Astronomy news, features and articles

A curious connection between an ancient supernova and virus diversification in one of Earth's biggest lakes means that crazy cosmic events may have had more influence on our planet than we thought.

In world-first observations, the James Webb Space Telescope is watching two distant alien planets "spilling their guts into space" as they rapidly disintegrate — and scientists are elated at what they've found.

China's Zhurong rover has found evidence of an ancient shoreline buried deep beneath the planet. That could point to an ocean, a beach, and to life.

New research has revealed that Martian dust's red hue comes from reactions that occurred in wet — not dry — conditions, and it could have implications for the possibility of life on the planet.

"Even the strongest hurricanes in the solar system seem calm in comparison."

The likelihood of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032 rose and fell last week. NASA's impact odds are now so slim that the asteroid is no longer a hazard on the Torino asteroid scale.

Beautifully captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), this image shows interstellar gas and dust lit up by a dead star in Cassiopeia.

"The Phoenix cluster has the largest reservoir of hot, cooling gas of any galaxy cluster."

The world is watching as NASA tweaks the odds that asteroid 2024 YR4 will hit Earth. But how threatening is YR4, and how does it compare to other potentially hazardous space rocks?

NASA has been changing the odds of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in recent days, but the latest shift significantly downgrades the asteroid's threat level and makes a moon strike more likely.