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An image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope released on Oct. 6, 2026, reveals a cauldron of cosmic creation. Webb has unveiled numerous stars formerly hidden by clouds of dust in a stellar nursery known as NGC 7129, which resides about 3,300 light-years from Earth. Learn more about this region – and tour it in […]
NASA scientists have finally uncovered why asteroid Bennu loses heat so quickly despite being covered in massive boulders. Samples returned to Earth reveal that its rocks are filled with hidden cracks, solving a mystery that has puzzled researchers for years.
A court in the western German state of Hesse has said Google is "spying" on people and has no right to publish information about their property on its Maps and Earth sites. The case stems from images taken from the air.
Human activities have become intertwined with how water is distributed across the continents. A new study brings their effects into sharper focus.
Japan launched a spacecraft on Tuesday on a five-year mission to explore Mars' mysterious moons, Phobos and Deimos, and bring back samples for the first time. The $578 million project aims to deliver dust, soil and rocks to Earth in 2031, potentially shedding light on how the moons formed and the origins of life.
Human activity is driving plants and animals to extinction at an unprecedented rate. As countries meet in Armenia to discuss ways to reverse nature loss, DW reveals how declining biodiversity is already harming people.
A spacecraft is set to launch on an ambitious mission to bring 10g of Martian moon dust back to Earth.
Shortly after NASA’s Artemis II mission splashed down on April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield. In the months after, the agency measured whether the thermal protection system effectively safeguarded the crew and Orion systems as the spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere. This rigorous analysis confirmed that the […]
A phenomenon rarer than a solar eclipse and more powerful than any single storm system is unfolding this fall, and NASA is tracking it closely. El Niño is a natural climate pattern that emerges roughly every two to seven years marked by warmer-than-normal water temperatures in parts of the equatorial Pacific. NASA scientists are keeping […]
U2 will be playing in stadiums around the globe next year, the group announced Thursday, with a tour dubbed “Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth” kicking off Feb. 23 in Mexico City and set to continue through 2027 “and beyond.” Only the first six dates of the Live Nation-produced tour were unveiled […]
Timekeepers add a leap second occasionally to keep our clocks and the Earth's rotation in tune. That could now change.
Scientists may have solved a long-standing mystery about why the Moon’s two sides are so different, using samples collected from its farside for the first time. Their findings suggest that uneven heating from Earth's gravitational pull drove enormous flows of ancient magma, creating the dramatically different lunar landscapes we see today.
Description This infographic illustrates the distances driven by various rovers on the surface of Earth’s Moon and Mars. Of the vehicles shown, the NASA Mars rovers Perseverance and Curiosity are still operational and moving across the surface; the figures shown for those two are distances driven as of Oct. 11, 2026. As of that date, […]
Scientists may have solved a 2.3-billion-year-old mystery about how Earth maintained enough oxygen to support life. Ancient rocks reveal that phosphorus recycling in the oceans created a self-sustaining cycle that helped keep oxygen levels high, even as the planet underwent dramatic environmental changes. The discovery challenges assumptions about Earth's early atmosphere and raises new questions about why complex life took so long to emerge.
Europe's Sentinel-3C satellite has returned breathtaking images of Earth just two weeks after launch, revealing the snowy Alps, frozen Arctic islands, and brilliant turquoise Caribbean waters. Its first measurements also show promising results for tracking rising seas, melting ice sheets, and other changes reshaping our planet.
If the thought of extraterrestrial objects crashing into Earth weren’t creepy enough, behold Australia’s Spider Crater.
We all have that one pair of old jeans in the back of our wardrobe – don’t throw them out! A French company says denim fibres make for great insulation against the cold and heat. Millions of jeans are already being recycled in a factory in north of the country. Their insulating panels have even found their way into some of France's most iconic buildings. Our Down to Earth team reports.
Blockades and protests by French secondary school and university students continued, occasionally becoming violent; French astronaut Sophie Adenot returned to Earth after eight months aboard the International Space Station; Israel's commemorations marking the three-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks: here's a look back at some of the most striking images from the past week's news.
Astronomers have discovered a bizarre star system about 300 light-years from Earth where a small star is slowly devouring a nearby brown dwarf, an object too massive to be a planet but too small to be a true star. Unlike stars that rapidly swallow their companions, this one is gradually stealing material in a process that could continue for billions of years.
French astronaut Sophie Adenot said she experienced “the full range of human emotions, from the most joyful to the most difficult” during her eight months in space, speaking on Saturday in Cologne, Germany, in her first public appearance since returning to Earth.
