Mysterious purple coating found on Mars rocksJanuary 13, 2022 – The color pops up almost everywhere the Perseverance rover has looked—and could hold clues to the planet’s potential for ancient life.
Why travellers are embracing dark sky tourism for 2022January 24, 2022 – Looking to the skies for answers to the big questions can be a life-affirming experience. But it isn’t all just stargazing — some of the planet’s best dark-sky destinations offer activities and experiences that bring the cosmos to life.
Russia just blew up a satellite—here’s why that spells trouble for spaceflightNovember 16, 2021 – An anti-satellite weapon test left a cloud of debris in orbit that is threatening the International Space Station and other vital satellites.
The bizarre drama behind a pinch of moon dust that just sold for $500,000April 13, 2022 – Today’s auction is the culmination of a sordid saga involving Apollo astronauts, multiple lawsuits, and scientists aching for a chance to study rare lunar materials.
These musician siblings became rock stars—in astronomyJanuary 19, 2023 – 200 years before Queen’s Brian May became an astrophysicist, William and Caroline Herschel set aside their musical instruments to build telescopes and discover comets, galaxies—and even a planet.
A space story that wasn't about space: Why Tom Wolfe wrote The Right StuffOctober 23, 2020 – It was a stylish account of America's race for space, and the "psychological mystery" of the men in shimmering spacesuits who became the new knights of their age. But its author was a man in a very different kind of suit.
The 22 most amazing discoveries of 2022November 30, 2022 – New clues from the day the dinosaurs died. A mysterious ancient human tooth. Primordial galaxies. See how the past year expanded our knowledge of the cosmos and our own backyard.
Scientists spot a 'space hurricane' for the first timeMarch 23, 2021 – Scientists suspected that vortexes could form high in Earth’s atmosphere, but this is the first time one has been seen twirling the northern lights like a baton.
Jeff Bezos reaches space—a small step toward big spaceflight dreamsJuly 20, 2021 – The first crewed New Shepard launch carried Bezos, his brother, and the oldest and youngest people to ever go to space: 82-year-old aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and an 18-year-old Dutch student.
What Virgin Galactic's milestone flight means for the future of tourists in spaceJuly 11, 2021 – Carrying a crew that included company founder Richard Branson, the successful trip marks a significant step toward rocketing paying customers into new heights.
The universe is expanding faster than it should beDecember 17, 2021 – The latest measurements with the Hubble Space Telescope suggest the universe is expanding faster than scientists' models predict—a hint that some unknown ingredient could be at work in the cosmos.
Behold: The first picture of the black hole at the center of our galaxyMay 12, 2022 – A global network of telescopes has captured the extreme environment surrounding the supermassive black hole in our cosmic backyard.
Launch Party | Nat Geo Photo of the DayPresident Lyndon Johnson, First Lady Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, and Vice President Spiro Agnew watch the launch of Apollo 11 at Kennedy Space Center in this image from our photography archives.
Why signs of life on Mars remain so mysteriousJanuary 31, 2022 – Recent findings from NASA rovers look tantalizingly like alien signatures—but Mars has fooled us before, and scientists have yet to fully explain all its planetary workings.
Of shark moves, shell shocks, and trash landings on the moonJuly 14, 2022 – Surprising science news includes risks to conch shells, flavors from flowers, and confirmation of new moon craters and shark behaviors.
The spacecraft that changed how I see the universeMay 20, 2021 – Since 2008, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has captured cosmic wonders that would otherwise be hidden from human eyes.
