SUNSET: 
Meet Betelgeuse, the Red Giant of Orion
Betelgeuse, the brilliant red star at the right shoulder of Orion, is a supergiant whose girth extends out to the orbit of Jupiter.
Dunes on Pluto
Planetary scientists think they’ve found wind-built ripples of methane ice on the king of the Kuiper Belt.
Vesta Gets Close and Bright
Vesta, the brightest asteroid, puts on one of its best shows ever in June, when it shines enough to see without optical aid.
Known Close Stellar Encounters Surge in Number
A new analysis of our stellar neighborhood reveals 7 times as much nearby stellar traffic as previously known.
Disentangling the History of the Magellanic Clouds
The Magellanic Clouds — two nearby dwarf galaxies easily visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere — are key to understanding the dynamics and evolution of the Local Group of galaxies. Can an in-depth look at these galaxies’ outer regions help us make sense of their complicated interaction history?
A Magnifying Glass for a Pulsar
Astronomers have discovered a pulsar that comes with its own magnifying glass — courtesy of its brown dwarf companion that’s being torn to shreds.
Did This Wrong-way Asteroid Come from Beyond the Solar System?
An intriguing asteroid was spotted traveling backwards around Jupiter back in 2015. Now a team of researchers think it could have formed around another star.
Radio Experiment Launches With China's Moon Orbiter
A Dutch radio astronomy experiment hitched a ride today with China's relay satellite for the upcoming Chang'e 4 mission.
Antares Launch to Light Up Sunday Morning Sky
The Cygnus OA-9 mission launching from Wallops Island early Sunday morning could put on quite a show along the East Coast.
Early Star Formation Presents New Cosmic Mystery
New observations suggest that stars were forming just 250 million years after the Big Bang — a record-breaker that will likely open a new line of cosmological inquiry.
Helicopter to Hitch a Ride with Mars 2020 Rover
A small helicopter will be the first mission to fly through the skies of Mars.
NASA's Galileo Measures Plumes on Jupiter's Moon Europa
A new analysis of decades-old data from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, which reached the Jupiter system in 1995, shows the best evidence yet for plumes from the icy moon Europa.
60-Second Astro News: 3D View of Star-Forming Cloud & A Cloud-Free Exoplanet
This week in astronomy news: Researchers discover the first completely cloud-free exoplanet and a star-forming cloud reveals its structure through vibrations.
The X-ray Legacy of RXTE
The RXTE satellite, which reentered Earth's atmosphere over the tropics on April 30th, leaves behind a legacy of discoveries and data.
Gravitational Waves Shed Light on Neutron Star Interiors
The gravitational-wave detection last year of a neutron star merger has revealed details on neutron star structure, ruling out exotic quark matter in the objects’ cores.
Jupiter Shines with a Mighty Light
Jupiter's at opposition this week. Close and bright, it shines like a midnight version of Venus. No matter your scope, the biggest planet is always a crowd-pleaser.
Mars-bound CubeSats Launch With NASA's InSight
The Mars Cube One mission — the first to send CubeSats into interplanetary space — will test revolutionary relay technologies as it accompanies Mars Insight to the Red Planet.
NASA's InSight Lander Heads to Mars
Rising through thick fog from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NASA's latest mission intends to probe deeply into Mars and decipher how it formed.
Hawking Takes on the Infinite Multiverse
Stephen Hawking’s last paper on cosmology, published posthumously, might solve the problem of eternal inflation, a theory that suggests our cosmos is but one in a sea of infinite universes.
Do Big Black Holes Wander the Galaxy?
New simulation work suggests that galaxies like the Milky Way could be home to a dozen supermassive black holes.
