Astronomy & Space News

Students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst team carry their high-powered rocket toward the launch pad at NASA’s 2025 Student Launch launch day competition in Toney, Alabama, on April 4, 2025.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 flight engineer Anne McClain is pictured near one of the International Space Station's main solar arrays during a spacewalk to upgrade the orbital outpost's power generation system and relocate a communications antenna.

The NASA "meatball" logo mounted on the south side of the Flight Research Building at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, as seen through foliage.

NASA's SPHEREx mission is observing the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, or wavelengths of light not visible to the human eye. This image shows a section of sky in one wavelength (3.29 microns), revealing a cloud of dust made of a molecule similar to soot or smoke.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a peculiar spiral galaxy called Arp 184 or NGC 1961.

The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft is pictured backing away from the International Space Station shortly after undocking from the Rassvet module on April 19, 2025. The Soyuz crew ship would parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan about three hours later returning NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner back to Earth after a 220-day space research mission.

Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It spans approximately 10 light-years.

Astronaut Ronald E. McNair, STS-41B mission specialist, used some of his off-duty time aboard the space shuttle Challenger to play his saxophone.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy Messier 77, also known as the Squid Galaxy.

The Cygnus Loop (also known as the Veil Nebula) is a supernova remnant, the remains of the explosive death of a massive star.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the globular cluster Messier 72 (M72).

A NASA spacesuit glove designed for use during spacewalks on the International Space Station is prepared for thermal vacuum testing inside a one-of-a-kind chamber called CITADEL (Cryogenic Ice Testing, Acquisition Development, and Excavation Laboratory) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Nov. 1, 2023.

The asteroid Donaldjohanson as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI). This is one of the most detailed images returned by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft during its flyby. This image was taken at 1:51 p.m. EDT (17:51 UTC), April 20, 2025, near closest approach, from a range of approximately 660 miles (1,100 km). The spacecraft’s closest approach distance was 600 miles (960 km), but the image shown was taken approximately 40 seconds beforehand. The image has been sharpened and processed to enhance contrast.

The sun's glint beams off a partly cloudy Atlantic Ocean just after sunrise as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above on March 5, 2025.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken the most detailed image of planetary nebula NGC 1514 to date thanks to its unique mid-infrared observations. Webb shows its rings as intricate clumps of dust. It’s also easier to see holes punched through the bright pink central region.

In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out and observe a planetary nebula in the constellation Ursa Major the Great Bear. Amateur astronomers call it the Owl Nebula because it has two dark circles superimposed on a bright round background. Overall, it looks like the face of an owl. Also known asContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Owl Nebula"

The post This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Owl Nebula 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 "2025 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases"

The post 2025 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Just a few decades ago, when we glanced skyward, we didn’t know for certain whether any star visible to the naked eye hosts planets like our own. Now, NASA scientists estimate that, on average, there may be at least one planet for every star in the Milky Way. That’s billions of extrasolar planets in ourContinue reading "These five famous stars in the sky host exoplanets — observe them tonight"

The post These five famous stars in the sky host exoplanets — observe them tonight appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Chris Cook from Harwich, Massachusetts The salt flats of Badwater Basin — the lowest point in North America — are lit by a First Quarter Moon in in this star trail shot representing 6 hours of exposure.

The post Highs and lows appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Full Moon occurs at 12:56 P.M. EDT this afternoon. May’s Full Moon is also called the Flower Moon and because our satellite is still near apogee, it will appear some 29’ across, slightly smaller than the Full Moon’s average size (about 31’) in the sky.  The Full Moon rises roughly opposite the Sun, so LunaContinue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, May 12: May’s Full Moon, Mars, and the Beehive Cluster"

The post The Sky Today on Monday, May 12: May’s Full Moon, Mars, and the Beehive Cluster appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

The gas giant Jupiter still dominates the constellation Taurus as it sets in the west after sunset. Jupiter now stands just to the right of Alheka (Zeta Tauri), one of the tips of the Bull’s two horns. The magnitude –1.9 planet remains the brightest point of light in the constellation, making it easy to centerContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, May 11: Callisto grazes Jupiter"

The post The Sky Today on Sunday, May 11: Callisto grazes Jupiter appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

The Moon passes 0.4° south of Spica at 4 A.M. EDT. The best time for observing this pairing is in the few hours between midnight and 3 A.M. local daylight time, when they are still comfortably high above the horizon.  At that time, turn west to see the nearly Full Moon (now 95 percent lit)Continue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, May 10: The Moon meets Spica"

The post The Sky Today on Saturday, May 10: The Moon meets Spica appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Venera 13, launched by the Soviets in 1981, captured this image of the surface of Venus. Dr. Ksanfomality/Astronomicheskii Vestnik Editor’s note: This story was originally published Aug. 26, 2020. It was updated May 9, 2025, with details of the failed mission Kosmos-482. The Pioneer and Voyager probes the United States sent to explore the outerContinue reading "The Venera program: Interplanetary probes from behind the Iron Curtain"

The post The Venera program: Interplanetary probes from behind the Iron Curtain appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

In 1958 the great extragalactic astronomer George Abell of UCLA compiled a catalog of galaxy clusters. It was extended by Abell and collaborators in 1987 and eventually contained 4,076 clusters. Abell 2256 is a rich cluster lying in Ursa Minor. It contains more than 500 members and lies about 800 million light-years away. The clusterContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Abell 2256"

The post Deep-Sky Dreams: Abell 2256 appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Congratulations to all Catholics. Yesterday, your College of Cardinals elected a new pope. In honor of him taking the name Leo XIV, I thought this would be a good time to tell you some facts about the constellation Leo the Lion. Actually, to commemorate the new pope, 14 facts. I) Leo is a springtime constellation in the Northern Hemisphere.Continue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Leo the Great"

The post Michael’s Miscellany: Leo the Great appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Sky & Telescope's Govert Schilling visits what will be the world's most powerful optical telescope — the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile.

The post The Extremely Large Telescope: Our Biggest Eye on the Sky appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Every month, the Moon takes four days to cross the sky from Spica to Antares. This week it goes unusually close to each of them.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, May 9 – 18 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The sub-Neptune TOI-421b is made of much the same stuff as its star — matching predictions, but bucking the trend among other similarly sized planets.

The post JWST Sees a Unique Mini-Neptune — the First to Match Predictions appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

I came for the stars, but I’ll be returning for the people

The post A First-timer’s Trip to the Big Ol’ Texas Star Party appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Rayed craters pepper the Moon especially around full. Cassini's Bright Spot is one of the most striking.

The post "Cassini's Bright Spot" Beams at Full Moon appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Small relatives of the much-larger Kalliope, a metallic main-belt asteroid shed light on their mutual origin early in solar system history.

The post Metal Shards Shed Light on the Origin of Asteroid Kalliope appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

An almost forgotten observation made 20 years ago provides evidence that magnetars create some of the heaviest nuclei in the universe.

The post Priceless Flares: Magnetars Can Make Gold and Platinum appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Deep cuts proposed for NASA, the National Science Foundation, and other science-funding institutions are causing grave concerns in the community.

The post Are Proposed Science Cuts a Call-to-Arms? Or Armageddon? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

In the evening sky, the Moon meets Mars meeting the Beehive. Low the dawn, Venus and Saturn contrast enormously in a telescope.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, May 2 – 11 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

This month we’ll look for tiny bits of Halley’s Comet; track down four planets; take stock of bright stars in the late-spring sky; and use the constellation Leo to learn what astronomers call all the stars that don’t have names. So grab your curiosity, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour episode.

The post May Podcast: What to Call a Star? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

In space, energetic neutrinos are usually paired with energetic gamma rays. Galaxy NGC 1068, however, emits strong neutrinos and weak gamma rays, which presents a puzzle for scientists to solve. A new paper posits that helium nuclei collide with ultraviolet photons emitted by the galaxy's central region and fragment, releasing neutrons that subsequently decay into neutrinos without producing gamma rays. The finding offers insight into the extreme environment around the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies like NGC 1068 and our own and enhances our understanding of the relationships between radiation and elementary particles that could lead to technological advances we haven't yet imagined.

Magnetar flares, colossal cosmic explosions, may be directly responsible for the creation and distribution of heavy elements across the universe, suggests a new study.

Astronomers have probed the physical environment of repeating X-ray outbursts near monster black holes thanks to data from NASA's NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and other missions.

The European Space Agency's Gaia mission has spotted an unusual family of stars all strangely eager to leave home -- a family we couldn't have discovered without the star-surveying spacecraft, and one unlike all others we have spotted to date.

Astrophysicists have discovered a potentially star-forming cloud that is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the sun and Earth ever to be detected. The scientists have named the molecular hydrogen cloud 'Eos,' after the Greek goddess of mythology who is the personification of dawn.

The NASA New Horizons spacecraft's extensive observations of Lyman-alpha emissions have resulted in the first-ever map from the galaxy at this important ultraviolet wavelength, providing a new look at the galactic region surrounding our solar system.

Astronomers have discovered that super-Earth exoplanets are more common across the universe than previously thought. While it can be relatively easy to locate worlds that orbit close to their star, planets with wider paths can be difficult to detect. Still, researchers estimated that for every three stars, there should be at least one super-Earth present with a Jupiter-like orbital period, suggesting these massive worlds are extremely prevalent across the universe.

The world's largest solar telescope has reached an important milestone. The data published now were obtained during the technical commissioning of the instrument.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists analyzed far-away bodies -- known as Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) -- and found varying traces of methanol. The discoveries are helping them better classify different TNOs and understand the complex chemical reactions in space that may relate to the formation of our solar system and the origin of life.

Scientists and space explorers have been on the hunt to determine where and how much ice is present on the Moon. Water ice would be an important resource at a future lunar base, as it could be used to support humans or be broken down to hydrogen and oxygen, key components of rocket fuel. Researchers are now using two innovative approaches to advance the search for ice on the Moon.

A planet 140 light-years from Earth is rapidly coming apart due to its close proximity to its star. The roasting planet is effectively evaporating away: It sheds an enormous amount of surface minerals as it whizzes around its star.

Geologists weigh in on a long-running debate about Mars: Billions of years ago, was the Red Planet warm and wet or cold and dry?

Researchers have developed a new coronagraph that could make it possible to see distant exoplanets obscured by light from their parent stars.

New research finds that despite large rivers and seas of liquid methane, Saturn's moon Titan seems mostly devoid of river deltas, raising new questions about the surface dynamics on this alien world.

Research from NASA's Curiosity rover has found evidence of a carbon cycle on ancient Mars.