The dark energy pushing our universe apart may not be what it seems, scientists say

NEW YORK (AP) — Distant, ancient galaxies are giving scientists more hints that a mysterious force called dark energy may not be what they thought. Astronomers know that the universe is being pushed apart at an accelerating rate and they have puzzled for decades over what could...

PHOTO COLLECTION: Holiday Lights Around the World

When to catch the last supermoon of the year

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Better catch this week's supermoon. It will be a while until the next one. This will be the year’s fourth and final supermoon, looking bigger and brighter than usual as it comes within about 225,000 miles (361,867 kilometers) of Earth on Thursday. It...

Moonlight may hamper views of the Orionid meteor shower, debris of Halley's comet

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Orionids — one of two annual meteor showers from Halley's comet — peak early Monday. A bright waning moon may make them difficult to spot. The Orionid meteor shower can be unpredictable. It shines like a fireworks display in some years, but is fairly slow...

A brown dwarf discovered 30 years ago is actually twins circling each other

NEW YORK (AP) — A celestial object discovered decades ago is actually twins orbiting each other, a new study confirms. Scientists have puzzled over the object known as Gliese 229B, the first known brown dwarf discovered 30 years ago. Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars...

October's supermoon pairs with a comet for a special nighttime spectacle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — October's supermoon is the closest of the year and it's teaming up with a comet for a rare stargazing two-for-one. The third of four supermoons this year, it will be 222,055 miles (357,364 kilometers) away Wednesday night, making it seem even bigger and...

China unveils its plans to turn its feats in space exploration into scientific advances

BEIJING (AP) — China has made great strides in exploring space in recent years, rocketing astronauts to its own space station and bringing back rocks from the moon. Now it wants to turn those feats into scientific advances. The nation's leading scientific institute laid out an...

NASA spacecraft rockets toward Jupiter's moon Europa in search of the right conditions for life

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft rocketed away Monday on a quest to explore Jupiter’s tantalizing moon Europa and reveal whether its vast hidden ocean might hold the keys to life. It will take Europa Clipper 5 1/2 years to reach Jupiter, where it will slip into orbit...

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will scour Jupiter moon for the ingredients for life

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft has set sail for Jupiter and its moon Europa, one of the best bets for finding life beyond Earth. Europa Clipper will peer beneath the moon’s icy crust where an ocean is thought to be sloshing fairly close to the surface. It won’t...

What's behind the northern lights that dazzled the sky farther south than normal

Another in a series of unusually strong solar storms hitting Earth produced stunning skies full of pinks, purples, greens and blues farther south than normal, including into parts of Germany, the United Kingdom, New England and New York City. “It was a pretty extensive display yet...