Harry Baker

The newly announced Landolt NASA Space Mission will launch a bread box-size "artificial star" satellite that will mimic stars by shining lasers directly at ground-based telescopes. This will enable astronomers to fine-tune instruments and potentially revolutionize how we study the universe.

Earth from space This 2017 satellite photo shows an unusual cloud "cyclone" nestled up against the coastline of Spain and Portugal. Researchers are unsure what caused the strange structure's spin, but ocean eddies and an extreme heat wave likely played key roles.

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, also known as the devil comet, recently made its closest approach to Earth for more than 70 years. During this close encounter, astrophotographers spotted a seemingly impossible "anti-tail" coming off the comet thanks to an extremely rare optical illusion.

A new public competition will allow a lucky astronomy enthusiast to name one of Earth's tiny "quasi-moons." Here's everything you need to know about how to enter the competition for free.

An unusual northern rātā tree that looks like it is striding across an empty field has been crowned New Zealand's Tree of the Year. The giant plant, which looks strikingly similar to an Ent from "The Lord of the Rings," is centuries old.

Earth from space This 2018 astronaut photo shows the rust-colored waters of Madagascar's Betsiboka River winding through a complex series of mangrove islands. Both the river and islands have been altered in recent years by destructive human practices.

Watch rare footage of deep sea "octopus squid" reveal its bioluminescent photophores as it attacks an underwater camera.

A female Pacific footballfish was found dead on an Oregon beach — potentially for the first time ever. It is currently unclear what killed the alien-looking creature and how it was dragged up from the depths.

Earth from space In 2018, satellite images captured a stunning spiral of cyanobacteria blooming in the Baltic Sea. The swirling mass of microbes helped to create a massive "dead zone" the size of West Virginia that starved the surrounding water of oxygen.

Alaska's melting permafrost is dumping toxic metals into the state's rivers, turning them bright orange and making the water highly acidic. The contaminated rivers are so vibrant they can be seen from space, and the problem is likely to get much worse in the future.

Vibrant auroras that were recently observed by millions of people across the globe were some of the most widespread in the last five centuries, NASA says. The light shows may have also reached the equator.

Earth from space In 2018, a weather satellite captured a massive thunderstorm cloud in the shape of a jellyfish. The bizarre cloud was the result of a meteorological phenomenon gone wrong.

Researchers have identified at least seven stars in our galaxy that may be surrounded by super-advanced alien megastructures, known as Dyson spheres. However, this is not the only explanation for these stars.

Astronomers reanalyzed the chemical composition of three stars in the Milky Way's halo and found that they are between 12 and 13 billion years old. They may have also been stolen from other galaxies.

A group of orcas known to attack boats in southwest Europe have sunk a 50-foot sailing yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar after ripping open its hull. It is the fifth time these killer whales have sent a ship to the seafloor in the last three years.

Between Friday (May 10) and Sunday (May 12), people across the world were treated to stunning aurora displays as Earth's magnetic field experienced its biggest disturbance since October 2003. The supercharged storm also messed with satellites and caused power grid irregularities.

Earth from space The massive caldera of Turkey's Mount Nemrut volcano is split in half, with one side made of solidified lava flows and the other half a deep crater lake. Covered in snow, the summit scene looks like the yin-yang symbol when viewed from above.

Space weather experts warn that Earth could experience one of its worst geomagnetic storms in years after a gigantic, frenzied sunspot released five back-to-back solar storms directly at our planet. The explosive event could trigger vibrant auroras across large parts of North America.

Aurora-hunting photographers were surprised to spot a misshaped SpaceX spiral with ethereal horns over Europe during a recent geomagnetic storm.

A tiny, previously undisclosed lunar rover has been spotted strapped to the side of China's moon-bound Chang'e 6 lander in newly released pre-launch photos. The true purpose of the rover, which is scheduled to land on the moon's far side, remains a mystery.

Earth from space A puzzling arc was spotted in the water of a Greenland fjord littered with iceberg fragments. There are a couple of possible explanations for this bizarre phenomenon but we will likely never know what caused it, experts say.

Mars has had frequent planet-wide auroras in recent months, including an unprecedented trio of events in February. Experts say the sudden increase is the result of the ongoing solar maximum.

Artificial intelligence trained by asteroid-hunting citizen scientists helped identify more than 1,000 never-before-seen solar system objects from old Hubble images spanning two decades.

Earth from space A satellite image of the Galápagos Islands' La Cumbre volcano shows lava seeping from the iguana-covered mountain days into an ongoing, months-long eruption.

In the early hours of Tuesday (April 23), quadruple solar flares near-simultaneously exploded from across the sun's surface, and there's a good chance that one of these outbursts launched a solar storm toward Earth.