Earth's Place in the Universe
- Space
Dark galaxy
Astronomers have spied a massive galaxy that appears to contain no stars.
By Emily Sohn - Space
Black hole journey
Research on weird, invisible objects called black holes might help explain how the universe began.
By Emily Sohn - Space
Baby star
Astronomers have observed the earliest twinkles ever picked up from a newborn star.
By Emily Sohn - Space
A dusty birthplace
Evidence of separate bands of dust suggests the presence of a planet orbiting a young star.
By Emily Sohn - Space
Clash of the galaxies
An X-ray image unveils an immense collision between two huge clusters of galaxies.
By Emily Sohn - Planets
A very distant planet says “cheese”
A small red spot may be the first picture ever taken of a planet outside the solar system.
By Emily Sohn - Space
Searching for alien life
A robot rover practices looking for alien life by trekking across the world's driest desert.
By Emily Sohn - Earth
Deep drilling at sea
Drilling holes deep into the seafloor unveils the ocean's past and hints at Earth's future.
- Space
Burst busters
A powerful type of explosion in outer space is much more common, but not always as powerful, as astronomers had thought.
By Emily Sohn - Planets
Ringing Saturn
The Cassini spacecraft has arrived at Saturn to start exploring the planet and its rings and moons.
By Emily Sohn - Planets
Catching a Comet’s Tail
A closeup visit by a NASA spacecraft helps show how a comet gets its shape.
- Space
Asteroid lost and found
A long-lost asteroid that came close to Earth in 1937 has been spotted again.
By Emily Sohn