News
See NASA's Stunning New Images of Mars Captured During an Asteroid-Bound Spacecraft's Strategic Flyby
1+ week, 1+ day ago (374+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Smart News | May 22, 2026 4: 14 p. m. The Psyche mission, on its way to study an asteroid of the same name, approached within 2, 864 miles of the red planet on May 15 Carlyn Kranking | Associate Web Editor, Science En route to the…...
Neptune's Moon Nereid Might Be the Sole Intact Survivor of an Ancient Lunar Collision
1+ week, 2+ day ago (672+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent Neptune, the farthest planet from the sun, is surrounded by 16 known moons'and many of them are weirdos. Now, researchers propose that one of those oddballs, a wide-orbiting moon called Nereid, is the…...
These Ten Breathtaking Images From the 2026 Milky Way Photographer of the Year Contest Capture the Beauty of Our Galaxy
1+ week, 4+ day ago (226+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent "To me, this recognition is more than just being selected," Wu writes on Instagram. "It's a window that helps bring the beauty of the night sky to more people around the world....
NASA Just Uploaded More Than 12, 000 Stunning Photos From the Artemis 2 Mission. Here Are a Few of Our Favorites
2+ week, 4+ day ago (319+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent The world watched with bated breath as NASA's Artemis 2 mission launched last month, sending humans toward the moon for the first time since 1972. The four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft'NASA's'Reid Wiseman,'Victor…...
NASA's Curiosity Rover Had a Martian Rock Stuck on Its Arm for Days. Watch It Finally Shake the Stubborn Stone Off
2+ week, 5+ day ago (593+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent NASA's'Curiosity'rover has been roaming Mars for nearly 14 years, hunting for signs that it once hosted environments that could have allowed ancient microbes to thrive. But on April 25, the rover ran into a…...
This Tiny Celestial Body Past Pluto Shouldn't Have an Atmosphere'but Astronomers Say They May Have Detected One
3+ week, 2+ day ago (583+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent A tiny, icy celestial body farther from the sun than Pluto seems to have something it shouldn't: an atmosphere. Researchers don't expect such a minuscule, distant world to cling to gases. So,…...
Could Pluto Once Again Be Considered a Planet? New Remarks From NASA's Administrator Highlight an Enduring Debate Among Scientists
3+ week, 4+ day ago (556+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent For decades, scientists and the general public have argued over the astronomical status of beloved dwarf planet Pluto. In the latest salvo, NASA Administrator'Jared Isaacman said that he was "very much in…...
Astronomers Discover 27 Potential Planets Each Orbiting Two Stars, Just Like the Fictional Tatooine in 'Star Wars"
3+ week, 5+ day ago (435+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Rudy Molinek | Reporter In a'memorable scene'from'Star Wars: Episode IV'A New Hope, future Jedi Luke Skywalker leaves dinner with his aunt and uncle and heads out to an unusual sunset. On the fictional desert planet Tatooine, not…...
A Star Suddenly Brightened, Then Faded Into Darkness. Astronomers Say It May Have Turned Into a Black Hole
3+ mon, 1+ week ago (488+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Sara Hashemi - Daily Correspondent "It used to be one of the brightest stars in the Andromeda galaxy," says study co-author'Kishalay De, an astronomer at Columbia University, to Nell Greenfieldboyce at'NPR. "Today, it is nowhere to be…...
Earth's Core Might Hold Dozens of Oceans Worth of Hydrogen, Hinting at the Origins of the Planet's Vast Water Supply
3+ mon, 2+ week ago (231+ words) More from Smithsonian magazine Mary Randolph - Freelance contributor Ocean water covers roughly 71 percent of Earth's surface and contains about 321 million cubic miles of water. Some 4. 6 billion years ago, gas, rocks and dust clumped together to form Earth. In the baby…...