Scientists prepare for their last good look at asteroid Apophis before 2029 flyby By Meghan Bartels On March 5, wave hello to the most infamous asteroid that won't slam into Earth in 2029. Scientists sure will.
Welcome to Mars! UAE's Hope probe enters orbit around Red Planet. By Meghan Bartels After a nail-biting 27 minutes, the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) first-ever interplanetary mission has successfully reached orbit around Mars.
NASA appoints climate advisor to prioritize Earth science in Biden administration By Meghan Bartels Tackling the climate crisis is one of President Joe Biden's top priorities, and NASA has created a new role to match.
Famous alien-hunting telescope collapsed in December. Now, investigators might know why. By Meghan Bartels An ongoing investigation of the December collapse of the iconic radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico offers early evidence a manufacturing issue may have contributed to the failure.
A neutron-star crash spotted 3 years ago is still pumping out X-rays. But why? By Meghan Bartels Three years ago, two neutron stars collided in a cataclysmic crash, the first such merger ever observed directly. Naturally, scientists kept their eye on it — and now, something strange is happening.
Astronomers are still reeling from the loss of iconic Arecibo radio telescope By Meghan Bartels The collapse of the iconic radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico last month has left astronomers with a host of questions about what went wrong and what comes next.
Scientists think they've detected radio emissions from an alien world By Meghan Bartels Scientists may have detected radio emissions from a planet orbiting a star beyond our sun for the first time.
Puerto Rican scientists mourn loss of Arecibo Observatory's iconic telescope By Meghan Bartels In a year full of terrible new sorrows and burdens, the collapse of Arecibo Observatory's iconic radio telescope feels like a particularly brutal loss to Puerto Ricans.
Losing Arecibo Observatory would create a hole that can't be filled, scientists say By Meghan Bartels Arecibo Observatory is facing a mid-life crisis — or something much worse.
Arecibo radio telescope, an icon of astronomy, is lost By Meghan Bartels The National Science Foundation (NSF) will decommission Arecibo Observatory's massive radio dish after damage has made the facility too dangerous to repair, the agency announced today (Nov. 19).
SpaceX's Elon Musk says he's tested positive for COVID-19 on eve of NASA astronaut launch By Meghan Bartels SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced that he has received mixed results from tests meant to diagnose infections of the novel coronavirus.
'Alien-hunting' Arecibo Observatory suffers more damage as second cable fails By Meghan Bartels The famed Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has suffered another major blow in a difficult year that has seen two snapped cables damage the fragile dish.
This bizarre planet could have supersonic winds in an atmosphere of vaporized rock By Meghan Bartels Scientists think they have identified a lava world so dramatic that it might boast a thin regional atmosphere of vaporized rock where it is closest to its star.
The International Space Station can't last forever. Here's how it will eventually die by fire. By Meghan Bartels What goes up must come down — including, sadly enough, the International Space Station.
Gravitational-wave treasure trove reveals dozens of black hole crashes By Meghan Bartels Scientists can now catch gravitational waves better than ever before.
The strange story of 2020 SO: How an asteroid turned into rocket junk and the NASA scientist who figured it out By Meghan Bartels As soon as he saw the data, Paul Chodas knew something was strange about the near-Earth object that had been designated 2020 SO.
Cosmonaut snaps amazing photos of Soyuz rocket launch from space By Meghan Bartels Three astronauts made a record-setting jaunt to the International Space Station, and another astronaut already in orbit caught stunning photos of the launch.
A new solar cycle just started. Here's what that means. By Meghan Bartels We're officially nine months into solar cycle 25, scientists have confirmed, and it will likely look much like its predecessor, which ran from 2008 to 2019.
California's fast-moving Creek Fire spawns 'fire cloud' visible from space By Meghan Bartels Fires continue to ravage California, with five new blazes igniting since Friday (Sept. 4).
Stunning new sun images show our star's popcorn-like magnetic field structure By Meghan Bartels A spectacular new set of images of our sun shows its popcorn-like magnetic field structure in all its glory.
Vintage NASA satellite falls to Earth, meets fiery doom after 56 years in space By Meghan Bartels A long-retired NASA satellite burned up in Earth's atmosphere over the weekend, the agency has confirmed.
Astronaut spots California wildfires from space, sends 'thoughts and prayers' to victims By Meghan Bartels California is on fire, with more than 360 individual blazes scorching across the state. Unsurprisingly, the effects are visible from space.
NASA spacecraft gets a look at one of the strangest places in the solar system By Meghan Bartels For a few months in 2018, as NASA's Dawn spacecraft used up its last drops of fuel, it gave scientists an incredibly detailed look at one of the strangest places in the solar system: Occator Crater.
Ancient Mars may have been covered in ice sheets By Meghan Bartels Early Mars may not have been quite the warm, wet paradise scientists have hoped for — not if the valleys scarring its surface work the same way as their counterparts here on Earth do.
'I prayed for this one,' SpaceX's Elon Musk says after NASA astronauts' splashdown success By Meghan Bartels