Astronomy

Astronomers have found high-altitude clouds formed from quartz crystals on the gas-giant world WASP-17b

The James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared gaze sheds new light on the Orion nebula, an icon of the night sky

The sun’s magnetic poles are about to reverse as part of a regular 11-year sunspot activity cycle

Thirty years ago, astronomer Carl Sagan convinced NASA to turn a passing space probe’s instruments on Earth to look for life — with results that still reverberate today

Slow-moving stars at the Milky Way’s outskirts suggest our galaxy may be far lighter than previously believed, with profound implications for dark matter

The European Space Agency says a software patch restored stability to its cosmos-mapping Euclid spacecraft — but slower operations could extend the mission

Of the thousands of stars visible to the eye, only a few hundred are known to have planets. But that number may be far higher in reality

At times, the enormous BlueWalker 3 telecommunications satellite is brighter than some of the most iconic stars visible from Earth

This annular solar eclipse will only reveal its full glory to a select few, but onlookers across much of the Western Hemisphere can catch a partial glimpse of the dazzling phenomenon

Astronomers have a new term to describe the pain associated with the loss of access to dark skies: noctalgia

The equinox is not when day and night have equal lengths. Instead it’s something more nuanced but no less glorious

A new NASA instrument allows researchers to view the bright and permanently shadowed portions of the moon’s Shackleton Crater at the same time