When astronomers first discovered exoplanets, they found massive ones orbiting large stars. The technology to detect smaller planets around low-mass, dim red dwarfs took time to develop. By the mid-2000s, HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) was specifically targeting M dwarfs and in 2009 discovered the least massive exoplanet at the time.
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Weather Satellites Can Even Study the Weather Over on Venus
In 2014 and 2016, the Himawari-8 and -9 satellites were launched into orbit. Owned and operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), these satellites monitor global weather patterns and atmospheric phenomena using their multispectral Advanced Himawari Imagers (AHIs). In a recent study, a team led by the University of Tokyo presented infrared images that capture changes in Venus' atmosphere, revealing unseen temperature patterns in its cloud tops. The results show that meteorological satellites can complement observations of Venus' atmosphere by robotic missions and ground-based telescopes.
Inbound: Astronomers Discover Third Interstellar Object
Astronomy news always seems to break over coffee, on laptop startup. That was the case Wednesday morning, when word of a curious new object started flashing across the message boards.
Tianwen-2 Looks Back at the Earth
China's Tianwen-2 probe continues on its journey to rendezvous with a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) before heading to the Main Asteroid Belt. The second in China's interplanetary exploration program (which translates to "Questions to Heaven"), this mission will obtain samples from asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and return them to Earth. From there, China plans to send the probe to rendezvous with the Main Belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS to explore it using its 11 onboard instruments. Yesterday, the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) released images the probe took of Earth and the Moon.
See Mercury at greatest elongation, its farthest from the sun in the evening sky this week
The rocky world will be visible for a brief window after sunset.
'52 Assignments: Night Photography': A Q&A with author and astrophotographer Josh Dury
"…are we potentially the last generation that will see the night's sky in its entirety?"
Space Missions
1. Human Spaceflight Missions
Apollo Program (NASA, USA)
Goal: Land humans on the Moon and return them safely
Hubble Telescope finds stellar nursery in Taurus Molecular Cloud | Space photo of the day for July 2, 2025
The space telescope spied three young stars in the nebula.
Climate satellite MethaneSAT backed by Bezos and Google fails in space after just 1 year
MethaneSAT, the first satellite made by an environmental nonprofit organization, was designed to monitor some of the world's largest industrial contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Now, without power, the spacecraft's mission has abruptly ended.
The secret of why Mars grew cold and dry may be locked away in its rocks
As the sun grew hotter, so did Mars, prompting much of its atmospheric carbon dioxide to rain out and ultimately get locked up in rocks.
Clingy planets can trigger own doom, suspect Cheops and TESS
Astronomers using the European Space Agency’s Cheops mission have caught an exoplanet that seems to be triggering flares of radiation from the star it orbits. These tremendous explosions are blasting away the planet’s wispy atmosphere, causing it to shrink every year.
Exoplanets that cling too tightly to their stars trigger their own doom: 'This is a completely new phenomenon'
Some planets take the expression "you're your own worst enemy" to the extreme — triggering stellar flares from their own parent stars by being too clingy.
Former astronaut Terry Virts talks about his Senate run, Trump and the NASA budget in exclusive Space.com interview (video)
Space.com sat down recently with retired NASA astronaut Terry Virts to talk about space, politics and his run in Texas for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
MTG-S1 and Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission highlights
Video: 00:03:30
Two meteorological missions – Meteosat Third Generation Sounder-1 (MTG-S1) and the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission – have launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US.
Dust devils on Mars may spark lightning — possibly threatening NASA's Perseverance rover
Our Red Planet explorers may encounter a peculiar threat.
SpaceX rocket sets reuse record on 500th Falcon 9 launch
SpaceX launched 27 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit today (July 2), on the 500th Falcon 9 rocket launch in the company's history.
Northern lights may be visible in these 13 US states tonight as the sun hurls solar storm toward Earth
Auroras may be visible from Alaska to New York as an incoming solar storm could spark geomagnetic storm conditions overnight.
Astronomers capture incredible 1st image of a dead star that exploded twice. How did it happen?
Astronomers have discovered the first evidence of a white dwarf wiped out by a double-detonation supernova, also providing space-lovers with stunning eye-candy.
Titan is the Perfect Benchmark for Studying Exoplanet Atmospheres
The NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission explored Saturn and its moons from 2004 to 2017, providing the most detailed images and data on the system ever taken. This included Saturn's largest moon, Titan, which the probe examined closely during its many flybys, and with the deployment of the Huygens lander to its surface. The mission provided new insight into Titan's atmosphere, its methane cycle, and its rich prebiotic environment, and the organic chemistry taking place on its surface. Its findings even led to speculation about the possibility of life on Titan, possibly as methanogenic organisms living in its vast methane lakes.
MTG-S1 and Copernicus Sentinel-4 launch highlights
Video: 00:02:30
Two meteorological missions – Meteosat Third Generation Sounder-1 (MTG-S1) and the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission – have launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US.
SpaceX launches its 500th Falcon 9 rocket
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks away from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during the Starlink 10-25 mission on July 2, 2025. This was SpaceX’s 500th Falcon 9 rocket launch to date. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now
Update July 2, 3 a.m. EDT: SpaceX landed its first stage booster on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’
