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
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.
Artist’s impression of Theia colliding with the Earth billions of years ago.
Hernán Cañellas
Some space rocks you can get for free – if you know how to identify them. Rarer materials cost more, and the asteroid sample NASA just brought back has a high price tag.
Telescopes at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory near La Serena, Chile.
Guillaume Doyen/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Controlled experiments are impossible in astronomy, as are direct measurements of physical properties of objects outside our solar system. So how do astronomers know so much about them?
Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan rover has traveled 328 feet.
(100 meters) and measured the chemistry of the lunar soil
ISRO
India’s Chandrayaan-3 rover has found sulfur on the Moon’s surface at higher concentrations than previously seen. Sulfur, a useful resource, could pave the way for future Moon bases.
We have always wondered what was up there.
Wikimedia
Treaties meant to ensure sustainability in space don’t currently regulate private companies, and not every country has signed on to an agreement for sustainable space exploration.
Space missions are still difficult, dangerous and risky – but it’s still early days in the human journey beyond our planet.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully touched down on the south pole of the Moon on Aug. 23, 2023, sparking celebrations across the country.
AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi
India became the first country to land near the south pole of the Moon, a notoriously difficult achievement that also marks them as the fourth country to land on the Moon.
China’s lunar rover Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit 2, on the Moon, January 2019.
EPA/CNSA via AAP
While a return to the Moon will allow the U.S. to collaborate with other nations interested in space, this endeavor is also complicated by geopolitical tensions.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin planted the U.S. flag on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
Heritage Images/Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Some people incorrectly say the Moon landings didn’t happen. But the evidence – and logic – isn’t on their side.
An image of one of the gifts that Prime Minister Modi gave to President Biden – the ‘10 danas,’ or 10 donations – each with a specific symbolism.
Newsroom Post Press Release
One of the gifts that Prime Minister Modi gave to President Biden symbolizes the recipient’s having seen 1,000 full moons, implying a long and auspicious life.
A detail from the astronomical ceiling at the Dendera temple in Egypt.
(kairoinfo4u/flickr)
Some time measurements, like months and years, use the movements of the moon and sun, respectively. But other time measurements, like the hour, aren’t clearly connected to astronomical phenomena.