Black holes are an important part of how astrophysicists make sense of the universe – so important that scientists have been trying to build a census of all the black holes in the Milky Way galaxy. But new research shows that their search might have been missing an entire class of black holes that they didn’t know existed.

Researchers already are planning an ambitious spacecraft that will orbit the mysterious world.

One of the sources of mysterious energy blasts could be relatively nearby, scientists say

The milestone was a long time coming.

Donald Trump’s declaration that space represents “the next warfighting domain” comes at a time when nervous superpowers are taking an idea that once belonged to the realms of fiction increasingly seriously. US military briefings leading to Trump’s formal announcement of a new, separate space command argued that “an emergent China and a resurgent Russia” have eroded what Washington traditionally believed was an arena it could dominate.

Solar system discovered 30 light years from Earth defies current understanding about planet formation.

'It was completely unexpected'

Comet 2I/Borisov is releasing cyanogen—similar to comets from our own solar system

Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft released a small rover on Thursday that will land on the surface of an asteroid as part its final mission before heading back to Earth, Japan's space agency said.

Things haven’t quite gone to plan for India's Chandrayaan-2 mission, with the team losing the spacecraft’s Vikram lander following a touchdown attempt last month. But there is still plenty of science to come as the probe continues to circle the Moon, with the latest imagery relayed by the orbiting…

There's more testing needed before astronauts fly to space on Crew Dragon.

Nasa found evidence of alien life in the 1970s, according to a former senior scientist – and ignored it. The Viking landers were sent to the Martian surface more than 40 years ago, with the aim of exploring the planet. They included an experiment known as Labeled Release, or LR, which was intended to look for signs of life on the planet.

Ever since last summer’s Pluto flyby of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, two UVA scientists have been astounded by images streaming in from the edge of the solar system: breathtaking shots of Pluto and its moons, close-up views of icy mountains, glaciers of frozen nitrogen and the dwarf planet’s hazy, tenuous atmosphere. UVA planetary astronomer Anne Verbiscer, and UVA planetary geologist Alan Howard were among the first scientists to witness and begin analyzing photos and data.

American and Russian engineers are getting closer to a new plan for cooperating in space, one that would go beyond low Earth orbit and preserve the multinational alliance forged at the dawn of the International Space Station program in 1993. Organizations on both sides are quietly toying with the idea of going back to the moon together. That is, if politics don't get in the way. With the ISS scheduled to make a controlled plunge into the ocean in 2024, the partners have been preparing to go their own ways. NASA, while funding companies like SpaceX to go to orbit, is developing the Orion spacecraft and the super-heavy rocket called...

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos says the big, re-usable rocket he has been developing inside his Blue Origin space company will be called New Glenn, after John Glenn.

“So the ship is really rolling, and the capsule is out there like a wrecking ball.

A darkness has spread over the grim, airless field of ice that threatens to swallow us. Night has come to the nightmare glacier. But then we see the shiny spacecraft, with its four gangly legs extending outward to find purchase on the jagged ice. Within, scientific instruments begin to blink on, one by one. Soon, they will start sniffing for any hint of life on this most alien and mysterious of worlds in the Solar System: the Jovian moon Europa. Through the HoloLens each of us wears, we watch this simulation of what might happen about 15 years from now on the icy, forbidding moon.

David Grinspoon looked as if someone had died. It was January 2017, and the astrobiologist had just received bad news. NASA had recently announced the results of its Discovery Program competition, which would decide where the agency would send its next outer space probe. The options: two asteroid missions or two individual Venus orbiters (another option involved an infrared space telescope). Grinspoon had been investigating Venus for most of his 30-year career. But NASA, to his chagrin, had gone with the asteroids.

Stephen Hawking has been studying, theorizing, pondering, and writing about the universe and everything that makes it tick for decades upon decades, and now he’ll finally get his chance to head into the great unknown for himself. Hawking just revealed that he’s booked a flight on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, thanks to the latter’s offer to help the renowned physicist and cosmologist make his dream of spaceflight a reality.

Next week, scientists will gather at the Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) in Mesa, Arizona. A quick glance at the 63 session topics shows Europa (and other ocean worlds) will be a hot topic of discussion. And it’s easy to see why. Earlier this month, two NASA missions gave us new insight into the icy, wet worlds of Enceladus and Europa. Enceladus stole most of the headlines, but the new data from Europa is promising.