Happy anniversary, Cassini spacecraft

June 30 is the 10-year anniversary of the Cassini spacecraft's successful insertion into orbit around Saturn. Imaging team leader Carolyn Porco expresses the wonder.

Amazing purple jelly in the deep sea

Many deep-sea creatures are red, but this one is a strange purple-blue. Oceanographers wonder what benefit there is to being purple under miles of ocean.

When can you expect your warmest summer day?

A new map shows the warmest days of the year on average throughout the United States

Video: Dog, elephant, water

Every girl's fantasy?

How the Pillars of Creation were created

The famous Hubble 'Pillars of Creation' image was made in 1995. New research suggests how these finger-like structures of interstellar gas and dust were formed.

Puzzling X-rays in Perseus might point to dark matter

Astronomers have detected a mysterious X-ray anomaly that might be a signal of dark matter, the elusive, invisible stuff that makes up most of our universe.

Monster black hole trio discovered in distant galaxy

Researchers have discovered a distant galaxy with not one, but three supermassive black holes at its center.

Earth-sized diamond in space is coolest white dwarf star

The coldest, dimmest white dwarf star ever detected is so cool that its carbon has crystallized, forming - in effect - an Earth-sized diamond in space.

Should the Higgs boson have caused our universe to collapse?

British cosmologists have concluded that the universe should not have lasted for more than a second after the Big Bang.

View from space: Brazil’s World Cup cities at night

Here's a satellite view of the 12 Brazilian cities hosting World Cup games.