A study by WEHI scientists has shed new light on one of the most fundamental mysteries of biology: how cells divide and grow into the complex structures that make up our bodies.

Bright colors, fruit imagery, and labels like “locally made” or “vegan” might seem harmless—but when used on cannabis edibles, they can send misleading messages to teens.

The existence of ant colonies was a mystery even to the famous naturalist Charles Darwin. How could evolution produce workers that cannot reproduce? Darwin assumed that workers increase the reproductive success of their queen, thereby explaining the so-called reproductive division of labor: males provide sperm, which the queens store and use to fertilize eggs throughout their lives. Workers search for food, care for the brood and defend the nest, but do not reproduce.

For decades, the question of how and whether gray wolves should be legally protected has been debated through federal rulemaking, courts and now Congress—where a bill from one of Colorado’s representatives is under consideration.

With more than half the world now living in cities and urban land cover expected to increase by about 1.2 million square kilometers by 2030, built environments are altering ecosystems through habitat fragmentations, heat islands, and road networks. Disrupted habitats caused by urbanization can lead to invasive species, disease outbreaks, and increased human-wildlife conflict.

Inhabiting Mars has long been a futuristic fantasy fueled by science fiction. However, successful landings over the past half-century have made this seemingly far-fetched idea increasingly plausible.

Important PSA!

Two bits of amber discovered in a lab basement hold ancient evidence of a fungi famous for controlling the minds of its victims.

A radio signal from the dawn of time could help scientists weigh the first stars and reveal how they lifted the cosmic darkness.

A study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics by a researcher from the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has provided new insights into the phenomenon of “pulse nulling”—a sudden cessation of the entire radio pulsed emission observed in over 200 pulsar manifests.

Today’s avocado industry, a multi-billion-dollar global enterprise, relies primarily on a single variety: the Hass avocado. This monoculture approach poses significant risks, as genetically identical plants are more vulnerable to disease and climate change.

New research has cast doubt over suggestions that an incestuous social elite ruled over the ancient people of Ireland more than 5,000 years ago. The study is published in the journal Antiquity.

Excuse you.

In the early 20th century, a mathematician and economist sought the optimal strategy for Holmes to escape Moriarty’s pursuit

A team of scientists is proposing a bold alternative to the Big Bang theory, suggesting that our universe may have instead formed inside a colossal black hole.

From sugar plantations in Brazil to tea estates in India, crushed rock is being sprinkled across large stretches of farmland globally in a novel bid to combat climate change.

An intense and nearly historic weather pattern is cooking much of America under a dangerous heat dome this week with triple-digit temperatures in places that haven’t been so hot in more than a decade.

Climate change has been exacerbating heat waves, and the problem isn’t going away anytime soon. An increasingly hot planet—due largely to burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas—means already hot regions are getting worse.

A laser navigating tool doomed a Japanese company’s lunar lander earlier this month, causing it to crash into the moon.

Climate change and habitat loss could cause more than 500 bird species to go extinct in the next 100 years, researchers from the University of Reading have found.

In an article published in npj Science of Food, scientists led by the Food Packaging Forum show that the normal and intended use of plastic food packaging and other food contact articles (FCAs), such as opening a plastic bottle or chopping on a plastic cutting board, can contaminate foodstuffs with micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs).

Migration agreements between “transit countries,” such as Turkey or Libya, and Europe have in recent years become the norm as emergency measures to try to stop irregular migration.

Iron is one of the most abundant heavy elements in the universe. Its spectral features stand out in many astronomical spectra, especially in those of stars and galaxies. As a dominant emitter in many X-ray sources, iron ions have been the focus of decades of spectral studies, offering valuable insights into cosmic plasmas.

When we discuss climate action, pension reforms or investments in technology, we are really talking about one big question: How should we distribute benefits and costs between generations?

Imagine a stadium packed with 75,000 fans, all wearing green and white jerseys—except one person in a solid green shirt. Finding that person would be tough. That’s how hard it is for scientists to find disease markers—called biomarkers—in the blood. And instead of one stadium, researchers must search through the equivalent of 100,000 stadiums worth of information.

To save elephant populations from extinction, the international community banned the sale of their ivory—but selling mammoth ivory remains legal, and the two are difficult to tell apart, especially for non-experts. This leaves a possible loophole for sellers of poached ivory to exploit.

So shiny.

It’s not a race.

It could be quite a show.

NASA has announced a new launch date for the private Axiom astronaut launch to the ISS, following delays due to leaks aboard the space station.

Beneath the sands of time.

Re-assessment of damaged statues depicting the famous female pharaoh Hatshepsut questions the prevailing view that they were destroyed as an act of defilement, indicating Hatshepsut was treated similarly to earlier pharaohs in death.

SpaceX launched 70 different payloads — including a special memorial capsule carrying cremated remains and DNA samples — today (June 23) on the Transporter 14 rideshare mission.

This explorer spacecraft is heading to a rare asteroid with a naked metal core. It could hold clues to how Earth began

New images from ESA’s Biomass satellite reveal forests, volcanoes, deserts and glaciers in striking detail, hinting at what’s still to come.

Black women’s beauty and fashion are complex, meaningful acts, deliberate strategies for engaging with the world that make bold statements about identity, political resistance and empowerment, Black women said in a recent study.

Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas.

A new study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production presents a novel approach to sustainable agricultural intensification, with promising implications for food security and land conservation in Senegal. Conducted by researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the study explores how farmers’ land-use decisions can be guided by the relative risks and returns of different crops—similar to how financial investments are managed.

In the cold of the Norwegian Arctic, meteorologist Trond Robertsen manually recorded precipitation levels for over two decades, witnessing firsthand the effects of climate change.

A novel evolutionary technique, designed to select E. coli strains capable of more efficiently metabolizing acetate—a sustainable, cost-effective carbon source—has been developed by a research team led by Professor Donghyuk Kim from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, in collaboration with Professor Gyoo Yeol Jung from POSTECH and Dr. Myung Hyun Noh from the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT).

In the darkness of old church attics, surprisingly romantic scenes take place as male greater mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis), the largest native bat species in Europe, compete for the attention of females using complex vocalizations and remarkable patience.

Beijing residents sought shade and cooled off in canals on Monday as authorities issued the second-highest heat warning for the Chinese capital on one of its hottest days of the year so far.

“The word ‘absurd,’ in our everyday language, is crazy, stupid. But absurd can also mean outlandishly true.”

Greece put the Mediterranean island of Chios under a state of emergency on Monday because of major fires that have raged since the weekend.

If a huge asteroid smashes into the moon in 2032, the gigantic explosion would send debris streaming toward Earth that would threaten satellites and create a spectacular meteor shower, according to researchers.

The impacts of space weather such as extreme solar winds and magnetic waves are not limited to outer space. Bursts of plasma emanating from the sun, for instance, can temporarily intensify electric and magnetic fields on the ground when they arrive at Earth, causing geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) to flow into infrastructure such as powerlines, pipelines, and railways. GICs can cause widespread equipment failures, leading to blackouts and safety concerns.

One of the best Lego Marvel sets, the Team Spidey Web Spinner Headquarters set, is ideal for young fans and is now 20% off ahead of Amazon Prime Day.

Demonstration Motor-1 (DM-1) is the first full-scale ground test of the evolved five-segment solid rocket motor of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket. The event will take place in Promontory, Utah, and will be used as an opportunity to test several upgrades made from the current solid rocket boosters. Each booster burns six tons of

“We expected the opposite result.”

The Rubin Observatory released its first magnificent images of the cosmos on Monday (June 23) — and included a special asteroid bonus.

Power-hungry AI and associated data centers could make the grid cleaner, eventually cutting more climate-change-causing emissions than they produce

The NASA Science Activation program’s Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways (NESSP) team has successfully concluded the 2024–2025 Artemis ROADS III National Challenge, an educational competition that brought real NASA mission objectives to student teams (and reached more than 1,500 learners) across the country. From December 2024 through May 2025, over 300 teams of upper

The rover recently drilled a sample from a new region with features that could reveal whether Mars’ subsurface once provided an environment suitable for life. New images from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover show the first close-up views of a region scientists had previously observed only from orbit. The images and data being collected are already

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has released its first images, providing a staggering glimpse at the observing power it will unleash when it begins its decade-long survey.

“Being off even a little bit represents hundreds or thousands of kilometers in distance on the surface of the Earth.”

Arsia Mons, one of the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes, peeks through a blanket of water ice clouds in this image captured by NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter on May 2, 2025.

Arsia Mons, one of the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes, peeks through a blanket of water ice clouds in this image captured by NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter on May 2, 2025. Odyssey used a camera called the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) to capture this view while studying the Martian atmosphere, which appears here as

Recent detections of clay-bearing bedrock on Jezero’s crater rim have the Perseverance Science Team excited and eager to sample. Written by Alex Jones, Ph.D. candidate at Imperial College London  Since finishing its exploration of spherule-rich stratigraphy at Witch Hazel Hill, Perseverance has been exploring the Krokodillen plateau, a relatively low-lying terrain on the outer slopes

Some career changes involve small shifts. But for one NASA engineering intern, the leap was much bigger –moving from under the hood of a car to helping air taxis take to the skies. Saré Culbertson spent more than a decade in the auto industry and had been working as a service manager in busy auto

As ‘Ash’ joins horror streaming platform Shudder, we talked to Grammy-winning musician and filmmaker Flying Lotus on crafting his Lovecraftian sci-fi thriller.

Bio-powered recycling.

“Incredibly exciting.”

Exoplanet Gj 504 b was found using the Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru (SEEDS) Project

The whales use quick body movements to tear pieces of bull kelp for use as tools, perhaps the first known toolmaking by a marine mammal.

With genetic tweaks, E. coli turned 92 percent of broken-down plastic into acetaminophen, charting a path to upcycle plastic waste sustainably.

Massaging one another with kelp could help orcas keep their skin healthy

Through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, NASA nurtures visionary yet credible concepts that could one day “change the possible” in aerospace, while engaging America’s innovators and entrepreneurs as partners in the journey.   These concepts span various disciplines and aim to advance capabilities such as finding resources on distant planets, making space travel safer

NASA tested RS-25 engine No. 20001 on June 20, at the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Test teams fired the engine for almost eight-and-a-half minutes (500 seconds), the same amount of time RS-25 engines fire during a launch of an SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on

“Even a handful of infected neurons can shift the brain’s neurochemical balance.”

The Proba-3 spacecraft succeed at creating solar eclipses, kicking off a two-year mission to study the sun’s mysterious outer atmosphere, the corona.

Breathing in moon dust can still give you what one astronaut called “lunar hay fever.”

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 27 Starlink satellites was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday, June 23, 2025.

A powerful Atlas V rocket lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast today (June 23), carrying 27 satellites aloft for Amazons’ new Project Kuiper broadband network.

As branch chief of the Hypervelocity Impact and Orbital Debris Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Dr. Heather Cowardin leads a team tasked with a critical mission: characterizing and mitigating orbital debris—space junk that poses a growing risk to satellites, spacecraft, and human spaceflight.  Long before Cowardin was a scientist safeguarding NASA’s mission,

The first hints that a new strain of avian illness is emerging could be found on this beach on Delaware Bay, where migrating birds flock. Here’s what virus detectives who return there every year know right now.

Using the XMM-Newton telescope, astronomers have witnessed high-speed “burps” erupting from a distant overfeeding supermassive black hole.

These are the first public images collected by the Chile-based observatory, which will begin a decade-long survey of the southern sky later this year.

Astronomy fans can zoom in practically forever into the stunning first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory

With the arrival of a visiting crew still delayed, science and maintenance work on board the International Space Station continued to fill the Expedition 73 crew’s week.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s first images will be unveiled on Monday (June 23), and you can watch the action live.

For more than a century, cars have meant freedom, escape and self-reinvention to Americans. Now Tesla’s forthcoming Cybercab makes us ask whether we can have the romance of the open road without actually driving it

Learn how to capture drone photos and videos at night with our comprehensive guide.

Is this setting a new precedent for the future of spaceflight?

GPS positions were off by up to 230 feet during the Gannon Solar Storm in May 2024 in a disruption that lasted for up to two days, a new study has revealed.

That’s a lot of standard candles.

Houston-based Celestis and The Exploration Company are teaming up to fly a memorial payload on SpaceX’s Transporter 14 rideshare mission on Monday (June 23).

You’ll need luck on your side to spot these shooting stars.

This no-name galaxy projector has blown us away with its projection quality and interchangeable disks.

The beloved ‘oldies and aliens’ blockbuster is a movie out of sync with Hollywood norms.

Miami-based multimedia superstar Natasha Tsakos discusses this historic fall flight aboard Zero-G’s ‘G-Force One’ aircraft.

On Episode 166 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik broadcast live from the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference in Orlando.

Researchers used an AI model to create a new image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, with some concern from experts.

The universe seems to be spinning, and that could explain what dark energy is and why it’s weakening while revealing our place within the multiverse.

Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses which should scare you more: sharks or ticks and fungus — and why sharks might actually be the least of your worries.

Hunting hints An ancient ambush of wild horses at a German archaeological site called Schöningen around 300,000 years ago suggests that communal hunting, along with complex social and mental skills, evolved much earlier in human history than thought, behavioral sciences writer Bruce Bower reported in “Smart hunters.” Bower also noted that Neandertal ancestors in what’s

The Pleiades, a crescent moon and Venus  —  what more could an astrophotographer want?

Written by Deborah Padgett, OPGS Task Lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Earth planning date: Friday, June 20, 2025 During the plan covering Sols 4575-4576, Curiosity continued our investigation of mysterious boxwork structures on the shoulders of Mount Sharp. After a successful 56-meter drive (about 184 feet), Curiosity is now parked in a trough cutting

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has imaged the crash site of Resilience, a moon lander built and operated by the Tokyo-based company ispace.

‘Elio’ isn’t the legendary animation studio’s first adventure on the final frontier. Here’s every Pixar movie and short that explores space.

A Denisovan skull has been identified for the first time. The find was based on proteins and calcified dental plaque

Astronomers have taken an unprecedentedly detailed look at the tendrils and filaments that wrap around supermassive black hole-dominated galaxies of Abell 2255.

The Rubin Observatory will reveal its first images on Monday. Space.com spoke to scientists who explained why this will be a monumental event for astronomy.

The Unistellar Father’s Day sale ends in two days — grab the Odyssey Pro with $675 off

NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter airplane missions significantly increase the accuracy of hurricane forecasts, but President Trump’s proposed budget cuts jeopardize the data-gathering efforts and other forecasting tools

The giant explosion that destroyed a SpaceX Starship vehicle on the test stand this week was likely caused by the failure of a pressurized nitrogen tank, the company said.

An ongoing leak aboard the International Space Station is once again delaying the launch of Axiom Space’s next private astronaut mission.

Tiny, newly formed tumors shed small fragments of DNA that are swept into the bloodstream. Future cancer screening tests could detect them early.

Seen in “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” the Acclamator-Class Lego set comes packed with authentic detail, has 450 pieces, and is part of a collectible Star Wars series.

This full-disk image from NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite shows the Americas at the start of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere on June 21, 2012.

Its name might be a bit of a mouthful, but this Lego Star Wars ship is wonderfully pocket-sized while still packing in a lot of detail.

The 2025 summer solstice takes place on June 20, heralding the onset of astronomical summer and the longest day of the year.

Nutrition experts say add more greens and beans to your diet; cooking classes can teach people to make these nutrient-dense foods taste delicious.

Researchers created a satellite tracking system to track satellite streaks across the Arctic for the first time ever.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin plans to launch six people to suborbital space on the NS-33 mission are on hold due to local weather conditions in West Texas.

Humans have driven sharks and their cousins to the brink of extinction. The health of the entire ocean is at stake.

The moon is a key step in the journey of space exploration, but making it habitable brings up lots of questions around space law and policy

Sunspot region 4114 has done it again! This time unleashing a colossal X1.9 solar flare.

Spacecraft can get a significant boost by stealing energy from planets

As more men turn to testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for energy, mood and muscle, experts warn the risks are still not fully understood.

James Webb Space Telescope finds exoplanets in extreme environments that could potentially be habitable.

Rocket Lab planned to launch a satellite for a confidential customer early Friday morning (June 20), but Mother Nature didn’t cooperate.

For centuries Mars has been called “the Red Planet” and there’s a scientific reason why.

A powerful new technique is poised to revolutionize how astronomers observe black holes, by producing sharp, multicolored images that could reveal their dynamic evolution in real time.

Data from beach cleanups show that banning or taxing single-use plastic bags makes a difference in ecosystems

Researchers bring a SETI approach to the question of what—if anything—humpbacks’ underwater smoke rings might be trying to “say”

Gaia, Europe’s Milky Way–mapping spacecraft, shut down earlier this year. It was arguably the most important—and most overlooked—astronomy project of the 21st century

The latest catastrophic explosion of a Starship upper stage is a significant setback for SpaceX

As the first trained Black TV meteorologist, June Bacon-Bercey always worked to help women and people of color to follow in her footsteps

Alix Morris’s new book, A Year with the Seals, explores humans’ complicated relationship with these controversial marine mammals.

Court ruling allows interim nuclear waste storage in Texas, but the U.S. still has no long-term plan for its 90,000 metric tons of spent fuel.

The Supreme Court has decided to uphold a state ban on gender-affirming care for minors in U.S. v. Skrmetti

Concerts, fireworks and other hallmarks of summer can hurt your hearing long-term. But there are safe ways to enjoy them.

American military engineers designed the GBU-57/B bomb to devastate deeply buried bunkers without radioactive fallout. It’s the only nonnuclear weapon that can reach Iran’s hardest target

More than 500 students with 75 teams from around the world participated in the 31st year of NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) on April 11 and April 12, 2025, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Participating teams represented 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools, and two middle schools from 20 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 other nations.

As Jaws celebrates its 50th anniversary, Science News explores the vast range of shark sizes, from megaladon to the dwarf lanternshark.

Health specialists were put on leave, and a report on how to protect 20 million workers from wildfire smoke has stalled

Bogong moths migrate up to 1,000 kilometers from Australian plains to mountain caves to escape the summer heat. The stars may help them get there.

Ancient proteins and DNA may peg a 146,000-year-old Chinese skull as the most complete fossil to date from Denisovans, a puzzling line of Asian hominids.

New research shows father-daughter relationships have a positive influence on female baboons’ lives—when the dads stick around

Solve our latest interactive crossword. We’ll publish science-themed crosswords and math puzzles on alternating months.

The strength of Earth’s magnetic field and the amount of oxygen in its atmosphere seem to be correlated—and scientists want to know why

Food microbiologists explain how to ensure different proteins, such as beef, chicken and pork, are prepared safely

We’ve all heard the saying “you are what you eat”—especially when it comes to gut health. But what if your workout matters just as much as your diet?

Screwworm parasites primarily infect livestock, but human cases have risen in Central America after the pests escaped containment

Researchers have used cosmic explosions called fast radio bursts to illuminate the intergalactic medium

A curious cow watches as NASA astronauts Andre Douglas and Kate Rubins perform a simulated moonwalk in the San Francisco Volcanic Field in Northern Arizona on May 14, 2024.

Even without subsidies, renewable energy is staying competitive with power from gas and coal

Since the Scopes trial in 1925, Science News has reported on legislative attempts to undermine the teaching of evolution.

The nonprofit iNaturalist announced that it received a $1.5-million grant from Google’s philanthropic arm to develop generative AI tools for species identification. The news didn’t go over well

After black holes devour stars, sometimes the feast comes back up

Outsmart greenwashing with tips for more sustainable clothing

Toxic cigars; dueling with a swordfish

The Danish government deputized private detectorists to unearth artifacts buried in farm fields. Their finds are revealing the country’s past in extraordinary detail

Trade impulse clothing purchases for botanical dyes, upcycled apparel, creative mending, flexible sizing, and more

To boost mood and manliness, men are spending lots of money on the hormone testosterone—yet they may see trouble instead of benefits

Puzzle out the sequence of numbers that fill these polygons

One hundred years after the Scopes trial, religious ideologues are still trying to supplant evidence-based curricula with myths, to the detriment of a well-informed society

New strategies help to reduce callous and unemotional traits in children, guiding them toward productive lives

Play this crossword inspired by the July/August 2025 issue of Scientific American

Inside this double issue of SciAm, you’ll find black holes that burp up their stellar meals, metal detectorists that hit pay dirt, hope for psychopathy, the truth about testosterone and a consumer guide to sustainable clothes shopping

Science in meter and verse

When nights stay hot, more people die, many from cardiovascular problems. But there are simple methods you can use to stay cooler and healthier

Earth will likely warm by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, but we can’t give up on trying to get temperatures back down

Letters to the editors for the March 2025 issue of Scientific American

The collapse of the world’s second-largest ice sheet would drown cities worldwide. Is that ice more vulnerable than we know?

Atomic Dreams explores nuclear energy’s future in the U.S. through the history of Diablo Canyon, California’s last operational nuclear power plant.

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

AI is shedding new light on the 12,000-year conversation between cats and their humans, suggesting that house cats wield a far richer vocabulary than once thought

Iranian Shahed drones, Ukrainian quadcopters and the U.S.’s Golden Horde program reveal three paths to massed autonomy, and each rewrites the rules of air defense

Scavenger populations are decreasing, a new study shows. That could put human health at risk.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the barred spiral galaxy IC 758.

I study social media for a living. Here’s what parents need to know so that kids can use it safely and productively

Deadly temperatures put great stress not just on human life but also on the economy, infrastructure, agriculture and health care

Critics fear that U.S. Department of Health and Human Services chief RFK, Jr., known for his antivaccine views, has picked a crucial CDC committee that will be a “disaster for public health”

Researchers have measured the brain’s faint glow for the first time, hinting at a potential role of “biophotons” in cognition

Attendees line up to enter the theater for a screening of the new NASA+ documentary “Cosmic Dawn: The Untold Story of the James Webb Space Telescope,” Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at the Greenbelt Cinema in Greenbelt, Maryland. Featuring never-before-seen footage, Cosmic Dawn offers an unprecedented glimpse into the assembly, testing, and launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

The star cluster Pismis 24 lies within the much larger emission nebula called NGC 6357, located about 8,000 light-years from Earth. The gas below the stars glows through ionization caused by intense ultraviolet radiation from the massive young stars within the cluster.

At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a bobcat wades through one of the waterways near Launch Pad 39B.

Astronaut Franklin R. Chang-Diaz works with a grapple fixture during a June 2002 spacewalk – the first spacewalk of the STS-111 mission.

Amid a patchwork of fields, towns, and winding rivers and roads in central Brazil stands a monolithic oval-shaped plateau. This conspicuous feature, the Serra de Caldas (also known as the Caldas Novas dome and Caldas Ridge), is perched about 300 meters (1,000 feet) above the surrounding landscape in the state of Goiás.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged the Sombrero Galaxy with its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), which shows dust from the galaxy’s outer ring blocking stellar light from stars within the galaxy. In the central region of the galaxy, the roughly 2,000 globular clusters, or collections of hundreds of thousands of old stars held together by gravity, glow in the near-infrared. The Sombrero Galaxy is around 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. From Earth, we see this galaxy nearly “edge-on,” or from the side.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a cloudscape in the Large Magellanic Cloud., a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

Astronaut Edward H. White II, pilot of the Gemini IV four-day Earth-orbital mission, floats in the zero gravity of space outside the Gemini IV spacecraft.

Scientists have discovered a star behaving like no other seen before, giving fresh clues about the origin of a new class of mysterious objects.

President Donald Trump steps onstage to speak following the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission with NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley aboard, Saturday, May 30, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Sixteen of 19 astronaut candidates named on May 29, 1980, and two European trainees as payload specialists pose for photographers in the briefing room in the public affairs facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the remote galaxy HerS 020941.1+001557, which appears as a red arc that partially encircles a foreground elliptical galaxy.

The waning gibbous moon sets behind a flag at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans just after sunrise on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

A flower is seen in the foreground with a Soyuz rocket on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 7, 2025. Expedition 73 crewmembers including NASA astronaut Jonny Kim launched aboard their Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft on April 8.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft is seen during its “aluminum bird” systems testing at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. The test verified how the aircraft’s hardware and software work together, responding to pilot inputs and handling injected system failures.

On May 19th, 2005, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This panoramic camera mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of the rover’s 489th Martian day, or sol.

Webb has found crystalline water ice in a debris disk around a young, Sun-like star called HD 181327. Based on its presence in our own solar system, scientists have expected to see it in other star systems — but haven’t had sensitive enough instruments to provide definitive proof until now.

Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy, briefs Astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin on celestial objects in 1965 in Washington, D.C.

NASA’s Perseverance rover captured this view of Deimos, the smaller of Mars’ two moons, shining in the sky at 4:27 a.m. local time on March 1, 2025, the 1,433rd Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

The perfectly picturesque spiral galaxy known as Messier 81, or M81, looks sharp in this composite from NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer.