Space News & Blog Articles

In this dark-of-the-Moon week, the Cygnus Milky Way crosses the zenith, and Arcturus, Capella, and Fomalhaut come to a certain balance.

Almost 10 years ago, New Horizons finally zipped by Pluto, returning fantastic images. But then it needed a new destination.

A pair of black hole jets powered by a supermassive black hole span far beyond their host galaxy — potentially affecting the cosmic web around it.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich has announced the winners of the 16th annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest.

Glass beads in samples from China’s Chang’e 5 mission show that volcanic eruptions occurred on the Moon within the past 120 million years or so.

NASA’s Juno mission has spotted a new volcano on Jupiter’s pockmarked moon, Io.

The Moon occults Saturn before dawn on Tuesday morning, then the Moon skims the edge of Earth's shadow for a partial lunar eclipse that evening. Meanwhile, Jupiter and Mars shine in fine view late at night.

A new brightness forecast for Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS whets our hopes for a fine appearance in late September and early October.

Helen Sawyer Hogg stood at the front of a small but growing force of woman astronomers in the first half of the 20th century. This is her story.

Astronomers can see hot gas boiling on the surface of the giant star R Doradus, 180 light-years away.

September's partial lunar eclipse will be the first and only time the Moon ducks into Earth's umbral shadow in 2024. The Moon also occults Saturn and hides members of the Pleiades this month.

Astronomers and Starlink engineers have developed a technique to significantly reduce satellite radio pollution affecting astronomical observations.

For decades, scientists have wondered what accelerates solar wind particles as they move away from the Sun. New evidence points to magnetic switchbacks.

Webb Telescope data are still turning up more massive galaxies in the early universe than astronomers expect.

The waxing Moon steps along nightly this week, from low in the western twilight with Venus and Spica over to Antares and then the Sagittarius Teapot. Meanwhile, the recurrent nova T Corona Borealis is keeping us waiting.

The BepiColombo mission has completed its fourth and closest pass yet of Mercury, giving us brand-new views of the planet's south pole region.

Astronomers may have finally solved the mystery of how dark space really is.

Billions of years ago, the close pass of another star might have sculpted the outer regions of our solar system.

A penumbral lunar eclipse is coming on September 17th, and that little shadow is something to look forward to.

A supermassive black hole has twice now grabbed gas from a passing star — and astronomers predict a third chance will come in early 2025.

Let’s go on a night-sky tour of the stars and planets that you’ll see overhead during August. Find a good seat for some great “shooting stars,” watch Saturn climb in the eastern sky in early evening, check out the summer's brightest stars, and start looking for a once-in-your-lifetime star blast.