A new kind of magnetic explosion, called forced magnetic reconnection, was seen for the first time in images from NASA’s SDO spacecraft. Learn more in this beautiful video.

Hundreds of thousands of people from 112 countries helped select names for distant exoplanets and their stars. So, for example, the exoplanet formerly known as HAT-P-36b - about 1,000 light-years away - now also carries the name Bran, from an Irish legend.

How did whales that feed on tiny prey evolve into the largest creatures on Earth? And why don't they get even bigger?

Using a revolutionary X-ray telescope aboard the International Space Station, scientists have finally created the 1st pulsar surface "map." It shows odd hot spots and suggests that pulsar magnetic fields are more complicated than anyone had assumed.

Notice ... the year's most distant perigee comes when the moon is near last quarter phase.

A new study of the atmospheres of known giant exoplanets suggests that water - an essential ingredient for life - may be common on other worlds in our Milky Way galaxy. At the same, there may be less of it than astronomers once expected.

NOAA’s 14th annual Arctic Report Card recounts the ways that climate change continued to alter the north polar region during 2019.

A new study shows that, if they can be returned to San Francisco Bay, California's southern sea otter population can be tripled. There are now only about 3,000 of the otters left. But, first, they’ll need some help getting past the great white sharks.

On December 16, 2019, you might catch the moon and star Regulus - Heart of the Lion in the constellation Leo - ascending in the east before your bedtime.

The 1st interstellar object - 1I/'Oumuamua - had already passed closest to our sun when astronomers first spotted it. So catching this 2nd one - 2I/Borisov - prior to perihelion was a big plus for astronomers! Before and after images here.