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a reddish-orange planet lined with craters and valleys

A long-lost moon could explain Mars' weird shape and extreme terrain

By Paul Sutter published

A long-lost moon could explain why Mars is so different from the other rocky planets in the solar system.

Mars
a bright white arc of light erupts from the right edge of the sun

7 years ago today, the sun unleashed a record-breaking solar flare

By Ryan French published

As August 2024 set another 20-year high for sunspots, recent solar flares have yet to top two solar flares from September 2017 that still hold unbroken records.

The Sun
The Chang'e 5 return capsule at its landing site in Inner Mongolia, China, on Dec. 17, 2020.

The moon might still have active volcanoes, China's Chang'e 5 sample-return probe reveals

By Keith Cooper published

The moon could still be volcanically active today, according to samples brought to Earth by China's Chang'e 5 mission in December 2020.

The moon
A dazzling array of stars fills the black backdrop of space, so much so that there are more stars than black. They vary in size and depth, with shooting crosshair diffraction spikes visible on the larger stars.

The biggest galaxies live in our universe's supercluster 'cities'

By Monisha Ravisetti published

Machine learning algorithms analyzed millions of galaxies to reveal where the biggest ones are.

Galaxies
fiery swirls of plasma on the sun's surface

Watch a 100,000-mile-high tower of plasma erupt from the sun in this stunning video

By Brett Tingley published

Astrophotographer Mark Johnston got a front row seat to an epic fireworks show when he filmed a 100,000-mile-high tower of plasma erupting from the sun.

The Sun
A red orb is seen with a reddish gradient around it.

Mars leaks faster when closer to the sun

By Keith Cooper published

NASA's MAVEN mission and the Hubble Space Telescope have teamed up to reveal new insights into how Mars' water is leaking into space.

Mars
a grey, cratered plnaet is cast in partial shadow. In the foreground, an arm from a spacecraft hangs from the top right.

BepiColombo probe captures stunning Mercury images in closest flyby yet

By Andrew Jones published

BepiColombo made a close flyby of Mercury on Sept. 4, getting just 103 miles (165 kilometers) above the planet.

Mercury
Striations are seen on a blurred glowing red-orange ring in space.

The 1st Milky Way black hole image was groundbreaking — the next could be even better

By Keith Cooper published

By demonstrating the ability for joint observations at the short radio wavelength of 0.87mm, the Event Horizon Telescope has improved its observational acuity by half.

Black Holes
A vibrantly colorful nebula in space.

Listen to the eerie sounds of an exploded star in new NASA video

By Victoria Corless published

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists have rereleased new "sonified" images of nearby objects, including the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A.

The Universe
Abrupt reversals of the sun's magnetic field called switchbacks pump enough energy into the solar wind to accelerate it to unexpectedly high speeds.

Lucky alignment of 2 spacecraft reveals how solar wind gets a magnetic push

By Sharmila Kuthunur published

Energy-packed plasma waves pump enough energy into streams of solar wind to propel them to their unexpectedly high speeds, observations by two sun-studying spacecraft suggest.

The Sun
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