Astronomy news

• 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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• 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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