Space and Astronomy

Highlights

  1. In Photos and Video

    Artemis II’s New Views of the Moon

    Over 10 days, the astronauts of NASA’s lunar flyby mission have achieved the near impossible.

    By

    CreditNASA
  1. Eyes on the Far Side of the Moon

    See the photos taken by the Artemis II astronauts during their moon flyby.

    By

    CreditThe New York Times
  2. They’re Going to the Moon and They Know Not Everyone Is With Them

    Can the four astronauts of the NASA mission Artemis II make a difference in a distracted and divided world?

    By Timothy Bella and

    CreditPS Spencer
  3. Did Scientists Just Detect an Exploding Black Hole?

    An underwater observatory recently detected a startlingly energetic cosmic neutrino. One possible cause involves a phenomenon that so far exists only in theory.

    By

    A detection unit of the Kilometer Cubic Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT, before it was submerged in the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily.
    CreditKM3NeT
  4. How Do You Measure Snow From Space? First, Climb a Mountain.

    A new satellite could transform how water is studied worldwide. But to help unlock its capabilities, scientists first needed to take critical measurements on a mountaintop.

    By Sachi Kitajima Mulkey and

    CreditNina Riggio for The New York Times
  5. A Meteor Exploded Over Ohio. Then the Chase Began.

    After a seven-ton fireball exploded above the Cleveland area, a group of meteorite hunters descended too, in the name of science — and possibly cash.

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    Mark Dayton, an avid meteorite chaser, searches for a fragment late on Thursday.
    CreditDustin Franz for The New York Times
  1. Exploding Comet Is Spotted by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope

    In a stroke of luck, astronomers saw the comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) break into four or five fragments in November after it passed close to the sun.

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    CreditNASA, ESA, Dennis Bodewits (AU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
  2. A Big Night Light in the Sky? Start-Up Wants to Launch a Space Mirror.

    The company is seeking F.C.C. approval to test an idea to reflect sunlight to Earth at night, possibly powering solar panels. Critics say it could be bad for people and wildlife.

    By Kenneth Chang and

    The start-up Reflect Orbital wants to launch mirror-bearing satellites which it says could address one of the biggest weaknesses of solar power: that electric generation stops when the sun goes down.
    CreditTim Gruber for The New York Times
  3. Experiment Shows Possibility of Martian Microbes Hitching a Ride to Earth

    Hardy bacteria in a lab survived pressures comparable to an asteroid strike on the red planet, suggesting a hypothetical scenario in which our planet was seeded with life.

    By

    Credit
  4. Norway’s Century-Long Watch on the Northern Lights

    The nation’s northern region has led the scientific quest to understand the aurora borealis. This summer, a 10,000-antenna radar is expected to begin the next phase of exploration.

    By Alexa Robles-Gil and

    CreditMichał Siarek for The New York Times
  5. John Noble Wilford, Times Reporter Who Covered the Moon Landing, Dies at 92

    He gave readers a comprehensive and lyrical account of the historic mission in 1969. His science coverage as a Pulitzer-winning journalist and an author took him around the world.

    By

    John Noble Wilford in 1981. Recalling his coverage of the moon landing, he said, “I thought to myself, yes, this is the biggest story I will probably ever write in my career.”
    CreditThe New York Times

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Artemis II Moon Launch

More in Artemis II Moon Launch ›
  1. Artemis II Crew Reunites With Families and Fellow NASA Astronauts

    The four astronauts made an emotional return to Houston a day after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at the end of their 10-day lunar journey.

    By

    CreditRonaldo Schemidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
  2. Artemis II Splashdown Gives NASA Momentum in Renewed Moon Race

    The astronauts — three Americans and one Canadian — captivated the world with their historic mission.

    By

    Splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday near San Diego, the Artemis II mission came to a successful conclusion.
    CreditBill Ingalls/NASA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
  3. Highlights From NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Splashdown

    The crew of three Americans and one Canadian are to return to Houston on Saturday after concluding a journey that sent humans around the moon for the first time since 1972.

    CreditBill Ingalls/NASA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
  4. Another Giant Leap Reminds Us How Small We Are

    A mission that took four astronauts farther than any human has ever traveled in the history of mankind has made people feel a little trippy.

    By

    The view of home from the other side of the moon.
    CreditNASA, via Getty Images
  5. ‘It Was Survival Mode’: The Lunar Mission That Nearly Ended in Disaster

    Fifty-six years ago, after a tense race to save the Apollo 13 crew, the astronauts finally splashed down safely. Here’s what flight directors who got them home remember.

    Interviews by

    CreditNASA

Vera Rubin Observatory

More in Vera Rubin Observatory ›
  1. This Powerful Telescope Quickly Found 2,100 New Asteroids

    The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is expected to find millions of unknown objects in our solar system, and perhaps even a mysterious Planet Nine.

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    The Vera Rubin Observatory in Cerro Pachón, Chile, last month.
    CreditMarcos Zegers for The New York Times
  2. Vera Rubin Scientists Reveal Telescope’s First Images

    Scenes of nebulas in the Milky Way, a cluster of galaxies and thousands of new asteroids are a teaser of how the U.S.-funded observatory on a mountain in Chile will transform astronomy.

    By Kenneth Chang and

    In this image of the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas, clouds of hydrogen emit a pink glow while hot stars shine blue.
    CreditVera C. Rubin Observatory/NSF/DOE
  3. Vera Rubin’s Legacy Lives On in a Troubled Scientific Landscape

    A powerful new telescope will usher in a new era of cosmic discovery, but in a political climate vastly different from when it was named for a once overlooked female astronomer.

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    Vera C. Rubin, the astronomer for whom the new observatory is named, circa 1985. In the 1970s, she and a colleague discovered what would come to be known as dark matter.
    CreditMark Godfrey/AIP Emilio Segre Visual Archives, via Science Source
  4. How Astronomers Will Deal With 60 Million Billion Bytes of Imagery

    The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will make the study of stars and galaxies more like the big data-sorting exercises of contemporary genetics and particle physics.

    By Kenneth Chang and

    William O’Mullane, the associate director of data production at the observatory. “We produce lots of data for everyone,” he said. “So this idea of coming to the telescope and making your observation doesn’t exist, right? Your observation was made already. You just have to find it.”
    CreditMarcos Zegers for The New York Times
  5. Earth’s Largest Camera Takes 3 Billion-Pixel Images of the Night Sky

    At the heart of the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a digital camera that will create an unparalleled map of the cosmos.

    By Jonathan CorumKenneth Chang and

    CreditJacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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Out There

More in Out There ›
  1. Happy Birthday, LIGO. Now Drop Dead.

    Ten years ago, astronomers made an epic discovery with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Cosmology hasn’t been the same since, and it might not stay that way much longer.

    By

    An artist’s rendering of two black holes spiraling around each other, a phenomenon scientists believe produced the gravitational waves of the GW170104 signal detection of Jan. 4, 2017
    CreditLIGO/Caltech/MIT/Sonoma State (Aurore Simonnet), via Science Source
  2. Scientific Discoveries, and Dreams, in the Balance

    Research breakthroughs are often sagas of passion, curiosity and sacrifice. If Trump’s proposed budget cuts for 2026 are enacted, many such journeys may never get started.

    By

    A model of the Giant Magellan Telescope at the University of Arizona’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Laboratory.
    CreditCaitlin O'Hara for The New York Times
  3. A Century of Human Detritus, Visualized

    “Technostuff” built in the last 100 years outweighs all the living matter on Earth.

    By

    CreditBrice Ménard and Nikita Shtarkman
  4. A Solstice of the Soul

    For his next trick, your cosmic correspondent for the past quarter-century will (try to) retire.

    By

    Dennis Overbye, The New York Times’s “cosmic affairs correspondent,” during a visit to The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., in 2011.
    CreditJim Wilson/The New York Times
  5. First Close-Up of Star Outside Our Galaxy Shows a Giant About to Blow

    Astronomers zoomed in on a stellar behemoth in the Larger Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy that orbits about 160,000 light-years from the Milky Way.

    By

    The star WOH G64, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, over 160 000 light-years away. It is the first close-up picture of a star outside our own galaxy.
    CreditK. Ohnaka et al./European Southern Observatory
  1. TimesVideo

    NASA’s Artemis II Crew Returns to Houston After Lunar Mission

    After splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, the Artemis II crew members reunited with their friends, families and fellow NASA astronauts in Houston on Saturday. Their voyage was the first trip by humans into deep space in more than half a century.

    By Jorge Mitssunaga

  2. TimesVideo

    Artemis Astronauts Splash Down After Historic Lunar Flyby

    The four astronauts aboard Artemis II splashed down at 8:07 p.m. Eastern time in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego on Friday, concluding their historic 10-day mission, the first to send humans to the moon in more than 50 years.

    By Jackeline Luna

  3. TimesVideo

    NASA Prepares for Artemis II’s Return to Earth

    The Artemis II crew prepared for their return home and NASA inspected the exterior of the Orion spacecraft, which is scheduled to land in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California on Friday.

    By Nailah Morgan

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