SUNSET: 
Uranus & Neptune: Thin Weather Layers
The solar system's "ice giants" display surprisingly energetic weather patterns — and a new analysis suggests they're all confined to a very thin outer layer on each planet.
Kepler Goes Down — and Probably Out
NASA's revolutionary planet-hunting spacecraft suffered malfunction this week that leaves it unable to point precisely at its target stars.
Brilliant GRB Blast with an Amateur Twist
An exceptionally powerful gamma-ray burst on April 27th wowed astronomers around the world — and its fading was tracked by an alert backyard observer.
Lingering Echoes of Comet S-L 9's Demise
It's been nearly 19 years since fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter. Recent observations show that water delivered by the comet still lingers in the planet's stratosphere.
Saturn is Making Waves
Just as it's coming closest to Earth, the big ringed planet is in the news in multiple ways — including the discovery of a long-lasting hurricane at its north pole.
Has the Mars 3 Lander Been Found?
New images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter appear to show the Soviet Union's Mars 3 lander, which mysteriously fell silent just seconds after reaching the Red Planet's surface in 1971.
NASA to Snag a Near-Earth Asteroid
Not content to let private companies have all the fun in asteroid exploration and exploitation, NASA managers have proposed a high-flying mission that would capture a small asteroid and dispatch astronauts to study it — all within the next decade.
Aging Telescope Finds Baby Stars
The Herschel Space Telescope, now approaching its final days, has helped astronomers spot one of the earliest stages of star formation.
Possible Dark Matter Signal?
Scientists using an instrument aboard the International Space Station have measured a signal that might come from dark matter — or might not.
Is Saturn's Family Showing Its Age?
A detailed analysis of Cassini images suggests that the rings of moons of Saturn are ancient creations that in recent times have been coated to varying degrees by a dark, reddish patina.
Mission Planning for the Public
A NASA web-based tool plots trajectories to your favorite planet or near-Earth object.
Planck: Best Map Yet of Cosmic Creation
Planck mission scientists have released the first half of their observations of the cosmic microwave background. The results are a stunning confirmation of today's standard model for how the universe formed and grew. But they also raise some head-scratchers.
Curiosity Wades Into Mudstone and More
In the six months since it landed onto the floor of Gale crater, NASA's newest rover has found plenty of evidence that this bit of Mars was soaking wet — and probably more than once.
Radar Reveals Martian Flood Channels
Using a ground-penetrating radar instrument, researchers have "unearthed" new details about one of the Red Planet's most recent catastrophic floods.
Watching GRAIL's Demise
When a pair of small spacecraft crashed into a mountain on the Moon last December 17th, NASA's eagle-eyed Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter looked on — and recorded not only the debris kicked up by each impact but also the tiny craters they made.
Mars has Front-Row Seat for 2014 Comet
Comet Siding Spring (C/2013 A1) has a small chance of striking the Red Planet in October 2014. It'll likely miss — but come close enough to put on a spectacular show for spacecraft on or near the planet.
Earth Briefly Gains Third Radiation Belt
Last September, just days after launching twin spacecraft deep into Earth's magnetosphere, space physicists discovered a third region of trapped high-energy particles in the Van Allen radiation belts.
Black Hole Caught Spinning?
X-ray observations of a distant supermassive black hole might end a decades-long debate over the nature of these X-ray signals. But not everyone’s convinced that the observations are what they appear to be.
Tiny Telescopes Launch
Successfully launched February 25th, a pair of diminutive telescopes inside basketball-size cubes will give scientists new views of the brightest stars in the galaxy.
Curiosity Digs In During Drill Test
Six months after landing inside Gale crater, NASA's beefy rover finished the last major equipment check when it drilled deeply into a Martian rock.
