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First images from ExoMars mission
A camera on board ESA's ExoMars mission has returned its first images from orbit. It was meant to be a test, but the images are spectacular.
November 29, 2016
Supernovas and ultra-diffuse galaxies
These strange galaxies have 1,000 times fewer stars than the Milky Way, yet occupy a large space. Astronomers used an advanced computer simulation to show that supernova explosions helped create them.
November 29, 2016
IAU approves 227 star names
The International Astronomical Union - which has given itself responsibility to name and define things in space - has now joined the rest of us in recognizing traditional star names.
November 28, 2016
How long to orbit Milky Way’s center?
One journey of our sun and planets around the center of our Milky Way galaxy is sometimes called a cosmic year. That's approximately 225-250 million Earth-years.
November 28, 2016
Vast underground water ice on Mars
Water ice can't persist on Mars surface in the region of Utopia Planitia, about halfway from Mars' equator to its pole. But researchers say there's water in a vast frozen lake underground.
November 26, 2016
Saturn spacecraft prepares to ring-graze
On November 30, the Cassini spacecraft will begin a series of 20 orbits that fly high above and below Saturn's poles, plunging just past the outer edge of the main rings.
November 24, 2016
GoPros go to edge of space
Photog Adventures sent its GoPros to space, captured some stunning views, and then lost the cameras for 15 days. Follow the adventure in this video.
November 23, 2016
New record-breaking Milky Way satellite
It's record-breaking because it's so faint. Could this galaxy be a sign of many yet-unknown dwarf galaxies orbiting our Milky Way? And do we now have a way to detect them? Astronomical theorists hope so!
November 21, 2016
A new major supercluster of galaxies
The Vela supercluster had gone unnoticed due to its location behind the plane of the Milky Way, where dust and stars obscure the view.
November 21, 2016
What happens if the sun disappears?
Some things that would happen here on Earth if our giant source of heat and light were to vanish from the sky, and how long it would take.
November 19, 2016
