Look up at the night sky and you’ll see stars, sure. But the sky is also filled with planets — billions and billions of them at least. That’s the conclusion of a new study by astronomers at the California Institute Continue reading
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows Sh 2-106, or S106 for short. This is a compact star forming region in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). A newly-formed star called S106 IR is shrouded in dust at the Continue reading
The giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is having a “shocking” effect on the surrounding dust clouds in this infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Stellar winds flowing out from this fast-moving star are making ripples in the dust as it Continue reading
The Chinese lunar orbiter Chang’e 2 has completed its flyby of asteroid Toutatis, a five-kilometer (three mile) long space rock that recently had a “close” encounter with Earth. The probe, which completed its primary moon-mapping mission in 2011, was commanded Continue reading
This week, NASA’s Goldstone radar is tracking a large asteroid as it passes by Earth, and obtaining unusually clear images of the tumbling space rock. “There is no danger of a collision with Earth,” says Lance Benner of NASA’s Near Continue reading
The international Cassini mission has spotted what appears to be a miniature extraterrestrial version of the Nile River: a river valley on Saturn’s moon Titan that stretches more than 400 km from its ‘headwaters’ to a large sea. It is Continue reading
An Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today, carrying the Air Force’s X-37B space plane into orbit on its third classified mission. Launch took place at 1:03 EST (18:03 UTC) for the unmanned orbital test vehicle, Continue reading
In a preliminary analysis of images from NASA’s Dawn mission, scientists have spotted intriguing gullies that sculpt the walls of geologically young craters on the giant asteroid Vesta. Led by Jennifer Scully, a Dawn team member at the University of Continue reading
Twin NASA probes orbiting Earth’s moon have generated the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body. The new map, created by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, is allowing scientists to learn about the moon’s internal Continue reading
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region at the far reaches of our solar system that scientists feel is the final area the spacecraft has to cross before reaching interstellar space. Scientists refer to this new region as Continue reading