Dark skies disappearing

Earth's night skies are lighter, thanks to towns, cities and industrial complexes. How that affects astronomy ... as well as birds, insects and people.

Magnetic fields dragged and twisted by young star’s dusty disk

These disks contain the raw materials for planet formation. The magnetic fields can either help or hinder their growth. So this new research helps show how solar systems are born.

Sneaking a peek inside a black hole’s disk

Amazing new image - obtained via an orbiting X-ray observatory - shows the disk of gas and dust surrounding a supermassive black hole to be clumpy, not smooth.

How big can black holes grow?

Black holes could grow as large as 50 billion suns, before the 'food' that makes them grow crumbles into stars, says new research.

Latest images of Christmas Eve asteroid

Near-Earth asteroid 2003 SD220 will pass safely, at more than 28 times the moon's distance, on Christmas Eve. Will it cause earthquakes? Of course not.

NASA suspends 2016 launch of InSight Mars mission

NASA has called off the planned March 2016 launch of the InSight mission to Mars, following failure to repair a leaky instrument in the science payload.

Science fireplace

Warm up your holidays with this crackling science fireplace. It takes about an hour for the whole log to burn.

Climate change rapidly warming world’s lakes

Lakes around the world are warming rapidly, threatening ecosystems and water supplies, says a new study that looked at more than half of Earth's freshwater supply.

Awesome Falcon 9 landing in Florida

Don't miss the video of last night's first-time-ever successful landing of Space X's Falcon 9 rocket. Congrats to Elon Musk and the team at Space X!

Lifeform of the week: Mistletoe

Mistletoe makes merry at its host's expense.