Astronomy & Space News

This NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month features galaxies in incredible detail that have been warped and multiplied like they’ve stepped into a house of mirrors.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev aboard in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026.

A visualization of a dark Moon eclipsing the Sun is marked with handwritten notes in this April 6, 2026, screenshot from an Artemis II crew member's tablet.

This artist’s concept depicts a possible explanation for the unusual chemical abundances NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope detected in the HS 0209+0832 system: a second-generation planet orbiting the white dwarf star.

NASA astronaut and mission specialist of the agency's Artemis II mission, Christina Koch, led the fans in singing the Eagles Fight Song from the field at an NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Philadelphia.

An engineering model of NASA’s DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) descent probe passed a key test that ran from Aug. 28 to Sept. 10, showing it can survive the extreme temperatures of Venus.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov aboard, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This long-duration image shows star trails above Earth and the blue lights of fishing boats and the yellow lights of Indonesian cities stretching below the International Space Station as it orbited 258 miles above the Banda Sea.

Ahead of launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 mission, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon spacecraft atop, is vertical at the launch pad of Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026.

This nighttime view of the United States, dotted with city lights looking toward New York City (center), was taken at approximately 3:40 a.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above Earth.

Though the spiral galaxy in this ESA/Hubble Picture of the Month seems serene, it hides a chaotic secret.

An Alta-X drone flies an advanced guidance and navigation system known as the Safe and Precise Landing – Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) experiment near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026.

An image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of galaxy cluster MACS J0417 is part of repeated observations to monitor for the reappearance of supernova Athena, which can help astronomers measure the expansion rate of the universe.

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists have discovered a new class of objects behaving unlike any they have seen before.

NASA astronaut and commander of the agency’s Artemis II mission, Reid Wiseman, a Baltimore native, takes a selfie with fans at an NFL game between the New Orleans Saints and the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Baltimore.

NASA has selected a mission proposal that will peer below a volcanic pit on the Moon to find out whether it opens onto a hidden lava tube — a geologic formation long theorized, but never confirmed on the Moon. The proposal will send a mission to the Marius Hills Pit, a large hole — approximatelyContinue reading "Newly selected NASA mission will hunt for caves on the Moon"

The post Newly selected NASA mission will hunt for caves on the Moon appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Karl Schwarzschild was born Oct. 9, 1873 – just one day after his famous collaborator Ejnar Hertzsprung – and grew up in a Jewish family in Germany. Schwarzschild was considered a child prodigy, publishing a paper on celestial mechanics by age 16. He studied astronomy at the University of Strasbourg, then went on to receiveContinue reading "Oct. 9, 1873: The birth of Karl Schwarzschild"

The post Oct. 9, 1873: The birth of Karl Schwarzschild 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.

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  October 8: Perfectly placed Pallas Swimming high above the southern horizon after dark, Capricornus the Sea Goat is home to just one Messier object: M30. This compact globular cluster shines at magnitude 7.2 and is perfectly positioned for viewing with binoculars orContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, October 9: Dense, ancient M30"

The post The Sky Today on Friday, October 9: Dense, ancient M30 appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Friday, October 9A few hours after sunset, turn toward the north to find the familiar W shape of Cassiopeia on its side, looking more like the number 3. To the upper left of this numeral is the target we’re aiming for tonight: open cluster M52.  This young grouping of stars covers almost a quarter ofContinue reading "The Sky This Week from October 9 to 16: Mars passes through the Beehive"

The post The Sky This Week from October 9 to 16: Mars passes through the Beehive appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

NASA has selected the far-infrared space telescope mission PRIMA (PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics) to move to the next stage in its development. PRIMA will be the first in a new mission class and help scientists learn more about the evolution of the universe. PRIMA will carry a 5.9-foot (1.8-meter) mirror, and NASA hopes toContinue reading "Far-infrared telescope PRIMA advances toward 2033 launch"

The post Far-infrared telescope PRIMA advances toward 2033 launch appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Translucent layers of light captured by three space telescopes overlap to build this composite of the Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Diffuse clouds of blue X-ray light from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory mark hot gas blown off of young, massive stars that has been superheated by winds and shock waves. TheContinue reading "New view of 30 Doradus reveals messy workings"

The post New view of 30 Doradus reveals messy workings appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

On Oct. 8, 1873, Ejnar Hertzsprung was born near Copenhagen, Denmark. His father had studied astronomy and worked in finance, and Hertzsprung himself showed interest in astronomy and math, but pursued a degree in chemical engineering. After graduating from the Polytechnical Institute in Copenhagen, he worked as a chemist in St. Petersburg, Russia, and wentContinue reading "Oct. 8, 1873: The birth of Ejnar Hertzsprung"

The post Oct. 8, 1873: The birth of Ejnar Hertzsprung appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  October 7: Titan passes north of Saturn Asteroid 2 Pallas recently reached opposition in Cetus the Whale. Let’s track it tonight using binoculars or any size telescope.  Although it’s highest around 1 A.M., Pallas is visible all night and has already reachedContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, October 8: Perfectly placed Pallas"

The post The Sky Today on Thursday, October 8: Perfectly placed Pallas appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

The Crab Nebula Our first object is the Crab Nebula in Taurus. It’s one of the sky’s most famous objects, and a nice small telescope target. Although the word “nebula” is part of this object’s name, astronomers classify M1 as a supernova remnant. In 1054, a brilliant new star 4 times brighter than Venus appearedContinue reading "Winter observing targets for small telescopes"

The post Winter observing targets for small telescopes appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Take advantage of these moonless evenings! Make friends with some far Cassiopeia clusters in the high-arching Milky Way. Soon the Moon will return.

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

The stellar gathering known as Garro 04 belongs to a growing number of enigmatic groupings that combine traits of young open clusters ancient globulars.

The post Meet the Star Cluster That Defies Conventions appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Astronomers have found a distant fast radio burst whose signal has traversed much of the universe before arriving at Earth.

The post Fast Radio Burst Shatters Distance Record appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Particle physicist earned the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to neutrino astronomy.

The post Neutrino Hunter Francis Halzen Wins Nobel Prize in Physics appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Jupiter disappears then returns in a blaze of glory at the Moon's dark rim before dawn.

The post Rare Sight Ahead! Watch the Moon Occult Jupiter Early October 6th appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Leaves fall. Frost sparkles. And once again we fall under the magical spell of Saturn, the Lord of the Rings.

The post Saturn Flaunts its Rings at Opposition the Night of October 3–4 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The Moon occults Jupiter for much of North America very late Monday night October 5-6, after missing Castor, Pollux, and Mars on previous nights.

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

This episode takes you on a tour of the stars and planets that you’ll see overhead during October. This month the spotlight is on Saturn, which can be seen all night, and a fantastic occultation of Jupiter by the Moon. So grab your curiosity, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.

The post October Podcast: Saturn is a “Star” appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

New simulations show that our now-moonless neighbor might once have had a satellite, but the moon crashed back into it.

The post Did Venus Swallow Its Moon? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The island was the backup site for the giant telescope, whose future remains in limbo.

The post Rejected: Spain’s Proposal to Build the Thirty Meter Telescope on La Palma appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

A Canadian radio telescope has detected the faint glow of hydrogen from billions of years ago using only its own observations, proving a long-awaited way to map the distant universe can actually work. CHIME can use this hydrogen signal to trace how matter is spread across space and measure how the universe has expanded over time, offering a powerful new way to investigate dark energy.

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts have returned to Earth after 237 days in space, traveling more than 100 million miles and completing over 3,792 orbits while conducting research to prepare for future missions to the Moon and Mars. The mission also made history with record-setting spacewalk achievements and experiments that could transform medicine both in space and on Earth.

October’s skies are packed with celestial surprises, from Jupiter disappearing behind the Moon to two meteor showers lighting up the darkness. NASA highlights four must-see events, including shooting stars from Halley’s Comet and a glowing Hunter’s Moon just before Halloween.

NASA is preparing for humanity’s first Moon base with three investigations that will hunt for underground shelters, uncover hidden ice, and track dangerous conditions on the lunar surface. The findings could reveal how astronauts can survive and thrive on the Moon while laying the groundwork for future journeys to Mars.

Einstein Probe revealed nearly 10 minutes of soft X-ray activity following a short gamma-ray burst, exposing a phase of neutron star mergers that previous missions may have missed. The prolonged emission could have been powered by a newly formed magnetar and may provide a valuable new counterpart to gravitational-wave signals.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is giving astronomers a glimpse of the kinds of violent collisions that may have shaped our own solar system, including the giant impact thought to have created the Moon. By studying 21 rare “extreme debris disks” around young stars, researchers found that their dust can reveal the scale and intensity of planetary collisions.

The James Webb Space Telescope has found strong evidence that the rocky lava world HD 3167 b has an atmosphere, despite circling its star every 24 hours under extreme heat. The surprising discovery could help scientists understand how rocky planets retain atmospheres and what the young, molten Earth may once have looked like.

Earth’s center of mass is constantly on the move, shifting by a few millimeters as enormous amounts of water, ice, and even air migrate around the planet with the seasons. NASA scientists have developed a more precise way to track these tiny swings using laser-ranging satellites, GPS data, and measurements of how water and ice deform Earth’s crust.

October skywatchers can see Saturn at opposition, catch meteors from Halley’s Comet during the Orionid peak, and watch the Moon sweep past the famous Pleiades star cluster. Moonlight may obscure some Orionids, but the best viewing should come before dawn after the Moon sets.

NASA has selected the GIMLI project to investigate whether the Marius Hill Pit opens into a vast underground cave or lava tube. Using radar, seismic sensors, gravity measurements, and cameras, researchers will search beneath the lunar surface and estimate the size of any hidden void. Such caves could preserve clues to the Moon’s volcanic history and potentially provide protected shelters for future astronauts.

A meteor crater buried beneath Oklahoma has turned out to be nearly 100 million years younger than scientists thought. Zircon crystals show the Ames impact occurred about 370 million years ago, meaning it was not part of the mysterious Ordovician bombardment once linked to a possible ring of debris around Earth. Instead, the impact coincided closely with a major mass extinction that devastated marine life.

Tiny magnetic fields created shortly after the Big Bang may help explain the long-running disagreement over how fast the universe is expanding. Detailed simulations show that these primordial fields could have changed the formation of hydrogen in the early universe, affecting the cosmic microwave background and the expansion rate inferred from it.

ESA’s Juice spacecraft raced past Earth on September 28, using our planet’s gravity to dramatically reshape its path toward Jupiter without burning much fuel. The flyby changed its direction by 20 degrees and increased its speed by 3.5 km/s, while also giving scientists a rare chance to test its instruments on Earth and the Moon.

Scientists studying Chang’e-6 lunar soil have discovered a previously unknown magnetic mineral in natural Moon samples: a form of metallic iron called γ-Fe. Found inside tiny impact-glass particles, the nanoscale iron can preserve a stable magnetic signal, potentially acting like a microscopic fossil of the Moon’s long-lost magnetic field.

Ultra-detailed simulations are showing how the first stars lit up the dark Universe and seeded space with elements such as carbon, oxygen, and iron. The MEGATRON project could bridge JWST observations of the earliest galaxies with chemical clues preserved in ancient stars today.