Human spaceflight and robotic explorations image of the week: ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet feeling objects in the Netherlands from space

Just how much future space trash is up there?

Newly released images showcase the incredible closeness with which NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, now in its “Ring-Grazing” orbits phase, is observing Saturn’s dazzling rings of icy debris.

Newly released images showcase the incredible closeness with which NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, now in its “Ring-Grazing” orbits phase, is observing Saturn’s dazzling rings of icy debris.

A new device on the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii has delivered its first images, showing a ring of planet-forming dust around a star, and separately, a cool, star-like body, called a brown dwarf, lying near its companion star.

It was the 25th year JPL has hosted the event.

It was the 25th year JPL has hosted the event.

A new device on the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii has delivered its first images, showing a ring of planet-forming dust around a star.

The road to realising ESA’s Aeolus mission may have been long and bumpy, but developing novel space technology is, by its very nature, challenging. With the satellite now equipped with its revolutionary instrument, the path ahead is much smoother as it heads to France to begin the last round of tests before being shipped to the launch site at the end of the year.

As Cassini prepares to enter its Grand Finale, it’s still wowing astronomers with high-resolutions images of ring structures like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

To study the ancient history of the Earth, we should look to the moon.

A new study from Japanese researchers reveals that for the past 2.4 billion years, the moon has been bathed in a stream of oxygen particles stripped from the Earth’s atmosphe…

The Soyuz carrying ESA’s new SmallGEO telecom platform is captured at the moment of liftoff on a rainy evening in Kourou

Space Science Image of the Week: Testing the solar cells of ESA’s exoplanet mission

Watch the replay of the first launch of ESA’s SmallGEO platform at 01:03 GMT on 28 January from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana

January storms may have recouped 37 percent of California’s five-year deficit in snow water.

January storms may have recouped 37 percent of California’s five-year deficit in snow water.

ESA’s new small telecom platform, SmallGEO, was launched on its first mission at 01:03 GMT on 28 January from Europe’s Spaceport

Our week through the lens: 23-27 January 2017

Watch the first launch of ESA’s new SmallGEO platform from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana atop a Soyuz launcher. Streaming starts at 01:46 CET on Saturday 28 January

On an otherworldly landscape in Mono Lake, California, scientists have tested a new method for potentially detecting chemical signatures of life on another planet.

On an otherworldly landscape in Mono Lake, California, scientists have tested a new method for potentially detecting chemical signatures of life on another planet.

Join us Friday, 27 January, at 10:00 CET for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features the Sierra Madera crater in the US state of Texas

The three astronauts who tragically passed away will be commemorated in the display

The most recent independent measurement of the Hubble constant indicates our models might need some tweaking.

Operations image of the week: ESA’s deep-space dish at New Norcia squats on some of Australia’s famously iron-rich soils

Technology image of the week: ESA’s artist-in-residence has designed a place of contemplation to build at the Moon’s south pole

Thin, blade-like walls, some as tall as a 16-story building, dominate a previously undocumented network of intersecting ridges on Mars, found in images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The first year of data from NASA’s SMAP mission provides surprising findings that will help in forecasting weather and monitoring crop growth.

Thin, blade-like walls, some as tall as a 16-story building, dominate a previously undocumented network of intersecting ridges on Mars, found in images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The first year of data from NASA’s SMAP mission provides surprising findings that will help in forecasting weather and monitoring crop growth.

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Children in Ireland during a live event with Thomas Pesquet in space

You might call it AIstronomy.

The supernova SN 2014C dramatically changed in appearance over the course of a year, apparently because it had thrown off a lot of material late in its life.

NASA measures the dust on the Colorado and Utah snowpack to help forecast water supplies in the Colorado River Basin.

The supernova SN 2014C dramatically changed in appearance over the course of a year, apparently because it had thrown off a lot of material late in its life.

NASA measures the dust on the Colorado and Utah snowpack to help forecast water supplies in the Colorado River Basin.

As the plumes spray out, they are radically altered — and that could be the clue to understanding their origin.

Extraterrestrial objects are constantly bombarding Earth; thankfully the vast majority are microscopic.

Thanks to the planet’s atmosphere, we live largely unaware of this celestial fusillade, which averages about 100 tons a day and mostly burns …

The Albert Einstein Institute in Potsdam has increased its computing power more than sixfold with the Minerva supercomputer.

Get ready for an exciting cyber landing

Space Science Image of the Week: Two observations over a month apart show the appearance of frost at Mars’ north pole

Our week through the lens: 16-20 January 2017

Our week through the lens: 16-20 January 2017

International Space Station and Moon seen from Spain

International Space Station and Moon seen from Spain

For the first time, the public can vote on which pictures the spacecraft’s JunoCam imager takes of Jupiter.

For the first time, the public can vote on which pictures the spacecraft’s JunoCam imager takes of Jupiter.

Join us Friday, 20 January, at 10:00 CET for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-2 image of Hawaii’s Big Island

Evidence of mud means previous evidence of water on the Red Planet

Be a part of Europe’s Earth observation revolution: apply to join top Earth experts at the Sentinel launch SocialSpace on 6–7 March in Darmstadt, Germany

Be a part of Europe’s Earth observation revolution: apply to join top Earth experts at the Sentinel launch SocialSpace on 6–7 March in Darmstadt, Germany

And how selenium could expand the search of extraterrestrial life

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is giving astronomers a new look at the geometry of pulsars to explain why observations often differ from object to object.

The many universes interpretation could settle some lingering questions in physics. That is, if it’s correct at all.  

Replay of SmallGEO media briefing, 18 January at ESA HQ, with ESA DG, Director of Telecommunications Magali Vaissiere, and the SmallGEO first flight partners

Replay of SmallGEO media briefing, 18 January at ESA HQ, with ESA DG, Director of Telecommunications Magali Vaissiere, and the SmallGEO first flight partners

Technology image of the week: ESA’s e.Deorbit mission will be the world’s first space debris removal mission

Replay of ESA Director General Jan Woerner’s media briefing at ESA Headquarters in Paris, 18 January

Replay of ESA Director General Jan Woerner’s media briefing at ESA Headquarters in Paris, 18 January

Scientists used NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover in recent weeks to examine slabs of rock cross-hatched with shallow ridges that likely originated as cracks in drying mud.

Scientists used NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover in recent weeks to examine slabs of rock cross-hatched with shallow ridges that likely originated as cracks in drying mud.

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Thomas Pesquet spacewalk

Astronomers thought they knew everything they needed to know about this famous binary star system — but they were wrong.

Watch the SmallGEO media briefing on Wednesday 18 January at ESA Headquarters, from 11:30 CET

The stars have aligned for the American Google Lunar X Prize team

Asteroid impacts have the distinction of being one of the few sci-fi concepts that will definitely happen at some point. But despite the clear and present (although potentially far off) danger of getting smacked by an asteroid, we’ve devoted few …

Cernan was a Gemini astronaut who flew two Apollo missions who bid the Moon farewell in 1972.

A massive, bow-shaped wave was spotted for the first time in the highest regions of Venus’ atmosphere, perplexing astronomers.

The structure was captured by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in some of the first images returned by th…

Space Science Image of the Week: An image a day of the Sun, taken by the Proba-2 satellite throughout 2016

ESA Director General Jan Woerner meets the media on 18 January at ESA Headquarters in Paris. Streaming starts at 09:00 CET

Thomas Pesquet and Shane Kimbrough’s spacewalk in pictures

A series of atmospheric rivers that brought drought-relieving rain, snow and flooding to California this week is highlighted in a new movie created with NASA satellite data.

A series of atmospheric rivers that brought drought-relieving rain, snow and flooding to California this week is highlighted in a new movie created with NASA satellite data.

This week, ESA deep-space radio dishes on two continents are listening for signals from the international Cassini spacecraft, now on its final tour of Saturn.

This week, ESA deep-space radio dishes on two continents are listening for signals from the international Cassini spacecraft, now on its final tour of Saturn.

Our week through the lens: 9-13 January 2017

In 2005, ESA did something no craft had ever done before … land on an alien moon.

NASA scientists are crisscrossing the globe in 2017 to investigate critical science questions about how our planet is changing and what impacts humans are having on it.

NASA scientists are crisscrossing the globe in 2017 to investigate critical science questions about how our planet is changing and what impacts humans are having on it.

Join us Friday, 13 January, at 10:00 CET for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week we explore Saint Petersburg and the Neva Bay

Operations image of the week: Sentinel-2 mission controllers begin the year with intensive training for the March launch

Some of us may be easing ourselves gently into the New Year, but for the team readying Sentinel-2B for liftoff on 7 March it’s full steam ahead.

Some of us may be easing ourselves gently into the New Year, but for the team readying Sentinel-2B for liftoff on 7 March it’s full steam ahead.

Explosive research says there may be cryovolcanism on cometary bodies.

Somewhere between 40 million and 140 million years older, to be exact.

The best instrument in the world for studying the spectra of astronomical objects has just been shipped to its Hawaiian home.

The 2005 descent of ESA’s Huygens probe to Saturn’s moon Titan remains a major milestone in solar system exploration.

The 2005 descent of ESA’s Huygens probe to Saturn’s moon Titan remains a major milestone in solar system exploration.

A new detection of huge, faint halos of photons around young galaxies could tell us more about the formation of the Milky Way.

At the outer rims of our galaxy lie a few truly alien stars

Watch ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA’s Shane Kimbrough’s spacewalk to upgrade the Space Station’s power system

Technology image of the week: the towering payload module of MetOp-C, Europe’s next weather satellite, arrives at ESA’s technical heart

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: delivering supplies in Antarctica

What it’s like seeing our home planet from the red planet

From pre-NASA days to Apollo, the struggles of black women in the early space program rarely came to light. Until now.

RZ Piscium appears both young and old at once. The reason may be a violent event leaving a trail of doom.

Careful sleuthing through decade-old images has enabled ESA’s asteroid team to decide that a newly discovered space rock poses little threat of hitting Earth any time soon.

Careful sleuthing through decade-old images has enabled ESA’s asteroid team to decide that a newly discovered space rock poses little threat of hitting Earth any time soon.

How much of you lies among the stars? How are the elements that make up life distributed among stars and planets? As trippy as the questions seem, astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) announced today at the 229th meeting of the American…

Stellar tidal disruption events may create Jupiter-mass “spitballs”