Astronomy & Space News

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is a wonderfully detailed snapshot of the spiral galaxy NGC 3430 that lies 100 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo Minor.

From left to right, NASA astronaut candidates Anil Menon, Deniz Burnham, and Marcos Berrios pose for a photograph in front of NASA’s Artemis I Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft at Launch Complex 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sept. 2, 2022.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of Saturn on July 4, 2020. Two of Saturn's icy moons are clearly visible in this exposure: Mimas at right, and Enceladus at bottom. This image is taken as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project. OPAL is helping scientists understand the atmospheric dynamics and evolution of our solar system's gas giant planets. In Saturn's case, astronomers continue tracking shifting weather patterns and storms.

Astronauts Eileen M. Collins, STS-93 mission commander, and Jeffrey S. Ashby, pilot, peruse checklists on Columbia's middeck.

The barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 is interacting with a smaller galaxy to the upper left. The smaller galaxy has likely stripped gas from NGC 6872 to feed the supermassive black hole in its center.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, poses for a photo beside the U.S. flag that has been placed on the Moon at Tranquility Base during the Apollo 11 mission landing on July 20, 1969.

On July 16, 2024, the Artemis II core stage rolled out of the Vertical Assembly Building to the waiting Pegasus barge at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in preparation for delivery to Kennedy Space Center.

"I found out years later that seeing me in high school and hearing my experience in college inspired her to major in physics, and so she became the first robotics director at her school. And now she’s a principal. And it just rocked me because I was just being me and trying to share. It seemed like I paid it forward the same way that NASA mechanical engineer made a mark on me.” — Dr. Phillip Williams, Acting Center Chief Technologist, NASA's Langley Research Center

Apollo 11 launches from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:32 a.m. EDT, July 16, 1969. Aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft were astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Buzz Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the United States' first lunar landing mission. While Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module "Eagle" to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the Moon, Collins remained in lunar orbit.

Painting of the NASA logo, also called the meatball, continued on the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 29, 2020.

The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. This near- and mid-infrared image combines data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), and marks the telescope’s second year of science. Webb’s view shows that their interaction is marked by a glow of scattered stars represented in blue. Known jointly as Arp 142, the galaxies made their first pass by one another between 25 and 75 million years ago, causing “fireworks,” or new star formation, in the Penguin. The galaxies are approximately the same mass, which is why one hasn’t consumed the other.

Several transient luminous events illuminate pockets of Earth’s upper atmosphere. A line of thunderstorms off the coast of South Africa powers the rare phenomena.

The Artemis II Core Stage moves from final assembly to the VAB at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in preparation for delivery to Kennedy Spaceflight Center later this month. Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

Space shuttle Columbia heads skyward after clearing the fixed service structure tower at Launch Complex Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Plant life appears in the foreground. Launch occurred at 12:43 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on July 8, 1994. Once in Earth orbit, STS-65's six NASA astronauts and a Japanese payload specialist aboard conducted experiments in support of the second International Microgravity Laboratory.

Technicians used a 30-ton crane to lift NASA’s Orion spacecraft on Friday, June 28, 2024, from the Final Assembly and System Testing cell to the altitude chamber inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft, which will be used for the Artemis II mission to orbit the Moon, underwent leak checks and end-to-end performance verification of the vehicle’s subsystems.

A case of cosmic mistaken identity led to astronomers finding a new exoplanet where an old one should have been. The world, Epsilon Indi Ab, now takes the place of a planet with the same designation that, it turns out, doesn’t exist. The bizarre case, which seems like a Law & Order plot twist, isContinue reading "JWST directly images a surprise super-Jupiter planet"

The post JWST directly images a surprise super-Jupiter planet 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 "2024 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases"

The post 2024 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Friday, July 26With a good dark window between sunset and moonrise, take a look this evening at two famous galaxies: M81 and M82, also known as Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy, respectively. Both lie in Ursa Major, visible in the north after sunset. Tonight, the Big Dipper is standing on its bowl with theContinue reading "The Sky This Week from July 26 to August 2: Catch the Southern Delta Aquariids"

The post The Sky This Week from July 26 to August 2: Catch the Southern Delta Aquariids appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

On June 25, 2024, China’s Chang’e 6 mission came to an end when a reentry capsule touched down in the Siziwang Banner Province in Mongolia. The capsule contained truly precious cargo: just under 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of lunar samples from the farside of the Moon. No mission had ever retrieved material from the farsideContinue reading "How China’s Chang’e 6 mission snagged the first samples of the Moon’s farside"

The post How China’s Chang’e 6 mission snagged the first samples of the Moon’s farside appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

To the shock of the lunar science community, on July 17, NASA cancelled the much-anticipated Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission, which was expected to prospect for water ice on the Moon — a critical resource for future explorers. VIPER was one of the highest profile missions in NASA’s ongoing Commercial Lunar Payload ServicesContinue reading "NASA cancels fully built Moon rover, stunning scientists"

The post NASA cancels fully built Moon rover, stunning scientists appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Have you ever seen the Milky Way? Only 20 percent of people in the U.S. live in a location where they can. Away from light pollution, the wide, ghostly band almost looks like clouds, and the stars overhead look so big and real that you feel you might fall into the sky. Through the eyepieceContinue reading "Tools for finding dark skies"

The post Tools for finding dark skies appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Our universe is shrouded in mystery, with about 70 percent of it consisting of dark energy. The exact nature of dark energy remains a puzzle that, once solved, could unlock profound insights into the formation of our solar system, the evolution of the Milky Way Galaxy, the origins of life, and even the fate ofContinue reading "What we do — and don’t — know about dark energy"

The post What we do — and don’t — know about dark energy appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Summer in the Northern Hemisphere is a frustrating time for many amateur astronomers. The nights never get dark enough to easily see the faint, fuzzy galaxies and nebulae they enjoy looking at through their telescopes, and there are fewer bright stars in the sky too. Occasionally a display of electric-blue noctilucent clouds will decorate theContinue reading "Take a summer road trip along the Milky Way"

The post Take a summer road trip along the Milky Way appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Over Mother’s Day weekend in May, skies as far south as Florida and Texas were filled with the vibrant colors of the aurora borealis. Some of the staff at Astronomy ventured out to score a rare view of the northern lights in southeastern Wisconsin. I traveled out to Wisconsin’s Kohler-Andrae State Park to experience theContinue reading "Folklore meets science in this search for the ‘sounds’ of the northern lights"

The post Folklore meets science in this search for the ‘sounds’ of the northern lights appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Katelyn Beecroft from London, Ontario, Canada M17 in Sagittarius is popularly called the Swan Nebula or the Omega Nebula, though it also goes by Checkmark Nebula and the Horseshoe Nebula. The resemblance to a swan is much stronger with visual observations, yielding an unmistakable swanlike profile. This SHORGB image was taken over 4.5 hours withContinue reading "Bird of many names"

The post Bird of many names appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Very low in the west in bright twilight, have you picked up Venus yet? Binoculars help. Much tougher will be Mercury and Regulus. Their arrangement changes all week.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, July 26 – August 3 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

New analysis has revealed 21 Sun-like stars in mutual orbit around dark objects of neutron star–like masses — rare systems that have escaped destruction by supernova.

The post Astronomers Find 21 “Dark” Neutron Stars Orbiting Sun-like Stars appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

New James Webb Space Telescope observations of LHS 1140b hint at a temperate water world with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere.

The post A Closer Look at a Potential "Eyeball Planet" appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope has for the first time detected the difference between the morning and evening of a tidally locked gas giant planet.

The post Webb Telescope Sees Morning and Evening on a Hot Saturn appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Having survived two recent threats — high-velocity space dust and enhanced solar activity — Gaia is now returning better data than ever.

The post Star-Mapping Mission Gaia Impacted by Micrometeoroid, Solar Storm appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Scorpius poses at center stage in the south. The Sagittarius Teapot follows behind it. And Rasalhague, the head star of Ophiuchus. turns the Summer Triangle into a big, upright diamond.

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

A new look at data from NASA's Cassini mission confirms methane cycles on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, just as water cycles on Earth.

The post New Exploration of Titan's Seas appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The development of the VIPER lunar rover has been discontinued.

The post NASA Cancels VIPER Lunar Rover Mission appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The latest smartscope astrophotography craze opens the door to some incredible opportunities for both beginners and seasoned observers.

The post Visual Observing vs. Smart Telescopes — Finding Harmony appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Little-known Norma, a small constellation in the southern sky, contains several stellar and deep-sky delights.

The post Explore Norma: The right (angle) constellation for July appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Astronomers have untangled a messy collision between two massive clusters of galaxies in which the clusters' vast clouds of dark matter have decoupled from the so-called normal matter.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers imaged a new exoplanet that orbits a star in the nearby triple system Epsilon Indi. The planet is a cold super-Jupiter exhibiting a temperature of around 0 degrees Celsius and a wide orbit comparable to that of Neptune around the Sun. This measurement was only possible thanks to JWST's unprecedented imaging capabilities in the thermal infrared. It exemplifies the potential of finding many more such planets similar to Jupiter in mass, temperature, and orbit. Studying them will improve our knowledge of how gas giants form and evolve in time.

A new study shows that over half of the medicines stocked in space -- staples such as pain relievers, antibiotics, allergy medicines, and sleep aids -- would expire before astronauts could return to Earth.

A study extends the definition of a habitable zone for planets to include their star's magnetic field.

Researchers have found a link between some of the largest and smallest objects in the cosmos: supermassive black holes and dark matter particles. Their new calculations reveal that pairs of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can merge into a single larger black hole because of previously overlooked behavior of dark matter particles, proposing a solution to the longstanding 'final parsec problem' in astronomy.

Europa and Enceladus, icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn respectively, have evidence of oceans beneath their crusts. A NASA experiment suggests -- if these oceans support life -- signatures of that life in the form of organic molecules (like amino acids and nucleic acids) could survive just under the surface ice despite the harsh, ionizing radiation on these worlds. If robotic landers were to go to these moons to look for life signs, they would not have to dig very deep to find amino acids that have survived being altered or destroyed by radiation.

The first rumblings of the Sun's next 11-year solar cycle have been detected in sound waves inside our home star -- even though it is only halfway through its current one. This existing cycle is now at its peak, or 'solar maximum' -- which is when the Sun's magnetic field flips and its poles swap places -- until mid-2025.

Space storms could soon be forecasted with greater accuracy than ever before thanks to a big leap forward in our understanding of exactly when a violent solar eruption may hit Earth. Scientists say it is now possible to predict the precise speed a coronal mass ejection (CME) is travelling at and when it will smash into our planet -- even before it has fully erupted from the Sun.

Europe's next big space mission -- a telescope that will hunt for Earth-like rocky planets outside of our solar system -- is on course to launch at the end of 2026. PLATO, or PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, is being built to find nearby potentially habitable worlds around Sun-like stars that we can examine in detail.

So far, only about ten intermediate-mass black holes have been discovered in the entire universe. The newly identified black hole causes surrounding stars in a cluster to move in an unexpectedly orderly way.

The newly discovered planet TIC 241249530 b has the most highly elliptical, or eccentric, orbit of any known planet. It appears to be a juvenile planet that is in the midst of becoming a hot Jupiter, and its orbit is providing some answers to how such large, scorching planets evolve.

Tantalizing evidence of potential dark matter objects has been detected with the help of the Universe's 'timekeepers'. These pulsars -- neutron stars which rotate and emit lighthouse-like beams of radio waves that rapidly sweep through space -- were used to identify mysterious hidden masses. Pulsars earned their nickname because they send out electromagnetic radiation at very regular intervals, ranging from milliseconds to seconds, making them extremely accurate timekeepers.

Astronomers have uncovered what appear to be 21 neutron stars in orbit around stars like our Sun. The discovery is surprising because it is not clear how a star that exploded winds up next to a star like our Sun.

A new study of radar experiment data from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn has yielded fresh insights related to the makeup and activity of the liquid hydrocarbon seas near the north pole of Titan, the largest of Saturn's 146 known moons.

A strange 'garden sprinkler-like' jet coming from a neutron star has been pictured for the first time. The S-shaped structure is created as the jet changes direction due to the wobbling of the disc of hot gas around the star -- a process called precession, which has been observed with black holes but, until now, never with neutron stars.