What it is: An open cluster of stars called NGC 346 Where it is: 210,000 light-years away, in the constellation Tucana When it was shared: Dec. 16, 2024 Why it’s so special: This James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image has helped astronomers untangle a long-standing mystery about how planets form. The mystery arose more than…

The exoplanet K2-18 b may have an ocean of water beneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere, as shown in this artist’s concept. Credit: Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI). Science: Nikku Madhusudhan (IoA) This past year brought much of the world together through events both anticipated and unexpected. April’s highly awaited total solar eclipse delighted millions…

Explore On a nearly cloudless day in 2023, a helium balloon the size of a United States football stadium lifted off from an airport in New Zealand. It quickly rose 110,000 feet above the Earth, ascending into the stratosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that is out of reach of clouds, rain, and storms. Beneath…

Astronomers have been left red-faced after announcing the discovery of a new near-Earth asteroid — only to realize that the supposed space rock was the remains of Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster and its spacesuit-clad driver “Starman.” The misidentified object, which was launched into space on board a SpaceX rocket in 2018, highlights a growing…

Astronomers are calling for a global ban on space advertising, in hopes that the issue can be nipped in the bud amid a period of rapid commercialization and privatization in spaceflight. In a statement adopted in October 2024, the American Astronomical Society declared that humankind’s scientific understanding of the universe is under threat from space…

Astronomers are calling for a global ban on space advertising, in hopes that the issue can be nipped in the bud amid a period of rapid commercialization and privatization in spaceflight. In a statement adopted in October 2024, the American Astronomical Society declared that humankind’s scientific understanding of the universe is under threat from space…

Astronomers are calling for a global ban on space advertising, in hopes that the issue can be nipped in the bud amid a period of rapid commercialization and privatization in spaceflight. In a statement adopted in October 2024, the American Astronomical Society declared that humankind’s scientific understanding of the universe is under threat from space…

Giant radio galaxies are cosmic megastructures that can span millions of light-years, making them some of the largest-known structures in the Universe. Yet space is big, and despite their size, giant radio galaxies can be hard to find. Discovering one is a big deal, especially if it’s as colossal – and peculiar – as one…

Researchers say there’s a 1.3 percent chance that the space rock 2024 YR4 could strike our planet — but not until December 2032. You may hear about a large asteroid headed toward Earth. Don’t panic. Just after Christmas Day, astronomers spotted something zipping away from Earth: a rock somewhere between 130 feet and 330 feet…

Less than a day after astronomers announced the discovery of a new asteroid, they issued a correction. The space-faring object wasn’t a space rock after all, they concluded. It was a car. And not just any car speeding through our galaxy, but a red Tesla Roadster belonging to Elon Musk. Musk famously shot his personal…