Space News & Blog Articles

Planetary exploration can take up a large portion of one’s life.

Now it's Venus's turn to pass the Beehive, with Leo looming over. The Summer Triangle lofts high. And the supernova in M101, near the Big Dipper, remains 11th magnitude.

The October 2023 and April 2024 solar eclipses will thrill millions of North Americans. These maps will enlighten and inspire viewers for the events to come.

Owen Jay Gingerich, well-known historian of astronomy and contributor to Sky & Telescope for more than half a century, died on May 28, 2023.

In the JWST version of the Hubble Deep Field, astronomers are discovering what galactic life was like in the earliest years of the universe.

Massive, dying stars — behemoths tens of times the Sun's mass — should emit gravitational waves that we can hear with LIGO.

After a year's delay, NASA's Psyche mission to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name is on track for a launch in October 2023.

When visual astronomy isn't possible — or even when it is — robotic telescopes can make way for more stargazing.

Venus shining in the dusk says goodbye to Pollux, hello to Mars. . . which is busy crossing the Beehive Cluster. Arcturus stands straight over Spica after dark, and Kochab stands straight over Polaris, it's that time of year.

NASA has held its first public meeting with its panel investigating Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. The panel will publish a full report in July.

The full Strawberry Moon on June 3rd invites us to experience the refractive power of Earth's atmosphere.

June offers the shortest nights of the year for stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere. So count on our monthly Sky Tour podcast to help you get the most out your casual stargazing. It’s a fun and informative way to introduce yourself to the nighttime sky!

The well-known star cluster Messier 4 might have an elusive, midsize black hole hidden at its center, but the evidence isn’t conclusive yet.

An ambitious new mission from the United Arab Emirates would fly closely and speedily by seven main-belt asteroids.

Venus starts the week under Pollux and Castor, then it lines up with them. Nearby, Mars steps on the Beehive. Way up toward in the south, the Bootes kite flies high.

JWST images of early galaxies have turned up a population of flat, red disks that may have been entirely missed by previous surveys.

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope shows some stunning detail on the Sun, including sunspots, fibrils, granules, and other solar textures.

Astronomers have observed an unusual supernova, in which a helium star fed a white dwarf until it exploded.

A supergiant star exploded as a supernova in the prominent galaxy M101 in Ursa Major. It's now bright enough to see in a 4.5-inch telescope!

A cosmic lens magnified the light of an exploding star. Now, astronomers are using observations of that supernova to calculate the universe’s current rate of expansion.

As Venus and Mars move toward each other in the western dusk, Venus brightens and Mars shrinks. Just like they always do. This week the Moon hops over both.