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Space

An illustration of what it might have looked like just before the InSight lander touched down on Mars. Pictured: a saucer shaped lander with three legs close the the Martian surface

This is an artist’s view of what it might have looked like when the InSight was about to touch down on Mars. The craft successfully landed November 26 on the Red Planet.

JPL-CALTECH/NASA

Space
 
Nov 28, 2018
Quake-scouting lander safely touches down on Mars
an illustration of the Kepler space telescope in space

Here’s an artist’s depiction of the Kepler space telescope at work scouting planets orbiting distant stars. Over its lifetime, this spacecraft turned up more than 2,700.

NASA

Space
 
Nov 1, 2018
R.I.P. Kepler, the planet-hunting telescope
a photo of the Arecibo radio telescope from the air

The Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico (here) has been used for decades in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). But these efforts have searched only a very tiny portion of the skies, new calculations suggest.

Courtesy NAIC-Arecibo Observatory, an NSF facility

Space
 
Oct 24, 2018
Only a small fraction of space has been searched for aliens
a screen capture from the film "First Man" showing Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong before boarding the Apollo 11 spacecraft

In this image from First Man, Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong walks to the Apollo 11 spacecraft before taking off for his historic moon landing.

Universal Pictures

Space
 
Oct 18, 2018
The movie ‘First Man’ captures early spaceflight's terror
an illustration of a dark exomoon orbiting a bright Jupiter-sized planet

The Hubble Space Telescope may have spotted a Neptune-sized moon orbiting a Jupiter-sized planet, as shown in this illustration.

Dan Durda

Space
 
Oct 17, 2018
Hubble may have spotted a possible ‘exomoon’
fountains of lava erupt behind palm trees at night

At around 8:45 p.m. on May 5, a new fissure from Kilauea began sputtering lava in this residential neighborhood. Within 15 minutes, fountains of molten rock were spewing up to heights of 70 meters (230 feet).

U.S. Geological Survey

Earth
 
Sep 4, 2018
Nine big stories you may have missed this summer
an image of the highest mountains on Pluto

New maps of Pluto show details of the dwarf planet’s mountains. Shown here are the highest mountains. The rise 3 to 6 kilometers (1.9 to 3.7 miles) above the smooth plains called Sputnik Planitia. The plains are made of nitrogen-ice.

Paul Schenk/Lunar and Planetary Institute

Planets
 
Aug 10, 2018
New Horizons data reveal first global maps of Pluto and Charon
an illustration of the Parker Solar Probe flying towards the sun

The Parker Solar Probe (illustrated) will launch in August and journey to the sun. It will fly through the star’s outer atmosphere.

JHU-APL

Space
 
Aug 6, 2018
The Parker Solar Probe aims to touch the sun
closeup of the sun and solar activity

The radius of the sun gets a smidge smaller the sun is most active, a new study finds.

SOLAR DYNAMICS OBSERVATORY/NASA

Space
 
Jul 9, 2018
An active sun is a somewhat smaller sun
053118_lg_pluto-dunes_feat_free.jpg

Pluto’s dunes (center bottom and right) appear along a mountain range in this New Horizons image. The “sand” is made of methane ice.

SWRI, JHU APPLIED PHYSICS LAB, NASA

Planets
 
Jul 5, 2018
Pluto’s heart has dunes of methane ice