A planetary nebula isn't related to planets. It's an old star, sloughing off its outer layers. Now astronomers have spied 2 ultra-close stars at a planetary nebula's heart. The pair orbits in only 3 hours!
The MarCOs - 2 briefcase-sized CubeSats accompanying NASA’s InSight spacecraft - are chasing Mars as it orbits the sun. Along the way, they've captured the 1st-ever CubeSat image of Mars!
Finding 4 giant planets orbiting another star isn't too unusual these days. But these massive planets are the largest known to orbit such a young star - CI Tau - only 2 million years old.
Astronomers found a snail-shaped substructure of stars in our larger Milky Way galaxy. It indicates the Milky Way is still enduring the effects of a near-collision that set millions of stars moving like ripples on a pond.
Penitentes - large pointed spikes of ice - are known on Earth and Pluto. Jupiter's moon Europa might have them, too, according to new research. If they're there, they could make a future landing on Europa tricky.
The BepiColombo mission to our sun's innermost planet - fascinating little Mercury - launches from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana on October 20 at 01:45 UTC (tonight at 9:45 p.m. EDT). Here's how to watch.
Binary asteroids - that is, asteroids with moons - aren't uncommon. More than 300 have been discovered so far. Astronomers found a moon for 2018 EB when it swept closest to Earth on October 7.