Astronomers have identified RR Lyrae stars extending up to 1 million light-years from the Milky Way's core, significantly expanding the observed boundary of its outer halo. These RR Lyrae stars ...

The new study suggests that miniture solar systems would not necessarily look like our own. This composite of planets in our solar system was taken by various NASA spacecraft. Included in the image ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Late in the evening of October 5, 1923, Edwin Hubble sat at the eyepiece of the Hooker telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory atop ...

"You really get to know the stars." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. A treasure trove of data is set to answer some big questions ...

The Milky Way galaxy, comprised of billions of stars, will be visible in the night sky until the end of May, particularly between the last quarter moon (May 20) and the new moon (May 30). Light ...

This story appears in the December 2010 issue of National Geographic magazine. It's hard to be modest when you live in the Milky Way. Our galaxy is far larger, brighter, and more massive than most ...

An ambitious new survey of the Milky Way's galactic plane has revealed 3.32 billion cosmic objects in stunning detail. The enormous celestial catalog, possibly the largest of its type, was built using ...

The Milky Way looks serene from our vantage point, a hazy river of light arcing across the night sky. Yet the stars that make up that glow are quietly telling a more dramatic story, one in which our ...

From your place inside the Milky Way, you are living within a galaxy that keeps a detailed chemical diary. Every star holds clues about when it formed and what the galaxy was like at the time. Over ...