Astronomy news

• 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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 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
  
  Read more

• '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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• 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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

• 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
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_Astronomy on Twitter!