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Astronomer Phil Plait recently published Under Alien Skies. We caught up with him in this interview.

Instruments in the Smithsonian collection trace the story of how humans have explored the universe for thousands of years. Join us in taking a look at just a few examples! 

When you look up you can see the stars, the Moon, and sometimes even other planets! We know what these otherworldly objects are because of centuries of research carried out by curious stargazers before us.  

NASA launched TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, on April 18, 2018, continuing our search for planets outside of our solar system (aka exoplanets). 

Using satellites and robotic rovers, we’ve learned quite a few details about the various planets orbiting our Sun. But what about other stars? What are their planets like? How weird do they get? It turns out, pretty weird.

Hunting for exoplanets is an exciting field as more and more worlds are discovered. Many of these newly discovered planets are in the "Goldilocks Zone" where conditions may be right to support life. Dr. Hannah Wakeford is on the cutting edge of this research.

As the first decade of the twenty-first century comes to a close what might we consider the ten most important events in space exploration and discovery?