Space News - Articles About NASA and Space

The sun launched this coronal mass ejection at some 900 miles/second (nearly 1,500 km/s) on Aug. 31, 2012. The Earth is not this close to the sun; the image is for scale purposes only.

What are coronal mass ejections?

By Giles Sparrow published 2 June 22

A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a vast cloud of electrically charged particles that the sun releases with a huge burst of speed.

An artist's illustration of a distant asteroid near Earth.

Blue-whale-size asteroid to screech past Earth in close encounter on June 6

By Brandon Specktor published 2 June 22

An asteroid up to three times the size of a blue whale will sail past Earth on June 6, 2022.

artist's impression of an alien spaceship near Earth

4 hostile alien civilizations may lurk in the Milky Way, a new study suggests

By Brandon Specktor published 31 May 22

New research calculates the odds that humans will contact a 'malicious' alien civilization that wants to invade our planet. Don't worry, the chances are incredibly small.

This image shows the aurora borealis (northern lights) - a mix of green, purple, and blue lights - in the starry night sky above the snow-topped mountains in Alaska.

Do extraterrestrial auroras occur on other planets?

By Joanna Thompson published 31 May 22

Auroras don't just exist on Earth. Here's what we know about auroras on other planets in the solar system.

It's theoretically possible to travel faster than the speed of light if you manipulate space around the spaceship.

Warp drive experiment to turn atoms invisible could finally test Stephen Hawking's most famous prediction

By Ben Turner published 28 May 22

The experiment will investigate the Unruh effect, which is produced by a mixture of quantum mechanics and special relativity

A time-lapse image of asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) passing by Earth on May 27, 2022.

Mile-wide asteroid, the largest yet of 2022, flies safely by Earth

By Elizabeth Howell published 27 May 22

A mile-wide asteroid passed by Earth on Friday (May 27) at a distance about 10 times that of the space between the Earth and moon.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft took this enhanced color image of Pluto on July 14, 2015.

When will Pluto complete its first orbit since its discovery?

By Elizabeth Howell published 27 May 22

Astronomers will have to wait a while to celebrate the first complete orbit of Pluto since its discovery.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 48 Starlink internet satellites launches from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida on March 9, 2022.

Chinese scientists call for plan to destroy Elon Musk's Starlink satellites

By Ben Turner published 27 May 22

Microwave jammers, mini-satellites and space lasers could all be used to scuttle Starlink

Now up for bid: Cockroach carcasses and the Apollo 11 moon dust extracted from their stomachs, the result of a 1969 NASA biological test in search of dangerous "moon bugs."

Cockroach-eaten Apollo 11 moon dust goes up for auction

By Robert Z. Pearlman published 26 May 22

For sale: One small sample of the moon brought back to Earth in 1969 by the Apollo 11 astronauts. Condition: Well-traveled and once digested.

These star trails are from the Eta Aquarids meteor shower of 2020, as seen from Cordoba, Argentina, at its peak on May 6.

A 'meteor storm' of 1,000 shooting stars per hour may light up the skies over North America tonight

By Elizabeth Howell published 26 May 22

The Tau Herculids could bring up a meteor storm, but there's a good chance it won't happen at all.

An artist's interpretation of exoplanets orbiting a distant star.

China is looking for 'other Earths' to colonize

By Ben Turner published 26 May 22

The proposed project plans to use a controversial technique to spot habitable planets.

Shattered comet could produce dazzling meteor shower: How to watch the tau Herculids

By Ben Turner published 26 May 22

The comet was lost for over forty years

Watch 'potentially hazardous' asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) blow past Earth this Friday

By Brandon Specktor published 25 May 22

The 'potentially hazardous' asteroid 7335 (1989 JA) will make a close approach to Earth on Friday, May 27. Here's how to watch live.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket will once again take to the skies in 2022.

How do space rockets work without air?

By Elizabeth Howell published 25 May 22

Here's the science of how rockets launch off Earth and zoom around space with no oxygen.

A photo of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 on August 16, 1989.

Neptune: The farthest planet from our sun

By Patrick Pester published 24 May 22

Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun in our solar system and home to blistering winds and diamond rain.

Artist's concept of a pulsar. There is a small blue sphere in the center with light pulsing out from the NW and SE areas of the pulsar.

What are pulsars?

By Paul Sutter published 24 May 22

Reference Pulsars are the ultradense cores of gigantic stars that emit beams of radio waves in regular pulses, like cosmic lighthouses.

Reference

A meteor shower outburst from a shattered comet may spawn a new tau Herculids display on May 30

By Joe Rao published 24 May 22

The tau Herculids from comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann which began to fragment in 1995 may make an appearance on the night of May 30-31.

A prism splitting white light into the color spectrum (rainbow).

What is visible light?

By Jim Lucas published 23 May 22

Reference Visible light is a type of electromagnetic radiation between the infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths, and it can be detected by cells in the human eye.