Asteroid 2017 YE5 turns out to be double

Asteroid 2017 YE5 swept by Earth in late June. Turns out, it’s a double asteroid, with both bodies almost identical in size and not touching - only the 4th such object ever detected.

Pluto: Preparing for the perfect alignment

Here's how and why astronomers plan to aim the Hubble Space Telescope and several ground-based telescopes toward Pluto around the July 12 Earth transit.

Fragments of asteroid 2018 LA found in Botswana

Astronomers detected a small asteroid just 8 hours before it struck Earth's atmosphere over southern Africa on June 2, producing a terrific explosion. A few days later, researchers reported finding its meteorites.

These 2 exoplanets might have seasons and stable climates

New findings suggest that some exoplanets will have stable axial tilts and climates, much as Earth does. This knowledge will help astronomers search for worlds similar to ours - the long-sought Earth 2.0.

Stunning new views of Ceres’ mystery bright spots

Ceres' intriguing bright spots have come into full view in these spectacular new high-resolution images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, now in its lowest orbit around the dwarf planet.

Have aliens visited Earth? Question worthy of study, says physicist

About 5 percent of all UFO sightings cannot be easily explained by weather or human technology. A physicist argues that there's compelling evidence to justify serious scientific study and that the skeptics should step aside – for the sake of humanity.

Will we recognize life on a distant world?

"We won’t have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to finding life elsewhere. What we will have is a high level of confidence that a planet appears alive for reasons that can only be explained by the presence of life."

Astronomers capture 1st confirmed image of a newborn planet

The newly imaged newborn planet is located at about the distance of Uranus - our solar system's 7th planet - from the dwarf star PDS 70. Its atmosphere appears to be "cloudy," these astronomers said.

Enceladus’ water plumes contain life clues

Does the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus contain any kind of life? Newfound complex organic molecules in its water vapor plumes hint we might not be alone in the solar system.

Join EV Nautilus in a meteorite search

On Monday, the sea-going research vessel EV Nautilus will search for fragments of a minivan-sized meteorite that fell into the ocean, after lighting up skies over Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. You're invited!

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