To think of a life with such a singular purpose is both "exhilarating and depressing,'' says Hand, 41, a National Geographic emerging explorer. "The pendulum swings both ways,'' he says.

NASA launched two 12-inch gold-plated copper disks filled with the sounds of children's laughter, heartbeats, and bird calls.

New research on the orbits of these mysterious asteroids near Venus stress the need for better space rock surveillance.

This rare alignment includes the five planets easily spotted with the naked eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Each is bright enough to be seen even in light-polluted city skies, with ...

During the 2012 DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition to the deepest part of the ocean, scientists spotted fuzzy mats that may be communities of bacteria clinging to the rocks.

No telescope has basked in the night sky quite like the enormous new Vera Rubin Observatory. Here's what it could reveal about the universe.

Scientists are working to understand the curious phenomena of red sprites, green ghosts and blue jets high above ...

Known as natural satellites, they orbit planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and other debris. Among the planets, moons are more common in the outer reaches of the solar system.

It was December 1971, and NASA was getting ready to launch Pioneer 10, a spacecraft that would sweep by Jupiter and make the first reconnaissance of the solar system’s biggest planet.