Category: Science

Turns out it was a satellite rocket launch.

Size matters, at least when it comes to planet formation. Astronomers have discovered a world outside the solar system about 240 light-years away in space that is a freak of nature. Somehow, a little red dwarf star only one-fifth the size of the sun gave birth to an enormous baby …

In 2025, it coincides with a major lunar standstill—a rare astronomical alignment that makes the moon rise and set at its most extreme points on the horizon, an event that occurs only once every 18.6 years.

Check out this unprecedented side view of a volcano summit on Mars. NASA’s longest-running Mars mission has sent back an unprecedented side view of a massive volcano rising above the Red Planet, just before dawn. On May 2, as sunlight crept over the Martian horizon, the Odyssey spacecraft captured Arsia Mons, a towering, long-extinct volcano, puncturing a …

There's a good reason NASA continues tracking Asteroid 2024 YR4. An asteroid discovered late last year is expected to be in our neck of space in 2032. The good news? It’s not coming for Earth. Asteroid 2024 YR4 is no longer visible, but NASA squeezed in one last glimpse of it with the …

Could a star birth planets more than once in its lifetime? The Ring Nebula is a well-known space icon shaped like a doughnut about 2,500 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. But astronomers think it’s been holding a secret that only the penetrating gaze of the James Webb Space Telescope, a …

Japanese company ispace says the mission is over. A private space firm from Japan did not stick its moon landing on Thursday, which makes this the second failed attempt to get to the lunar surface for the company in the past two years. The mission, dubbed Hakuto-R by the company <a href="https://me.mashable.com/space/27466/a-daring-company-is-about-to-try-landing-on-the-moon-you-can-watch-it" …

Tokyo space firm ispace gets a second chance to redeem itself from a 2023 crash. A private Japanese space company will try to land an uncrewed robotic spacecraft on the moon and deliver a rover to its surface today, after a failed attempt in April 2023. Landing on the moon remains onerous — demonstrated by numerous …

Whether the two galaxies will merge just became a real “will they, won't they?” for astronomers. Astronomers have believed for decades that the Milky Way is on a collision course with our nearest big neighbor, Andromeda. They seemed all but certain the two galaxies were destined to smash in about 4 to 5 billion years, combining into one colossal galaxy in <a …

The beautiful natural light show is ushering in summer. The Northern Lights are back once more, heralding summer with a beautiful light show along the U.S.-Canadian border. Here’s how to watch the aurora borealis this week. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), the Northern Lights are …