Neutron stars pack more mass than the Sun into a sphere just 20 km (12 miles) wide. That insane density…
If you could drive straight up at highway speeds (about 100 km/h or 60 mph), you’d reach space in about…
Every year, the Moon drifts about 3.8 cm (1.5 inches) farther from Earth. It’s caused by tidal interactions—our planet’s rotation…
Olympus Mons isn’t just big—it’s absurdly big. This Martian shield volcano is 22 km (13.6 miles) high, nearly three times…
HD 189733 b might be the most violent place in the galaxy. This gas giant exoplanet has winds howling at…
In 2009, astronomers were tracking a massive star, about 25 times the Sun’s mass, expecting it to go supernova. Instead,…
Almost every planet in the solar system rotates in the same direction it orbits the Sun—except Venus. It spins backward,…
Deep in the cosmic microwave background—the leftover radiation from the Big Bang—there’s a strange, frigid void called the Cold Spot.…
Moons orbit planets, but could a moon have its own moon? Surprisingly, yes—at least for a while. Astronomers call these…