Harry Baker

A giant whirlpool of light, known as a "SpaceX spiral," was recently spotted swirling across the night sky over Europe as a Falcon 9 rocket prepared to reenter Earth's atmosphere after deploying top-secret cargo.

Skygazers have been waiting for over a year to see a recurrent nova that creates a temporary, super-bright star every 80 years or so. A new study suggests that it could finally happen this week — but nothing is certain.

The hefty space rock 2014 TN17 is large enough to wipe out a city, but it will pose no risk to our planet when it sails by this Wednesday (March 26). Researchers will monitor it carefully during its close approach.

U.K. start-up Pulsar Fusion has unveiled plans to build a fleet of reusable nuclear fusion-powered rockets, known as Sunbirds, that could cut journey times across the solar system in half. But not everyone is convinced.

As Venus approaches its inferior conjunction, astrophotographers have snapped some striking shots of the crescent planet looking like a giant rainbow in space.

A quartet of small, rocky exoplanets likely circle Barnard's Star, around 6 light-years from Earth, putting them in contention as targets of missions for future human generations.

Earth from space Satellite images taken more than three decades apart show the disappearance of Iceland's Okjökull, the first glacier to be officially declared dead as a result of human-caused climate change.

The solar system has many more moons than the one we can see in the sky. But how many do we actually know about? And how many more are waiting to be discovered?

Earth from space A 2022 satellite photo shows a large plume of discolored water rising from the undersea Kavachi volcano, during an eruption that likely scattered the sharks that normally dwell there.

New research suggests that a binary pair of Kuiper Belt objects, known as the Altjira system, is actually made up of three separate bodies orbiting one another in a complex triad. This rare orbital configuration is often referred to as the "three-body problem."

A newly unveiled astronaut photo shows a "gigantic jet" shooting upward from a thunderstorm above Louisiana in November 2024.

Earth from space This 2023 astronaut photo shows a series of slowly moving "star dunes" in the Erg Chebbi region of Morocco. Most of these massive structures are likely several centuries old.

Chinese scientists claim to have found a new way of injecting helium into rocket engines, which could be used to make missiles that are much harder to detect or intercept. The new technology was allegedly inspired by the faulty spacecraft that "stranded" NASA astronauts on the ISS last year.

Earth from space This 2022 astronaut photo reveals a menagerie of hidden oceanographic features surrounding a pair of Greek islands, including giant spinning currents and rarely seen "internal waves."

Prospective ESA astronaut and former British Paralympian John McFall has passed the medical assessment needed for a long-term stay on the ISS. If selected for a future mission, he will become the first physically disabled person in space.

Earth from space This Google Maps image captured in 2021 revealed a mysterious, triangular dark patch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, sparking bizarre rumors about its origin. However, it turned out to be a small island with incredibly dense tree coverage.

New simulations reveal that around 1 million "macroscopic" objects from our closest stellar neighbors, the Alpha Centauri system, may already reside in the Oort Cloud, far from sight.

Here's everything you need to know about the potentially hazardous asteroids that come worryingly close to our planet.

Researchers believe they have rediscovered a mysterious star system first spotted in 2011. If true, the alien sun and its exoplanet companion are speeding through our galaxy at more than 1.2 million mph. However, it is unclear if this is really the case.

A French astrophotographer recently snapped shots of the moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in a single evening, and rearranged them to create a striking composite image. Each "planetary parade" member was captured with the same magnification, meaning they are perfectly scaled.

Data collected from a once-defunct NASA satellite show that Earth grew two extra radiation belts following a supercharged geomagnetic storm in May 2024, including a never-before-seen structure that is "likely still there today," researchers say.