Astronomy news

• Bahamas puts SpaceX rocket landings on hold pending review: report

  18-04-2025 23:14 via space.com
  
  Landing off the coast of the Bahamas offers SpaceX new rocket flight trajectories.
  
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• 'Take care of our station. It's our everything.' Russian cosmonaut hands control of ISS over to Japanese astronaut (video)

  18-04-2025 22:34 via space.com
  
  Russia's Alexey Ovchinin handed the keys of the International Space Station to Japanese spaceflyer Takuya Onishi in a change-of-command ceremony today (April 18).
  
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• NASA's sun-studying PUNCH mission captures its 1st-light images. Everything looks great so far

  18-04-2025 22:05 via space.com
  
  NASA's PUNCH sun-studying mission has seen first light — and the team says all four instruments are indeed working as expected.
  
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• Star Wars Celebration reveals new footage about Sigourney Weaver's 'The Mandalorian & Grogu' character

  18-04-2025 22:00 via space.com
  
  The Mandalorian's next chapter will return to theaters in 2026, and we're learning more about its characters and story.
  
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• Ghostly galaxy without dark matter baffles astronomers

  18-04-2025 20:00 via space.com
  
  Astronomers have stumbled upon yet another ghostly galaxy that appears to be devoid of dark matter, the elusive stuff that makes up most of the material universe.
  
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• Celestron EclipSmart 20x50mm Porro solar binoculars review

  18-04-2025 20:00 via space.com
  
  These solar binoculars offer lots of magnification for observing sunspots and solar eclipses, but their big size makes them a specialist purchase.
  
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• Cosmic party streamer for Hubble's 35th | Space picture of the day for April 18, 2025

  18-04-2025 19:46 via space.com
  
  A new portrait of a pillar of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula is a reason to celebrate.
  
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• 'Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord' is the next animated series from a galaxy far, far away coming to Disney Plus

  18-04-2025 19:00 via space.com
  
  We've seen Darth Maul, the horned Sith lord, die, resurrect, and die again, but how did his criminal empire rise and fall? Star Wars' next animated show aims to answer that.
  
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• Explosion destroys building at Northrop Grumman rocket test site in Utah

  18-04-2025 18:26 via space.com
  
  A fire at a Northrop Grumman facility in Utah sent a building up in flames April 16. No injuries were reported.
  
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• 2 private satellites undock after pioneering life-extension mission

  18-04-2025 18:00 via space.com
  
  Two commercial satellites have completed an undocking maneuver high above Earth, signaling the successful end to a pioneering spacecraft life-extension mission.
  
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• It's always a pleasure to meet a new Lego Star Wars set, as Jango Fett’s Firespray-Class Starship drops in for Star Wars Day

  18-04-2025 17:00 via space.com
  
  Lego's 2,970-piece Ultimate Collector Series set arrives in time for May the Fourth!
  
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• Ryan Gosling's new 'Star Wars' movie 'Starfighter' is coming in 2027, and it has nothing to do with the Starfighter games

  18-04-2025 16:00 via space.com
  
  Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy is visiting the galaxy far, far away to tell a standalone story set five years after The Rise of Skywalker.
  
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• 'It's very pro-commercial space right now': An industry insider's off-Earth status report

  18-04-2025 14:00 via space.com
  
  Space.com caught up recently with Dave Cavossa, president of the Commercial Space Federation, to discuss the state of the U.S. private space industry.
  
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• 'I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream' celebrates 30 years with a console port, ready to traumatise a whole new generation with its tales of a mad AI god

  18-04-2025 13:00 via space.com
  
  Nightdive Studios' port of the classic point-and-click sci-fi adventure to modern consoles gets the job done and feels hauntingly timely.
  
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• Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong's gold Omega moonwatch sells for record $2.2M at auction

  18-04-2025 11:00 via space.com
  
  A new record has been set for the most paid at auction for an astronaut's timepiece. The 18-karat gold Omega Speedmaster that was presented to Neil Armstrong sold for $2,187,500 with premium.
  
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• 23 Apr 2025 (5 days away): π-Puppid meteor shower 2025

  18-04-2025 02:40 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The π-Puppid meteor shower reaches its peak.
  
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• 17 Apr 2025 (5 days ago): Messier 3 is well placed

  18-04-2025 01:57 via in-the-sky.org
  The globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272; mag 6.3) in Canes Venatici culminates at around midnight local time.
  
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• 17 Apr 2025 (4 days ago): Messier 3 is well placed

  18-04-2025 01:57 via in-the-sky.org
  The globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272; mag 6.3) in Canes Venatici culminates at around midnight local time.
  
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• 17 Apr 2025 (3 days ago): Messier 3 is well placed

  18-04-2025 01:57 via in-the-sky.org
  The globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272; mag 6.3) in Canes Venatici culminates at around midnight local time.
  
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• 17 Apr 2025 (2 days ago): Messier 3 is well placed

  18-04-2025 01:57 via in-the-sky.org
  The globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272; mag 6.3) in Canes Venatici culminates at around midnight local time.
  
  Read more

• 22 Apr 2025 (5 days away): Messier 101 is well placed

  18-04-2025 01:01 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Pinwheel Galaxy M101 (NGC 5457; mag 7.9) in Ursa Major culminates at around midnight local time.
  
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• 22 Apr 2025 (4 days away): Lyrid meteor shower 2025

  18-04-2025 01:01 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak.
  
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• 22 Apr 2025 (4 days away): 136108 Haumea at opposition

  18-04-2025 01:01 via in-the-sky.org
  
  136108 Haumea lies in the opposite direction to the Sun in the sky, making it optimally positioned to be observable for much of the night.
  
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• 21 Apr 2025 (3 days away): Moon at Last Quarter

  18-04-2025 01:01 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon reaches last quarter phase – rising in the east at around midnight and appearing high in the sky by sunrise.
  
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• 21 Apr 2025 (3 days away): Mercury at greatest elongation west

  18-04-2025 01:01 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Mercury is bright and well placed in the dawn sky.
  
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• 17 Apr 2025 (Today): Messier 3 is well placed

  18-04-2025 01:01 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The globular cluster M3 (NGC 5272; mag 6.3) in Canes Venatici culminates at around midnight local time.
  
  Read more

• NASA developing 1st-ever space-based quantum sensor for gravity measurements

  18-04-2025 00:00 via space.com
  
  Scientists are developing an advanced quantum sensor for low Earth orbit that can detect the tiniest tremors in Earth's gravity.
  
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