A sunspot emitting a flare on the surface of the sun.
(NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory)
The sun is expected to reach its solar maximum in 2025. Recent auroras suggest that the maximum may be bigger than predicted.
NASA isn’t the only space agency with exciting missions to watch for in 2024.
AP Photo/John Raoux
Expect lots of space missions to launch this coming year, with exciting new science to follow.
Black holes use gravity to pull matter into them.
NASA/Chandra X-ray Observatory/M.Weiss via AP
Pictures of black holes have a white outline around them when photographed, due to one of black holes’ unique and key features.
NASA rocket launched from the Arnhem Space Centre in NT on June 26 2022.
NASA Wallops/Brian Bonsteel
Despite what you may think, Australia has a long history of space activities. But this is the first time the Australian public has been asked its opinions on space.
The Moon, shot from Pakistan during a lunar eclipse.
AP Photo/Fareed Khan
Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing on the Moon made 2023 a big year for lunar exploration, and future years will come with even more discoveries.
Shutterstock
The Geminids meteor shower this year promises to be extra special as the peak of the falls at New Moon.
Scientists still debate the origins of Earth’s life-sustaining elements.
BlackJack3D/E+ via Getty Images
Scientists analyzing isotope ratios have found that many of the elements that make up life could be left over from Earth’s formation.
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder in the Western Australian desert.
CSIRO
Do all big black holes in very massive galaxies emit radio waves? We used the latest radio telescopes to find out.
NASA
Sixty years ago, philosopher Hannah Arendt argued an interplanetary perspective may be bad news for humanity as we know it.
Matter in deep space is very spread out, which makes it impossible for any sound waves to travel.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Sound needs matter to propagate, so the vast vacuum of space is not just empty − it’s silent.
LHS 3154b, a newly discovered massive planet that should be too big to exist.
The Pennsylvania State University
A newly discovered planet that should be too big to have formed around a tiny star is throwing into question what researchers know about planet formation.
Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system.
NASA/JPL
Five of the Uranus moons might be ocean worlds − and if there’s water, there might be life.
The restored image of Earthrise. A high quality black and white image was coloured using hues from the original colour photos.
Image Credit: NASA, Apollo 8 Crew, Bill Anders; Processing and License: Jim Weigang
Borman’s professionalism helped the risky Apollo 8 mission become a success.
The James Webb Space Telescope’s deep field image shows a universe full of sparkling galaxies.
NASA/STScI
The universe is expanding faster than physicists would expect. To figure out what processes underlie this fast expansion rate, some researchers are first trying to rule out what processes can’t.
The stark landscape of the Moon as viewed by the Apollo 12 astronauts on their return to Earth.
NASA / The Planetary Society
Some dark craters on the Moon are never exposed to light − ice could be hiding in these permanently shadowed regions, and India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission marked a big step toward finding it.
The OSIRIS-REx capsule carrying samples from the asteroid Bennu lands in Utah on Sept. 24, 2023.
(NASA/Keegan Barber)
In September 2023, a NASA mission successfully brought samples of an asteroid down to Earth in a sealed capsule. Analysis of these samples may reveal information about the origins of the universe.
Astronauts prepare to leave the International Space Station.
NASA via AP
When you’re an astronaut landing on the Moon, you can’t rely on the same gravitational cues we have on Earth. But regimented training with sensory devices could one day prevent spatial disorientation.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Viral headlines would have you think Saturn’s rings will vanish in just 18 months. Here’s what that really means and why you don’t need to worry.
Wherever you view it from on Earth, it’s the same Moon.
Fernando Astasio Avila / Shutterstock
Despite the distances involved, people as far apart as the UK and Australia can see the Moon at the same time.
Masha Mashkova and Joel Kinnaman in For All Mankind.
Apple TV+
For All Mankind is set in an Apollo era transformed by the inclusion of women, characters of colour and LGBTQ+ protagonists.