NGC 3384, visible in this image, has many of the features characteristic of so-called elliptical…
Browsing: Space
Space refers to the vast, seemingly infinite expanse beyond Earth’s atmosphere where planets, stars, galaxies, and cosmic phenomena exist. It is a realm defined by extreme conditions—near vacuum, intense radiation, and temperatures ranging from blistering heat to freezing cold. Space exploration has revealed a universe rich with complexity, from black holes and exoplanets to the cosmic microwave background that offers clues to the Big Bang. For scientists, space is both a frontier and a laboratory, offering insights into fundamental physics, the origins of the universe, and the potential for life beyond Earth. It continues to inspire curiosity, innovation, and a deeper sense of our place in the cosmos.
Gravitational waves, first detected in 2016, offer a new window into the universe, with the…
Massive clusters of galaxies, some with more mass than a hundred Milky Way galaxies, have…
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed that some of the universe’s earliest galaxies were brighter…
For the first time, NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter has caught the Martian moon Phobos during…
Blue supergiants are rock ‘n’ roll: they live fast and die young. This makes them…
The Smithsonian today made available a new online interactive that allows users to explore a…
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – NASA’s first mission to demonstrate a planetary defense…
Dotted across the sky in the constellation of Pictor (The Painter’s Easel) is the galaxy…
Few of the universe’s residents are as iconic as the spiral galaxy. These limelight-hogging celestial…
Astronomers have put together the largest and most comprehensive “history book” of galaxies into one…
X-ray observations have found copious amounts of very hot gas in galaxy clusters, and in…
Observers watching January’s total eclipse of the Moon saw a rare event, a short-lived flash…
The study of a tiny grain of stardust — older than our solar system —…
Small stellar systems like dwarf galaxies are suggested to be the main building blocks of…
For more than a century, scientists have squabbled over how the Earth’s moon formed. But…
This final traverse map for NASA’s Opportunity rover shows where the rover was located within…
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope say they have crossed an important threshold in revealing…