The Perseids are arguably the most famous annual meteor shower. Silently streaking across the mid-August heavens each summer, it’s a profound and beautiful event for anyone with a dark sky and the discipline to just. Keep. Looking. Up. The often-exquisite shooting stars come from a comet that’s drawing ever closer to Earth. Dangerously close, actually: Radio astronomer Gerrit Verschuur has called Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle "the single most dangerous object known to humanity." Apparently, our inspiring, transcendent meteor shower may also be the harbinger of humanity’s doom, give or take a few thousand years. ... See more

The Swift-Tuttle comet is the source of the lovely Perseid meteor shower each August. It’s also getting closer and closer, making it "the single most dangerous object known to humanity."

About 170 years ago, Eta Carinae, one of the brightest, most massive stars in the Milky Way, erupted with a titanic blast, releasing almost as much energy as a supernova explosion and becoming at one point the second brightest star in the night sky. Somehow, the star survived the “Great Eruption”, providing an intriguing mystery for astronomers.

Now, studying light from the outburst that rebounded, or “echoed,” off interstellar dust and has only now reached Earth, researchers have found the original explosion created a huge 10-solar-mass cloud of debris expanding 20 times faster than expected – more than 32 million kilometres per hour (20 million mph) – fast enough to travel from Earth to Pluto in just a few days. ... See more

Astronomers stunned again by Eta Carinae – the star that will not die 3 August 2018 Astronomy Now Eta Carinae, one of the brightest, most massive stars in the Milky Way, famously erupted 170 years ago in a blast that somehow left the star intact. Astronomers may have found an explanation. Image: N... ... See more

The NASA and ESA Hubble space telescope is on a captivating quest to image all 110 space objects listed in a catalog that originated with French astronomer Charles Messier. Messier's catalog dates back to the 1700s and is full of gorgeous galaxies, fascinating star clusters and stately nebulae.

NASA released 12 new Messier catalog Hubble images on March 16. Hubble has now observed 93 of the 110 objects as of early 2018. ... See more

See the Surfboard galaxy and gorgeous star clusters glow in 12 new NASA Hubble telescope images showing astronomical objects from the Messier catalog.

"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam." ... See more

Hear Carl Sagan as you've never heard him before.

The red planet is making its closest approach to Earth in 15 years. The two planets will be just 35.8 million miles (57.6 million kilometers) apart.

Mars is already brighter than usual and will shine even more— and appear bigger. Astronomers expect good viewing through early August. ... See more

Now's the time to catch Mars in the night sky.

How to Watch Friday’s Super-Long Lunar Eclipse Online

This so-called blood moon will be visible from every continent on Earth except North America.

The accumulation of condensation on surface landers and the detection of vast subterranean ice deposits suggest the stuff still lingers in gaseous and solid states. But liquid water has proved more elusive. Evidence to date suggests it flows seasonally, descending steep slopes in transient trickles every Martian summer. The search for a big, enduring reservoir of wet, potentially life-giving H20 has turned up nothing. Until now. ... See more

"Going from zero bodies of water to one is a big change, for sure, but the full extent of this discovery depends on what we find next."

Follow the SpaceX Iridium-7 launch live

SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, July 25 for the launch of ten Iridium NEXT satellites from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This is the seventh set of satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation glob... ... See more

There is a new radio telescope up and running based in Karoo, South Africa. The MeerKAT (Karoo Array Telescope), as it’s named, operated by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, is already producing brilliant images of the super massive black hole that is at our galaxy’s center, 25,000 light years away. ... See more

MeerKAT is producing brilliant images of the super massive black hole that is at our galaxy’s center.

Mars is closer to Earth and brighter than its been since back in 2003. It’s so bright that photographer Abdul Dremali managed to capture this photo of the planet casting a bright reflection on the ocean as it rose into the night sky. ... See more

Mars is closer to Earth and brighter than its been since back in 2003. It's so bright that photographer Abdul Dremali managed to capture this photo of the