From 2004 through 2017, Saturn was imaged many times and from many angles up close by Cassini. This new viral image isn't real; it's AI.

By looking at a giant, remarkable, edge-on protoplanetary system, astronomers have found a proto-protoplanet for the first time.

Even though no human has stepped foot on the Moon's surface in 50 years, the evidence of our presence there remains unambiguous.

Brian Cox examines why, despite billions of stars and trillions of planets, we have found no evidence of other intelligent life.

One big goal of science is to find an inhabited, Earth-like planet. But if we find an Earth-like world, will we even recognize it?

Military satellite research brought us GPS. Astronomers influenced medical imaging tech. What would be invented after we discover alien life? Professor Sara Seager explains the consequences of such a groundbreaking discovery.

No claim has even made it halfway up the Confidence of Life Detection (CoLD) scale, but 21st century science is just beginning to unfold.

With a waning Moon and a denser-than-ever debris trail, 2025's Geminids might be the year's best meteor shower, and 2026's could be amazing.

What if the first search for life beyond Earth actually succeeded?

Organic compounds can form through simple chemistry alone — making the search for true biosignatures trickier than it seems.

The Juno spacecraft, orbiting and imaging Jupiter since 2016, is still succeeding. Without a further extension, the mission now faces death.

“So many things could have happened in a different way that we wouldn't be here at all, both individually, for sure, and certainly as a species.”

As the closest icy ocean world to Earth, Ceres may be a promising candidate in the search for signs of ancient life.

Viewing Uranus's largest moons with Hubble, astronomers hoped to find darkening on the trailing side. They found the exact opposite instead.

In around 7 billion years, we expect the Sun to run out of fuel, dying in a planetary nebula/white dwarf combination. Is that for certain?

"Many astronomers are really driven by the search for Earth twins because I think deep down the natural endpoint of this whole goal of looking for planets is to answer the question, are we alone?"

Barnard's star, the closest singlet star system to ours, has long been a target for planet-hunters. We've finally confirmed it: they exist!

Here in our Solar System, terrestrial bodies get moons from gravitational capture or collisions. The Pluto-Charon system? It was both.

A new SETI study shows how far the field of technosignatures has come.

Life may have arisen far earlier — and more rapidly — than previously thought.

Motility was suggested as a promising "biosignature" as early as the 1960s, but the technology was insufficient — until now.

There was a lot of hype and a lot of nonsense, but also some profoundly major advances. Here are the biggest ones you may have missed.

MIT Scientist Jason Soderblom describes how the NASA mission will study the geology and composition of the surface of Jupiter’s water-rich moon and assess its astrobiological potential.

Mars and Earth were sister planets in many ways, with early similar conditions. Why did Mars die? The leading explanation isn't universal.

Could life be widespread throughout the cosmos, in the subsurface oceans of ice-covered worlds? NASA's Europa Clipper mission investigates.

Caption:“At this time in Mars’ history, we think CO2 is everywhere, in every nook and cranny, and water percolating through the rocks is full of CO2 too,” Joshua Murray says.

Scientists might be looking for Martian life in the wrong place.

Just 460 light-years away, the closest newborn protostars are forming in the Taurus molecular cloud. Here are JWST's astonishing insights.

The existence of another watery world in the outer solar system may offer clues to how such seas form — and hope for another spot to search for life.

Finding life beyond our Solar System requires understanding its host planet.