Spaced Out

Forty Years Later, the Voyager Spacecraft Remain Beacons of Human Imagination

The sky in Cape Canaveral was a wan blue-gray on the morning of August 20, 1977, and an eerie stillness hung over the warm waters of the Atlantic …

NASA Juno Probe Makes 7th Close Flyby of Jupiter

NASA's Juno mission at Jupiter began its seventh close science flyby of the Jovian giant Friday (Sept. 1).<p>The Juno probe is in an orbit around …

Gravitational lensing provides rare glimpse into interiors of black holes

The observable Universe is an extremely big place, measuring an estimated 91 billion light-years in diameter. As a result, astronomers are forced to …

Huge asteroid zooms past Earth in historic fly-by

Asteroid Florence and its two orbiting moons passed 4.4 million miles from the planet, its closest encounter since 1890.<p>It measures in at almost …

Ancient Parasitic Black Holes Could Be Responsible For Making The Universe's Heaviest Atoms

More than just star-dust.<p>Black holes are generally objects we associate with the collapse of massive stars, but researchers have debated whether they …

There’s another star headed for our Solar System, but it won’t arrive for a while

Today, a colossal asteroid is cruising past our planet at a pretty safe distance, but if humanity is still around in some 1.3 million years, things …

What a Total Solar Eclipse Looks Like in 4K, Close-Up, and Real-Time

During the Great American Eclipse, photographer JunHo Oh captured this incredible close-up 4K footage of totality in real time. You can see a great …

NASA is about to fly over Jupiter's biggest storm for the first time — here's what the photos might look like

• <b>Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a storm twice as wide as Earth. It has lasted more than 350 years.</b>• <b><br>Using the Juno spacecraft, NASA will take its closest-ever photos of the giant storm on July 10.</b>• <b><br>Business Insider simulated what the best single-frame image might look like.</b><p>The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is …

'Hidden Galaxy' reveals itself in lovely Hubble image

Galaxy IC 342 is playing a celestial game of hide-and-go-seek with our telescopes.<p>The bright galaxy sits about 13 million light-years from Earth. That's relatively close, but its particular position in space makes it hard to capture a good image of it. A newly released Hubble Space Telescope …

Gaia Finds Six Stars Zipping out of the Milky Way

In 2013, the European Space Agency launched the <i>Gaia</i> spacecraft. As the successor to the <i>Hipparcos</i> mission, this space observatory has spent the past …

We're Sending Another Probe to Mercury to Work Out Why The Planet's Shrinking

A lot of questions need answers.<p>The European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have unveiled the probe they're sending …

These high-speed stars seem to defy laws of physics. Now scientists have an explanation.

Astronomers may have figured out the key to a select group of about 20 stars that previously stumped them. These stars, called hypervelocity stars, …

Hubble just delivered one of the most gorgeous space photos ever

The past few weeks have been jam-packed with stunning imagery from Saturn, delivered courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft. Now, almost as if to say …

Cassini Looks Out from Saturn

This is what Saturn looks like from inside the rings.

Marvel at the images from Cassini’s first Grand Finale orbit

The Cassini spacecraft is beginning its final set of daring orbits with breathtaking images of the Saturn system and rings

NASA just got its closest look at Saturn yet — here's what it saw

On April 26, NASA flew its Cassini spacecraft closer to Saturn than ever before. In fact, it's the closest any spacecraft has ever come to Saturn — just 1,900 miles from the beautiful planet's cloud tops.<p>Even more exciting, Cassini has already transmitted images of what it saw from its deepest dive …

Paper-thin membrane would scoop up orbital space junk

With an estimated 7,000 tonnes (7,700 tons) of debris in orbit around our planet, space junk is increasingly becoming a major problem as small bits …

There's Something Very Strange Going On Around Uranus

No but seriously<p>Unlike its more glamorous relatives Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus gets a bit of a bum deal when it comes to planetary popularity; …

New approach to dark energy might explain our cooling universe

OUR universe’s relentless march towards cold, empty darkness could be causing its expansion to accelerate, rather than the other way around. The …

A 2,000-Foot Asteroid Will Fly Past Earth Next Week

Zero chance of catastrophic collision, pretty good chance of a great stargazing opportunity.<p>A large asteroid is coming close to Earth on April 19th. While NASA emphasizes that 2014 JO25, as the asteroid is known, has no chance of hitting the planet, it will provide a rare chance to observe an …

Earth-like planet with atmosphere discovered just 39 light years away

In a development that has astronomers giddy with excitement, a new study published in <i>Astronomical Journal</i> has confirmed the existence of the first …

Pictures Show a Mysterious Planet Get More Surreal Over Time

Since arriving at Jupiter last July, the Juno spacecraft has been beaming back artistic and unusual views of the “king of the solar system.”<p>A spinning, solar-powered spacecraft has captured new images of the neighborhood’s largest planet—and wow, are they spectacular.<p>Since entering orbit on July 4 …

New photos of Pluto reveal Earth-like terrain that is “a total, complete mystery” to scientists

Close-up imagery of Pluto’s surface has scientists wondering how the dwarf planet’s terrain came to be. The photos, which show expansive mountain ranges and valleys, were taken by the New Horizons probe in July 2015 and were released by NASA this week.<p>“We traveled 3,000 miles and found something a …

No Joke: April Fools' Comet to Pass Closest to Earth Since Discovery

An unusually favorable opportunity to view a famous periodic comet in small telescopes comes during the next couple of weeks, when passes closer to …

NASA's $1 billion Jupiter probe just sent back breathtaking new images of the gas giant

A probe the size of a basketball court has taken unprecedented new images of Jupiter.<p>NASA's $1 billion Juno spacecraft, launched in August 2011, took five years to reach and settle into orbit around the gas giant, which is more than 415 million miles from Earth.<p>The probe has so far photographed …

Mars was struck by mega-floods 3 billion years ago, images reveal

The Kasei Valles channel system spans 1,864 miles (3,000 km) from its source<p>The surface of Mars is an intricate and varied landscape, telling the …

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