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...
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...
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...
520-day simulated Mars’s mission changes crew’s gut bacteria
Crew members who took part in the Mars500 mission experiment showed significant changes in their gut microbiota after 520 days in confinement, according to...
NASA’s Hubble watches how a giant planet grows
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is giving astronomers a rare look at a Jupiter-sized, still-forming planet that is feeding off material surrounding a young star.
"We...
Scientists crack mysteries of our closest neighbor Venus
Venus is an enigma. It's the planet next door and yet reveals little about itself.
An opaque blanket of clouds smothers a harsh landscape pelted...
Scientists find new chemical signature in an exoplanet atmosphere
Scientists have detected a new chemical signature in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet (a planet that orbits a star other than our Sun).
The...