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Dark matter on the move
New evidence suggests that dark matter - the mysterious stuff that makes up a significant percentage of the universe's mass - can heat up and move around.
January 6, 2019
China’s Chang’e-4 lands on moon’s far side
China’s Chang’e-4 spacecraft set down last night, according to clocks in the Americas. It's a historic event, the first time a spacecraft has landed on the side of the moon we cannot see.
January 3, 2019
Oxygen and life: a cautionary tale
On Earth, oxygen is a signature byproduct of life. But what if astronomers found oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant sun? Would that prove life exists there? Not necessarily, says a new study.
January 3, 2019
Ultima Thule seen in detail
Ultima Thule - a Kuiper Belt object and the most distant object yet seen by an earthly spacecraft - is now revealed as a "contact binary," created when two small bodies in the early solar system stuck together.
January 2, 2019
Has Mars’ methane gone missing?
The 1st results from ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter mission at Mars have been released and - surprise - no atmospheric methane. That's even though methane on Mars has been observed multiple times before. Where is it?
January 2, 2019
Spacecraft orbits tiny Bennu, breaks record
On December 31 - while we celebrated - NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft went into orbit around Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid. The maneuver makes Bennu the smallest object yet to be orbited by a spacecraft.
January 1, 2019
Pluto craft to encounter Ultima Thule
New Horizons is the spacecraft that sent back those amazing images of Pluto in 2015. Ultima Thule is its next target, a billion miles beyond Pluto. The encounter is New Year's Day, but start watching now!
December 29, 2018
EarthSky’s top 5 stories of 2018
From the months-long eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano to a strange object discovered on the surface of Mars - and more - here's a quick roundup of the stories our readers enjoyed most in 2018.
December 28, 2018
Spacecraft spies ice-filled Mars crater
The Mars Express orbiter has taken some stunning photos of Korolev Crater, an ice-filled crater near the Martian north pole. It looks from a distance like a snowy winter landscape on Earth.
December 28, 2018
What does Ceres’ carbon mean?
Earlier this month, scientists announced that dwarf planet Ceres has more carbon-rich organics than previously thought, both on and below its surface. Here's why that's exciting.
December 27, 2018
