Many bright stars highlight the sky this evening: Sirius, the brightest of them all; Regulus, the heart of the lion; several sparklers in Orion, and more. Astronomers know a lot about these stars. But

The remaining dates of 2024 will take a big leap. Theyll jump over a day of the week. Thats because this is leap year, and today is leap day extending the year from 365 days to 366.Leap years ar

Depictions of the sky have been found on walls and ceilings that date back thousands of years. Other depictions are encoded in the layouts of monuments and burial sites. The oldest known portable view

When youre headed toward the Moon or planets, there are no signposts to keep you on the right track. Fortunately, nature provides its own markers: the stars. Spacecraft orient themselves by sighting

Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, is in the south at nightfall. If you keep your eye on it for a few seconds, though, youll see that Sirius isnt steady. It twinkles fiercely. It gets brig

The brightest star of Orion stands due south at nightfall, marking one of the hunters feet. Rigel shines blue-white a dramatic contrast to orange Betelgeuse, Orions second-brightest light.Both st

Since the dawn of the Space Age, in 1957, the United States and other countries have sent tens of thousands of objects into space some into orbit, and others far beyond. Yet the first object known t

The United States and China plan to build permanent bases on the Moon. For the people who inhabit those bases, daily life will be quite different from life on Earth.For starters, the Moons gravity i

By far the most numerous objects in the solar system are asteroids chunks of rock, metal, and ice. Scientists have discovered more than 1.3 million of them. They range from a few feet across to a fe

Attitudes can change. Thats as true in science as in anything else. Today, asteroids are considered some of the most interesting objects in the solar system. But that wasnt always the case. They wen