocket engine burn high in Earth's atmosphere caused a glowing spectacle similar in appearance to a nebula.
Don Pettit, NASA's oldest active astronaut at 70, arrives in Houston after 7-month space mission (photo)
NASA's oldest active astronaut, the 70-year-old Don Pettit, has returned home to Houston after a seven-month stint aboard the International Space Station.
Amazon's Kuiper 1 internet satellites get new April 28 launch date on Atlas V rocket after delay
The first 27 satellites of Amazon's Project Kuiper internet constellation are now scheduled to lift off atop an Atlas V rocket on April 28 from Florida.
Did we actually find signs of alien life on K2-18b? 'We should expect some false alarms and this may be one'
Last week, scientists announced they found the "strongest evidence yet" of alien life beyond our solar system. However, the scientific community remains skeptical.
Did the Moon's Water Come From the Solar Wind?
Where did the water we believe is on the Moon come from? Most scientists think they know the answer - from the solar wind. They believed the hydrogen atoms that make up the solar wind bombarded the lunar surface, which is made up primarily of silica. When that hydrogen hits the oxygen atoms in that silica, the oxygen is sometimes released and freed to bond with the incoming hydrogen, which in some cases creates water. But no one has ever attempted to replicate that process to prove its feasibility. A new paper by Li Hsia Yeo and their colleagues at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center describes the first experimental evidence of that reaction.
Blue Skies Space to build satellite fleet around the moon to map the ancient universe
A fleet of cubesats will act as a radio telescope to map the cosmic Dark Ages, its builders say.
What is the Most Powerful Telescope in the World?
Just how powerful is the world’s most powerful telescope?
'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' trailer shown at CinemaCon now arrives for us all (video)
This new teaser is packed with pregnancy, the power of family, plus the Silver Surfer.
Twinkling star reveals the secrets of turbulent plasma in our cosmic neighborhood
Astronomers have observed a twinkling star and discovered an abundance of mysterious plasma structures in our cosmic neighborhood.
Bacteria That Can Mimic Multi-Cellular Life
Scientists are still trying to understand the origin of multicellular life. It emerged about 1.2 billion years ago (or even earlier, according to some debated evidence). The timing of multicellular life's appearance on Earth is not the only thing being debated; so are the mechanisms behind it. New research supports the idea that multicellular life began when single-celled bacteria started grouping together.
Colorful Eagle Nebula glows in stunning new image from Hubble Telescope
A breathtaking new image of the famous Eagle Nebula captures a towering pillar of gas and dust sculpted by intense stellar radiation.
How did this ancient black hole get so big?
While it's much smaller than the largest supermassive black holes detected, it's still a whopper considering how early in the history of the universe it appeared.
NASA's Curiosity rover finds major clue that Mars was once habitable
NASA's Curiosity rover has found iron-rich carbonates on Mars — a major clue that the Red Planet used to be habitable.
Ultralight dark matter may have helped monstrous black holes form in the early universe
The infant universe's population of huge black holes could owe itself to ultralight dark matter, scientists say.
SpaceX launches its 32nd Dragon cargo mission to the ISS for NASA
SpaceX launched its 32nd cargo mission to the International Space Station today (April 21), sending more than 3 tons of supplies and scientific hardware to the orbiting lab for NASA.
Delivering Payloads to Mars with CHAMPS
A team of NASA scientists proposed a new initiative at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2025 LPSC). Known as the Commercial Hall Propulsion for Mars Payload Services (CHAMPS), the
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 32nd resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station
A SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft, tail number C209, sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 39A ahead of the planned launch of the CRS-32 mission. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX will launch an uncrewed Cargo Dragon to the International Space Station early Monday on a resupply mission with increased importance after a transportation mishap derailed a flight by another U.S. cargo ship. Liftoff from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for Monday, April 21, at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 UTC).
SpaceX launching Dragon cargo capsule to ISS early April 21: Watch it live
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a robotic Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station early Monday morning (April 21), and you can watch the action live.
How Astronomers Compare Telescopes
How can you fairly compare one telescope to another? It’s all in the (angular) resolution.