Astronomy & Space News

This image by ESA’s (European Space Agency) Euclid (with color added using ground-based images) provides an earlier snapshot of a region of our galaxy that NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will repeatedly observe during the upcoming years.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently observed edge-on starburst galaxy Messier 82 (M82), nicknamed the Cigar Galaxy.

NASA’s Pegasus barge arrives at the Launch Complex 39 turn basin at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Sunday, June 21, 2026.

The Moon's rocky, uneven, and otherworldly surface features are highlighted by the terminator – the difference between light and darkness.

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers may have found a supernova remnant in an intriguing neighborhood in the middle of our galaxy.

This NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month shows the giant molecular cloud Orion A, an area of the sky replete with star-forming clouds.

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy cluster MACS0329-0211.

The aurora australis arcs over Earth during an active solar event in this photograph taken at approximately 11:32 p.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 271 miles above the Indian Ocean southwest of Perth, Australia on June 5.

A period of unsettled weather brought scattered showers and thunderstorms to California’s Bay Area on May 27, 2026. That afternoon, a break in the clouds left downtown San Francisco and nearby communities beneath mostly cloud-free skies, allowing an astronaut aboard the International Space Station to take this photograph.

Easily identified by the spectacular band of dark dust that partially obscures its bright core, Messier 64, or the Black Eye Galaxy, is characterized by its bizarre internal motion.

Researchers tested soccer balls aboard the International Space Station to study how internal mass affects motion and stability in microgravity.

A train transports eight booster motor segments for the SLS (Space Launch System rocket) that will power NASA’s Artemis III mission from Northrop Grumman’s Railyard Shipping Facility in Corinne, Utah, June 2, to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA announced the Artemis III crew on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, mission specialist; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano, pilot; NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, commander; and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, mission specialist, will demonstrate the Orion spacecraft's rendezvous and docking capabilities with test versions from one, or both, American commercial human landing systems in development by Blue Origin and SpaceX.

NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft completed its first supersonic flight Friday, June 5, 2026, marking the first time the aircraft exceeded the speed of sound in support of NASA’s Quesst mission. The milestone represents a major step in flight testing as the aircraft expands into the supersonic portion of its flight envelope.

A year after America’s first spacewalk, Gemini IX-A Eugene Cernan stepped outside his spacecraft for an ambitious extravehicular activity scheduled for 167 minutes. The challenges he faced led NASA to reevaluate plans, equipment, and training for future spacewalks.

Space Shuttle Atlantis, a reusable winged spacecraft and the fourth space-qualified orbiter to join the U.S. space shuttle fleet (after Columbia, Challenger, and Discovery), launched June 27, 1995. Among other goals, the space shuttle program was designed to enable international cooperation, support space station operations and resupply, conduct research, and facilitate crew exchange. Two daysContinue reading "June 27, 1995: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches"

The post June 27, 1995: Space Shuttle Atlantis launches appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  June 26: Mercury closes in on Jupiter Mars now lies in Taurus, visible in the early-morning sky before sunrise. Today, the Red Planet is less than 5° from the famous Pleiades star cluster (M45). If you happen to be up roughly anContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, June 27: Mars meets the Pleiades"

The post The Sky Today on Saturday, June 27: Mars meets the Pleiades appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

In November 2025, Airbus grounded approximately 6,000 of its A320 family of aircraft after an international flight suddenly lost altitude, leading to an emergency landing and the hospitalization of 15 passengers. In 2003, during a local Belgian election, a candidate received over 4,000 extra votes on a computerized voting machine — more than was physicallyContinue reading "Our planet’s electronic vulnerability"

The post Our planet’s electronic vulnerability appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

On June 5, 2026, NASA ordered five astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to shelter in a docked spacecraft and prepare to abandon ship. The reason was a longstanding, but worsening, air leak in the Russian part of the station. An hour and a half later, the alert was lifted, allowing the crew toContinue reading "Cracks in the International Space Station are causing air leaks – how much longer can it remain habitable?"

The post Cracks in the International Space Station are causing air leaks – how much longer can it remain habitable? appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Why is the Moon exactly the same apparent size from Earth as the Sun? Surely this cannot be just coincidence; the odds against such a perfect match are enormous. Malcolm SmithHertfordshire, England Believe it or not, it actually is just a coincidence — and a happy one at that. The Moon and Sun have virtuallyContinue reading "Why is the Moon exactly the same apparent size from Earth as the Sun?"

The post Why is the Moon exactly the same apparent size from Earth as the Sun? appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

The phenomenon of a Full Moon arises when our planet, Earth, is precisely sandwiched between the Sun and the Moon. This alignment ensures the entire side of the Moon that faces us gleams under sunlight. Thanks to the Moon’s orbit around Earth, the angle of sunlight hitting the lunar surface and being reflected back toContinue reading "2026 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases"

The post 2026 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Charles Messier was born in Badonviller, France, on June 26, 1730, the 10th child of court bailiff Nicolas and his wife Françoise. His childhood interest in astronomy was stoked by Comet Klinkenberg-Chéseaux in 1744 and the solar eclipse of 1748, and in 1751 he moved to Paris to become an assistant at the Naval Observatory.Continue reading "June 26, 1730: The birth of Charles Messier"

The post June 26, 1730: The birth of Charles Messier appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  June 25: Iapetus passes north of Saturn Let’s check in on Mercury’s progress. The tiny planet has been moving closer to Jupiter in the west, although Mercury’s brightness has been fading day by day. This evening, Mercury shines at magnitude 1.4, standingContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, June 26: Mercury closes in on Jupiter"

The post The Sky Today on Friday, June 26: Mercury closes in on Jupiter appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Friday, June 26Even with a bright waxing Moon up most of the night, there are still plenty of targets for your telescope. One of those targets is the Wild Duck Cluster (M11), an open cluster in Scutum that’s located near the tail of Aquila the Eagle.  Wait until about 11 P.M. local daylight time, whenContinue reading "The Sky This Week from June 26 to July 3: A sweet June Strawberry Moon"

The post The Sky This Week from June 26 to July 3: A sweet June Strawberry Moon appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Luigi La Bella from Melilli, Italy The Squid Nebula (Ou4) is a faint cloud of oxygen about 2,300 light-years away in Cepheus, nested within the red hydrogen glow of the Flying Bat Nebula (Sharpless 2–129). Its prominent double lobes may be an outflow from a central triple star system, HR 8119. The imager took 43⅓Continue reading "Waiting in the wings"

The post Waiting in the wings appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

The almost-full Moon steps past orange Antares between Friday and Saturday evenings, June 26th and 27th.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, June 26 – July 5 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The core of the brightest galaxy in the cluster Abell 402 contains a curious void. New observations suggest that an ultra-massive black hole could have excavated this feature.

The post Into the Void: Investigating the Heart of a Giant Elliptical Galaxy appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Exploding stars have left their radioactive mark on our planet. Now scientists have found more evidence of a particularly violent event in Earth’s more ancient past.

The post Exploding Stars Sprinkled Ancient Earth With Radioactive Iron and Plutonium appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

New analysis reveals a tight relationship between two supernova remnants in the outer Milky Way.

The post Double Whammy: Binary Supernova in Gemini appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The most recent interstellar visitor was crisscrossing our galaxy for some 10 to 12 billion years before it came near the Sun.

The post Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Has Cold, Ancient Origins appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

On its way to future encounters with Trojan asteroids, the Lucy spacecraft made a practice run past tiny asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025. Now, the Lucy team, led […]

The post Lucy's First Asteroid Flyby Sheds Light on a Double-lobed Asteroid appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The Moon as it will appear in an amateur telescope at 10 p.m. EDT Friday the 19th. This week Venus and Jupiter continue moving apart low in the western twilight. Vega and Arcturus shine equally high after dark. And watch Beta Lyrae self-eclipse.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, June 19 – 28 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

A star-forming galaxy in the early universe might have sent a ghostly particle known as a neutrino crashing into the ice at Earth’s South Pole, after an 11 billion-year journey through space.

The post “Shadow Blaster” Galaxy Might Have Sent High-Energy Neutrino to Earth appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

On June 17th, much of North America can watch the Moon occult Venus in the daytime sky. All you need are binoculars.

The post See Venus Disappear in Broad Daylight on June 17th appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

A deep spectrum of a mysterious "little red dot" reveals a supermassive black hole cocooned in gas so dense it's opaque — but glowing in the infrared.

The post "Little Red Dot" Is a Cocooned Black Hole appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Two newly confirmed "super-puff" planets are so diffuse that they are less dense than cotton candy, despite being about the size of Jupiter. Their rare orbital relationship and enormous, lightweight atmospheres could provide valuable clues about how some of the strangest planets in the galaxy come to exist.

A new study suggests Earth may have been sending tiny hitchhikers to Venus for billions of years. Researchers found that asteroid impacts could launch microbes into space, where some might survive the journey and end up suspended in Venus' clouds. If future missions detect life there, there's a surprising chance it didn't originate on Venus at all—it may have come from Earth.

Astronomers may have witnessed one of the rarest and most dramatic cosmic events ever seen: a long-sought intermediate-mass black hole ripping apart a dense white dwarf star and devouring it. The Einstein Probe space telescope caught the explosion in its earliest moments, revealing an unusual sequence of intense X-ray flashes unlike anything seen in a typical gamma-ray burst.

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft discovered that asteroid Donaldjohanson is a wobbling, peanut-shaped relic born from a violent collision and slowly reshaped by the subtle force of sunlight. It also carries traces of ancient water, making it an important clue to the solar system’s mysterious past.

What if consciousness isn’t limited to brains like ours? Philosophers Eric Schwitzgebel and Jeremy Pober argue that consciousness could arise in many different forms of life, even in beings built from radically different materials than those found on Earth. Drawing on the vastness of the universe and the likely existence of countless alien civilizations, they suggest it would be surprisingly Earth-centric to assume that only Earth-like biology can support conscious experience.

SETI scientists searched the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS for radio signals that could indicate extraterrestrial technology but found nothing beyond human-made interference. Even so, the rapid-response observations helped confirm the object's natural origin and showcased how future interstellar visitors can be investigated for signs of intelligent life.

A rare meteorite has revealed evidence of a massive lost world that once orbited the young Sun before being destroyed in a catastrophic collision. The discovery suggests some early planets formed from dramatically different materials than Earth and Mars, rewriting part of the solar system’s origin story.

NASA’s upgraded Cold Atom Lab is turning the International Space Station into a frontier for quantum research, creating ultra-cold matter that behaves in astonishing ways. The experiments could unlock new discoveries about the universe while paving the way for powerful future technologies in space and on Earth.

A colossal ancient collision may have left some of the Moon’s deepest secrets surprisingly close to future Artemis landing sites. By recreating the impact that formed the giant South Pole-Aitken basin—the Moon’s largest and oldest crater—scientists found that a low-angle strike from a large, iron-cored object blasted material from deep inside the Moon, including mantle rocks.

A distant galaxy nicknamed Shadow Blaster may have revealed a surprising source of cosmic neutrinos: extreme star formation instead of a supermassive black hole. The discovery suggests that hidden, dust-filled starburst galaxies could account for a significant fraction of the Universe’s high-energy neutrinos.

Astronomers may be closing in on a long-standing cosmic mystery: why some of the universe’s biggest galaxies seem to have far fewer stars than expected. Using NASA- and JAXA-supported XRISM observations of a galaxy called NGC 4151, researchers found strong evidence that supermassive black holes can unleash powerful winds that blow away the raw material needed to make new stars.

The race to build data centers in space is gaining momentum as AI drives unprecedented demand for computing power. Orbital facilities could tap into abundant solar energy and avoid many of the environmental challenges faced on Earth. Yet space remains a harsh and expensive place to operate, with major hurdles including cooling, maintenance, radiation exposure, and orbital debris.

A new theory suggests the universe is constantly recording its own history in the fabric of spacetime. If correct, this cosmic memory could help solve some of the biggest puzzles in physics, from black holes to dark matter and the universe’s ultimate fate.

A new SETI study suggests we may be overlooking alien signals not because they aren't there, but because their own stars are scrambling them before they escape into space. Turbulent plasma and powerful stellar storms can spread an ultra-narrow radio transmission across a wider range of frequencies, making it much harder for traditional searches to spot. The effect could be especially important around M-dwarf stars, the most common stars in the Milky Way.

What if some black holes aren’t black holes at all? A new theoretical study suggests that when a massive star collapses, it might not form a singularity hidden behind an event horizon. Instead, the collapse could trigger the birth of a tiny new universe inside the dying star. Driven by dark energy, this miniature cosmos would expand and push back against gravity, preventing complete collapse and creating an exotic object known as a gravastar.