Space

Lexington, Kentucky, unveiled a new tourism campaign beyond this planet

7:13am January 18, 2024

The city used a laser to beam its message to a solar system 40 light years away. It features beautiful Kentucky scenery, and includes the molecular structure of a popular Kentucky export: bourbon.

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The earliest detection of a black hole is made by the James Webb Telescope

5:12am January 18, 2024

by Ari Daniel

The telescope has revealed the earliest known black hole to date, and it's millions of times larger than our sun.

This image shows a 'close-up' of the galaxy GN-z11 as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, superimposed on top of another image marking the galaxy's location in the sky.

Science

James Webb Telescope detects earliest known black hole — it's really big for its age

11:15am January 17, 2024

by Ari Daniel

Data from the James Webb Space Telescope indicate that a galaxy known as GN-z11 has a supermassive black hole at its center — one that's far more massive than astronomers expected.

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NASA rover on Mars photographed something familiar to 'Star Trek' fans

7:25am January 17, 2024

The rover photographed a martian rock resembling the delta-shaped symbol worn by Starfleet officers on Star Trek. An amateur astronomer first noticed the rock in an image the space agency published.

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Countdown continues for SpaceX mission headed to the International Space Station

5:12am January 17, 2024

by Brendan Byrne

The privately chartered mission is scheduled for liftoff Wednesday. The four-member crew will study the effects of microgravity on plants and humans.

United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41D at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Jan. 8, 2024, carrying Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander. After suffering a propellant leak, the lander now appears to be destined to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

Peregrine moon lander heads back toward Earth and should burn up in the atmosphere

2:06pm January 14, 2024

by Joe Hernandez

The mission was to be the first time an American company sent a spacecraft to the moon — and the first time the U.S. returned to the lunar surface in more than 50 years.

This week in science: A moon mission, galaxy radio waves and tracking fishing boats

8:56pm January 11, 2024

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Regina Barber and Geoff Brumfiel of Short Wave about a new moon mission, a global map of fishing ships, and mysterious rings of radio waves.

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Don't look so blue, Neptune: Now astronomers know this planet's true color

7:21am January 11, 2024

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Neptune isn't as blue as people think, and astronomers have figured out why Uranus sometimes appears a tad greener. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Jan. 5, 2024.)

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National

There's already trouble for the Peregrine moon mission

4:57pm January 08, 2024

by Geoff Brumfiel

On Monday, NASA launched America's first robotic mission to the moon's surface since the Apollo era. The small probe, called Peregrine-1, is already having issues.

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This photograph taken on December 27, 2023, shows the last full moon of the year, also known as the "Cold Moon," behind New Year's decorations in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia.

Navajo Nation objects to a plan to send human remains to the moon

9:28am January 08, 2024

by Joe Hernandez

A CEO of one of the companies offering "memorial spaceflights" says his customers view it as "an appropriate celebration" of their loved ones.