For years, astronomers have predicted a dramatic fate for our galaxy: a head-on collision with Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbor. This merger—expected in about 5 billion years—has become a…
Category: Planetary Science
Milky Way’s chance of colliding with galaxy billions of years from now? New study puts odds at 50-50
In this combination of images from NASA/ESA shows three future scenarios for Milky Way & Andromeda encounter. Top left: Galaxies bypass at 1 million light-year separation. Top right: At 500,000…
Mars Odyssey orbiter captures volcano peeking above morning cloud tops
Arsia Mons, an ancient Martian volcano, was captured before dawn on May 2, 2025, by NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter while the spacecraft was studying the Red Planet’s atmosphere, which…
Private lunar lander from Japan falls silent while attempting a moon touchdown
This image taken from video shows flight controllers at ispace Mission Control in Tokyo awaiting confirmation of their private lunar lander touching down on the moon Friday, June 6, 2025.…
Private Japanese lunar lander heads toward a touchdown in the moon’s far north
This image provided by ispace, inc. shows the Resilience lander circling the moon, Wednesday June 4, 2025. Credit: ispace, inc. via AP A private lunar lander from Japan is closing…
‘Crazy idea’ about cooling effects of Pluto’s haze confirmed by new Webb data
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured this image of Pluto’s surface shrouded in atmospheric haze. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI The first observations of Pluto by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal dramatic…
Northern lights could be visible again in some US states after weekend solar storms
An aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is seen in the night sky over the Tallinn bay of the Baltic sea in Tallinn, Estonia, April 2, 2025. Credit:…
Trump says withdrawing Musk ally as nominee to head NASA
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was withdrawing his nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk, to lead space agency…
Elon Musk promises more risky launches after sixth Starship failure
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain What goes up must come down, and earlier this week yet another of SpaceX’s Starships, the biggest and most powerful type of rocket ever built, came…