Messier 104, nicknamed the Sombrero Galaxy, is a popular target for amateur observing and astronomical research. Its recognizable extended halo, as well as a faint stellar stream, are captured in exquisite detail in this image from the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter […]

Using the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), astronomers have observed a nearby young open cluster known as NGC 1647. Results of the new observations, presented in a paper published April 13 on the pre-print server arXiv, deliver essential information regarding the properties of this cluster.

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It was 1972 and Apollo astronauts Harrison “Jack” Schmitt and Eugene Cernan had just stepped onto the moon’s surface to begin collecting rock and soil samples.

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As space agencies and private companies look toward a sustained human presence on the moon, a fundamental challenge centers on how to build strong, durable infrastructure without hauling every material from Earth. New research from Rice University points to an unexpected solution—transforming one of the moon’s most stubborn obstacles, its abrasive dust, into a valuable […]

NASA’s Curiosity rover has identified seven new organic compounds on the planet Mars, according to new research published in Nature Communications.

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Reaching the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, would take hundreds of thousands of years using current rocket propulsion technology. Researchers in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University have demonstrated a new approach to light-driven motion, showing that lasers can be used to lift and steer objects in multiple […]

NASA successfully sent four astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, setting the stage for future lunar landing missions. As the agency continues to push the bounds of space exploration, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley provided essential support in preparing for the mission.

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A team of astronomers led by Elisabeth Matthews at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has made a discovery that highlights the limits of most current models of exoplanet atmospheres: water-ice clouds on a distant Jupiter-like exoplanet called Epsilon Indi Ab.

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