Black hole hurls star out of Milky Way

Astronomers have spotted a star - S5-HVs1 - speeding out of the Milky Way at around 4 million miles (more than 6 million km) per hour. They believe it's being ejected from our galaxy after venturing too near the giant black hole at the Milky Way's heart about 5 million years ago.

Awesome nightscape photos from New Mexico’s Very Large Array

Observatories are great places to view and photograph the night sky. Tips from an astrophotographer's trip to the Very Large Array in New Mexico - to help you plan your next astrophotography adventure - plus awesome photos.

Friday’s spacewalk is underway

Click in to learn how to watch 2 International Space Station astronauts perform the 1st in a series of spacewalks NASA is calling "the most complex in a decade."

10 years 10 suns

From ESA's Proba-2 satellite, images of the sun in January or February of each year from 2010 to 2019. This mosaic neatly shows the variability in the solar atmosphere in beautiful detail.

Ultima Thule renamed to avoid Nazi link

The distant Kuiper Belt object formerly known as 2014 MU69 - later known as Ultima Thule - has been renamed again. Its new name is Arrokoth.

Hubble captures a dozen galaxy doppelgangers

The distant galaxy in this image is nicknamed the Sunburst Arc. It's been lensed into multiple images by a massive, intervening galaxy cluster. A recent study revealed that the 4 bright arcs in this Hubble image contain 12 images - cosmic doppelgangers - of this very distant galaxy.

Astronomers catch a record-setting X-ray burst

The sudden spike of X-rays released as much energy in 20 seconds as our sun does in nearly 10 days. Turns out it was a massive thermonuclear flash on a pulsar, the crushed remains of a star that exploded as a supernova long ago.

SDO caught the Mercury transit from space

Wow! Check out these space-based views of the Mercury transit from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Stunning view inside a young moon crater

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned some amazing high-resolution photos of the surface of the moon, including these ones of steep cliffs and impact melt inside a young crater called Giordano Bruno.

Did ancient Earth life escape our solar system?

You've heard of panspermia, the idea that life exists throughout space and was carried to Earth by comets? What if the reverse occurred, with microbes on Earth ejected into space by asteroid impacts, escaping into the solar system billions of years ago?