How Close to the Sun Can You Survive?

With July in full force, it already feels like the Sun's rays are slobbering down our necks. But what if it were closer to us? Say, 90 million miles closer? Popular Science investigates how near we could go and survive.

Microsoft's Terapixel Project Creates Clearest, Biggest Night Sky Map Yet

First they gave us a high-res tour of Mars — now Microsoft has made the largest and clearest night-sky map ever. It's a terapixel image: 1,000,000,000,000 pixels.

Earth's Upper Atmosphere Suffers Record Collapse

Well, this doesn't sound good: NASA just announced that the Earth's thermosphere, an upper layer of the atmosphere, collapsed. It's the biggest contraction in 43 years and scientists have no idea what's going on. I don't feel safe anymore.

Smithsonian's Spacesuits: Number One On The Runway

The iconic NASA spacesuit didn't show up in astronauts' closets fully formed. Here, a small sampling of the many precursors held with reverence at the Smithsonian Museum.

Scientists Discover the First Planet With a Tail

Scientists have discovered the first cometary planet, one with a huge tail, a stream of gas being ripped off by solar winds at 22,000 miles per hour. This jovian world is located 153 light-years from Earth.

NASA Offers Cash for Inflatable Space Shelters

NASA has kicked off a competition among university engineers to design an inflatable habitat that is "light-weight, safe, and reliable" to house future astronauts "in space and on other planetary bodies." On the line is $58,000.

The eXploration Habitat (or X-Hab) "lofts," as NASA is chicly terming them, must be designed to sit as an expansion atop the agency's existing hard shell prototype, which will include (cramped) spaces for activities like suit maintenance and geological research. The challenge, open to all university seniors and graduate students, is intended to spur interest and research in math, science, and engineering, and will honor each of three winning teams with $48,000 and a shot to field test their prototype for a final ten grand.

An 80 Mile Long, 4.5 Billion Year Old Asteroid Gets Its Close Up

This is an up close picture of Lutetia, an asteroid that hangs out somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. It's the largest asteroid ever visited by a satellite.