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NASA's Curiosity rover finds organic matter on Mars

Three 'baby' planets found forming around newborn star

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Most Americans say they aren't up for a vacation to space -- except millennials

Apollo 16 astronaut Alan Bean, now an artist, who paints scenes from space, photographed in his studio.

Alan Bean, the 4th person to walk on the moon, dies at 86

The Mountainous Shoreline of Sputnik Planum: In this highest-resolution image from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, great blocks of Pluto's water-ice crust appear jammed together in the informally named al-Idrisi mountains. "The mountains bordering Sputnik Planum are absolutely stunning at this resolution," said New Horizons science team member John Spencer of the Southwest Research Institute. "The new details revealed here, particularly the crumpled ridges in the rubbly material surrounding several of the mountains, reinforce our earlier impression that the mountains are huge ice blocks that have been jostled and tumbled and somehow transported to their present locations."

Pluto has 'Earth-like characteristics,' study says

These are images of 2015 BZ509 obtained at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (LBTO) that established its retrograde co-orbital nature. The bright stars and the asteroid (circled in yellow) appear black and the sky white in this negative image.

This object isn't supposed to be in our solar system

A feathered dinosaur skeleton discovered in China.

What killed the dinosaurs

An adult male Tapanuli orangutan named Togos resting

Meet the top 10 new species of 2018

The asteroid impact that eliminated non-avian dinosaurs destroyed global forests. Here, a hyopothetical surviving bird lineage -- small-bodied and specialized for a ground-dwelling lifestyle--flees a burning forest in the aftermath of the asteroid strike.

These were the unlikely survivors after dinosaurs went extinct

Old data reveal 'plumes' on ocean world that could host life

NASA sending helicopter to Mars, aiming for an aviation first

TEM image of deformed diamond matrix in Almahata Sitta MS-170 meteorite. Scale bar is 200 nm.

These diamonds are from one of our solar system's 'lost planets'

A computer-simulated image of a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy.

Astronomers have found the fastest-growing black hole ever seen, and it's got a monster appetite

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Trump pushes idea of adding 'Space Force' to US military

The InSight Lander
This artist's concept shows the InSight lander, its sensors, cameras and instruments.
InSight is will take the first-ever-in-depth look at Mars' "inner space." InSight stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport. Its three instruments are a seismometer, a heat flow probe, and a radio science experiment. These instruments will shed light on how warm and geologically active Mars still is, study its reflexes as it whips about in its orbit around the sun, and provide essential clues on the evolution of the rocky planets of our solar system. So while InSight is a Mars mission, it's also more than a Mars mission.
InSight will launch between May 5 through June 8, 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the InSight Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space, Denver, built the spacecraft. InSight is part of NASA's Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/insight.

NASA launches mission to Mars

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Stunning virtual tour of the Lagoon Nebula

HOUSTON, TEXAS - APRIL 03: A model astronaut in the Astronaut Gallery at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center on April 3, 2016 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Africa leaps forward into space technology

Breathtaking virtual tour of the Moon in 4K

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), shown here in a conceptual illustration, will identify exoplanets orbiting the brightest stars just outside our solar system.

NASA's planet-hunting satellite TESS launches

A bleached Acropora colony

Global warming is killing the Great Barrier Reef, study says

Medieval grave reveals rare 'coffin birth' and neurosurgery

One of the nine human skeletons found on the floor level of house 40. This adolescent was found lying on their side. The white arrow points north. Photograph: Kalmar County Museum.

Skeletons tell story of 'truly horrifying' fifth-century massacre

Kalinga archaeological site on the Philippine island of Luzon

Humans were in Philippines 700,000 years ago

Cow skull. 3D reconstruction of the cow skull showing internally and externally the hole produced by trepanation. Bar corresponds to 10 cm.

Skull surgery was performed on this Stone Age cow, study says

Cristina Robins Unveils a portion of a whale skull

New species among rare treasure trove of fossils found in California

This artist's impression shows the exiled asteroid 2004 EW95, the first carbon-rich asteroid confirmed to exist in the Kuiper Belt and a relic of the primordial Solar System. This curious object likely formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and must have been transported billions of kilometres from its origin to its current home in the Kuiper Belt.

Why this rare asteroid was 'exiled' from our solar system

This is a mummified specimen from Atacama region of Chile.

Researchers finally solve mystery of 'alien' skeleton

11,000 years ago, our ancestors survived abrupt climate change

Ice age throwback: 13,000-year-old footprints found off Canadian coast

This could be why our eyebrows evolved

Rosette Nebula image is based on data obtained as part of the INT Photometric H-Alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane.

A hole in the heart of the Rosette Nebula

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Only 117 years 'til this asteroid (possibly) hits us

La Pasiega, section C. Cave wall with paintings. The scalariform (ladder shape) composed of red horizontal and vertical lines (centre left) dates to older than 64,000 years and was made by Neanderthals.

New findings paint picture of Neanderthals as artists

The Munich specimen of the transitional bird Archaeopteryx. It preserves a partial skull (top left), shoulder girdle and both wings slightly raised up (most left to center left), the ribcage (center), and the pelvic girdle and both legs in a "cycling" posture (right); all connected by the vertebral column from the neck (top left, under the skull) to the tip of the tail (most right). Imprints of its wing feathers are visible radiating from below the shoulder and vague imprints of the tail plumage can be recognised extending from the tip of the tail.

This 'enigmatic' feathered dinosaur didn't fly like modern birds

Mysterious Denisovans interbred with modern humans more than once

Small asteroid passing very close to Earth

The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it.

Potential for life is higher on these Earth-sized planets

What really happens inside a solar eruption

The IMAGE spacecraft undergoing launch preparations in early 2000.

An amateur astronomer was hunting the secret Zuma satellite, but found IMAGE instead

Repton 1982, Feaature 940, looking S

Rare find: Mass grave may belong to Viking Great Army

$VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA - JANUARY 31, 2018: A red supermoon rises over hills in the city of Vladivostok in Russia's Far East. Yuri Smityuk/TASS (Photo by Yuri Smityuk\TASS via Getty Images)$

Rare 'super blue blood moon' dazzles sky gazers

Tweet by @MarsCuriosity "I'm back! Did you miss me? This selfie is part of a fresh batch of images, direct from #Mars. Check out all my raw images at https://go.nasa.gov/2n5oyKo "

Mars Curiosity Rover snaps a new selfie

Christa McAuliffe's lessons will finally be taught

Modern fossil discovery rewrites human history

Bright swaths of red in the upper atmosphere, known as airglow, can be seen in this image taken from the International Space Station. NASA's ICON mission, with a planned launch for the summer of 2017, will observe how interactions between terrestrial weather and a layer of charged particles called the ionosphere create the colorful glow.

NASA 'goes for gold' with new satellite

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NASA tests alloy to fold wings mid-flight

This artist's view shows the planet orbiting the young star Beta Pictoris. This exoplanet is the first to have its rotation rate measured. Its eight-hour day corresponds to an equatorial rotation speed of 100 000 kilometres/hour — much faster than any planet in the Solar System.

This little satellite will investigate a curious star and its planet

Ingredients for life found in meteorites that fell to Earth

What's sending mysterious repeating fast radio bursts in space?

Zuma Mission

Mysterious Zuma spacecraft lost after launch

john young apollo 10 FILE

NASA moonwalker and shuttle commander John Young dies

cnn money spacex launch

Your guide to commercial space travel in 2018

New American Girl doll is an aspiring Martian astronaut

This photo of the giant screen at the Jiuquan Space Centre shows the view from the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft as it prepares to link with the Tiangong-1 module just over a week into a manned space mission

China's defunct space lab to plunge back to Earth

Bright swaths of red in the upper atmosphere, known as airglow, can be seen in this image taken from the International Space Station. NASA's ICON mission, with a planned launch for the summer of 2017, will observe how interactions between terrestrial weather and a layer of charged particles called the ionosphere create the colorful glow.

NASA to explore outer edge of Earth's atmosphere

Reconstruction of the Upward Sun River base camp

11,500-year-old infant remains reveal ancient population

Rebecca Hollis of New Zealand drags her suitcases in a snowstorm through Times Square on her way to a hotel, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018, in New York. A massive winter storm swept from the Carolinas to Maine on Thursday, dumping snow along the coast and bringing strong winds that will usher in possible record-breaking cold. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Is it colder in parts of the US than Mars? Yes, but ...

This illustration depicts a hypothetical uneven ring of dust orbiting KIC 8462852, also known as Boyajian's Star or Tabby's Star.

What's up with this mysterious star?

GLASTONBURY, UNITED KINGDOM - SEPTEMBER 28: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted to black and white) The moon is seen prior to the Penumbral Eclipse starting on September 28, 2015 in Somerset, England. Tonight?s supermoon - so called because it is the closest full moon to the Earth this year - is particularly rare as it coincides with a lunar eclipse, a combination that has not happened since 1982 and won?t happen again until 2033. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

First supermoon of 2018 coincides with New Year's Day

Distant star has 8 planets

A photo illustration shows the first interstellar asteroid: `Oumuamua. This unique object was discovered on 19 October 2017 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawai`i. Subsequent observations from ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile and other observatories around the world show that it was travelling through space for millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system. `Oumuamua seems to be a dark red highly-elongated metallic or rocky object, about 400 metres long, and is unlike anything normally found in the Solar System.

Meet our solar system's first observed interstellar visitor

The January 1 supermoon will be the biggest and brightest of 2018. Dennis Doucet took this picture of the "Wolf Moon" from Nara, Japan.

Supermoon closes out the first day of the year

This artist's impression shows the temperate planet Ross 128 b, with its red dwarf parent star in the background. This planet, which lies only 11 light-years from Earth, was found by a team using ESO's unique planet-hunting HARPS instrument. The new world is now the second-closest temperate planet to be detected after Proxima b. It is also the closest planet to be discovered orbiting an inactive red dwarf star, which may increase the likelihood that this planet could potentially sustain life. Ross 128 b will be a prime target for ESO's Extremely Large Telescope, which will be able to search for biomarkers in the planet's atmosphere.

Newly discovered nearby planet could support life

This inner slope of a Martian crater has several of the seasonal dark streaks called "recurrent slope lineae," or RSL, that a November 2017 report interprets as granular flows, rather than darkening due to flowing water. The image is from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

About that flowing water on Mars ...

recent pictures of the child

Scientists replace skin of 'butterfly child' with rare genetic disease

Voyager Trajectory

Voyager probes fulfill 40 years of space exploration

Axial T2-weighted images of the brain obtained before (Panel A, left ) and after (Panel B, right)) this astronaut had undergone
long-duration spaceflight on the International Space Station (Participant 18). The astronaut presented with opticdisk
edema and the visual impairment and intracranial pressure syndrome after spaceflight. Crowding of the sulci
can be seen at the vertex. The gyrus (asterisk) is the precentral gyrus (primary motor cortex).

Long-term spaceflight 'squeezes' the brain, study says

This mystery object may be our first visitor from another solar system

What Cassini learned about Saturn during its death dive

First-seen neutron star collision creates light, gravitational waves and gold

Spaceship chasing an asteroid slingshots past Earth

Just 15 minutes after its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft looked back toward the sun and captured this near-sunset view of the rugged, icy mountains and flat ice plains extending to Pluto's horizon. The smooth expanse of the informally named icy plain Sputnik Planum (right) is flanked to the west (left) by rugged mountains up to 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) high, including the informally named Norgay Montes in the foreground and Hillary Montes on the skyline. To the right, east of Sputnik, rougher terrain is cut by apparent glaciers. The backlighting highlights more than a dozen layers of haze in Pluto's tenuous but distended atmosphere. The image was taken from a distance of 11,000 miles (18,000 kilometers) to Pluto; the scene is 780 miles (1,250 kilometers) wide.

Still missing Cassini? Here's what else is out there

Mallet splint
Caption: 3D4MD 3D-printed the first medical supplies onboard the International Space Station on January 11, 2017. 3D4MD crowdsources and creates cost-optimized printable designs of medical resources to treat an ill or injured astronaut on-site during a long space mission.

The 'doctor's bag of the future' could be a 3-D printer

A nearly 3-mile-wide asteroid makes a (relatively) close call with Earth

Illustration of Cassini diving between Saturn and its innermost rings as part of the mission's Grand Finale. The spacecraft will perform a series of 22 daring orbits passing through the yet unexplored region between the planet and its rings and collecting unprecedented data.
Eventually Cassini will plunge and burn up into Saturn's atmosphere on 15 September 2017, satisfying planetary protection requirements to avoid possible contamination of any moons of Saturn that could have conditions suitable for life.

Cassini, NASA's 13-year Saturn mission, has ended

This artist's impression shows dust forming in the environment around a supernova explosion. VLT observations have shown that these cosmic dust factories make their grains in a two-stage process, starting soon after the explosion, but continuing long afterwards.

'Zombie' star won't die, even after exploding

Science envoy quits, spells out 'impeach' in resignation letter

This early human ancestor is to blame for genital herpes

This composite image of eleven pictures shows the progression of a total solar eclipse at Madras High School in Madras, Oregon on Monday, August 21, 2017. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the contiguous United States from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of South America, Africa, and Europe.

Missed the eclipse? America's next one is in 2024

The total solar eclipse of 2017 has come and gone

Meet 'vika': New 2-pound rat discovered

President Donald Trump looks up toward the Solar Eclipse on the Truman Balcony at the White House on August 21, 2017.

Yes, Donald Trump really did look into the sky during the solar eclipse

This illustrations shows hydrocarbon compounds split into carbon and hydrogen inside ice giants, such as Neptune, which turns into a "diamond [rain] shower."

Martian snow and diamond rain: Wild weather in our solar system

Voyager Trajectory

Voyager probes fulfill 40 years of space exploration

Mallet splint
Caption: 3D4MD 3D-printed the first medical supplies onboard the International Space Station on January 11, 2017. 3D4MD crowdsources and creates cost-optimized printable designs of medical resources to treat an ill or injured astronaut on-site during a long space mission.

The 'doctor's bag of the future' could be a 3-D printer

White lioness Tia plays with her 11 weeks old cub in their enclosure at a private zoo in Dvorec village, Czech Republic, on July 18, 2017.
The animals, four females and a male, were born on 04 May 2017. Quintuplets of white lions are extremely rare in one litter because usually it is not more than four. According to zoo's director Viktor Ambroz, they are the first white lion cubs in history of Czech and Slovak zoos. / AFP PHOTO / Michal Cizek (Photo credit should read MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)

Breeding novelty animals for trophy hunting

Exoplanet has a 'glowing water vapor' atmosphere

A man takes a shower at a beach of Alimos suburb, in Athens Wednesday, July 12, 2017. A summer heatwave has hit Greece, with temperatures reaching a high of 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) in Athens.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Weather disasters to impact 2 out of 3 Europeans by 2100, study says

11 Mars 2020 Rover

New Mars 2020 rover will be able to 'hear' the Red Planet

American astronaut Joseph Tanner waves to the camera during a space walk as part of the STS-115 mission to the International Space Station, September 2006. (Photo by NASA/Getty Images)

What happens if astronauts get sick in space?

Planet Earth with a spectacular sunset.

Earth to warm 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, studies say

UNDATED: This undated NASA handout shows Saturn's moon, Titan, in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. The Cassini spacecraft took the image while on its mission to. gather information on Saturn, its rings, atmosphere and moons. The different colors represent various atmospheric content on Titan. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

How life may find a way on Saturn's moon

NASA's Kepler space telescope team has identified 219 new planet candidates, 10 of which are near-Earth size and in the habitable zone of their star.

Kepler finds 10 more Earth-size exoplanets

(FILES) -- A picture taken on October 20, 2009 shows King Tutankhamun's golden mask displayed at the Egyptian museum in Cairo. DNA testing has unraveled some of the mystery surrounding the birth and death of pharaoh king Tutenkhamun, revealing his father was a famed monotheistic king and ruling out Nefertiti as his mother, Egypt's antiquities chief said on February 17, 2010. AFP PHOTO/KHALED DESOUKI (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)

DNA discovery reveals genetic history of ancient Egyptians

Scanning electron microscope image of the tardigrade species Ramazzottius varieornatus.
CREDIT: Kazuharu Arakawa and Hiroki Higashiyama, Keio University

The microscopic critter that can survive almost anything

A picture of the 5000 year old Late Neolithic CTC dog skull in the lab before it underwent whole genome sequencing.

Your dog descended from Late Stone Age wolves, study says

Jurassic-era crocodiles had T. rex teeth

Asteroid Day: Monitoring the skies for the next strike

NASA's colorful clouds light up the sky

Artist conception of the KELT-9 system. The host star is a hot, rapidly rotating A-type star that is about 2.5 times more massive and almost twice as hot as our sun. The hot star blasts its nearby planet KELT-9b, which transits in front of the star once only 36 hours, with massive amounts of ultraviolet and optical radiation, leading to a dayside temperature of the tidally-locked planet of 7800 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter that most stars and only 2000 degrees cooler than the sun.

Newly discovered exoplanet is 'hotter than most stars'

Oldest Homo sapiens fossils discovered

Artist reconstruction of Macrauchenia patachonica.

DNA solves ancient animal riddle that Darwin couldn't

Ancient Egyptian's wooden toe is sophisticated prosthetic

Artist's concept of the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft approaching the sun. In order to unlock the mysteries of the corona, but also to protect a society that is increasingly dependent on technology from the threats of space weather, we will send Solar Probe Plus to touch the sun.

NASA probe will be first to 'touch' the sun

ISS039-E-013373 (20 April 2014) --- This is one of an extensive series of still photos documenting the arrival and ultimate capture and berthing of the SpaceX Dragon at the International Space Station, as photographed by the Expedition 39 crew members onboard the orbital outpost. The spacecraft was captured by the space station and successfully berthed, following the April 20 arrival.

The SpaceX Dragon arrives at the International Space Station on April 20, 2014. In 2012, the Dragon became the first private spacecraft to dock with the space station. It carries up cargo and brings back trash. SpaceX hopes to take crew members to the space station in the future.

SpaceX sends used Dragon to space station

This image shows Jupiter's south pole, as seen by NASA's Juno spacecraft from an altitude of 32,000 miles (52,000 kilometers). The oval features are cyclones, up to 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) in diameter. Multiple images taken with the JunoCam instrument on three separate orbits were combined to show all areas in daylight, enhanced color, and stereographic projection. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles

Jupiter surprises researchers

antarctica sea ice

Antarctic sea ice hits record low

This artist's concept shows OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb, a planet discovered through a technique called microlensing.

Icy Earth-mass exoplanet is 'colder than Hoth'

Europa Enceladus

Nearby ocean worlds may be best bet for life

Double sunset: Could 'Tatooine' planets be habitable?

UNDATED: This undated NASA handout shows Saturn's moon, Titan, in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. The Cassini spacecraft took the image while on its mission to. gather information on Saturn, its rings, atmosphere and moons. The different colors represent various atmospheric content on Titan. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

Decoding the mysterious 'magic islands' on Saturn's moon

An asteroid is coming! But don't panic. NASA says Asteroid 2012 DA14 will make a record-close pass by Earth on February 15, but it won't hit us. Most asteroids are made of rocks, but some are metal. They orbit mostly between Jupiter and Mars in the main asteroid belt. Scientists estimate there are tens of thousands of asteroids and when they get close to our planet, they are called Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

Big asteroid whizzed by Earth April 19

spacex

Elon Musk is changing the rules of space travel

spacex

SpaceX to fly 2 space tourists around the moon in 2018

This radar images from 1999 shows the Atlas mountains and parts of Morocco.

NASA makes thousands of aerial images of Africa available to public

The SpaceX launch of a Falcon 9 rocket marks another milestone for Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A.

SpaceX launches from historic Complex 39-A

Neanderthals may have self-medicated long before pills, study shows

India's first unmanned lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, is shown here in September 2008. It was launched in October of the same year and radio contact with it lost in 2009.

NASA finds lunar spacecraft that vanished 8 years ago

For two degrees, Woodward, Oklahoma story

Sutter: The geography of American climate confusion

NASA satellite photos show effects of California rain

Satellite photos show impact of California rain

The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it.

Astronomers discover 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby star

SpaceX Falcon 9 FLT-002 101208

NASA sends superbug to space station

At ease, future astronauts: NASA solving 'space poop' problem

Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun. - See more at: http://www.caltech.edu/news/caltech-researchers-find-evidence-real-ninth-planet-49523#sthash.JaLsCJd5.dpuf

NASA wants you to help find a new planet

TOPSHOT - Indian residents photograph the launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C35), carrying equipment which will be used to monitor oceans and weather at Sriharikota in the state of Andhra Pradesh on September 26, 2016.
The rocket is also carrying satellites from Algeria, Canada and the US. / AFP / ARUN SANKAR (Photo credit should read ARUN SANKAR/AFP/Getty Images)

India in record satellite launch as Asia's space race heats up

acquired November 10, 2016

Iceberg the size of Delaware to break off from Antarctica

The full moon, nicknamed "the supermoon", rises at Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on August 10, 2014. A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. AFP PHOTO / YASUYOSHI CHIBA (Photo credit should read YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images)

Friday night lights: Eclipse, full moon and a comet

Tethys, one of Saturn's larger icy moons.

Hmm, this moon looks remarkably like the Death Star

Is this ancient, bag-like sea creature our earliest ancestor?

Ancient tissue found in 195 million-year-old dinosaur rib

US President Barack Obama meets with NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (C) and his twin brother, retired NASA Astronaut Mark Kelly, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, October 21, 2016. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Twins study: How 1-year mission affected Scott Kelly

http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/1923-ssc2008-10a-A-Roadmap-to-the-Milky-Way

Like early explorers mapping the continents of our globe, astronomers are busy charting the spiral structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Using infrared images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have discovered that the Milky Way's elegant spiral structure is dominated by just two arms wrapping off the ends of a central bar of stars. Previously, our galaxy was thought to possess four major arms.

This artist's concept illustrates the new view of the Milky Way, along with other findings presented at the 212th American Astronomical Society meeting in St. Louis, Mo. The galaxy's two major arms (Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus) can be seen attached to the ends of a thick central bar, while the two now-demoted minor arms (Norma and Sagittarius) are less distinct and located between the major arms. The major arms consist of the highest densities of both young and old stars; the minor arms are primarily filled with gas and pockets of star-forming activity.

The artist's concept also includes a new spiral arm, called the "Far-3 kiloparsec arm," discovered via a radio-telescope survey of gas in the Milky Way. This arm is shorter than the two major arms and lies along the bar of the galaxy.

Our sun lies near a small, partial arm called the Orion Arm, or Orion Spur, located between the Sagittarius and Perseus arms.

Milky Way galaxy is being pushed across the universe

What life was like for a medieval leper