Solar system

Total eclipses, lunar occultations, planetary conjunctions and meteor showers await stargazers this year

New laboratory studies could shed light on a rock containing potential signs of alien life that’s stranded on Mars

New experiments show how RNA might form not just on Earth but on other rocky planets, too

An idea about the sun’s magnetic field called the terminator model could help predict dangerous space weather more accurately

As far as annual meteor showers are concerned, 2025 has saved the best for last. This year’s Geminids are not to be missed

New work pinpoints the origins of the planet Theia, whose ancient collision with Earth likely produced the moon

NASA’s presumptive next leader wants to outsource more of the space agency’s interplanetary science. The newly launched ESCAPADE mission to Mars offers a sanity check for those plans

In a new book, NASA astrobiologist Caleb Scharf says the fate of life on Earth may hinge on leaving our planet behind

Humans have been in space onboard the ISS continuously for 25 years. As the station nears its end, new commercial habitats are lining up to take its place

A comet’s brightness depends on how it’s made, how and when we see it, and even a bit of unpredictable luck

Former NASA officials warn that the U.S. looks poised to lose its self-declared race to beat China to the moon

Data from the James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories suggests a supervolcanic exomoon may lurk around the giant exoplanet WASP-39b