Astronomy news

• 07 Mar 2025 (10 hours away): Mercury at dichotomy

  06-03-2025 23:32 via Astronomy News visible from latitude 51.51°N
  
  Mercury reaches half phase in the evening sky.
  
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• An aquanaut comes home: Returning to Earth from an undersea 'space station'

  30-10-2026 22:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Our time on our "space mission" underwater was coming to an end, and I felt like what I imagine an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) must feel before returning to Earth. On one hand, you are excited to return to your home and loved ones, as well as to fresh food and normal hygiene. On the other, you know you will miss your crew and the incredible experience of being in space.While my SEA STAR crew and I had not left Earth during our mission, we were separated from the surface of
  
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• India launches next-gen navigation satellite to orbit (video)

  30-10-2026 21:29 via Latest from Space.com
  
  India bolstered its homegrown satellite-navigation system today (Oct. 30).A GSLV Mark II rocket launched the nation's NVS-03 satellite from Satish Dhawan Space Centre today at 2:21 p.m. EDT (1821 GMT and 11:51 p.m. India Standard Time).Everything went well: The rocket deployed NVS-03 into geostationary transfer orbit as planned, officials with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on X about 30 minutes after liftoff.An Indian GSLV Mark II rocket launches the NVS-03 navigation s
  
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• 5 horror franchises that went to space... and one that absolutely should have but didn't

  30-10-2026 20:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  In space, no one can hear you scream... not unlike in the empty theater screens that aging horror franchises play to when the lustre has gone and their final installments limp to the public. It is perhaps little wonder that some horror franchises go to space to die... or take long breaks, at least.
  In celebration of Halloween, we're running down some horror franchises that made the journey to the final frontier, resulting in films that range from the sublime and outrageously campy fun to just pu
  
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• The rocket scientist who summoned demons: The true horror story of Jack Parsons

  30-10-2026 19:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  In the winter of 1946, two men from very different walks of life walked into California's Mojave Desert together, where one of them became convinced an extraordinary experiment they had been conducting had finally succeeded.One of the men was pioneering rocket scientist Jack Parsons, a self-taught chemist who helped establish what would become NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and whose innovations in rocket propulsion would help lay the groundwork for the Space Race that would erupt in the year
  
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• The Taurid meteor shower isn't much to look at. That's why I love it

  30-10-2026 17:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  I used to make a basic mistake with meteor showers — I treated the zenith hourly rate (ZHR) like a timetable. If a shower were advertised at 20 meteors per hour, I'd go outside expecting something roughly every three minutes. After 10 quiet minutes, I'd start wondering what I was doing wrong. After half an hour, I'd start to doubt the whole idea of meteor showers.The Northern and Southern Taurids cured me of all that. Two linked meteor showers that peak around Nov. 4-5 and Nov. 11-12 this year
  
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• 'Star Trek's' William Shatner and George Takei honor the death of Walter Koenig

  30-10-2026 16:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  This has been a pretty rough week for "Star Trek" royalty on this 60th anniversary year with the deaths of both Walter Koenig, "Star Trek's" Lt. Pavel Chekov on Sunday, Oct. 25 and Patrick Stewart, the storied sci-fi property's Captain Jean Luc-Picard on Wednesday, Oct. 28. With the passing of Walter Koenig at the age of 90 this past week, franchise luminaries of all degrees are coming out with heartfelt condolences, kind words of remembrance, and tearful reflections. William Shatner, 95, and Ge
  
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• On this day in space! Oct. 30, 1964: NASA's weird Lunar Landing Research Vehicle takes 1st test flight to help Apollo astronauts land on the moon

  30-10-2026 15:46 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On October 30, 1964, NASA's Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, or LLRV, took to the skies for the first time. The LLRV was a bizarre, four-legged flying contraption commonly known as the "Flying Bedstead." NASA used it to simulate moon landings and liftoffs on Earth to prepare for Apollo 11, the first crewed lunar landing. The first person to give it a whirl was the X-15 pilot Joe Walker. During this test flight, he reached an altitude of about 10 feet, and he hovered there for about a minute. He d
  
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• Ghostly Cat's Head Nebula haunts the cosmos | Space photo of the day for Oct. 30, 2026

  30-10-2026 15:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Three views of the Cat's Head Nebula. A visible light image captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (left); a mid-infrared image taken by James Webb Space Telescope (center); and the James Webb Space Telescope's near-infrared view (right). (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI))This "cat's head" would work perfectly in a witch's cauldron, glowing red "eyes" and all.Just in time for Halloween, we have new, ghostly views of the Cat's Eye Nebula haunting
  
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• Watch Virgin Galactic's new 'Delta-class' space plane take to the skies for the 1st time (video)

  30-10-2026 13:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Virgin Galactic's first "Delta-class" space plane just made its maiden voyage.The next-gen suborbital vehicle, named Apeiron (Greek for "Boundless"), lifted off for the first time ever on Thursday (Oct. 28). Flying beneath the wings of its carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, Apeiron traveled from Virgin's manufacturing site in Mesa, Arizona, to its launch site, Spaceport America in New Mexico."Seeing the ship fly beneath Eve to Spaceport America was a moment years in the making," Virgin Galactic CEO Mich
  
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• Look up! China's mysterious space plane is visible over the US this week

  30-10-2026 12:45 via Latest from Space.com
  
  China's secretive space plane is making a series of passes over the United States in the coming days and you could spot it with your own eyes! The mysterious spacecraft, Shenlong, is currently orbiting Earth on its fourth mission. Although we don't know what it's up to, China's space agency has said it is testing technologies that "will pave the way for more convenient and affordable round-trip methods for the peaceful use of space in the future." Under favorable conditions, Shenlong is bright e
  
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• China's secretive space plane is flying over the US this week — here's how to see it for yourself

  30-10-2026 12:45 via Latest from Space.com
  
  China's secretive space plane is making a series of passes over the United States in the coming days and you could spot it with your own eyes! The mysterious spacecraft, Shenlong, is currently orbiting Earth on its fourth mission. Although we don't know what it's up to, China's space agency has said it is testing technologies that "will pave the way for more convenient and affordable round-trip methods for the peaceful use of space in the future." Under favorable conditions, Shenlong is bright e
  
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• Think Halloween is scary? This scorched alien world is a real-life cosmic horror story

  30-10-2026 11:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Earth would be terrifying if we celebrated Halloween every 11 hours, a possibility on a super-Earth investigated by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). That is, if this extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, wasn't so hellishly hot that no life could survive on its surface.The exoplanet in question is the rocky lava planet TOI-561 b, located around 280 light-years away, which was discovered by NASA's exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) in 2020. The planet is lo
  
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• Patrick Stewart, renowned actor and ‘Star Trek’s’ Captain Picard, dies at 86

  30-10-2026 00:49 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Less than a week after the fates took Walter Koenig from our galaxy, another "Star Trek" legend has left us: Sir Patrick Stewart has died at the age of 86.According to his spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak, the beloved Shakespearean actor passed away on Wednesday (Oct. 28) at his Los Angeles home after a short struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia."He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter and the kind of profou
  
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• On this day in space! Oct. 29, 1991: NASA's Galileo spacecraft flies by asteroid Gaspra and snaps amazing photos while flying at 18,000 mph

  29-10-2026 22:28 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Oct. 29, 1991, the Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid Gaspra on its way to Jupiter. Gaspra was the first asteroid to ever be visited by a spacecraft. Gaspra orbits near the inner edge of the asteroid belt. The Galileo spacecraft had been travelling through the asteroid belt for about two months before it reached Gaspra. Galileo was 990 miles (1,593 kilometers) away from Gaspra when it whizzed by, and it was travelling at a relative speed of about 5 miles (8 km) per second. The spacecraft
  
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• Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman named deputy director for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  29-10-2026 22:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The leader of NASA's first mission around the moon in half a century is the last to announce what's next for him after retiring from active astronaut duty.All four astronauts of the Artemis II mission, which flew around the moon in April, have hung up their spacesuits and moved on to greener pastures. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), managed by Caltech, announced yesterday that former NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman will step into the role of Caltech associate vice president and deputy direct
  
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• Astronauts deploy solar array on 100th US spacewalk by International Space Station crew members

  29-10-2026 21:01 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Two astronauts successfully installed and deployed the second-to-last upgraded solar array for the International Space Station (ISS) during the 100th U.S. spacewalk from the orbiting outpost.Anil Menon of NASA and Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), both ISS Expedition 75 crewmates, completed the 7-hour-and-11-minute extravehicular activity (EVA) at 3:08 p.m. EDT (1908 GMT) on Thursday (Oct. 29). The spacewalk began and ended inside the U.S. Quest airlock, with both astronauts wear
  
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• 'Crystal Lake' is great, but nothing tops the space horror shenanigans of 'Jason X'

  29-10-2026 21:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Peacock's "Crystal Lake" takes the story of the Voorhees family back to the beginning.It's a full-circle moment revisiting Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini), who's the real star of 1980's "Friday the 13th" and the catalyst for all the murder and mayhem. While it's a welcome shake-up to the timeline of the horror franchise, nothing tops the originality of the slasher-in-space spectacle known as "Jason X".It was 2001, and the "Friday the 13th" franchise had hit a bit of a snag. Audiences had seen
  
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• See NASA's Artemis III astronauts meet Trump at the White House as they train for a critical 2027 moon lander test flight (photos)

  29-10-2026 19:55 via Latest from Space.com
  
  U.S. President Donald Trump just met another NASA Artemis crew.The astronauts of NASA's Artemis III mission visited the Oval Office on Thursday (Oct. 28) and posed for a few photos with the president.Their visit came nearly six months to the day after that of the Artemis II crew, who stopped by the White House on April 29, 19 days after the end of their historic flight around the moon. President Trump talks to the Artemis III crew on Oct. 28, 2026. (Image credit: The White House)The Artemis III
  
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• Cosmic graveyard of zombie planets offers a grisly warning about our own solar system's fate

  29-10-2026 19:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  "Sometimes dead is better." Who can forget the immortal words of Jud Crandall, delivered by the incomparable Fred Gwynne in the 1989 film adaptation of Stephen King's Pet Sematary? Turns out Crandall could have been talking about somewhere just as otherworldly as the cursed Chumash burial ground at the heart of one of King's most terrifying works of fiction. That's because astronomers have discovered two husks of two zombie planets shuffling through the gory remains of what was once their planet
  
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• Big cats, unexplained lights and a floodlit eclipse — 7 skywatching 'horror stories' to keep you entertained this Halloween

  29-10-2026 17:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Halloween is almost upon us! To celebrate we've pulled together a series of short "skywatching horror stories" perfect for getting you in the mood for the spooky season.Granted, stargazing may not be the most hazardous of past times. But you'd be surprised how often things can go wrong. The best laid plans can be shattered by the unforeseen, unexpected phenomena can leave you scared witless, or mother nature itself can step in to remind us how little control we have over the environment around u
  
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• The universe in the eye of a telescope | Space photo of the day for Oct. 29, 2026

  29-10-2026 15:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope reflects the stars at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. (Image credit: J. Rodrigues/ESO)Stars shine in the vast aluminum dish of the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST) in this photograph captured by astronomer and astrophotographer José Rodrigues during a recent visit to the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile.What is it?Rodrigues' image captures "airglow" infusing the night sky over La Silla with a soft orange glow, whi
  
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• SpaceX fires up Starship upper stage ahead of landmark Flight 15 test launch (video)

  29-10-2026 14:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  SpaceX just checked another big box on the path to its 15th Starship test flight, which promises to be pretty epic.The company conducted static-fire tests with Starship's Ship upper stage on Monday (Oct. 26) and Tuesday (Oct. 27), igniting its Raptor engines while the vehicle, known as Ship 42, remained anchored to the ground. "Ship 42 static fires complete. The Starship preparing for Flight 15 performed a full duration, six-engine static fire, and fired a single Raptor engine to simulate a deor
  
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• Stunning solar eclipse photos reveal giant hole and mysterious 'smoke rings' in the sun's atmosphere

  29-10-2026 13:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Newly released photographs of the sun captured during the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse reveal the sun's outer atmosphere in unprecedented detail.The images, released by researchers working as part of the Solar Wind Sherpas project coordinated by the University of Hawaii, also show rare structures in the solar wind known as smoke rings. Named for their resemblance to the circles blown by smokers, these vortices were first identified in solar eclipse photographs captured in 2008. The researchers ha
  
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• SpaceX's Starfall capsule delivers cargo for US Air Force in landmark 'point to point' space mission

  29-10-2026 11:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The U.S. Air Force is opening up about the SpaceX Starfall cargo capsule it flew on a recent rideshare mission to orbit — and showing off what the capsule carried.The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) completed a point-to-point rocket cargo delivery test using the secretive uncrewed reentry vehicle, confirming on social media its recovery of the package in the Pacific Ocean. "With support from SpaceX, the AFRL agile cargo pods were recovered after splashdown," the AFRL wrote in an X post on
  
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• On this day in space! Oct. 28, 1971: Britain launches its 1st satellite Prospero into space on a Black Arrow rocket

  29-10-2026 00:02 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Oct. 28, 1971, the United Kingdom launched its first satellite. The satellite was named Prospero, but it was also known as the X-3. This wasn't Britain's first satellite, but it was the first and only one the British space program launched with one of its own rockets. The first six British satellites all launched from the United States on NASA rockets. Prospero launched on a carrier rocket called the Black Arrow. The Prospero mission was the fourth and final flight of a Black Arrow rocket. Pr
  
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• 5 days beneath the waves: What it's like to live in an underwater 'space station'

  28-10-2026 22:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Living underwater was surprisingly peaceful. It was in many ways exactly what I imagine living on Mars would be like one day. There were no humans around us, except for my three SEA STAR crewmembers and me. Apart from the human noises we made, we couldn't hear anything other than the life support systems keeping us alive submerged 22 feet (7 meters) below the surface. We were living in these extreme conditions to study the challenges astronauts may face on long-duration space missions. Since per
  
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• ISS astronaut will conduct Canada's 1st spacewalk in 7 years on Oct. 29: Watch it live

  28-10-2026 21:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  The next International Space Station (ISS) spacewalk will have more maple-leaf flavor than usual, as a Canadian astronaut will become the first to go outside the orbiting complex in seven years.Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, who's also a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, will help the ISS boost its power supply during his first-ever spacewalk on Thursday (Oct. 29). Kutryk will be joined by NASA astronaut Anil Menon, who has done three spacewalks already and also serv
  
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• Meet Apeiron, Virgin Galactic's 1st 'Delta-class' space plane

  28-10-2026 20:28 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Virgin Galactic has officially unveiled the first space plane in its next-gen "Delta" line, and announced the results of the worldwide vote to choose its name.Spaceship Apeiron will be the first Delta-class vehicle, Virgin Galactic revealed on Wednesday (Oct. 28). Apeiron (pronounced "A'-per-on," according to the announcement) takes its name from the ancient Greek word meaning "boundless," and was selected through a public poll that drew votes from thousands of people across 83 countries and six
  
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• China's secretive space plane caught on camera in incredible new photo released by US military

  28-10-2026 16:50 via Latest from Space.com
  
  A photograph of China's reusable Shenlong space plane docked to another spacecraft, taken by Vantor's WorldView 3 satellite from a distance of 56 miles (90 kilometers). (Image credit: Satellite image ©2026 Vantor)A U.S. military intelligence agency has released an incredible new photograph of China's secretive space plane, showing it docked to another spacecraft in orbit.The photograph was taken in 2024 by Vantor's WorldView 3 satellite, from a distance of 56 miles (90 kilometers). Ground-based
  
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