Space

After waiting out a planned two-week communication blackout, NASA is set to listen again for a Mars orbiter that abruptly went silent more than a month ago. The renewed contact attempt for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or MAVEN, comes after the end of a solar conjunction today (Jan. 16) — a period when the sun sits between Earth and Mars and charged solar particles can…

Four astronauts are safely back on Earth after the first-ever medical evacuation of the International Space Station. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying NASA’s Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego today (Jan. 15) at 3:41 a.m. EST (0841 GMT; 12:41 a.m. California time), about 10.5…

Where are the smallest galaxies? A recent study suggests that there may not be as nearly as many of them in the early universe as there should be, which has big implications for the story of how our universe grew up. For years, astronomers have looked back into the deep history of the cosmos and assumed that if they just looked hard enough, they would find a nearly infinite supply of tiny, dim…

Ever had trouble with a wobbly view from your high-magnification binoculars? Image-stabilized (IS) binoculars are the solution to this problem and the Canon 12×36 IS III binoculars are now 25% off on Amazon. With 12x magnification and image stabilization, they are perfect for watching the night sky in detail and close-up terrestrial viewing. You can get the Canon 12×36 IS III binoculars…