The Solar System

A total solar eclipse is a rare event that can be an amazing thing to witness. Learn about solar eclipses and how to observe one safely.

By Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

But don't buy your lakefront property just yet.

By Patrick J. Kiger

It's a celestial gift in the middle of August. Just look up for a spectacular sight.

By Christopher Hassiotis

Every April, the Lyrid meteor shower fills the sky with shooting stars. Here's how to see them in 2023.

By Mark Mancini

The wait is over. NASA confirms Mars is seismically active.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

The idea of planet Nibiru has captivated doomsday prophets and conspiracy theorists for decades, but nobody has proven its existence. What's the deal?

By Mark Mancini

Jupiter has been notoriously bad about revealing any water deep in its thick atmosphere. That's changing though.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

Do they even look different?

By Mark Mancini

Back in 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided to demote Pluto to the status of a dwarf planet. A historical study challenges that designation.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Astronomers have just discovered a gas in Uranus' clouds that does nothing to help the planet being taken seriously.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

A billion years ago, the moon stopped being geologically active. But that's not to say that the moon is doing nothing for Earth. Let's find out why we owe our moon some thank yous.

By Kate Kershner

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

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

A lunar land rush is the most likely thing in the world (or, rather, out of it). As private companies gaze spaceward with dollar signs in their eyes, it's time to start settling some questions about space ownership, use and management.

By Nicholas Gerbis

Some scientists think the existence of plate tectonics could be a prerequisite for life. So do they exist on other planets outside of Earth?

By Mark Mancini

Once upon a time, the sun caught an interstellar orphan and adopted it as its own. It's named 2015 BZ 509.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

To define the location of objects in the sky, astronomers utilize a system of celestial coordinates, which extends latitude and longitude from Earth's surface into space.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Yep, 'Oumuamua was probably kicked out of its own star system by an overbearing gas giant like Jupiter.

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

Take that, stars!

By Ian O'Neill, Ph.D.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a supermoon! Aside from being bigger and brighter than a regular moon, does a supermoon affect anything on Earth?

By Patrick J. Kiger

The European Space Agency's Gaia satellite observatory has created a 3-D model of the Milky Way — and beyond! — that charts more than a billion stars.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Say hello to the newly discovered TRAPPIST-1 system, which is just 39 light-years away and filled with seven Earth-like planets.

By Jonathan Strickland

The rings of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune may be remnants of smaller planets destroyed long ago by the gas giants' powerful gravity.

By Patrick J. Kiger

And solving that issue could go a long way toward making our planetary neighbor habitable.

By Jonathan Strickland