Astronomy, features and articles | Educational Science

May 17, 2023

What is a 'black moon'? Why May's new moon has an unusual name.

On Friday, May 19, the year's only black moon will rise in the sky — and there will be precisely nothing to see. That's because Earth's natural satellite will drift right into the glare of the sun, signalling a new moon. So, why the mysterious name? The term black moon...

May 26, 2023

NASA uncovers shattered remains of Japanese lunar lander that mysteriously disappeared on April 25

A NASA spacecraft has spotted the Japanese lunar lander Hakuto-R, which crashed into the moon's surface on April 25. Photo evidence confirms that the craft came to rest near its intended landing site in at least four large pieces. Hakuto-R, the brainchild of the Japanese space company ispace, was set...

Jul 28, 2023

The 'Sturgeon Supermoon' — August's 1st of 2 full supermoons — swims into the sky Aug. 1

August's full moon, known as the Sturgeon Supermoon, will be at its fullest on Tuesday (August 1). The second supermoon of the year (after July's Buck Moon), it will be almost as large as 2023's biggest supermoon — which will be the next full moon, rising on Aug. 30. The...

Aug 18, 2023

Scientists map 1,000 feet of hidden 'structures' deep below the dark side of the moon

Since it first landed in 2019, China's Chang'e-4 — the first spacecraft to ever land on the far side of the moon — has been taking stunning panoramas of impact craters and sampling minerals from the moon's mantle. Now, the spacecraft has enabled scientists to visualize the layer cake of...

Aug 23, 2023

India lands on moon! Chandrayaan-3 becomes world's 1st spacecraft to land near lunar south pole

India has joined the moon-landing club. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft touched down softly near the moon's south pole today (Aug. 23), notching a huge milestone for the nation. India is now the fourth country to stick a lunar landing, after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The historic...

Aug 28, 2023

15 incredible images of Earth's moon

Earth and the moon have shared an intimate bond for at least 4.5 billion years, making the two bodies one of the most successful power couples in our planet's history. You can see the moon with the naked eye on most nights as it slowly transforms from a slim crescent...

Aug 30, 2023

The last blue supermoon until 2037 will rise tonight. Here's how to watch.

The biggest and brightest full moon of 2023 will rise on Aug. 30, and its strange name deserves an explanation. Called a blue supermoon, it is the result of three lunar phenomena happening at once. Such a rare cosmic overlap will not occur again until 2037, according to Live Science's...

Sep 1, 2023

India's lunar rover finds 1st evidence of sulfur near the moon's south pole

India's moon rover, Chandrayaan-3, has for the first time detected sulfur near the moon's south pole, the country's space agency announced earlier this week. The sought-after element is usually found near volcanoes on Earth, so its appearance on the moon hints at our satellite's volcanic history as well as past...

Sep 1, 2023

Russia's Luna 25 lunar lander left a 33-foot-wide crater when it crashed into the moon, NASA images reveal

When Russia's Luna 25 lunar probe crashed into the moon on Aug. 19, the impact likely created a 33-foot-wide (10 meters) crater, according to new photos released by NASA. The Russian moon lander was expected to touch down on the south pole of the moon around Aug. 25, where it...

Sep 7, 2023

India's lunar lander finds 1st evidence of a moonquake in decades

India's moon rover may have just detected the first evidence of a moonquake since the 1970s. The Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) attached to the Vikram lander detected the seismic activity on the surface of the moon Aug. 26. Vikram landed on the moon's south pole Aug. 23 as...

Sep 18, 2023

Humanity's future on the moon: Why Russia, India and other countries are racing to the lunar south pole

While descending to the moon's surface on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin struggled with alarms from an overwhelmed computer and spotty communication with mission control in Houston, where controllers frantically flipped through notes to identify error codes. After enduring a nerve-wracking 13 minutes and...

Sep 19, 2023

Mysterious source of water on the moon traced to Earth's magnetic shield

High-energy electrons located in a tail of plasma around the Earth are weathering the moon and, more excitingly, seem to have given rise to water across the lunar surface. The new findings, reached by a team of researchers led by Shuai Li, a scientist at the University of Hawaii at...

Sep 21, 2023

Haunting new moon images reveal enormous crater deeper than the Grand Canyon near the lunar south pole

The lunar south pole looks haunting in a new mosaic image that uses photography from two different NASA cameras in orbit around the moon. National Geographic, in coordination with NASA, shared a never-before-seen, high-resolution composite image of the lunar south pole with a detailed companion map of Artemis 3 candidate...

Sep 27, 2023

How to see the Harvest Moon, the final supermoon of 2023, rise this weekend

The final supermoon of 2023 will rise later this week when the Harvest Moon — one of the most famous full moons of all — ascends into the autumn skies. Officially full at 5:58 a.m. EDT on Friday, Sept. 29, the full moon will be best seen rising in the...

Oct 23, 2023

Moon is 40 million years older than we thought, tiny crystals from Apollo mission confirm

The moon is at least 40 million years older than we once thought, a new study reveals. Scientists confirmed our cosmic companion's new minimum age after reanalyzing tiny impact crystals from lunar samples taken by NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972. In a 2021 study, researchers first analyzed the lunar...