astronomy

How Hubble Brought Color to the Universe

Arts, Culture & Media

Stunning images of nebulae and galaxies from the Hubble Space Telescope have conditioned the way we think space should look.

1919 eclipse

Why we still remember a ‘relatively’ important eclipse nearly a century later

Technology
A composite image of a partial (left) and total (right) solar eclipse, taken in March 2015.

What you need to know about this month’s total solar eclipse

Science
When Sona Hosseini went on a class trip to the planetarium, she fell in love with the stars.

Her love of the stars made her lose track of her life on Earth

Education
Galaxies

Astronomers report there are 2 trillion galaxies in the ‘observable’ universe

Education
Gaia - Milky Way

Mapping the Milky Way as never before

Science

The Gaia space probe, launched in 2013, has mapped more than a billion stars in the Milky Way, vastly expanding the inventory of known stars in our galaxy, the European Space Agency said Wednesday.

An artist's rendering of a habitable moon orbiting a gas giant planet.

Life beyond Earth? The best bet may be on moons, not planets

Science

The search is on for planets that could harbor life, but many of the candidates that we can see are more like gassy Jupiter than rocky Earth. But those planets may be home to rocky moons that can sustain life themselves

An artist's rendering if Kepler 186f, a world extremely similar to Kepler 438b, an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting an M-class dwarf star in the habitable zone.

Up close, ‘Earth-like’ planets are still wildly unfamiliar worlds

Science

The Kepler Space Telescope is on the hunt for potentially habitable planets, but even the most “Earth-like” planets can look dramatically different than our home. One of them, Kepler-438b, is a case study in just how tough finding a second Earth can be.

Comet Lovejoy has probably passed through the inner solar system at least once already—we just weren't alive to see it.

Look hard and you can see Comet Lovejoy lighting up the night sky

Science

The last time Comet Lovejoy was visible in the night sky was 8,000 years ago. Now it’s back and visible from the Northern Hemisphere in the coming weeks, and binoculars or a telescope can give you a glowing view of the visitor.

The crew and back-up team for Ahad Momand's mission. Momand is third from the left.

The only Afghan to ever fly in space almost didn’t make it back to Earth

Science

Ahad Momand is the first — and only — Afghan to have gone into space. He was a national hero after his flight in 1988, but it nearly ended in tragedy after a computer malfunction stranded him in orbit without food or water.