Space & Physics

Spacecraft can get a significant boost by stealing energy from planets

Gaia, Europe’s Milky Way–mapping spacecraft, shut down earlier this year. It was arguably the most important—and most overlooked—astronomy project of the 21st century

The latest catastrophic explosion of a Starship upper stage is a significant setback for SpaceX

Researchers have used cosmic explosions called fast radio bursts to illuminate the intergalactic medium

After black holes devour stars, sometimes the feast comes back up

The first images of the cosmos taken by the world’s largest digital camera onboard the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are about to be released to the public. Here’s how to watch the action live

Physicists are a step closer to using quantum computers for simulations that are beyond the ability of any ordinary computers

A near-complete census of our interstellar neighborhood hopes to answer how stars, brown dwarfs and rogue planets form throughout the universe

The game-changing Vera C. Rubin Observatory will collect more astronomical data in its first year than all other telescopes combined

Solar Orbiter isn’t the first spacecraft to study the sun’s poles—but it’s the first to send back photographs

The most anticipated particle physics result of recent years is here—but the real news came one week before: the “muon g–2 anomaly” might have never existed

The Milky Way’s big crash with Andromeda might not be a sure thing. Plus, we discuss an overheated ocean, a giant planet circling a tiny star and worms that build living towers.