Solar system

An underground Martian ocean could hold enough liquid to cover the Red Planet with a mile of water

Early risers get a double sky treat: a Mars and Jupiter conjunction and the Perseid meteor shower will occur at once

Reports of Earth-orbiting astronauts glimpsing the Great Wall of China and many other artificial structures are wildly exaggerated, but humanity’s planetary influence isn’t entirely invisible from afar

A former space agency official argues that cutting a robotic explorer pulls the scientific teeth from the Artemis program

There’s more than one way for a star to die. Some go with a whimper, and some go with a very, very big bang

Space weather is heating up in our current solar cycle peak

NASA’s NEOWISE telescope has searched for asteroids, brown dwarfs and luminous galaxies. The spacecraft will soon burn up in Earth’s atmosphere

An ambitious U.S. government program is working to detect and track millions of tiny space junk pieces—down to the size of a sand grain—throughout low-Earth orbit and beyond

Mysterious “leopard spots” on a Martian rock could be evidence of extraterrestrial life—or of mere lifeless chemistry. Finding out the truth may require bringing the rock back to Earth

It’s possible to see celestial objects during the day, but it’s not always easy

The VIPER lunar rover promised a revolution in our understanding of the moon’s precious deposits of ice. Then NASA cancelled the mission

Material from the moon’s far side collected by China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft could solve a long-standing lunar mystery