Space

From black holes and galaxies to Mars exploration and the latest announcements from NASA and other space agencies, you’ll find all the most exciting space news here.

Light Sail
LightSail 2 Just Gifted Us Stunning New Pictures of Our Little Blue Marble From Space
ScienceAlert - EVAN GOUGH
LightSail 2, the brainchild of The Planetary Society, has gifted us two new gorgeous images of Earth. The small spacecraft is currently in orbit at …
Space
Another Chinese Space Station Just Fell to Earth - Watch It Hit Our Atmosphere
ScienceAlert - DAN ROBITZSKI
On Friday, the Chinese space station Tiangong-2 was spectacularly decommissioned — it was set on a crash course with a remote patch of the Pacific …
Space
SpaceX's Mars Rocket Prototype Set Off a Fireball, But Musk Says It's Still Working
ScienceAlert - DAVE MOSHER
SpaceX filled the South Texas air with the roar of a Raptor engine on Tuesday night. However, Elon Musk's rocket company also set off a fireball that …
Space
This Simple Explanation Puts Into Perspective Just How Far Away The Moon Really Is
ScienceAlert - JONTI HORNER
Even though we can see the Moon shining brightly in the night sky – and sometimes in daylight – it's hard to put into perspective just how large, and …
Dark Energy
Misshapen Space Voids Can Help Us Accurately Measure The Expansion of The Universe
ScienceAlert - David Nield
Strange voids out there in space – pockets of near nothingness between galaxies – could be crucial in measuring the expansion of the Universe with …
Moon
Just Look at This Animation of How The First Lunar Outpost Is Going to Orbit The Moon
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
An orbit has now been decided for the first permanent lunar outpost. When the lunar Gateway space station gets into position around the Moon, it will …
Asteroids
Good News, Space Agencies Say That Scary Asteroid Is Not Coming to Kill Us All
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
Exhale. We are safe from the asteroid that scary headlines were warning us about in early June, according to new observations from the European Space …
Supernovae
Astronomers Found 3 'Zombie' Stars That Came Back to Life After Supernova
ScienceAlert - David Nield
Stars aren't supposed to come back to life after the death throes of the supernova stage, but astronomers have spotted three that have done just that …
Space
Seeing Earth From Space Changes Astronauts' Minds Forever. Here's Why
ScienceAlert - JULIA CALDERONE
When astronauts first saw Earth from afar in the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 - the US's second manned mission to the Moon - they described a cognitive …
Space
How Fast Is The Universe Expanding? The Hubble Constant Just Took Another Blow
ScienceAlert - DAN ROBITZSKI
There may be fundamental flaws with our understanding of the Universe. The problem came to light as scientists tried to calculate and measure a value …
SpaceX
We Might Finally Know What Caused The Dramatic SpaceX Explosion Earlier This Year
ScienceAlert - DAVE MOSHER
SpaceX thinks it may know what caused its new Crew Dragon spaceship to explode during a test on April 20. The capsule-like ship is designed to ferry …
Galaxies
That Freaky Discovery of Galaxies With No Dark Matter Seems to Be Debunked
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
The plot has thickened on a huge discovery from earlier this year that appeared to prove the existence of seemingly 'impossible' long-lived galaxies …
Space
India's Highly Exciting Moon Mission Has Hit a Snag, But All Is Not Lost
ScienceAlert - NIHA MASIH
India called off the launch of its much-awaited second lunar mission shortly before liftoff Monday, citing a technical snag, in a setback for the …
Area 51
The US Air Force Has a Warning For The 1.1 Million People Wanting to Storm Area 51
ScienceAlert - MICHAEL BRICE-SADDLER
Should everything go according to plan, more than 1.1 million strangers will gather in a remote Nevada town in mid-September, united by a common …
Space
For The First Time, Astronomers Detect a Moon-Forming Ring Around a Distant Exoplanet
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
Once upon a time, the great planet Jupiter was orbited by a glorious ring of dust, according to astronomers. Now, nothing of it remains, having …
Space
This Eerie Material Could Be Key to 'Terraforming' Pockets of Mars
ScienceAlert - Tessa Koumoundouros
While our warming atmosphere on Earth threatens many living things, spurring on global warming on Mars could be the key to making the planet …
Space
NASA Has Announced The First Fruit They'll Grow on The ISS, And It's Hot
ScienceAlert - Jacinta Bowler
If all goes to plan, in November this year the International Space Station (ISS) is about to get a bit spicier. Researchers are hoping to send up …
SpaceX
Elon Musk Says SpaceX's About to Launch And 'Hover' a Mars Rocket Prototype
ScienceAlert - DAVE MOSHER
SpaceX is about to perform its most ambitious test-launch yet of a shiny Mars rocket prototype in south Texas. Workers have descended upon the …
Space
The Hubble Telescope Might Have Found The Weirdest Black Hole to Date
ScienceAlert - David Nield
Something strange is happening 130 milling light-years away in spiral galaxy NGC 3147: there's a thin disc of material surrounding its small and …
Milky Way Galaxy
Incredible Animation Reveals How We Found 4,000 Planets Beyond Our Solar System
ScienceAlert - DAVE MOSHER
Earth is not alone, and a stunning new animation created using NASA data beautifully illustrates that point. There may be trillions of other planets …
Asteroids
Japan Just Landed a Spacecraft on an Asteroid, And The Photos Are Nuts
ScienceAlert - MORGAN MCFALL-JOHNSEN
The life of an asteroid is lonely. The rocks spend eons drifting through the cold vacuum of space. But on Wednesday, the asteroid Ryugu welcomed a …
Space
The Incredible Dust Storms on Mars Are Back And The Images Are a Sight to Behold
ScienceAlert - EVAN GOUGH
It's easy to take for granted the detailed, almost real-time knowledge of Mars that we have at our fingertips. After all, in the not-too-distant …
Princeton University
Astronomers Just Detected 2 Supermassive Black Holes on a Course For Collision
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
Thanks to gravitational wave astronomy, we are getting a better understanding of what happens when black holes collide. But the closely orbiting …
Science (India)
This Weekend, India Is Launching Its First-Ever Moon Lander
ScienceAlert - VICTOR TANGERMANN
India is getting ready to launch its first-ever lunar lander on Sunday 14 July. As part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the lander will be riding on …
Space
Scientists Are Trying to Make 'Ploonets' a Thing, And We Are Here For It
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
You've heard of moonmoons - that's what scientists want to call the satellite of a moon. But are you ready for ploonets? You'd better be, because …
Galaxies
Wild New Paper Claims Our Galaxy Could Have Formed Under Chameleon Theory
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
Einstein's theory of general relativity has been proven time and again, and is generally accepted as a solid foundation for understanding the …
Space
Neutron Star Smash-Up Just Provided a New Measure of a Fundamental Cosmic Feature
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
When astronomers around the world watched two neutron stars collide in August 2017, it taught us a whole lot of cool things about the Universe. Now …
Space
Highest-Energy Photons Ever Detected Have Been Traced to an Enigmatic Source
ScienceAlert - Michelle Starr
It may have exploded nearly a thousand years ago, but the Crab Nebula is still spitting out radiation at incredibly high energies. In fact, …
Apollo Missions
The Apollo Mission Had No Toilet. Here's How The Astronauts Went to The Bathroom
ScienceAlert - HILARY BRUECK
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin may have been the first people to set foot on the lunar surface when Apollo 11 landed there 50 years ago, …