Space

But what?

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

Researchers at the Zwicky Transient Facility have found an asteroid in Earth's orbit. And this one has the shortest year yet.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

Did you know that a moon can leave its orbit around a large planet and go out on its own?

By Patrick J. Kiger

While alcohol consumption is not completely alien to the space program, not much is known about its effects on the body outside our atmosphere.

By Patrick J. Kiger

You know Apollo 11. But what did the other Apollo missions accomplish after Neil Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind?

By Mark Mancini

As the search for Planet Nine wears on, and astronomers have yet to get so much as a glimpse of it, researchers are pondering what else the object might be.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

Polaris, also known as the North Star, is almost exactly over the celestial North Pole, making it extremely useful for navigation (and for making wishes on, as well).

By Patrick J. Kiger

In the early days of the space race, several animals went into orbit, including dogs, chimps and one intrepid cat. Who was this forgotten feline from the French space program?

By Nathan Chandler

Nobody's nose knows better than NASA's George Aldrich. He's the longest-serving member of the space agency's odor panel, which basically sniffs and smells everything that goes up into space.

By John Donovan

When you think about massive, mysterious cosmic bodies like accretion disks, the water swirling around your bathtub probably isn't the first thing to come to mind. But hey, physics works the same magic on all scales.

By Kate Kershner

The history of space exploration is full of firsts: first animal in space, first human on the moon, first probe to reach mars. But as they say, you've got to look before you leap. So what was the first telescope launched into space?

By Kate Kershner

We like to think that we aren't alone in saying a spaceship was the one and only thing we truly yearned for as children. After all, many spent years locked in front of a television, captivated by remarkable space battles, galaxies far, far away, aliens, black holes, and the like. We've seen things you couldn't [...] The post The Coolest Spaceships in Science Fiction appeared first on Goliath.

By Jim Halden

Precipitation does fall from the clouds of other planets, but it's a little more exotic than the rainwater we get here on Earth. Imagine sheets of methane, sulfuric acid and, yes, diamonds falling from the sky.

By Alison Cooper

Using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, a team of scientists discovered what could very well be the first exoplanet outside the Milky Way. It's massive and might even orbit a black hole.

By Valerie Stimac

NASA's DART spacecraft hit its mark Monday, Sept. 26 after years of planning. The bullseye was asteroid Dimorphos. Here's what NASA hopes to learn now.

By Patrick J. Kiger

The gegenschein, "faint light" in German, occurs under very specific astronomical conditions when the sun reaches the exact opposite of Earth from wherever you're stargazing.

By Valerie Stimac

Astronomers at Haleakalā Observatory in Hawaii noted a bright X-ray emission in 2018, which persisted for three weeks and glowed ten times more brightly than previously studied supernovas, but are just now beginning to understand it.

By Valerie Stimac

Not sure what you're seeing in the night sky? Astronomy software such as Stellarium makes stargazing easier by helping to explain what you're seeing when you look at the stars.

By Valerie Stimac

Surprisingly, the solar system isn't odorless - it has a distinct scent that some astronauts like and others think is stinky. So, what does it smell like and why?

By Valerie Stimac

Do you love looking at beautiful pictures of the night sky? How do space photographers get those shots? And could you join their ranks?

By Valerie Stimac

And this month's buck moon is extra-special because it is a supermoon!

By Valerie Stimac

Blood moons always bring out the stargazers though they aren't that rare. So what makes blood moons red? And do they differ from lunar eclipses?

By Valerie Stimac

When December's moongazing rolls around, you'll want to take a look at the cold moon, an appropriate moniker if there ever was one.

By Valerie Stimac

This doughnut-shaped ring around the sun is home to millions of comets, moons, dwarf planets and other celestial objects. What are these objects doing in the Kuiper belt?

By Valerie Stimac

Head's up, stargazers! Mark your calendars for the 22 must-see events this year.

By Martha Sandoval