Russian scientists believe they have found a wholly new type of bacteria in the mysterious subglacial Lake Vostok in Antarctica, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday.

Astronomers using a powerful telescope in southern Chile said Thursday they have captured the first direct image of a protoplanet forming around another star, still embedded in thick gas and dust.

US astronomers looking for life in the solar system believe that Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, which has an ocean, is much more promising than desert-covered Mars, which is currently the focus of the US government's attention.

Japan is to send a space telescope into orbit around the Earth to observe Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, officials said on Friday, as they look to unlock the secrets of our own planet's atmosphere.

Astronomers using the most advanced land telescope in the world said on Wednesday they had unlocked knowledge about how formidable "gas giant" planets such Jupiter and Saturn come into being.

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has encountered a "magnetic highway" at the edge of the solar system, a surprising discovery 35 years after its launch, the experts behind the pioneering craft said Monday.

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has encountered a "magnetic highway" at the edge of the solar system, a surprising discovery 35 years after its launch, the experts behind the pioneering craft said Monday.

Researchers have found bacteria thriving beneath ice, in the dark and without oxygen in a lake in Antarctica, pushing the boundaries of what was thought necessary to sustain life on Earth.

Astronomers on Wednesday reported they had detected a planet that had strayed from its star system and was wandering alone in deep space.

Scientists on Sunday said they had found water molecules in samples of lunar soil, and their unusual signature points to the Sun as the indirect source.

US scientists have for the first time found proof that planets can form and survive around sun-like stars within dense star clusters, NASA said

The US space probe Dawn has left the orbit of Vesta, one of the biggest asteroids in the solar system, and is headed for a rendezvous with the dwarf planet Ceres in February 2015, NASA said.

It looks like a dustbin lid strapped to a cluster of fishing rods. Its computer is so puny it could not even start up your iPhone. And if E.T. wants to listen to the message it brings, he'll need a gramophone to play it on.

NASA's Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is nearing the outer boundary of the solar system and may already be "dancing on the edge" of outer space, the experts behind the pioneering craft said.

A plan to build the world's most powerful optical telescope, able to scour the heavens for planets that could sustain life, has cleared an important hurdle, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said.

(Reuters) - NASA said hackers stole employee credentials and gained access to mission-critical projects last year in 13 major network breaches that could compromise U.S. national security.

An astronaut attempting to visit recently discovered planet GJ1214b would land in hot water -- literally, US scientists say.

An astronaut attempting to visit recently discovered planet GJ1214b would land in hot water -- literally, US scientists say.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The race is on to discover life in the most remote and extreme environment known on Earth.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists said on Thursday.