Astronomy: News, features and articles

Radio telescope dishes pointing towards the Milky Way galaxy

(Image credit: Haitong Yu / Getty Images)

Staring up into the night sky, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the seemingly infinite expanse of space, with every pinprick of light in the vast canopy of darkness a star holding secrets forged by 13.8 billion years of the universe's existence. And yet, despite its great age and the unfathomable distance between us and even our nearest neighbor, through the study of astronomy we are able to understand more about the world beyond our atmosphere.

Join our expert writers and editors as we reveal the greatest mysteries in cosmology, such as how black holes form, and explore celestial bodies like exoplanets and nebulas, that are scattered throughout our universe. You will also discover how scientists are pushing the boundaries of space exploration using observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope with the latest astronomy news, features and articles.

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Astronomy news, features and articles

Discover more about astronomy

Latest about Astronomy

Jaw-dropping NASA image reveals a dying star at the heart of the Helix Nebula — and it may have just murdered a planet

Has the sun already passed solar maximum?

James Webb telescope takes emergency look at 'city-killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 ahead of close encounter in 2032

NASA's daredevil solar spacecraft survives 2nd close flyby of our sun

Full moons of 2025: When is the next full moon?

Gaia telescope retires: Scientists bid farewell to 'the discovery machine of the decade' that mapped 2 billion Milky Way stars

Watch eerie 'UFOs' and a solar 'cyclone' take shape in stunning new ESA video of the sun

Explore Astronomy

Asteroids

Black Holes

Comets

Cosmology

Meteoroids

Planets

The Moon

The Sun

Asteroids

James Webb telescope takes emergency look at 'city-killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 ahead of close encounter in 2032

'Potentially hazardous' pyramid-size asteroid will make its closest flyby of Earth for more than 100 years this Wednesday

'That's Zero Folks!': Asteroid 2024 YR4 is no longer a hazard

'Just the tip of the iceberg': Why risky asteroids like 2024 YR4 will pester Earth for decades to come

Asteroid YR4 impact odds plummet as NASA changes threat level of 'city-killer'

NASA just changed the odds of asteroid YR4 hitting Earth in 2032 yet again

Chance of 'city-killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 smashing into Earth rises yet again to 3.1%, NASA reports

Potentially hazardous asteroids: How many dangerous space rocks lurk near Earth — and can we stop them?

In emergency decision, James Webb telescope will study 'city-killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 before its close approach to Earth

Black Holes

Black holes can destroy planets — but they can also lead us to thriving alien worlds. Here's how.

Black holes may obey the laws of physics after all, new theory suggests

Stephen Hawking's black hole theory has big implications for the shape of the universe, new study claims

Record-setting black hole 'echo' accidentally uncovered by high-school student

Is our universe trapped inside a black hole? This James Webb Space Telescope discovery might blow your mind

Evidence for Stephen Hawking's unproven black hole theory may have just been found — at the bottom of the sea

Unproven Einstein theory of 'gravitational memory' may be real after all, new study hints

'Cosmic Horseshoe' may contain black hole the size of 36 billion suns — one of the largest ever detected

Scientists may have just discovered 300 of the rarest black holes in the universe

Comets

Space photo of the week: The last view of the 'Great Comet of 2025' for half a million years

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS' 'near-death encounter' with the sun may have blown it apart, new photos suggest

'Totally amazing' astronaut photo captures comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS shooting past Earth from the ISS

Rare comet could shine bright as Venus as it falls toward the sun: What to expect from Comet ATLAS (C/2024) G3

Comets played a 'major' role in making life on Earth possible, new study hints

Mysterious, city-size 'centaur' comet gets 300 times brighter after quadruple cold-volcanic eruption

'Crumb trails' of meteoroids could reveal potential 'planet-killer' comets years before they reach Earth

Watch the 'Halloween comet' ATLAS burn up as it flies into the sun

Rare illusion gives 'once-in-a-lifetime' comet a seemingly impossible 2nd tail after closest approach to Earth for 80,000 years

Cosmology

Scientists discover smallest galaxy ever seen: 'It's like having a perfectly functional human being that's the size of a grain of rice'

Atacama Telescope reveals earliest-ever 'baby pictures' of the universe: 'We can see right back through cosmic history'

'We had less than a 2% chance to find this': James Webb telescope uncovers baffling 'Big Wheel', one of the most massive galaxies in the early universe

'I was astonished': Ancient galaxy discovered by James Webb telescope contains the oldest oxygen scientists have ever seen

Could the universe ever stop expanding? New theory proposes a cosmic 'off switch'

The universe's water is billions of years older than scientists thought — and may be nearly as old as the Big Bang itself

Most powerful cosmic rays in the universe start shockingly close to Earth, paper claims

Euclid telescope spots rare 'Einstein ring' hiding near Earth — and an ancient, unnamed galaxy behind it

A cosmic 'CT scan' shows the universe is far more complex than expected

Meteoroids

'It was so simple': How Antarctica's missing meteorites were discovered using a block of ice, a freezer and a lamp

Quadrantid meteor shower: How to watch the first 'shooting stars' of 2025 rain over Earth tonight

Meteor strikes on the moon! Astronomer captures possible Geminid lunar impacts

Ursid meteor shower 2024: Where and when to see the final meteor shower of the year

The Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight! How to see the year's last big display of 'shooting stars' before it's too late.

Meteorite found in a drawer at university contains 700-million-year-old evidence of water on Mars

Look for 'fireball' meteors over the US tonight as the North Taurid meteor shower peaks

Most of Earth's meteorites may have come from the same 3 spots

Watch huge fireball blaze over Lake Erie in stunning videos

Planets

James Webb telescope could find signs of life on alien 'hycean' ocean worlds

Perseverance rover spots peculiar 'spider egg' rock on Mars — and scientists have no idea how it got there

James Webb telescope captures auroras on Neptune for first time ever

Longest molecules ever found on Mars may be remnants of building blocks of life

'Extremely Large Telescope' being built in Chile could detect signs of alien life in a single night

Venus goes 'new moon' as it passes between Earth and the sun this weekend

4 tiny, Earth-like planets found circling 2nd-closest star system to us — and could be visited by future human generations

James Webb telescope spots 'rogue' planet with a cake-like atmosphere barrelling through space without a star

Saturn gains 128 new moons, giving it more than the rest of the solar system combined

The Moon