Solar sails use faint pressure from sunlight to propel a spacecraft forward. A next-generation solar sail - called a diffractive solar sail - might be made of metamaterials, or smart materials.
While searching for the source of methane on Saturn's large moon Titan, researchers found a completely unexpected corridor of methane ice wrapping nearly halfway around the moon.
It was a flash of light seen on the edge of moon during the total lunar eclipse of January 20-21, 2019. Now astronomers have analyzed this meteor strike, the first ever filmed during an eclipse.
Astronomers are meeting today at the Planetary Defense Conference to discuss plans to observe asteroid 99942 Apophis, a relatively large asteroid that'll sweep past Earth safely - but rather closely - in 2029.
"We were gobsmacked by what we saw in this system. It was completely unexpected ... It tells us a little more about that big question: ‘How did we get here?'"
The 1st-ever photo of a giant black hole made headlines earlier this month. Now see some beautiful images of M87, the great galaxy that it calls home, located some 55 million light-years from Earth.
The far side of the moon sees its share of sunlight. With all due respect to Pink Floyd, the moon's far side is dark only in the sense that it's mysterious. Here's why.
Here's how NASA's MESSENGER mission - which orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015 - let scientists finally solve one of Mercury's biggest mysteries, about whether its innermost core is liquid or solid.
For the 1st time, the European Space Agency will cover progress of a hypothetical asteroid impact scenario - this week - live via social media, from the heart of the Planetary Defense Conference in Washington, DC.