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Alex Cherney/CSIRO
Long-dead satellite emits strong radio signal, puzzling astronomers
A NASA satellite that’s been orbiting as space junk since 1967, Relay 2, emitted an unexpected, powerful radio burst that astronomers initially struggled to explain.

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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space company successfully launched its New Shepard crewed flight, NS-33, into space from a launch pad in western Texas less than a day after the company's founder married Lauren Sanchez in a star-studded wedding in Venice. Blue Origin's New Shepard program has flown more than 60 humans and 175 scientific payloads above the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.
• Video 0:55
Blue Origin
Video Bezos’ Blue Origin company launches 13th human flight to space 0:55
Four astronauts launch to the space station as NASA grapples with strange twist in leak issue
Video First look: Rubin Observatory’s images reveal universe like never before 1:07
First images from the largest camera ever built reveal millions of galaxies
Strange signals detected from Antarctic ice seem to defy laws of physics. Scientists are searching for an answer
A massive rocket explosion stirs up talk of setbacks. Are Musk’s Mars ambitions farther than they seem?
A landmark study led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) has pinpointed the Universe’s “missing” matter using Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs)—brief, bright radio signals from distant galaxies—as a guide. This artist’s diagram depicts a bright pulse of radio waves (the FRB) on its journey through the fog between galaxies, known as the intergalactic medium. Long wavelengths (redder colors) are slowed down compared to shorter, bluer wavelengths, allowing astronomers to “weigh” the otherwise invisible ordinary matter.
Melissa Weiss/CfA
A long-standing puzzle of ‘missing’ ordinary matter in the universe may be solved, astronomers say
Solarorbiterfirstimagessunsouthpoleimage2.jpg
• Video 1:30
European Space Agency
Never-before-seen footage shows sun’s south pole 1:30
Our Oort cloud (center), a shell of icy bodies that surrounds the solar system and extends one-and-a-half light years in every direction, is shown in this scene from Encounters in the Milky Way along with the Oort clouds of neighboring stars. The more massive the star, the larger its Oort cloud.
AMNH
Accidental find in planetarium show could shift scientists’ understanding of our solar system
FOSTER CITY, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 22: A passenger plane flies in front of the full 'strawberry' moon over San Francisco Bay as seen from Foster City in California, United States on June 22, 2024. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu/Getty Images
Look up to see June’s full strawberry moon, the Milky Way and multiple planets

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CNN/Adobe Stock
Why scientists say we need to send clocks to the moon — soon
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Chris Meaney/NASA/CIL
Scientists have spotted unexpected X- and C-shaped structures in the atmosphere. They are struggling to explain them
In this photo provided by NASA, Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose for a portrait inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station's Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 13, 2024. (NASA via AP)
NASA/AP
What the two Boeing Starliner astronauts will do in space until 2025
This composite image shows the galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, also known as the "bullet cluster." This cluster was formed after the collision of two large clusters of galaxies, the most energetic event known in the universe since the Big Bang. Hot gas detected by Chandra in X-rays is seen as two pink clumps in the image and contains most of the "normal," or baryonic, matter in the two clusters. The bullet-shaped clump on the right is the hot gas from one cluster, which passed through the hot gas from the other larger cluster during the collision. An optical image from Magellan and the Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxies in orange and white. The blue areas in this image show where astronomers find most of the mass in the clusters. The concentration of mass is determined using the effect of so-called gravitational lensing, where light from the distant objects is distorted by intervening matter. Most of the matter in the clusters (blue) is clearly separate from the normal matter (pink), giving direct evidence that nearly all of the matter in the clusters is dark.
NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markevitch et al.
Scientists may have found an answer to the mystery of dark matter. It involves an unexpected byproduct

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This artist's concept shows what exoplanet K2-18 b could look like based on science data. K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, orbits the cool dwarf star K2-18 in the habitable zone and lies 120 light-years from Earth. A new investigation with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope into K2-18 b has revealed the presence of carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide. The abundance of methane and carbon dioxide, and shortage of ammonia, support the hypothesis that there may be a water ocean underneath a hydrogen-rich atmosphere in K2-18 b.
NASA/CSA/ESA/J. Olmsted (STScI)/N. Madhusudhan (Cambridge University)
A surprising study found hints of biological activity on a distant planet. Now, scientists say there’s more to the story
rendering of the ispace Resilience lunar lander and rover on the moon
ispace
Spacecraft set for a high-stakes lunar landing attempt this week took months to reach the moon. Here’s why
This artist concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way. The galaxy two major arms can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms are less distinct and located between the major arms.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Popular theory about our galaxy’s fate might be wrong, astronomers say
China's Tianwen-2 spacecraft launched atop a Long March-3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province on May 29.
Cai Yang/Xinhua/Sipa USA
China mission lifts off to explore two unusual objects that haven’t been visited by spacecraft before
A wide field composite image shows ASKAP J1832 in X-ray, radio, and infrared light.
NASA/CXC/ICRAR/Curtin University/Z. Wang et al/JPL/CalTech/IPAC/SARAO/MeerKAT/SAO/N. Wolk
Pulsing object in space is ‘unlike anything we have seen before,’ astronomers say
This image, taken with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), shows the molecular gas content of two galaxies involved in a cosmic collision. The one on the right hosts a quasar –– a supermassive black hole that is accreting material from its surroundings and releasing intense radiation directly into the other galaxy.  Astronomers used the X-shooter instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to detect the quasar’s light as it passes through an invisible halo of gas surrounding the galaxy on the left. In doing so, they could observe the damage that this radiation causes to the victim, disrupting its clouds of gas and hampering its ability to form new stars.
ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Balashev and P. Noterdaeme et al.
Galaxies battle in ‘cosmic joust’ witnessed by astronomers for the first time
SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop it's Super Heavy booster is launched on its eighth test at the company's Boca Chica launch pad in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
Joe Skipper/Reuters
SpaceX cleared to launch Starship test flight after two explosive failures
NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, are now traveling through interstellar space at around 35,000 mph (56,000 kph). This artist’s concept depicts one of the probes speeding away.<br />`
JPL-Caltech/NASA
Once ‘dead’ thrusters on the farthest spacecraft from Earth are in action again
NORTH ARLINGTON, NJ - MAY 24: A 96 percent illuminated waning gibbous Flower Moon rises behind the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on May 24, 2024, as seen from North Arlington, New Jersey. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
Gary Hershorn/Corbis News/Getty Images/File
How to see May’s full flower moon
The northern hemisphere of Venus is displayed in this view of the planet created with data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft.
PL-Caltech/NASA
A failed Soviet-era spacecraft likely crashed back to Earth overnight
As it sped away from Venus, NASA's Mariner 10 spacecraft captured this seemingly peaceful view of a planet the size of Earth, wrapped in a dense, global cloud layer. But, contrary to its serene appearance, the clouded globe of Venus is a world of intense heat, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of corrosive acid.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
A Soviet-era spacecraft that failed to reach Venus is due to crash back to Earth this week
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto/Shutterstock (15284727e) The Eta Aquariids meteor shower appears in the night sky in Kandalama, Sri Lanka, on May 5, 2025. The Eta Aquariids are a meteor shower associated with Halley's Comet. The shower is visible from about April 19 to about May 28 each year, with peak activity on or around May 5. Unlike most major annual meteor showers, there is no sharp peak for this shower, but rather a broad maximum with good rates that last approximately one week centered on May 5. The Eta Aquariids Meteor Shower Appears Over The Night Sky In Kandalama, Sri Lanka - 05 May 2025
Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is at its peak. Here’s how to see it
A rupture in the crust of a highly magnetized neutron star, shown here in an artist’s rendering, can trigger high-energy eruptions.
S. Wiessinger/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientists say they’ve found another source of gold in the cosmos
A narrow-band image of the Sun at a wavelength of λ=588.9nm - that of a well known solar sodium line also known as the “NaD line.” The image was acquired during recent first light efforts with the VTF at the Inouye, and shows how precisely the structures within a sunspot are resolved - and imply how thoroughly they can be examined by combining all data (image, spectroscopy, and polarimetry) available from the VTF. Each pixel in the original version of the image corresponds to 10 km (or 6.2 miles) on the Sun.
VTF/KIS/NSF/NSO/AURA
First image from the world’s largest solar telescope captures the sun in unheard-of detail
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off carrying Amazon's Project Kuiper internet network satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., April 28, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper
Joe Skipper/Reuters
Amazon launches Project Kuiper satellites designed to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX
Huge star-forming cloud discovered on Earth’s ‘cosmic doorstep’
Thomas Müller (HdA/MPIA)/Thavisha Dharmawardena (NYU)
Scientists discover massive molecular cloud close to Earth