Astronomy news

• 14 Aug 2026 (3 days away): Messier 15 is well placed

  12-08-2026 19:48 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The globular cluster M15 (NGC 7078; mag 6.3) in Pegasus culminates at around midnight local time.
  
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• Is empty space really empty? This magnetic star may finally solve a 90-year-old mystery

  14-08-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  Empty space is not as empty as it looks.That is the takeaway of a new study examining signals from a dead star, offering what researchers say is the strongest evidence yet that extreme magnetic fields can alter the properties of a vacuum, causing seemingly empty space to act like a prism and changing how light travels through itThe findings, led by Rachael Stewart, a graduate student in physics at the George Washington University, confirm a prediction of a strange effect first proposed 90 years
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (12 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 22:35 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (1 hour away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 22:11 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• Cards Against Humanity wants to erect a monument to 'honor' Elon Musk

  14-08-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  Cards Against Humanity isn't done with its scorched-Earth campaign against SpaceX and Elon Musk.The Chicago-based company behind the popular fill-in-the-blank adult card game is inviting the public to join its design committee to erect an "Elon Musk is a Sad Little B----- with No Friends" monument on a stretch of land it owns near SpaceX's Starbase manufacturing and test facility in South Texas. Cards Against Humanity (CAH) brought a $15 million lawsuit against SpaceX in 2024 for illegally dumpi
  
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• 6 space board games to channel the political drama of 'For All Mankind' and 'Star City'

  14-08-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  'For All Mankind' was pretty good, wasn't it? Sadly, the show's run has finished now, and while we've got spin-off 'Star City' picking up the mantle, it's still going to be a while before we get any more space politics drama on our screens. Luckily, we can find it on our tabletops instead, with these fantastic space board games.If you haven't seen it, For All Mankind is the story of an alternate history in which the space race between the U.S. and Russia never fizzled out. Instead, it becomes a
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (13 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 21:25 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (2 hours away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 21:01 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (14 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 20:15 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (3 hours away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 20:15 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• Will the new moon race turn Earth's nearest neighbor into a dumping ground?

  14-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  An 8,800-pound (4,000 kilograms) Falcon 9 rocket stage hit the moon last Wednesday (Aug. 5), stirring lunar regolith in a massive plume of dust observable all the way from Earth. The rocket joined some 3,000 manmade objects scattered on the surface of our planet's companion. Some experts think it's about time we start treating the pristine lunar environment with a bit more respect.Around 200 tons of Earth stuff have been either deliberately left on or crashed into the moon since the beginning of
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (15 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 19:28 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (4 hours away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 19:08 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• US Space Force gives Rocket Lab $397 million to build threat-tracking 'Flatellites'

  14-08-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  Amid the major uptick in national defense space contracts since the Trump Administration announced plans to assemble a "Golden Dome" missile-defense system in orbit, Rocket Lab has landed another deal to contribute to the cause. The California-based company was awarded a $397 million Space Force contract to design, manufacture and launch a fleet of "Flatellites" to augment existing infrastructure's ability to track airborne threats in real time. The project is funded under the Space Force's Spac
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (16 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 18:21 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (5 hours away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 18:03 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• Can Venus cast a shadow? Here's how to see it for yourself

  14-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  Can Venus cast a shadow? With Aug. 12's total solar eclipse — where the moon's dark silhouette is everything — now behind us, it's a good time to test another kind of celestial shadow. Astronomical folklore has it that the second rock from the sun, Venus, is, after the sun and moon, the third object able to cast a shadow when it's near peak brightness, albeit extremely faint, according to EarthSky.Is it true? Not in a city, where skylights glow and porch lights blaze, where shadows a
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (17 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 17:21 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (6 hours away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 17:21 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• Water can survive surprisingly close to the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, James Webb Space Telescope finds

  14-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  The heart of the Milky Way may be more hospitable to water than astronomers thought.Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers detected water and cosmic dust around an aging star only 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.The new study suggests that water and dust can form and survive surprisingly close to a supermassive black hole, where intense radiation and other harsh conditions might otherwise be expected to dest
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (18 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 16:14 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (7 hours away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 16:14 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• The ISS photobombs the sun during the total solar eclipse | Space photo of the day for Aug. 14, 2026

  14-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The silhouette of the ISS transiting across the sun's face during the Aug. 12, 2026 total solar eclipse.(Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)This week's total solar eclipse captured the world's attention, and millions of skywatchers looked up (with the correct protective eyewear, hopefully) to experience the moon blocking out our star's light. And, as you can see in this image, even the International Space Station (ISS) itself got in on the fun. What is it?On Aug. 12, 2026, the moon completely blocke
  
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• ISS photobombs the sun during solar eclipse | Space photo of the day for Aug. 14, 2026

  14-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The silhouette of the ISS transiting across the sun's face during the Aug. 12, 2026 total solar eclipse.(Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)This week's total solar eclipse captured the world's attention, and millions of skywatchers looked up (with the correct protective eyewear, hopefully) to experience the moon blocking out our star's light. And, as you can see in this image, even the International Space Station (ISS) itself got in on the fun. What is it?On Aug. 12, 2026, the moon completely blocke
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (19 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 15:28 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (8 hours away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 15:03 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (20 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 14:15 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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• 14 Aug 2026 (9 hours away): Venus at greatest elongation east

  14-08-2026 14:15 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Venus is bright and well placed in the evening sky.
  
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• India-US space ties deepen as NASA invites ISRO to join moon base program

  14-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  NASA has formally invited India to participate in its effort to build a permanent base near the moon's south pole, adding a new dimension to the deep-space cooperation between the two countries.The invitation was extended last week at the Indian space agency ISRO's headquarters in Bengaluru during the ninth meeting of the U.S.-India Civil Space Joint Working Group. The CSJWG was established in 2005 as a mechanism for bilateral space cooperation and for addressing challenges and pursuing mutual s
  
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• 15 Aug 2026 (21 hours away): Conjunction of Jupiter and Mercury

  14-08-2026 13:23 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Jupiter and Mercury share the same right ascension, at a separation of 33'.
  
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