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Back to list of articles The robotic mission marks a historic first for China and could help unravel the mysteries of the Moon's formation. The Chang'e 6 lander sits on the Moon in this image taken by the Jinchan mini-rover. Credit: CNSA On June 25, 2024, China’s Chang’e 6 mission came to an end when
Back to list of articles It's harder than ever to escape light pollution, but doing so has never been more rewarding. Credit: Molly Wakeling Have you ever seen the Milky Way? Only 20 percent of the U.S. population lives in a place where they can. Away from light pollution, the wide, ghostly band almost looks
The VIPER, equipped with headlights, would have been the first robotic lunar rover capable of operating at night. Credit: NASA To the surprise of the lunar scientific community, on July 17, NASA… cancelled the long-awaited VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission, which was expected to search for water ice on the Moon, a critical
JWST obtained direct images of the gas giant planet Epsilon Indi Ab by blocking the light from its host star (located where the white star symbol is located). Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, STScI, E. Matthews (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy) A case of cosmic mistaken identity has led astronomers to find a new exoplanet where
Late summer is an ideal time to take a visual journey through our Milky Way. Credit: Stuart Atkinson Summer in the Northern Hemisphere is a frustrating time for many amateur astronomers. The nights never get dark enough to easily see the faint, fuzzy galaxies and nebulas they enjoy gazing at through their telescopes, and there
Massive galaxy clusters, like the one shown in this Hubble Space Telescope image, can help astronomers test theories about dark matter and dark energy. Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA, RELICS Our universe is shrouded in mystery, as approximately 70 percent of it is composed of dark energy. The exact nature of dark energy remains a mystery
Mission commander Eileen Collins reviews a checklist on the space shuttle Columbia in 1999. Credit: NASA. Twenty-five years ago, Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a space flight. A test pilot, mathematician, and pioneer, this soft-spoken Air Force colonel commanded the space shuttle Columbia when it roared into the post-midnight darkness of Florida
Back to list of articles Curiosity crossed the Gediz Vallis canal and passed over a rock that opened and revealed crystals of pure yellow sulfur. The sulfur crystals, as observed on May 30, are elemental sulfur, or pure sulfur. Curiosity determined what the crystals were made of. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA's Curiosity rover made an unexpected
The Gegenschein rests on the tip of the fainter, pyramid-shaped false zodiacal light. Credit: Stephen James O'Meara In April 1961, Galaxy The magazine contained an article titled “The Enigma Called Gegenschein” by German-American science writer Willy Ley. Referring to the mystery of who was the first to identify the faint glow of the Gegenschein, Ley
Back to list of articles Archival Cassini data reveal ripples in bodies of liquid ethane and methane. Composite image of Titan taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA. An international team of planetary scientists studied archival data from the Cassini spacecraft, designed to study Saturn and its satellites, which yielded new clues about three strange
