Space

There are eight phases in the lunar cycle and the moon is in one of them every night. What are these phases of the moon?

By Valerie Stimac

The solar system's largest planet will pass closest to Earth at the same time it's at opposition. That means it will be the biggest and brightest it's been in the sky in decades.

By Patty Rasmussen

Debris on Mars comes from three main sources: inactive spacecraft, discarded hardware and crashed spacecraft. What risk does this trash pose to current and future missions?

By Cagri Kilic

In 2022, the full moon, called the hunter's moon, will occur Oct. 9. Why is it called that and when can you see it?

By Valerie Stimac

UFOs and UAPs both refer to unidentified objects in the sky, but scientists prefer the term UAP. And that's because when we hear UFO, we automatically assume aliens.

By Allison Troutner & Austin Henderson

The two passengers might not be human, but they have a job to do. They're manning Artemis I to be zero gravity indicators.

By Kristen Hall-Geisler

The August 2023 full moon is known as the sturgeon moon. This year, it's also a supermoon and will be followed by a blue moon at the end of the month!

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Recently, there's been a spike in UFO sightings — officially UAP, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena — all over the world and nobody seems to know why or what the objects we're seeing might be.

By Jennifer Walker-Journey

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his brother plan to blast into space next month. But even if you're not related to a billionaire, you can still experience the fun of space at a 'down-to-Earth' price.

By Valerie Stimac

Yep, two small-bodied Russian tortoises made it to the moon and back before man did.

By Mark Mancini

The Chinese space station Tiangong, now with its first crew of astronauts, is scheduled for completion in 2022. What does that mean for the future of the aging International Space Station and multinational space cooperation?

By Patrick J. Kiger & Desiree Bowie

On July 20, 2021, Wally Funk will blast off. Her trip to space has been delayed since 1961, when the 'Mercury 13' Woman in Space Program was cancelled.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

Today, Blue Origin flew its billionaire founder Jeff Bezos and three others into space, a week after Virgin Galactic flew its billionaire founder Richard Branson on the same mission. Will space tourism be more than a millionaire's hobby?

By Valerie Stimac

Many people dream of climbing Mount Everest, but what if you could scale the highest mountain in the solar system? That one is more than twice as tall as Everest! So, where is it?

By Valerie Stimac

If you imagine the eight major planets in a single line stretching out from the sun, this alignment occurs roughly every 13.4 trillion years. And our solar system is 4.5 billion years old.

By Valerie Stimac

Aldebaran is not just the brightest star in the constellation Taurus, it's also the 14th brightest star in the sky.

By Valerie Stimac

Sonification is the process of taking data and turning it into sound. When it come to the universe we live in, scientists are finding that the sounds are definitely otherwordly and very beautiful.

By Valerie Stimac

University of Florida scientists used lunar soil collected during Apollo 11, 12 and 17 missions to successfully grow plants from seed. It's a first in human history and could help future space colonists grow food on the moon.

By Kimberly M. S. Cartier

The Tau Herculids meteor shower was made of debris from the broken comet SW3 and produced a lot of shooting stars, but not quite the meteor shower that was hoped for.

By Valerie Stimac

From sporting goods to movie memorabilia, members of the space program have been inventive about what they take into space. Here are 10 offbeat items that have taken the ride.

By Laurie L. Dove

Are all the aliens hanging out without us?

By Oisin Curran

After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I in 1957, the space race was on. And what followed was decades of secrecy that dominated its space program.

By Clint Pumphrey

And if we're going to get technical about it, neither do those of us here on Earth.

By Christopher Hassiotis

Energized subatomic particles bombarding Earth from outer space can cause the electronics inside laptops, cell phones and other devices to crash.

By Patrick J. Kiger

And it's just a galactic hop, skip and a jump away.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.