Plenty of Moonlight
An almost-full Moon rises behind Turret Arch, in Arches National Park, Utah. December’s full Moon, on the night of the…
Starting a Gold Rush
The discovery of 51 Pegasi b, a planet orbiting a star in the constellation Pegasus (at left in this artist’s…
Who’s First?
Astronomers have discovered thousands of planets in star systems other than our own, some of which are depicted in this…
Spicy Cluster
About 150,000 stars squeeze together in Messier 2, a globular star cluster photographed by Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster formed…
Heavyweight Merger
A black hole (surrounded by a disk of hot gas, left) begins to swallow a neutron star in this artist’s…
Icy Darkness
This image combines observations from ground-based radio telescopes and the MESSENGER spacecraft to depict possible locations of ice deposits near…
Back to the Moon
Intrepid, the Apollo 12 lunar module, prepares to descend to the Moon after separating from the command module on November…
Star Factory
Thousands of new stars have taken shape in NGC 604, a busy star factory in M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, one…
A Striking Launch
Apollo 12 launched into heavy clouds and rain on November 14, 1969. Seconds after liftoff, lightning hit the Saturn V…
On the Moon
Arrows point to the most recent lunar lander, China’s Chang’e-4, and Yutu, a small rover it deployed on the far…