Unmanned spacecraft from NASA, Europe and other space agencies are exploring the moon, Mars and other destinations across the solar system. (NASA) The solar system that humans call home may be a strange oddity when compared with the incredible diversity of planetary systems researchers are discovering in the Milky Way, astronomers say. Scientists now estimate the Milky Way galaxy contains at least as many planets as it does stars. So far, researchers have detected nearly 900 of these so-called already,...

This image shows the most powerful gamma-ray burst ever seen. Released on May 3, 2013. (NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration) Two NASA space telescopes have captured what appears to be the most powerful star explosion ever detected, a cosmic event so luminous that scientists dubbed it "eye-wateringly bright" despite being 3.6 billion light-years from Earth. On April 27, NASA's Swift Space Telescope and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope spotted the highest-energy gamma-ray burst (GRB) — an explosion of a massive star in...

WASHINGTON — If NASA is to land humans on Mars by the 2030s, as President Barack Obama has directed, there's not much time to settle on a plan and develop the technologies required, agency officials said Monday (May 6). In the 1960s, America seized an opportunity to go to the moon, and succeeded. A second opportunity for a leap forward in space is upon us now, said NASA chief Charles Bolden at the here at George Washington University. "Interest in...

Skywatcher Charles Medendorp took this photo of the annular eclipse at the Very Large Array outside Socorro, New Mexico, on May 20, 2012. (Charles Medendorp) The moon will block the sun in a potentially spectacular solar eclipse this week — a celestial event that will transform the sun into a cosmic "ring of fire" in the daytime sky. The ring-shaped solar eclipse, known as an annular eclipse, will occur Thursday and Friday (May 9 and 10). Weather permitting, the eclipse...

The gas near the central part of the Milky Way's center is warmer than the rest of the mass of gas and dust circling the galaxy's black hole. (ESA–C. Carreau ) The huge, hot mess of cosmic gas that feeds the colossal black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy may be getting "cooked" before being devoured, a scientists say. Before its retirement earlier this year, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory found that clouds of...

SYDNEY -- The moon glided between the Earth and sun, blocking everything but a dazzling ring of light, for the few skygazers lucky enough to see Friday's "ring of fire" eclipse in northern Australia and the South Pacific. The celestial spectacle is the second solar eclipse visible from northern Australia in six months. In November, a total solar eclipse plunged the country's northeast into darkness, delighting astronomers and tourists who flocked to the region from across the globe to witness...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronauts making a rare, hastily planned spacewalk replaced a pump outside the International Space Station on Saturday in hopes of plugging a serious ammonia leak. (LISTEN: ) The prospects of success grew as the minutes passed and no frozen flecks of ammonia appeared. Mission Control said it appeared as though the leak may have been plugged, although more monitoring was needed before declaring a victory. "No evidence of any ammonia leakage whatsoever. We have an airtight...

This image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a colossal X1.7-class solar flare erupting from the sun at 10:17 p.m. EDT on May 12, 2013 (Mother's Day). It is the strongest solar flare of 2013 so far. (NASA/SDO ) The sun unleashed a colossal Mother's Day solar flare on Sunday (May 12) in what has become the most powerful solar eruption of the year. The giant solar flare, which registered as one of the largest eruptions the sun can unleash,...

Chris Hadfield's video features shots of a floating guitar. (NASA) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – In a high-flying, perfectly pitched first, an astronaut on the International Space Station is bowing out of orbit with a musical video: his own custom version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." It's believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's personalized rendition of "Space Oddity" was posted on YouTube on Sunday, one day before his departure from...

MOSCOW -- A Soyuz space capsule with a three-man crew returning from a five-month mission to the International Space Station landed safely Tuesday on the steppes of Kazakhstan. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, American Thomas Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko landed as planned southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 8:31 a.m. local time Tuesday (0231 GMT; 10:31 p.m. EDT Monday). Live footage on NASA TV showed the Soyuz TMA-07M capsule slowly descending by parachute onto the sun-drenched steppes under clear...

'Spaceflight finale: To some this may look like a sunset. But it's a new dawn.' (Photo: Commander Chris Hadfield/NASA) After spending five months in space, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield returned to Earth southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan on Monday night. Hadfield, 53, an engineer and former test pilot from Milton, Ontario, was Canada's first astronaut to live aboard the space station and became the first Canadian in charge of a spacecraft. He relinquished command of the space station Sunday....

Sunspot AR1478 (far left) fired off the three biggest flares of 2013 over a 24-hour stretch on May 12-13. (NASA/SDO ) The super-active sunspot responsible for unleashing the three within a 24-hour stretch this week is slowly rotating toward Earth and will likely be facing our planet by the weekend, experts say. Active Region 1748, as the sunspot is known, unleashed three monster solar flares between Sunday and Monday (May 12 to 13). Every one of the solar storms registered...