Astronomy news, features and articles

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world's largest solar telescope, can see the sun in unprecedented detail. Here is the first image from its newly-activated camera.

New research suggests that the largest cosmic structure is even bigger and closer to Earth than we knew. It goes against scientists' models of cosmic evolution.

NASA has released the Lucy spacecraft's first close-up images of asteroid Donaldjohanson, revealing a peanut-shaped rock that could shed light on how planets formed in our solar system.

Astronomers have discovered that the magnetar SGR 0501+4516 is speeding through our galaxy at more than 110,000 mph. This unusually fast speed hints that it was not born as expected, which could help explain the puzzling origin of some fast radio bursts.

NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars has discovered unusual "float" rocks on the rim of Jezero Crater while searching for signs of ancient microbial life. Scientists are investigating their origin.

Researchers bombarded lichens with a year's worth of Martian radiation in just 5 hours — and they survived, hinting that the extremophiles could potentially live on the Red Planet.

Early on April 24, Venus will be at its brightest in the morning sky — just 67 days after it was at its brightest in the evening sky. Here's why.

The James Webb Space Telescope has pointed its infrared optics at the 'Crystal Ball Nebula' NGC 1514, a planetary nebula studied since the late 1800s.

NASA's Curiosity Rover has discovered long carbon chains on Mars. On Earth, molecules like these are overwhelmingly produced by biological processes.

A slowly spinning universe could resolve a puzzle in physics known as the Hubble tension, a new model suggests.