The image from video provided by the Department of Defense labelled Gimbal, from 2015, an unexplained object is seen at center as it is tracked as it soars high along the clouds, traveling against the wind. (Department of Defense via AP)

Plus: “Chicago Tonight” gets into the UFO report and its implications

The U.S. government has been taking a hard look at unidentified flying objects. A report summarizing what the U.S. knows about “unidentified aerial phenomena” — better known as UFOs — is expected to be made public this month.

This computer-generated image depicts part of Mars at the boundary between darkness and daylight. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Could a new space race led by private entrepreneurs take humans to Mars and beyond? Futurist and best-selling author Michio Kaku talks about humanity’s destiny to colonize the solar system and reach for the stars.

It might sound like an episode of “The X-Files,” but a story reported Saturday by the New York Times sheds light on an official Pentagon program that researched and investigated unidentified flying objects.

(NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope / Flickr)

Thousands of planets orbiting alien suns, giant new telescopes coming online: Could we finally answer the question “Are we alone in the Universe?”

An artist’s interpretation of what the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f could look like. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

NASA said earlier this week it had a major announcement coming Wednesday. What an announcement it turned out to be.

An Adler Planetarium astronomer tells us whether earthlings may, at long last, be hearing from other intelligent life in the universe.

Baby stars in Orion Nebula

If there is extraterrestrial intelligence out there, the Adler Planetarium wants your help in finding it. Astrophysicist Chirs Lintott tells us how you can search for E.T. on your computer.