space

Picture of the Week: Pluto

Picture of the Week: Pluto

Picture of the Week: Comet Lovejoy

Picture of the Week: Comet Lovejoy

Picture of the Week: 'Engagement Ring' in Space

Picture of the Week: 'Engagement Ring' in Space

Picture of the Week: Galaxy Bonanza

Picture of the Week: Galaxy Bonanza
NASA technicians work on a Mars-bound spacecraft. Unmanned missions to Mars have mostly been successful, but the effort to sent a human being there is proving a harder task — and a harder sell.

Plans to put a human on Mars are a mess, says a new report. Should we even try?

Plans to put a human on Mars are a mess, says a new report. Should we even try?
Astronaut Reid Wiseman's photo from the International Space Station of Hurricane Arthur.

From space, Hurricane Arthur makes a stunning 4th of July show

Hurricane Arthur probably didn't look too good in your neighborhood. But from the International Space Station, it's a different story.

From space, Hurricane Arthur makes a stunning 4th of July show
The planet Saturn is seen backlit by the sun, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft on July 19, 2013.

Saturn shows us how a moon might be born

Scientists thought the solar system's planets all had the moons they were going to have — but Peggy challenges that very notion. Peggy appears to be a new moon for Saturn, emerging from the rocky debris that makes up the planet's famous rings.

Saturn shows us how a moon might be born
Sedna artist rendering

The discovery of a new 'dwarf planet' expands our view of the solar system

Meet Biden, a new dwarf planet named after the vice president that's upsetting the apple cart that is our understanding of the solar system. It, along with a relatively nearby neighbor, Sedna, are challenging astronomers to rewrite definitions of how the solar system formed.

The discovery of a new 'dwarf planet' expands our view of the solar system

Is there any chance Russia-US tensions could end up on the International Space Station?

Russians and Americans live and work together for six months at a time on the International Space Station. Given that tensions between Moscow and Washington are way up after Russia's annexation of Crimea, we wondered how the conversation is going way up there.

Is there any chance Russia-US tensions could end up on the International Space Station?

Gaia's on a mission to create a 3-D map of the Milky Way's stars

The European Space Agency's Gaia mission is headed into space. The $1 billion space observatory blasted off from French Guiana Thursday morning on a mission to create a very detailed, 3-D map of the Milky Way. No special glasses required.

Gaia's on a mission to create a 3-D map of the Milky Way's stars
China Moom

China successfully puts a rabbit on the moon

China on Saturday joined the US and the former Soviet Union as the only nations to stick a moon landing. The Chang'e 3 lander and its Jade Rabbit rover will now spend months exploring the moon's surface.

China successfully puts a rabbit on the moon
Thanksgiving Obamacare

Obama's having trouble fitting his turkey into the oven this year

Obama's health care turkey requires some heavy lifting this season. We look at immigrants, both those puzzling over US traditions and one just passing through from the Oort Cloud. And North Koreans may have a new export for the US, albeit an illegal one. All that and more, in today's Global Scan.

Obama's having trouble fitting his turkey into the oven this year
Scientists using NASA's Kepler space telescope have found the best candidates yet for habitable worlds beyond the solar system.

Hello? Is anybody out there?

Data from NASA's Kepler spacecraft points to potentially over 10 billion earth-like planets elsewhere in our galaxy. With more earth-like planets, there's more potential for earth-like life. But if we make contact with extraterrestrials, who gets to say hello? And how?

Hello? Is anybody out there?
Chris Hadfield playing in space.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield shows childhood dreams can come true

Astronaut Chris Hadfield started as a farm boy and wound up as the first Canadian to walk in space and command the International Space Station. And he became a YouTube star with his videos from space.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield shows childhood dreams can come true

Where on Earth is this picture from? Or is it?

NASA's researchers are frequently taking pictures that are hard to believe — or that look familiar, but turn out to be not at all what we expected. This picture comes from a place not too distant, at least for NASA.

Where on Earth is this picture from? Or is it?