Astronomy

The comet was discovered less than a year ago near the orbit of Jupiter. Now, observers in North America can see it in the northeastern sky around sunrise.

NASA should work toward a new space telescope that could view small planets around distant stars with the potential to host life, expert panel says

While researchers have found more than 4,000 planets in our own galaxy, this is the first time anyone has found what could be a planet that exists outside the Milky Way.

Potentially, observers in plenty of star systems could have detected Earth sometime in the last 5,000 years. More stars will soon move into positions that would let them see our planet.

Early risers across the Northern Hemisphere will be able to see an eclipse Thursday morning when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun.

For a long time, the Catholic Church rejected scientific findings that conflicted with its doctrine, even persecuting Galileo. Now the Vatican looks to promote its observatory as a bridge to science.

None of us is perfect, and sometimes the Hubble Space Telescope just flat-out points to the wrong spot in the sky. This has been happening more than ever in the last couple of years.

Some scientists predict the Alpha Monocerotids meteor shower will be visible at 11:50 p.m. ET. However, one NASA expert is skeptical of the forecast.

The South American country is home to the Andes Mountains and the Atacama Desert, places that have some of the stillest and driest air in the world. That makes them ideal for astronomy.

Roman was one of the first female executives at NASA, its first chief of astronomy and she played an instrumental role in making the Hubble Space Telescope a reality. She died on Dec. 25.

The comet 46P/Wirtanen just made its closest approach to Earth in centuries. No word on the whereabouts of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Cupid, Donner or Blitzen (and Rudolph).

The shower will peak late Sunday night and early Monday morning, but you can also catch a good number of meteors in the middle of the night on Saturday. Find a dark spot and let your eyes adjust.