A team of astrophysicists have found flares of light in Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way.

President Trump launched the Artemis program to return U.S. astronauts to the moon for the first time since Apollo. Now, the plan could be a casualty of the cost-cutting drive overseen by Elon Musk.

Physics has a bit of a messy problem: There's matter missing in our universe. Something is there that we can't see but can detect! What could this mysterious substance be? A lot of astronomers are searching for the answer. And some, like theoretical particle physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, think a hypothetical particle called the axion may make this problem a little ... tidier. That's right: hypothetical. Scientists have never seen one, and don't know if they exist. So today, we point our cosmic magnifying glasses towards the axion and ask how scientists could find one — and if it could be the neat solution physicists have been searching for. Help shape the future of Short Wave by taking our survey: npr.org/shortwavesurveyListen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

During Valentine's Day weekend, northern parts of America, including Maine, may have a chance of seeing an aurora. But space weather scientists warn that the chances of this happening are slim.

Proponents of going to Mars see peril and opportunity in Elon Musk's close relationship with Trump. Experts say just getting Americans back to the moon in the near future will be challenging enough.

Over the next several weeks, astronomers will be looking closely at an asteroid called 2024 YR4 that could be as big as a football field as they try to determine how likely it is to strike Earth in 2032.

Proponents of going to Mars see peril and opportunity in Elon Musk's close relationship with Trump. Experts say just getting Americans back to the moon in the near future will be challenging enough.

An Einstein Ring was discovered by the European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope in September 2023.

A new telescope could launch as early as late February. SPHEREx will look into deep space and also search for organic molecules.

An email seen by NPR says the move is to comply with a presidential order to "restore biological truth" to the government.