China's Chang'e 5 capsule lands on Earth with the 1st new moon samples in 44 years By Mike Wall China's Chang'e 5 moon sample-return capsule landed in Inner Mongolia on Wednesday (Dec. 16), returning lunar rocks for the first time since 1976.
Two strange blobs of X-ray energy are swirling out of the galaxy's center By Brandon Specktor The eROSITA X-ray telescope just revealed two strange bubbles of X-ray energy, sitting smack-dab inside the Fermi Bubbles.
China's Chang'e 5 moon lander is no more after successfully snagging lunar rocks By Andrew Jones China's Chang'e 5 lander touched down on the moon and collected the first lunar samples in nearly 50 years, but now the lights have gone out.
Physicists attempt to unify all forces of nature and rectify Einstein's biggest failure By Paul Sutter Einstein's failed dream could ultimately become his ultimate triumph, as a small group of theoretical physicists rework his old ideas to explain the most pressing issues of modern science.
Physicists give Schrodinger's cat a cheshire grin By Mike McRae Physicists have shown how a particle might show its face in a corner of an experiment without needing its body anywhere in sight, like a grin without a cat.
Polar cyclones on Jupiter create a spellbinding vortex cluster By Mindy Weisberger NASA's Juno mission offers fresh insights into Jupiter's dynamic atmosphere.
'Planet Nine' cousin found By Stephanie Pappas An enormous exoplanet found circling a double star 336 light-years away may provide clues to a mystery closer to home: Planet Nine.
Spectacular Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight. Here's how to watch the show. By Stephanie Pappas The Geminids meteor shower peaks on Sunday, and should provide good views of shooting stars anywhere the sky is clear.
How to watch the northern lights across far northern US tonight By Stephanie Pappas The forecast isn't certain, but some in the U.S. might get a rare glance at the aurora.
NASA's spacecraft spots China's Chang'e 5 lander on the moon By Andrew Jones NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured an image of China's Chang'e 5 lander on the moon just hours after its historic landing.
This is what a supernova sounds like, according to NASA By Brandon Specktor NASA's new data sonification project turns the universe's most extreme phenomena into sounds.
SpaceX's Starship SN8 prototype soars on epic test launch, with explosive landing By Mike Wall SpaceX's Starship spaceflight system just took a big step on its path to Mars.
Watch SpaceX test a giant 'Starship' over Texas today [UPDATED] By Rafi Letzter SpaceX plans to test its enormous Starship prototype over Boca Chica, Texas at some point Tuesday (Dec. 8).
SpaceX aborts Starship SN8 prototype test launch at last second By Mike Wall SpaceX's first attempt to launch a Starship prototype on a high-altitude test flight ended with a last-second abort in Texas on Tuesday (Dec. 8).
Saturn and Jupiter to almost 'kiss' this winter solstice By Laura Geggel From Earth's perspective, Jupiter and Saturn will appear a moon's distance apart on Dec. 21.
Epic time-lapse shows what the Milky Way will look like 400,000 years from now By Brandon Specktor The Gaia space observatory just released its most detailed map of the universe yet, including the trajectories of hundreds of millions of stars.
Did the universe's creator hide a message in the cosmos? By Rafi Letzter Did the creator of the universe leave a hidden message in the cosmos for intelligent life? If so, scientists have yet to find it. But at least one is still trying.
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.
China claims fastest quantum computer in the world By Rafi Letzter "Jiuzhang" would be the most powerful quantum computer in the world, capable of performing some tasks 100 trillion times faster than the world's fastest supercomputers.