Space

How Did the Solar System Form?

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How did our solar system form? It's a pretty simple and straightforward question, but as with most things in science, simple and straightforward doesn't necessarily mean easy.

The Halloween Hunter’s Blue Moon Explained

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There will be 13 full moons in 2020. Take that how you will, but the full moon coming up this Halloween night is a hunter's blue moon. So what does that mean?

It's Time for a 2021 Space Flight Round-up

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Space is a busy place, with a lot of things going up (most of the time) and coming down (when we want them to). Let’s check in on the latest orbital happenings.

Stuck at Home? What to See in the Night Sky this Month

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In times of darkness and incertainty, opt for exploration of wonder in the skies.

What is “Dark Flow”?

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It sounds super-scary: something from outside the universe, a force so unimaginable, is pulling every single galaxy towards it. What monstrosity of cosmic physics could it be?

The Wow Signal: No, It Wasn’t Aliens

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On a typical muggy midwestern August evening in 1977, astronomers at the Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope got a big surprise. It was a signal so loud that it could only be described with one word: “wow!”

Crew-1 Liftoff Recap

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NASA SpaceX Crew-1 Mission launched on Sunday, November 15th at 7:27P ET. Here's what went down leading up this this historic launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Check out the Crab Nebula

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In the year 1054, a new star appeared in the constellation Taurus as the result of a supernova explosion. It appears today as a fuzzy patch in the sky known as the Crab Nebula.

Crew-1 Liftoff

Video | 02:26

After multiple delays and some curveballs on launch day, the NASA SpaceX Crew-1 Mission launched on Sunday, November 15th at 7:27P ET. This historic milestone marks the first operational mission of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.

Crew-2 Dock with ISS

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Following liftoff on April 23rd at 5:49A ET, the Crew-2 astronauts traveled for about 23 hours in Endeavor, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, to arrive safely at the International Space Station.

Space's Deepest Secrets | Mars Perseverance

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NASA's Perseverance is a six-wheeled robotic vehicle that will seek out life on Mars. Learn more about Perseverance's mission and don't miss Space's Deepest Secrets on February 18 at 10P ET on Science Channel.

That’s a (Weirdly) Big Black Hole!

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Recently astronomers identified a black hole near a star called LB-1 and they found out that the black hole is 70 times the mass of the sun. This is a mystery because the biggest black holes we can get from the deaths of the most massive stars are around 30 times the mass of the sun, so how did black hole get this big?

Female Firsts: Meet Dr. Kathy Sullivan

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In honor of Women's History Month, we're celebrating the achievements of women around the globe and throughout history. From the pages of The Explorers Journal, we're sharing stories from four women who broke boundaries in exploration, research, and science. In our final spotlight, meet the first American woman to walk in space and to reach the deepest known point in the ocean, Dr. Kathy Sullivan.

Lowell Scientists Reveal Second Known Minimoon

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Through use of the Lowell Discovery Telescope, astronomers have gathered data proving that a second known minimoon of Earth exists. Let's learn more about this newly discovered asteroid!

The Nobel Prize Fell Into a Black Hole (and That’s a Good Thing)

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The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics is being awarded to scientists to have dedicated their careers to the study of black holes.

Scientists Have Discovered Enormous Balloon-Like Structures in the Center of Our Galaxy

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There's something really, really big in the middle of our Milky Way galaxy — one of the largest structures ever observed in the region, in fact.

Michael Collins, Apollo 11 Astronaut, Dies at Age 90

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After a truly legendary life, NASA astronaut Michael Collins passed away at the age of 90. Michael was a vital member of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon in 1969 and a pioneer of space exploration.

Celebrating Hubble's Legacy

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Since its launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has made more than 1.3 million observations in space! This telescope revolutionized astronomy and two Lowell Observatory astronomers tell us what it was like to work with HST.