This computer-simulated image released by NASA shows gas from a shredded star falling into a black hole. In a first, scientists identified the star that fell victim to this gravitational monster. Black holes only rip apart stars about once every 10,000 years per galaxy, and the death of the identified star may give more clues into the inner workings of the supermassive object that devoured it.

(Photo: Reuters/NASA/JPL-Caltech/JHU/UCSC/Handout)

(Source: Yahoo!)

This artist’s conception of a runaway planet illustrates a recent study that found that planets in tight orbits around stars that get ejected from our galaxy might actually be tossed out of the Milky Way at blisteringly fast speeds of up to 30 million miles per hour, which would make them some of the fastest objects in the galaxy. Eventually, such worlds would travel through the lonely intergalactic void.

(David A. Aguilar, CfA)

New NASA videos show how Earth’s moon evolved and provide a look at the latest close-up imagery of its surface.

Scientists launched a small rocket into a northern lights display on Saturday in an attempt to investigate “space weather” by seeing how the northern lights can affect signals from GPS satellites and other spacecraft.

(Photo by Donald Hampton)

A telescope has captured the most detailed image yet of a star nursery called the Carina nebula located deep in the heart of the southern Milky Way.

(ESO/T. Preibisch)

Scientists say they’ve discovered the brightest galaxy ever seen through a cosmic “zoom lens.” The galaxy is located about 5 billion light-years away.

Photo: NASA, ESA, J. Rigby (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), K. Sharon (Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago), and M. Gladders and E. Wuyts (University of Chicago)

The biggest and strongest solar storm in more than 6 years is hitting Earth right now.

For the first time, researchers have found two new planets orbiting a distant sun-like star that are the size of Earth or smaller. The discovery is key because Earth-sized planets are considered critical in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

(Photo: AP/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

We didn’t get hit by an aircraft carrier-sized asteroid that passed close to Earth yesterday, but now an expert says a Russian space probe that’s stuck in orbit could become the most dangerous manmade object ever to hit Earth. Read more: http://yhoo.it/vYnkrY

(Photo: AFP/Str)

(Source: Yahoo!)

Earth will have a close encounter with an asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier on Tuesday as the giant rock darts between our planet and the moon. But don’t worry: Both Earth and the moon are safe – “this time.” So it’s good to be prepared for what might come.