Astronomy news

• 04 Jun 2023 (8 hours away): Full Moon

  03-06-2023 20:49 via Astronomy News visible from latitude 51.51°N
  
  The Moon reaches full phase and is visible for much of the night.
  
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• On this day in space! Oct. 25, 1671: Astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, Saturn's 'yin-yang' moon

  25-10-2026 14:17 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Oct. 25, 1671, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered a new moon at Saturn! Iapetus was the second moon anyone had ever found orbiting Saturn, and it was the first of four moons Cassini would discover at the ringed planet.The Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens had discovered Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, about six years earlier. After Cassini found Iapetus, he also found the moons Rhea, Tethys and Dione.When Cassini first saw Iapetus, the moon looked like a tiny speck on
  
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• October's 'Hunter's Moon' stalks into the autumn sky tonight: Here's what you need to know

  25-10-2026 11:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The October full moon rises tonight! Here's everything you need to know about the "Hunter's Moon," including where to see it, how it got its name and other tricks of the light and mind that could conspire to create a truly spectacular lunar light show.October's moon reaches 100% illumination at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 GMT) on Oct. 26, as the lunar disk shines opposite the sun in Earth's sky. The shadowy terminator that separates the day and night side of the moon is conspicuously absent around this
  
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• This Week In Space podcast: Episode 233 — The Artemis Generation

  24-10-2026 17:53 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Episode 233 of This Week In Space, Tariq Malik and guest host Rick Jenet are joined by Dr. Amanda Smith-Hackler, the Director of Education for the Universities Space Research Association and Principal Investigator for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Scholars and STEM Workforce Development Programs, about the new and exciting opportunities available to young people seeking to enter the space workforce. Newspace is hiring! With the major powers heading to the moon, low-Earth orbit beco
  
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• 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' was afraid to say anything in season of gimmicks

  24-10-2026 14:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  It didn’t take long for fans to figure out that the fourth season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" was going to be unlike any season of "Star Trek" before it. The entire season was one giant gimmick, and that gimmick was shoving "Trek" into as many genres as possible and often directly adapting classic films from those genres. You could argue that an entire season of gimmick episodes is a bold risk: putting the characters in fun, wacky situations to see how they react. It could be interestin
  
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• Medusa's eye, Halloween fireballs and more: 5 skywatching targets to look out for this spooky season

  24-10-2026 12:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The spooky season is officially here! To celebrate, we've put together a list of five Halloween-themed skywatching targets that you can enjoy with nothing but the naked eye or binoculars and, of course, clear skies. Over millennia, the night sky has helped shape human beliefs. In return, we have imprinted our myths, stories and perceptions upon it, seeing monsters and mythology in the twinkling lights of the stars and assigning sinister aspects to innocent cosmic objects.Many of these ghostly im
  
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• SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from California as Falcon 9 cadence slows (video)

  24-10-2026 01:26 via Latest from Space.com
  
  SpaceX launched its newest batch of Starlink broadband internet satellites today (Oct. 23) from the California coast.The spacecraft, Starlink Group 15-15, were stacked 27 high inside the payload fairing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 6:48 p.m. EDT (2248 GMT; 3:48 p.m. local time in California).The rocket's first stage booster, designated B1063, executed its main engine cutoff and stage separation about 2.5 minutes into flight, sending
  
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• SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from California as Falcon 9 cadence slows (photos)

  24-10-2026 01:26 via Latest from Space.com
  
  SpaceX launched its newest batch of Starlink broadband internet satellites today (Oct. 23) from the California coast.The spacecraft, Starlink Group 15-15, were stacked 27 high inside the payload fairing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 6:48 p.m. EDT (2248 GMT; 3:48 p.m. local time in California).The rocket's first stage booster, designated B1063, executed its main engine cutoff and stage separation about 2.5 minutes into flight, sending
  
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• NASA lays out plan for Artemis 3 moon-lander test flight —but when will it launch?

  24-10-2026 00:55 via Latest from Space.com
  
  NASA just gave us our best look yet at its Artemis III moon-lander test flight.The agency laid out a detailed concept of operations for Artemis III today (Oct. 23) during a press conference at Kennedy Space Center, stressing how important the flight is to its moon plans and how challenging it will be to make everything go right."We're launching three of the most powerful rockets in the world, and undertaking what is likely the most complicated launch campaign ever undertaken," Jeremy Parsons, NA
  
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• On this day in space! Oct. 23, 2007: NASA launches Harmony module to ISS on STS-120 space shuttle mission

  23-10-2026 22:47 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On October 23, 2007, the space shuttle Discovery launched the Harmony module to the International Space Station. The Harmony module is a utility hub 14 feet wide and 24 feet long, or about the length of a minibus. It joins the European Space Agency's Columbus module and Japan's Kibo laboratory and serves as the crew quarters for the American astronauts. Once it was installed, the space station grew from about the size of a three-bedroom house to something more like a five-bedroom house. When ast
  
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• Halley's Comet dazzles from afar in spectacular astrophoto of Orionid meteor shower

  23-10-2026 20:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Tim McCollum captured a stunning view of Orionid meteors in the early hours of Oct. 21. (Image credit: Tim McCollum)Astrophotographer Tim McCollum captured a spectacular view of Orionid meteors sharing the night sky with a host of deep sky wonders on Oct. 21, as the annual shooting star display ramped up to peak activity. Comet 1P/Halley may be over 3 billion miles (4.8 kilometers) from Earth, but that didn't stop it from putting on a breathtaking display earlier this week, as particles cast off
  
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• Never finishing the fight: Where did Xbox go wrong with Halo?

  23-10-2026 18:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Halo: Campaign Evolved was Xbox’s second attempt at refreshing the 2001 sci-fi FPS classic, and it is perfectly fine. A cromulent remake, if ever there was one, but it’s hardly a franchise-saver, especially as Xbox looks to rethink its studio structure and approach to renowned IPs like Halo or Gears of War.Halo hasn’t been the same since original developer Bungie — now owned by Sony and working on Destiny and Marathon — departed, leaving 343 Industries (now Halo Studios) to guide the f
  
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• Private Griffin moon lander gets put to the test | Space photo of the day for Oct. 23, 2026

  23-10-2026 16:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The Griffin-1 lunar lander undergoes testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)The robotic Griffin lunar lander has passed a host of critical tests ahead of its first-ever moon mission, which is scheduled to launch later this year. What is it? At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, Voyager Technologies' Griffin Mission One (or Griffin-1) lunar lander has gone through an absolute gauntlet of tests. The spacecraft was put through environmental
  
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• 'Stupendously large black holes' aren't a major component of dark matter, study finds

  23-10-2026 14:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Black holes more massive than entire galaxies are not a major component of the mysterious dark matter that's thought to make up most of the matter in the cosmos, a new study finds.For decades, to explain why galaxies do not spin apart at the speeds at which they whirl, scientists have suggested the existence of an unseen substance known as dark matter, whose gravitational pull helps keep galaxies together. Dark matter is thought to make up about five-sixths of all matter in the universe. Much re
  
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• Rocket Lab launches 3 'Hawk' satellites to orbit to gather signals intelligence (video)

  23-10-2026 12:57 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Rocket Lab launched a trio of private signals-intelligence satellites to orbit today (Oct. 23).The mission lifted off aboard an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch site today at 3:11 a.m. EDT (0711 GMT; 8:11 p.m. local time in New Zealand).The Electron carried three "Hawk" satellites for the Virginia-based company HawkEye 360, which explains the name Rocket Lab gave to the mission: "We're Not Hawking Around." Rocket Lab launched a trio of private signals-intelligence satellite
  
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• Rocket Lab launches 3 'Hawk' satellites to orbit to gather signals intelligence

  23-10-2026 12:57 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Rocket Lab launched a trio of private signals-intelligence satellites to orbit today (Oct. 23).The mission lifted off aboard an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch site today at 3:11 a.m. EDT (0711 GMT; 8:11 p.m. local time in New Zealand).The Electron carried three "Hawk" satellites for the Virginia-based company HawkEye 360, which explains the name Rocket Lab gave to the mission: "We're Not Hawking Around." If all goes according to plan, the three Hawks will be deployed into
  
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• Space debris: Are we on track for true sustainability? (op-ed)

  23-10-2026 12:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  David Zamora is the chairman of the Space Data Association. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.The commercialization of space is well underway, and as a result, Earth’s orbit is becoming ever more congested. The current number of active satellites in orbit stands at around 16,000, according to the European Space Agency( ESA), and this number is expected to jump close to 60,000 by 2035, Novaspace projects. While it’s not always given the recognition
  
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• Europe's Space Rider vehicle comes crashing down during drop test

  23-10-2026 00:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Europe has dropped the ball on the prototype for its first reusable spacecraft. Or, rather, the prototype itself was dropped — on purpose — but the outcome of its fall was not what engineers had hoped for. The incident occurred during an Oct. 6 drop test of the full-scale Space Rider model, from the European Space Agency (ESA). The robotic vehicle's initial drogue parachute deployed successfully, but its main parafoil detached during deployment, leaving the prototype unable to slow its desce
  
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• On this day in space! Oct. 22, 1992: Ashes of 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry launch into space on NASA shuttle

  22-10-2026 23:08 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Oct. 22, 1992, the space shuttle Columbia launched into space with the ashes of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek," aboard.During mission STS-52, NASA astronaut and shuttle commander James Wetherbee brought a small container with a portion of Roddenberry's ashes into space as part of his personal effects at the request of Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett. It was Roddenberry's lifelong dream to go to space, but he never got to go while he was alive. But thanks to his wife, a little
  
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• After Starshield interruption, Ukraine wants to build its own satellite communication network with ICEYE and Nokia

  22-10-2026 22:28 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Ukraine wants its own satellite-communication system, which shouldn't be surprising given the events of the past week or so.The Ukrainian military just signed a letter of intent with two Finnish companies — the telecom giant Nokia and satellite maker ICEYE — to look into developing a sovereign satellite-communications network for Ukraine."Ukraine needs secure, sovereign and high-performance satellite communications systems that it controls," ICEYE cofounder and CEO Rafal Modrzewski said in a
  
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• The 2027 total solar eclipse will plunge these 10 ancient Egyptian temples and monuments into darkness

  22-10-2026 22:08 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The total solar eclipse on Aug. 2, 2027, has an ancient feel. It will certainly be a celestial event for the ages — at 6 minutes 23 seconds, it will feature the longest totality on land of the 21st century and the longest anywhere until 2114. However, its point of greatest eclipse occurs just a few miles from Thebes, the magnificent religious and political capital of ancient Egypt's Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom.On the east bank of the mighty Nile is Luxor, the great city of the living, with
  
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• Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' depicts the sky on July 22, 1889, researchers find

  22-10-2026 20:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Researchers thinkthey might have pinpointed the exact night sky that we see depicted in Vincent van Gogh's iconic painting "The Starry Night."Perhaps one of the most famous paintings in modern history, Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" carries a legacy that continues to inspire and mystify generation after generation. But while you might see in its swirls of color and bright spots of starlight a night sky derived purely from imagination, some scientists think it represents an actual view — one tha
  
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• 'Cabin leak suspected': Artemis II astronaut reveals how a warning nearly derailed NASA's epic moon mission

  22-10-2026 18:14 via Latest from Space.com
  
  TENERIFE, CANARY ISLANDS — NASA's Artemis II astronauts were just minutes away from a critical engine burn that would send them toward the moon when an unexpected cabin leak warning threatened to change the course of their historic mission. "If it had happened five minutes later, we may not have been able to have that burn," Artemis II pilot Victor Glover revealed during an Oct. 18 discussion with Canadian former astronaut Chris Hadfield at the Starmus VIII festival here in Tenerife.The incide
  
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• Australia's bizarre 'Spider Crater' seen from orbit | Space photo of the day for Oct. 22, 2026

  22-10-2026 16:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  A satellite image of "Spider Crater" in Western Australia.(Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey)From the dangerous Sydney funnel-web to the common huntsman, Australia is home to its fair share of spiders. It even has a crater shaped like one. What is it?One stretch of the vast Western Australia wilderness is imprinted with a curious crater, which likely formed after a meteor impact hundreds of millions of years ago. G
  
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• Next Mass Effect game cancelled as EA shuts down legendary sci-fi RPG studio BioWare

  22-10-2026 14:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The writing was on the wall, but the news still hit us like a truck yesterday. BioWare, the iconic RPG studio behind the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series, is no more. Development on the next Mass Effect has stopped, but EA might not be entirely done with the IP. Variety reported, backed by EA’s own statement and BioWare’s goodbye on socials, that EA is laying off 3% of its global workforce and closing down BioWare. The shift comes shortly after the company went fully private this summer, wi
  
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• Watch NASA's update on accelerating Artemis moon plans today

  22-10-2026 12:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  NASA will provide an update about its Artemis moon plans today (Oct. 23), and you can watch it live.The news will come during a press conference at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which starts today at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA."The update will include details about NASA’s Artemis III mission that will send four astronauts to low Earth orbit next year to test critical systems needed for future lunar landings, and how plans to
  
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• NASA giving update about Artemis moon plans on Oct. 23: Watch it live

  22-10-2026 12:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  NASA will provide an update about its Artemis moon plans on Friday (Oct. 23), and you can watch it live.The news will come during a press conference at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which starts Friday at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA."The update will include details about NASA’s Artemis III mission that will send four astronauts to low Earth orbit next year to test critical systems needed for future lunar landings, and how pla
  
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• On this day in space! Oct. 21, 2008: India launches its 1st mission to the moon with Chandrayaan-1

  21-10-2026 23:41 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Oct. 21, 2008, the Indian Space Research Organization launched its first mission to the moon. The mission was named Chandrayaan-1, and it consisted of both an orbiter and an impactor.Chandrayaan-1 launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on an Indian rocket called the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, or PSLV-XL. (Launch occurred at 8:52 p.m. EDT, though it was about 6:22 a.m. local time at the launch site on Oct. 22.)It arrived in lunar orbit about three weeks later and dropped off the Moo
  
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• Sci-fi legend Alan Dean Foster on his new futuristic adventure 'Lost On Paradise': 'It's paradise until you get there, and then maybe you mess it up' (interview)

  21-10-2026 20:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Few names in the science fiction literary world carry as much weight and respect as author Alan Dean Foster. His award-winning 55-year career as a grandmaster of the genre continues with his latest novel from Blackstone Publishing, "Lost on Paradise", and we have an exclusive excerpt to share with our readers ahead of its release this week.Foster famously ghost-wrote the first "Star Wars" novelization for George Lucas in 1976 and "Splinter of the Mind’s Eye" in 1978, which was intended to
  
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• "A great budget lens for astrophotography, the sharpness produced at f/1.8 and f/2.8 is exactly what you want." Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE lens review

  21-10-2026 16:30 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Key specsType: Full-frame prime lensFocal length: 16mmMaximum aperture: f/1.8Lens mount: Sony FE, Nikon ZWeight: 19.4 oz (550 g)Dimensions: 3.35 x 4.06-in (85.2 x 103 mm)Filter thread: 77 mmRelease date: May 2023As you know, prime lenses come in a wide range of sizes and focal lengths, and every once in a while, one comes along and seems to grab you by the scruff of your neck. One such lens is the Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE, which is an impressive and useful lens for astrophotography thanks to its
  
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