A Collision With Another Planet May Have Seeded Earth With the Ingredients for Life

New research suggests that much of the material that made life possible on Earth arrived after a cataclysmic collision between our planet and a Mars-sized object billions of years ago—likely the same collision that produced the Moon, the scientists say.

Gaze in Awe at Hubble’s Most Detailed View of the Triangulum Galaxy

Usually when astronomers talk about our neighboring galaxy, they’re talking about Andromeda, which is a cozy 2.5 million light-years away. But just a little farther—okay, 500,000 light-years farther—is another spiral galaxy, the third largest in our local group. Hubble has just released its most detailed view yet of that galaxy, which is known as Triangulum (can you see why?).

Behold the Most Distant Object Ever Visited by Spacecraft

The most distant planetary exploration in history required a significant amount of careful planning and preparation, as well as a little bit of luck.

Salty Water Under the Surface of Mars Could Have Enough Oxygen for Life

Mars may have a hostile, dusty exterior bathed in dangerous radiation, but a new study suggests that it’s possible life could exist under that inhospitable crust. Pockets of salty water with enough dissolved oxygen to support life may be present in certain parts of the planet, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Saturn’s Rings Rain Organic Compounds Into Its Atmosphere

The Cassini space probe’s fatal plummet into Saturn has revealed that the gas giant’s innermost ring sheds icy showers of rain and organic molecules into the planet’s upper atmosphere at an incredible rate.

Artificial Intelligence, NASA Data Used to Discover Eighth Planet Circling Distant Star

Our solar system now is tied for most number of planets around a single star, with the recent discovery of an eighth planet circling Kepler-90, a Sun-like star 2,545 light-years from Earth. The planet was discovered in data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope.

JUNO SNATCHES A SHOT OF JUPITER’S SWIRLING STORMS

HAPPY NEW YEAR from the depths of outer space! While you were getting ready for your holiday vacation, NASA’s space probes were hard at work gathering awesome photos for you. Like Juno, the little spacecraft capturing the Earth-sized tempests while orbiting Jupiter.

Kanye West – Wash Us in the Blood ft. Travis Scott

Podcast: Ep 12 – Cops: The Untouchables?

PARTYNEXTDOOR – LOYAL (feat. Drake)

Podcast: Ep. 11 – Protests vs. Police

Run The Jewels “Ooh LA LA” feat. Greg Nice & DJ Premier

Podcast: Ep. 10 – Fighting For Change

Jellyfish in the ocean of space

Supernova remnant IC 443 has the common name the Jellyfish Nebula, and it lies at the top right of this image. The other, larger, nebula is IC 444. Both objects are in the constellation Gemini the Twins. Terry Hancock from Grand Mesa, Colorado

Seven sisters

The Pleiades (M45) is the most famous star cluster in the sky. It lies 444 light-years away in the constellation Taurus the Bull. The clouds of gas seen in this image are not connected to the stars, but are a dust cloud through which the cluster is passing. Dave Doctor from Las Cruces, New Mexico

Old friend

The Orion Nebula (M42) may be the most photographed deep-sky object of all. It’s a huge emission nebula and star-forming complex. In addition to the glowing hydrogen, however, the object also has regions of both reflection and dark nebulae. James Esch from Lovettsville, Virginia

Boom goes the star

The Cygnus Loop is a huge supernova remnant some 2,500 light-years away. It has many components, and this image shows two of them well. At the top is the Witch’s Broom (NGC 6960), and Pickering’s Triangle (which doesn’t have its own designation) lies down and to the lower left of the Broom. Naresh Singh from Saint Petersburg, Florida

Natural satellite

A cosmic eye