Look up: It’s a satellite!

"I use the Heavens Above astronomy site or the Starry Night app to check on satellites ... they are fun to spot."

Astronomers find 72 bright and fast explosions

There and gone in a cosmological flash. Astronomers report on 72 bright, quick events found in a recent survey. They're like supernovae, but flash into view, then disappear again much faster.

Earth’s magnetosphere envelops and protects us

A giant bubble of magnetism protects us from the sun's fury. Take 3 minutes to learn about it, in this new NASA ScienceCast video.

Does space weather threaten high-tech life?

The wired Earth of the 21st century is at the mercy of the volatile nature of the sun, says a scientist who studies solar storms.

Astronomers spy most distant star yet

Astronomers call it Lensed Star 1 because gravitational microlensing magnified its light some 2,000 times. That's how they saw it shining from the distant past, only 4.4 billion years after the Big Bang.

Tiangong-1’s fiery death and ocean plunge

Tiangong-1's reentry was confirmed as April 2 at 00:16 UTC (April 1 at 8:16 p.m. EDT). Reentry occurred in the Pacific Ocean, northwest of Tahiti.

Astronomers ponder possible life adrift in Venus’ clouds

On Friday, astronomers announced a new paper laying out the case for the atmosphere of Venus as a possible niche for extraterrestrial microbial life.

Researchers find a galaxy without dark matter

“It’s so rare, particularly these days after so many years of Hubble, that you get an image of something and say, ‘I’ve never seen that before.’"

Astronomers spy runaway star in Small Magellanic Cloud

The star is a rare yellow supergiant. It's speeding across its little galaxy fast enough to travel from Los Angeles to New York in about half a minute.

Kepler solves star explosion mystery

"When I first saw the Kepler data, my jaw dropped. I said, ‘Oh wow!’"

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