Solar system

Illustration of a mobile robot with a drill, about the size of a golf cart, named the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, at the south pole of the Moon

OpinionAugust 2, 2024

NASA Losing VIPER Rover Defangs the Science from Planned Moon Landings

A former space agency official argues that cutting a robotic explorer pulls the scientific teeth from the Artemis program

Thomas Zurbuchen, Nadia Drake

Illustration of a white dwarf star siphoning material from a companion star

AstrophysicsAugust 2, 2024

How Do Stars Really Die?

There’s more than one way for a star to die. Some go with a whimper, and some go with a very, very big bang

Phil Plait

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Illustration of Earth with magnetosphere lines drawn to represent conditions during a solar storm. A coronal mass ejection compresses Earth’s magnetosphere. The illustration is rendered in glowing orange, with green auroras visible on the dark side of Earth’s poles.

WeatherAugust 1, 2024

Expect Auroras, Solar Flares and More Space Weather from the Solar Maximum

Space weather is heating up in our current solar cycle peak

Clara Moskowitz, Matthew Twombly

This artist concept shows the NASA WISE spacecraft, in its orbit around Earth

Solar systemJuly 31, 2024

NASA Retires Asteroid-Hunting Telescope

NASA’s NEOWISE telescope has searched for asteroids, brown dwarfs and luminous galaxies. The spacecraft will soon burn up in Earth’s atmosphere

Meghan Bartels

Illustration of space junk orbiting the Earth

Space ExplorationJuly 30, 2024

Scientists Race to Map Dangerous Ultrasmall Space Junk

An ambitious U.S. government program is working to detect and track millions of tiny space junk pieces—down to the size of a sand grain—throughout low-Earth orbit and beyond

Sharmila Kuthunur

To the left of the rover near the center of the image is the arrowhead-shaped rock nicknamed "Cheyava Falls, " which has features that may bear on the question of whether Mars was home to microscopic life in the distant past. The small dark hole in the rock is where Perseverance took a core sample, which is now in a sample tube stored in the rover's belly. The white patch to the right of the hole is where the rover used an abrasion tool to clear away the top surface, allowing science instruments to study the rock's composition

Extraterrestrial LifeJuly 26, 2024

This Is the Most Exciting Rock Ever Found on Mars

Mysterious “leopard spots” on a Martian rock could be evidence of extraterrestrial life—or of mere lifeless chemistry. Finding out the truth may require bringing the rock back to Earth

Lee Billings

AstronomyJuly 26, 2024

How to See Stars, Satellites, and More in the Daytime Sky

It’s possible to see celestial objects during the day, but it’s not always easy

Phil Plait

NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center

Space ExplorationJuly 24, 2024

NASA May Spend $800 Million to Not Send This Revolutionary Rover to the Moon

The VIPER lunar rover promised a revolution in our understanding of the moon’s precious deposits of ice. Then NASA cancelled the mission

Michael Greshko

Photograph, the far side of Earth's moon as seen captured by NASA's robotic Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft

Planetary ScienceJuly 19, 2024

China’s Fresh Samples from the Lunar Far Side Could Explain Earth’s Two-Faced Moon

Material from the moon’s far side collected by China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft could solve a long-standing lunar mystery

Phil Plait

Partial view of Jupiter's southern hemisphere with the Great Red Spot appearing on the far edge of the planet

AstronomyJuly 12, 2024

How Did Jupiter Get Its Great Red Spot?

New research suggests the Great Red Spot we see on Jupiter today is an entirely different giant storm from the one astronomers observed more than three centuries ago

Phil Plait

Dark night sky with few stars in a swirl.

AstronomyJuly 11, 2024

This Equation Shows That the Universe Will Run out of Stars

The cosmos is dark. The Lilly-Madau diagram reveals that it will become much darker still

Florian Freistetter

A low resolution image with speckled bit errors captured by NASA’s Viking 1 Orbiter spacecraft showing a geological formation on Mars which resembles a face. Bit errors comprise part of one of the 'eyes' and 'nostrils' on the eroded rock that resembles a human face near the center of the image. Shadows in the rock formation give the illusion of a nose and mouth

AstronomyJune 28, 2024

The Face on Mars and Other Cases of Cosmic Pareidolia

The human brain loves seeing patterns, even when they aren’t really there

Phil Plait