Harry Baker

Prospective ESA astronaut and former British Paralympian John McFall has passed the medical assessment needed for a long-term stay on the ISS. If selected for a future mission, he will become the first physically disabled person in space.

Earth from space This Google Maps image captured in 2021 revealed a mysterious, triangular dark patch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, sparking bizarre rumors about its origin. However, it turned out to be a small island with incredibly dense tree coverage.

New simulations reveal that around 1 million "macroscopic" objects from our closest stellar neighbors, the Alpha Centauri system, may already reside in the Oort Cloud, far from sight.

Here's everything you need to know about the potentially hazardous asteroids that come worryingly close to our planet.

Researchers believe they have rediscovered a mysterious star system first spotted in 2011. If true, the alien sun and its exoplanet companion are speeding through our galaxy at more than 1.2 million mph. However, it is unclear if this is really the case.

A French astrophotographer recently snapped shots of the moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in a single evening, and rearranged them to create a striking composite image. Each "planetary parade" member was captured with the same magnification, meaning they are perfectly scaled.

Data collected from a once-defunct NASA satellite show that Earth grew two extra radiation belts following a supercharged geomagnetic storm in May 2024, including a never-before-seen structure that is "likely still there today," researchers say.

Earth from space This 2023 satellite photo shows the heart-shaped Spirit Lake, which was transformed by the cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

A French astrophotographer has captured a stunning photo of Venus and the moon shining above the Eiffel Tower in Paris, thanks to a rare "parade of planets."

A photographer on Earth has captured an incredible telescope image of NASA astronaut Suni Williams outside of the International Space Station, as it passed by roughly 250 miles overhead.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has discovered a giant volcanic hot spot on the surface of Jupiter's hellish moon Io. The eruptions in this area are chucking out six times the energy being produced by all Earth's power stations, researchers say.

Earth from space A 2022 satellite photo shows a shimmering trail of dried, chemically-enriched mud left behind by a torrent of wastewater that flooded a South African mining town, killing three people.

Astronomers have retracted the discovery of a new asteroid after realizing the object was the remains of Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster and its driver "Starman," which were launched into space in 2018.

Astronauts on board China's "heavenly palace" space station have demonstrated a new way of making rocket fuel products and breathable oxygen by mimicking a chemical reaction in plants. The technology could be utilized in China's planned moon base.

Earth from space This 2022 satellite photo shows the summit of "one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes," Mount Vesuvius, peering up through a strange gap in the clouds.

The record-breaking winds are circling the nearby "puffy" exoplanet WASP-127b, and are traveling six times faster than the alien world spins.

Images captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory have revealed that "coronal loops" give off subtle flashes of ultraviolet light before a solar flare, which could act as an early warning system for dangerous space weather.

A new study suggests that the explosive deaths of the universe's earliest stars created surprising quantities of water that may have sparked extraterrestrial life in the very first galaxies.

New photos of comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) suggest that it could be disintegrating due to "thermal stress" from its recent slingshot around the sun. However, its fate is still unclear.

Data collected by NASA's InSight lander suggest that ancient internal processes are responsible for the "Martian dichotomy" that splits the Red Planet into two distinct halves.

The new composite image, which combines hundreds of photos from the Hubble Space Telescope, shows the Andromeda Galaxy with more than 200 million individually resolved stars.