Space, features and articles | Educational Science

May 31, 2020

The 'mole' on Mars is finally underground after a push from NASA's InSight lander

There's a light at the end of the tunnel for the first mole to burrow into the surface of Mars, scientists hope. Not a furry mole, of course; the term is the nickname for the instrument formally known as the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package on board NASA's InSight...

May 31, 2020

Watch a rocket launch triple header from SpaceX, Rocket Lab and Japan tonight. Here's how.

In the next 24 hours, no less than three rockets — built by Interstellar Technologies, Rocket Lab and SpaceX — will launch from three different countries in a space age triple-header. But if you want to watch them all online, you're going to need to stay up late (or rise...

May 31, 2020

SpaceX launches 58 Starlink satellites and 3 Planet SkySats, nails rocket landing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched its first rideshare mission into orbit today (June 13), lofting a new batch of 58 Starlink internet satellites along with three small Earth-observation satellites before nailing a Falcon 9 rocket landing at sea. It was a mostly clear morning, with just a few...

May 31, 2020

An annular solar eclipse is happening on the summer solstice. (But no, it’s not the end of days.)

Editor's Note: This article was updated to correct the date of the solstice. It was June 20, not 21. The summer solstice isn't the only celestial event on the books this weekend. An annular solar eclipse dubbed the ring of fire will also awe skygazers as the moon passes between...

Apr 30, 2020

These Lego 'Star Wars' helmets are perfect for your Dark Side life

Lego Star Wars Day Offer (Image credit: Lego)Lego is offering a free Death Star II Battle set for Star Wars purchases above $75 for May the Fourth 2020. Deal ends May 4. It's time to suit up for Star Wars Day — that annual May the Fourth (be with you)...

Apr 30, 2020

Astronomers discover closest black hole to Earth. And you can 'see' it.

A newfound black hole may be the closest black hole to Earth, and you can spot its cosmic home in the night sky without a telescope. The black hole, which is lurking 1,000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Telescopium, belongs to a system with two companion stars...

Apr 30, 2020

Massive piece of Chinese space junk slams uncontrolled into Earth's atmosphere

A 19.6-ton (17,800 kilograms) Chinese rocket slammed into our planet today (May 11). The bulky Long March 5B became the heaviest orbiting thing to fall uncontrolled to Earth in nearly three decades, according to Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astrophysicist and orbital object tracker. The last time a heavier object had...

Apr 30, 2020

Launch of secret X-37B space plane delayed by bad weather

The U.S. Space Force's next secret mission of a robotic X-37B space plane has been delayed at least 24 hours after bad weather thwarted a launch attempt today (May 16). An Atlas V rocket was scheduled to launch the X-37B from a pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station...

Apr 30, 2020

Space Force launches robotic X-37B space plane on new mystery mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The U.S. Space Force's mysterious X-37B space plane successfully launched on its sixth mystery mission from Florida today (May 17). Riding atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the clandestine craft blasted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station here...

Apr 30, 2020

Russian military satellite launch spawns space-junk fireball over Australia (video)

EPIC!! Check out this incredible vision captured by Mel Aldridge not long ago at Cashmore near Portland! We're getting plenty of reports. @abcmelbourne pic.twitter.com/1KuldCy6OJMay 22, 2020 See more Russia launched a military satellite to orbit on Friday (May 22), and the mission generated plenty of action in the downward direction...

Apr 30, 2020

Ancient 'ring of fire' galaxy found glaring at Earth across space and time

Eleven billion years ago, a hot, active, galaxy that looked like an eye glared across space. Now, using data from the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have captured a snapshot of its unblinking gaze. This galaxy, R5519, is made up of a flat ring...

Apr 30, 2020

Mysterious 'Fermi Bubbles' may be the result of black hole indigestion 6 million years ago

The center of the Milky Way is a puzzle of invisible, interconnected blobs. There are swooping tendrils of energy visible only in radio wavelengths, hourglass-shaped scars of X-ray light and — towering over it all — the mysterious Fermi Bubbles. These twin orbs of gas, dust and cosmic rays emerge...

Apr 30, 2020

SpaceX successfully launches two NASA astronauts into orbit for historic flight

Amid an uncertain weather forecast, SpaceX successfully launched two NASA astronauts toward the International Space Station today (May 30). Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley became the first U.S. astronauts to head into orbit from American soil since 2011, when the Space Shuttle program ended and NASA astronauts began relying...

Apr 30, 2020

Sun unleashes biggest flare since 2017. Is our star waking up?

The sun may be coming out of its slumber at long last. On Friday morning (May 29), our star fired off its strongest flare since October 2017, an eruption spotted by NASA's sun-watching Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Solar flares are bursts of radiation that originate from sunspots, temporary dark and...

Mar 31, 2020

How to see tonight's pink supermoon, the largest full moon of 2020

Tonight's pink moon must have not gotten the memo about social distancing; the moon will be the closest to Earth today than any other day of the year, making it the largest full moon of 2020. Granted, the moon is more than the prerequisite 6 feet (1.8 meters) away from...