Japan’s pioneering Hayabusa2 asteroid hoppers have gotten new names.

Would you want your children to become Venusian cloud pirates?

The BOSS Great Wall is the hugest object ever found – and at one billion light years across it spells big trouble for our cosmic theories.

With the addition of ultraviolet light imagery, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have captured the largest panoramic view of the fire and fury of star birth in the distant universe. Take a look: https://go.nasa.gov/2EmeKVU

The death of a binary star can be a spectacularly violent thing.

This picture shows the binary system R Aquarii, a red giant throwing off its outer envelope, which is being greedily cannibalised by its companion, a much smaller, denser white dwarf.

The dramatic moment you’re looking at unfolded just 650 light-years from Earth – practically right next door in astronomical terms, which is why astronomers have a keen interest in the event.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen will make its closest flyby on Sunday, Dec. 16, passing 7.1 million miles from Earth. It may even be bright enough to see without a telescope. Photo galleries & how to observe: https://go.nasa.gov/2EAoGvM

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe, which just arrived at the asteroid Bennu last week, has already found lots of hydrated minerals on the space rock, mission team members announced today (Dec. 10).