Stewart’s iconic “Star Trek” character inspired astronomers and astronauts in countless ways: “You were the captain of my childhood,” one astrophysicist said.

© CBS, via Getty Images

Reid Wiseman, now a retired emeritus astronaut, will become deputy director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA’s premier center for deep-space robotic missions.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

The object, known for now as 2026 ED138, is one of the first discoveries by the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.

A new simulation offers a highly immersive look at what happened during the first couple of billion years following the Big Bang.