On the Frontier
The gravity of the galaxies that form a cluster known as Abell 2744 warps and magnifies the view of more-distant…
Reborn Stars
The star cluster M3 contains many “reborn” stars among its half-million members. These stars have merged with other stars or…
Family Portrait
The Cassini spacecraft saw this glorious view of Saturn and its family of rings in 2013. The spacecraft was viewing…
Filling the Void
Billowing clouds of gas and dust fill this Spitzer Space Telescope image of part of the Milky Way galaxy. Most…
Cold Landing
This sequence of images depicts the landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn’s moon Titan on January 14, 2005. Clockwise…
Evidence of an Encounter
A kink in one of its spiral arms suggests that the galaxy M66 recently staged a close encounter with a…
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Fiery Sky
A brilliant aurora blazes high in Earth’s atmosphere in this photo from the International Space Station. An aurora forms when…
Bright Future
A burned-out Earth bakes in the heat of the red-giant Sun in this illustration depicting our planet’s bright, hot future.…
Underground Astronomy
Scientists look for the most elusive particles in the universe in underground laboratories, such as this one adjacent to an…
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Former Neighbor
A system known as Scholz’s Star passes just 0.8 light-years from the Sun as seen in this artist’s concept. That…