Astronomy

How NASA Discovered Enceladus Has an Ocean

From icy ball to salt-filled ocean, one spacecraft has led the way.<p>The year is 2005, and the Cassini spacecraft is closing in on Saturn's moon Enceladus for the very first time. Both NASA's Voyager probes had visited the distant moon about two decades earlier, and from those observations, NASA was …

Enceladus

Lürssen Launches Project Jupiter

The 403-foot Jupiter hits the water for the first time.<p>Lürssen Yachts has launched Project Jupiter, a 403-foot superyacht, with a 65-foot beam. In …

Jupiter

A Region On Mars With Recent Water Is About To Get Major Attention

Striations exposed on the surface between Martian sand dunes (one pictured at top) in Lucaya Crater indicate fluctuating levels of salty groundwater. …

Space Exploration

A Physicist Explains Why Humans Probably Didn't Pop Into Existence Last Tuesday

Whaa... ?<p>The history of cosmology has its fair share of whacky ideas, but one of the strangest has to be the Boltzmann brain hypothesis – which …

Cosmology

Mars Life Could Lurk Within These Salty Streaks

Life as we know it requires liquid water. So you can imagine the excitement when, in 2015, hydrated minerals — or compounds that form in the presence …

Space Exploration

Europa Mission Heralds Sea Change in the Search for Alien Life

It’s not something NASA likes to advertise, but ever since its creation in 1958, the space agency has only conducted one direct, focused hunt for …

Extraterrestrial Life

Kyrie Irving is a flat-Earth truther

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: the Earth is not flat. Most people know this, but the internet has given rise to a growing group of …

Cleveland

This week in space: Pluto, Europa, and 96 nanosats

India just set a world record by sending 104 satellites into space in a single launch. One hundred and three of them were nanosats, but they were …

Space Exploration

The Universe Has A Lithium Problem

Over the past decades, scientists have wrestled with a problem involving the Big Bang Theory. The Big Bang Theory suggests that there should be three …

Cosmology

The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Letter from the Editor<p>We live in a time when what previously would have been surreal is now reality. And I'm not even referring to the fact that our president fails to see the need to secure his smartphone, nor that the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency is probably less concerned with …

ISRO

ISRO's conducts cryogenic engine-D stage test

ISRO successfully carried out its indigenously developed cryogenic engine-D stage test at its liquid propulsion complex at Mahendragiri in the …

ISRO

What We Can Learn From Pluto's Icy Heart

On February 18, 1930—87 years ago this week—Clyde Tombaugh, a telescope operator at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, was flipping through …

Solar System

This Video Explains the Bizarre Reason Our Sun Is Slowing Down

What can put the brakes on a star?<p>It may not look like it from here on Earth, but the burning ball of plasma in our sky rotates on its axis roughly …

Space Science

Researchers Uncover New Black Hole that’s Around 36 Times Bigger Than the Sun!

There are estimated to be around 100 million black holes or more within the Milky Way galaxy. Even though only a few have been identified so far, …

Space Science

With An Eye to the Stars, a Realist Painter Maps Out Constellations with a Paintbrush - Creators

With just his paint brushes, a collection of oversized canvases, anddesire to transport viewers to the far reaches of outer space, Damien Loeb creates stunning views of the universe far, far away. The American artist considers formations of stars as well as the zodiac calendar in his slow-burning …

Space Science

How Industrial Light & Magic Digitally Created the Planets of Jedha and Scarif for ‘Rogue One’

Industrial Light & Magic gives us a behind the scenes look at how they created their Oscar nominated visual effects for the 2016 epic space opera …

Space Science

These 17 Crowdsourced Minor Planet Names Are an Absolute Travesty

The International Astronomical Union has named 17 minor planets as part of its NameExoWorlds contest. Looking at the winning monikers—which include …

Ontario

Here are a bunch of flamingos dancing to find mates on this gorgeous “Planet Earth II” teaser

When’s the last time you saw a flock of birds get their collective groove on? If it’s been a while (or never), this video of a bunch of courting …

Space Science

How to Watch Planet Earth II in 4K Ultra High-Definition

A decade ago, <i>Planet Earth</i> motivated millions of consumers to upgrade to high-definition TV sets and DVD players in order to witness the …

Space Science

On This Day in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh Discovered Pluto

On February 18, 1930, amateur astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered "Planet X" using an astrograph, which is essentially a space camera. Planet X was …

Space Science

2017 February 18 - Penumbral Eclipse Rising

<b>Penumbral Eclipse Rising</b> <b><br>Image Credit & Copyright:</b> Bill Jelen<p><b>Explanation:</b> As seen from Cocoa Beach Pier, Florida, planet Earth, the Moon rose at …

Space Science

'Are We Alone?' Churchill Concludes It's Likely Life Circles Other Suns

We keep on learning from great lives.<p>On Oct. 16, 1939, just weeks after Germany invaded Poland and Britain was at war, Winston Churchill, who had warned of Germany's wicked and avaricious ambitions, was called out of political isolation to become First Lord of the Admiralty and drafted an essay in …

Space Science

Space Weather Can Alter Electronic Voting Machines

When all sources of errors have been ruled out and 4096 phony votes have still been given to a candidate, who do you blame? In some cases, these …

Space Weather

These plates and cups with galaxy scenes painted on them will turn your kitchen into a celestial wonderland

It really doesn’t get much better than space! The outer limits of what surrounds our earth have been inspiring everything from our art to our clothes …

Spiral Galaxies

Watch Parquet Courts, Bun B's Upbeat 'Captive of the Sun' Lyric Video

Parquet Courts and Bun B unveiled the studio version of their updated take on "Captive of the Sun" featuring Bun B. The rapper made a surprise …

Space Science

Planet Earth II: Hiddleston, Redford, Maslany Promote Series

Tom Hiddleston, Robert Redford and Tatiana Maslany promote BBC’s Planet Earth II<p><b>Planet Earth II</b> premieres Saturday, February 18 on AMC, SundanceTV …

Tom Hiddleston

Why It's Time for Australia to Launch its Own Space Agency

<i>This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.</i><p>Any …

Space

Moon, Antares, Saturn February 19

If you’re an early riser, you can see the rather wide waning crescent moon close to the star Antares during the predawn and dawn hours on Sunday, …

Space Science

What Is The Universe's Third Most Common Element?

In the earliest stages of the Universe, it was too hot to form neutral atoms or even atomic nuclei, as they’d immediately be blasted apart by a collision. By time the Universe had expanded and cooled enough that we could form stable nuclei, things were sparse enough that we wound up with 75% …

Space Science

Why science will never know everything about our Universe

There is so much we’ve discovered and so far that we’ve come. But there’s a limit to knowledge we’ll never be able to overcome.<p><i>“To know that we know</i> …

Cosmology