What if you could hear space?
A new project turns astronomical images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory—operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory—and other telescopes into sound.
When you see...
National Air and Space Museum will display Star Wars X-Wing starfighter
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum will display an X-wing Starfighter in the newly renovated building on the National Mall starting late next year.
The...
In 1.3 million years, a star will come within 24 light-days of the Sun
Within the Milky Way, there are an estimated 200 to 400 billion stars, all of which orbit around the center of our galaxy in...
Voyager 1 detects plasma ‘hum’ in the empty space
Voyager 1 - one of two sibling NASA spacecraft launched 44 years ago and now the most distant human-made object in space - still...
Mars isn’t dead. Its volcanoes could still be active
Most volcanism on the Red Planet occurred between 3 and 4 billion years ago, with smaller eruptions in isolated locations continuing perhaps as recently...
Volcanoes on Mars might still be active, shows study
Back in March, NASA’s InSight lander detected two large quakes from a geologically active region of Mars called the Cerberus Fossae.
Now, using imagery from...
Dark matter could change the temperature of exoplanets, allowing us to detect it
Ah, dark matter, you continue to allude us.
The stuff is incredibly difficult to study. It doesn’t interact with light, so our evidence of it...
Scientists discover new type of aurora
For millennia, humans in the high latitudes have been enthralled by auroras--the northern and southern lights.
Yet even after all that time, it appears the...
What’s possible at the deaths of our Universe’s most massive stars
A curiously yellow pre-supernova star has caused astrophysicists to re-evaluate what is possible at the deaths of our Universe's most massive stars.
The team describe...
Astronomers are watching a gas giant grow, right in front of their eyes
In the vastness of space, astronomers are likely to find instances of almost every astronomical phenomena if they look hard enough.
Many planetary phenomena are...