Earth and Mars are constantly moving, but don’t stay a constant distance apart. Plus, spacecraft don’t travel in a straight line to their destination.

Visible in Scorpius before dawn, our waning satellite is close to the 3rd-magnitude star Pi (π) Scorpii and less than 8° from Antares, the Scorpion’s bright red heart. The Moon will pass 0.7° south of ...

Michael has been fascinated with the stars all his life. His astronomical journey began in third grade, after his parents bought him a set of constellation flash cards. From that day forward, ...

This faraway, ancient ball of stars may have been captured from another galaxy that passed too close to the Milky Way.

The bright star Sirius dominates the southern sky late this evening, blazing high in the south around 10 P.M. local time. You can use this sparkling star to point your way to the open cluster M47 in ...

A new study shows that the event that wiped out the dinosaurs caused only a small drop in shark and ray species at the same ...

A few days ago, longtime Astronomy magazine contributor Chris Schur sent me the image you see here. It shows the famous Double Cluster in Perseus, also known as NGC 869 and NGC 884. Most images of ...

With the waning Moon rising later and later, there’s a dark window between sunset and moonrise to get in some deep-sky observing. Tonight we’re seeking out M106, a great galaxy to observe with your ...

Commissioned with observing high-energy events, particularly solar flares, the High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (later renamed the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager; RHESSI) ...

Though NASA was optimistic about launching four astronauts on a trip around the moon as early as Friday, the space agency is now looking at March after complications during a key preflight test. As it ...

Edward Charles Pickering graduated summa cum laude from Lawrence Scientific School at the age of 19, beginning a position as a physics professor at MIT a year later. During his 10 years there, he ...

The solar system’s two largest planets adorn the evening sky this month, while the smaller inner planets linger near the Sun and remain mostly out of sight. You’ll want to make Saturn your first ...