Astronomy news

• 15 May 2024 (4 hours away): Moon at First Quarter

  15-05-2024 08:53 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon reaches first quarter phase – appearing high in the sky at sunset and setting in the west at around midnight.
  
  Read more

• 'Superman Returns' at 20: Is it a sequel? Is it a reboot? Two decades on, we're still not sure

  28-06-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  It's a contested field, but John Williams' majestic "Superman" theme is up there with the best the composer's ever written. Almost five decades on, that stirring orchestral march remains synonymous with Krypton's most famous son, still more than capable of making grown men want to run out of telephone boxes (remember those?) while ripping their shirts open.It's perhaps not surprising, then, that Bryan Singer couldn't imagine using any other music when signed up to direct "Superman Returns", whic
  
  Read more

• Japanese probe set for super-close flyby on July 5: 'We're going to discover another beast to put in the zoo of asteroids'

  28-06-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  Japan's Hayabusa2 sample-return spacecraft is on target to make one of the closest ever flybys of a near-Earth asteroid in early July, as part of its extended mission campaign.Hayabusa2 launched in December 2014 and rendezvoused with the asteroid Ryugu four years later. The spacecraft collected samples and delivered them to Earth in 2020, completing its primary objectives. But the hardy spacecraft still has bold plans to deliver new and exciting science data.The spacecraft has been operating wel
  
  Read more

• Watch China's Tiangong space station cross the moon in stunning amateur footage

  28-06-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  Efrain Morales captured a breathtaking view of the Tiangong space station crossing the moon from Puerto Rico. (Image credit: Efrain Morales)Astrophotographer Efrain Morales captured spectacular footage of China's Tiangong space station as its silhouette buzzed Tycho Crater during a lunar transit on May 29, one night before May's Blue Moon.Moralesrecorded the outlines of Tiangong's vast solar panels and habitable modules using a 12-inch telescope and astronomy camera as it passed silently across
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Watch SpaceX launch 15,000-pound SiriusXM satellite to orbit tonight

  28-06-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX will launch a big SiriusXM radio satellite to orbit from Florida's Space Coast tonight (June 28), and you can watch the action live.A Falcon 9 rocket topped with the 15,400-pound (7,000 kilograms) SXM-11 spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight during a four-hour window that opens at 10:25 p.m. EDT (0225 GMT on June 29).You can watch it live via SpaceX. Coverage will begin about 15 minutes before liftoff.SiriusXM's SXM-10 satellite deploys from t
  
  Read more

• Could future astronauts use oysters as water filters? Here's why one company thinks so

  28-06-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  Engineers looking for safe water and recycled air for astronauts should look no further than nature, according to one team of researchers.Oysters and other forms of "biogenerative" life support systems, which use living beings for food, water recycling and air regeneration, are under study at Pennsylvania's Harrisburg University with Monolith Space, a small company featured on the This Week in Space weekly podcast with Space.com's Tariq Malik and author Rod Pyle in March. The shelled creatures a
  
  Read more

• 01 Jul 2026 (4 days away): Messier 22 is well placed

  28-06-2026 09:29 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The globular cluster M22 (mag 5.2) in Sagittarius, near the Galactic centre, culminates at around midnight local time.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (7 hours ago): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 09:10 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 28 Jun 2026 (6 hours ago): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 09:10 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (5 hours ago): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 09:10 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (4 hours ago): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 09:10 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (3 hours ago): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 09:10 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (2 hours ago): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 09:10 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (19 minutes ago): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 09:10 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (1 hour ago): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 09:10 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (32 minutes away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 08:38 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (1 hour away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 07:42 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (2 hours away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 06:45 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (3 hours away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 05:53 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (4 hours away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 05:02 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (5 hours away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 03:11 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (6 hours away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 02:14 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 30 Jun 2026 (2 days away): The Moon at aphelion

  28-06-2026 01:29 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon passes its furthest point from the Sun, a monthly occurrence around the time of full moon.
  
  Read more

• 30 Jun 2026 (2 days away): Lunar occultation of Sigma Sagittarii

  28-06-2026 01:29 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Sigma Sagittarii (Nunki), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Argentina, Chile, Peru and New Zealand amongst others.
  
  Read more

• 29 Jun 2026 (2 days away): The cluster NGC 6633 is well placed

  28-06-2026 01:29 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The open star cluster NGC 6633 (mag 4.6) in Ophiuchus culminates at around midnight local time.
  
  Read more

• 29 Jun 2026 (2 days away): Full Moon

  28-06-2026 01:29 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon reaches full phase and is visible for much of the night.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (7 hours away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 01:29 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 01 Jul 2026 (3 days away): Mercury at aphelion

  28-06-2026 01:29 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Mercury passes the furthest point along its orbit from the Sun.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (8 hours away): The Moon at apogee

  28-06-2026 00:37 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

• 28 Jun 2026 (9 hours away): The Moon at apogee

  27-06-2026 23:41 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon recedes to its orbit's furthest point from the Earth, making it appear fractionally smaller than at other times of the month.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Astronomy on Twitter!