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Astronomical events in 2016
A month by month listing of major moon phases, conjunctions, oppositions, meteor showers and other important dates, from astronomer Fred Espenak.
May 3, 2016
Inhospitable Danakil Depression hosts extreme life
It's below sea level, with near-boiling water bubbling up from underground, high salt concentrations and toxic vapor. Yet life survives here.
May 2, 2016
Mars rover crosses most rugged terrain so far
The Curiosity rover has nearly crossed a stretch of the roughest terrain it's seen during its 44 months on Mars. Scientists are monitoring the wear and tear on the rover's wheels.
April 28, 2016
Does this jellyfish look like a spaceship, or what?
Video of a spectacular jellyfish that floated past NOAA's ROV on April 24, 2016 in the Mariana Trench - the deepest oceanic trench on the planet.
April 27, 2016
Dwarf planet Makemake has a moon
This Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the first moon ever discovered around little Makemake, in the outermost region of our solar system.
April 26, 2016
Dinosaurs already in decline before asteroid apocalypse?
New research suggests that dinosaurs were in decline tens of millions of years before the meteorite impact that finished them off.
April 26, 2016
What Venus Express learned by aerobraking
Results from the Venus Express spacecraft, obtained when - in the craft's final months - it surfed the dense atmosphere of Venus.
April 26, 2016
Moon rocks reveal nearby supernova
Iron-60 found in moon rocks supports an earlier finding that - 2 million years ago - a supernova exploded only 300 light-years away.
April 25, 2016
Bubble Nebula looks like giant cosmic soap bubble
A new Hubble image captures - in stunning clarity - the Bubble Nebula, a cloud of gas and dust illuminated by the brilliant star within it.
April 23, 2016
How monarchs find Mexico without a map
Researchers say they’ve cracked the secrets of the monarch butterfly’s internal compass.
April 20, 2016
