Astronomy news

• 30 Dec 2024 (20 hours away): New Moon

  30-12-2024 02:39 via Astronomy News visible from latitude 51.51°N
  
  The Moon disappears into the Sun's glare for a few days.
  
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• On this day in space! Nov. 13, 1971: NASA's Mariner 9 becomes 1st spacecraft to orbit Mars, revealing close looks at the Martian surface

  13-11-2026 22:25 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Nov. 13, 1971, Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit Mars. At the time, scientists didn't know much about the Red Planet. NASA had several Mars flybys before Mariner 9. Those flybys showed that Mars had a cratered surface, so some scientists thought that Mars looked just like the moon. Then Mariner 9 blew blew their minds. When Mariner 9 got to Mars, it arrived in the middle of a dust storm. It saw some tall structures sticking through the clouds. When the dust settled, images from M
  
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• 60 years ago the Leonid meteor shower produced 144,000 meteors per hour. Could it happen again?

  13-11-2026 22:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  This year marks a rather auspicious anniversary for meteor watchers. Sixty years ago, one of the most stupendous Leonid meteor displays lit up the predawn skies over the central and western U.S. So, what will the 2026 Leonids bring us? And what might they bring in the years to come?The Leonid meteor shower is one of the most celebrated of the year's annual displays of "shooting stars." The mere mention of the Leonids usually elicits mental images of a sky filled with shooting stars pouring down
  
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• Rocket Lab launching 100th space mission early on Nov. 14: Watch it live

  13-11-2026 21:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Rocket Lab will launch its 100th space mission early Saturday morning (Nov. 14), and you can watch the milestone liftoff live.An Electron rocket topped with a private Japanese Earth-observing satellite is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Saturday, during a window that opens at 12:30 a.m. EST (0530 GMT; 6:30 p.m. local time). The mission, which Rocket Lab calls "The Mountain God Rises," will be the 100th to date for the California-based company. You can watch it live via
  
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• 'Arrival' at 10: Denis Villeneuve's alien visitation classic that reminded us it's good to talk

  13-11-2026 21:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  In many of the biggest science fiction franchises, conversing with alien races is an absolute doddle. In "Star Trek", universal translators come as standard, while C-3PO has spent the last 49 years reminding everyone in "Star Wars" that he's fluent in over six million forms of communication. But in "Arrival" — which was released 10 years ago in November 2016 — making first contact proves to be rather more challenging than maintaining your Duolingo streak. In fact, working out how to establis
  
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• California's brand-new Air & Space Center, home of the space shuttle Endeavour, opens today

  13-11-2026 20:30 via Latest from Space.com
  
  LOS ANGELES — The California Science Center officially opened its brand-new Samuel Oschin Air & Space Center to the public today (Nov. 13).After more than three decades in development, folks can finally visit the Los Angeles science museum's massive new wing. For most of us, the biggest draw is its centerpiece: the retired space shuttle Endeavour, sitting upright in launch position, towering at nearly 200 feet (61 meters) tall. "It just takes your breath away when you see that reveal and t
  
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• Think you have good eyesight? Try counting the stars in the Pleiades tonight

  13-11-2026 20:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Every autumn, I conduct an eyesight test that no reputable optometrist would understand. I go outside, find the Pleiades and count how many stars I can see. Usually I start confidently. One, two, three, four, five. Then things become contentious. Is that another star? Did I actually see it, or did I decide I ought to see it because I know it's there? I look away, look back and begin again.This is not, I should emphasize, a meaningful test of eye health. What it tests, rather, is how badly I've p
  
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• 'Martian Isolation' is an upcoming sci-fi survival horror game that looks like 'The Martian' and 'Event Horizon' had a horrific child

  13-11-2026 19:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  "Martian Isolation" is an upcoming single-player, first-person survival horror game that's just been revealed with a suitably creepy launch trailer. And yes, it does look an awful lot like "The Martian," doesn't it?There's a lot of survival gameplay on display here that mirrors Mark Watney's tale of survival on the Red Planet, as your stranded protagonist is forced to explore the Martian surface to acquire resources, grow plants, and repair their base.That comparison to Andy Weir's sci-fi master
  
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• Astronomers trace mystery radio signals back to cosmic odd couple of white dwarf and sun-like star

  13-11-2026 18:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Astronomers have traced a mysterious radio signal back to a cosmic odd couple comprised of a dead star, a white dwarf, and its stellar companion, a sun-like star. The white dwarf in the newly discovered system, designated GPM J071507−114153 and located around 5,000 light-years away, spins once every eight minutes, sending out radio pulses. These radio pulses have been seen from binary systems with smaller and cooler red dwarf stars before, but rarely from a system like GPM J071507−114153.GPM
  
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• Netflix’s ‘Ray Gunn’ gets 2nd trailer, and we're hyped for this animated sci-fi noir from ‘Incredibles’ director Brad Bird

  13-11-2026 17:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Dreaming of a bright and shiny future filled with personal jet packs, levitating autos, and automated gadgets straight out of "The Jetsons?" Add in a gritty mystery, a notorious private eye, double-crossing aliens, and a bombshell diva framed for a killing, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for "Ray Gunn."Oscar-winning director Brad Bird ("The Incredibles," "Ratatouille") returns to our screens with his new big-budget animated sci-fi project, "Ray Gunn," and this latest trailer has us primed.
  
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• I saw Saturn’s rings in seconds with the Celestron StarSense Explorer 150mm Tabletop Dobsonian telescope — full review

  13-11-2026 16:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Saturn was only a night past its annual opposition when I pointed the Celestron StarSense Explorer 150mm Tabletop Dobsonian straight at it. The planet was at its biggest and brightest of the year, the seeing was good and its famous rings were visibly opening up after appearing edge-on from Earth in recent years. It was an obvious target for a new telescope.Finding it took seconds. After selecting Saturn in Celestron’s StarSense Explorer app, I followed the on-screen arrows as I moved the teles
  
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• Astronaut Suni Williams rides through NYC as Grand Marshal of the Veterans Day Parade | Space photo of the day for Nov. 13, 2026

  13-11-2026 16:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  NASA astronaut Suni Williams rides through New York City as the Grand Marshal of the Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11, 2026. (Image credit: Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)New Yorkers got a space-y surprise on Wednesday (Nov. 11): Retired NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Captain Sunita "Suni" Williams rolled down 5th Avenue in the back of a classic convertible wrapped in patriotic decals as Grand Marshal of the Veterans Day Parade. What is it?On Wednesday, New York City's 107th annual Veterans Day
  
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• Double-catch drama: Why Starship's Flight 15 is so important to SpaceX

  13-11-2026 14:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Having reached orbit for the first time with Starship last time out, SpaceX is looking to take a huge stride toward full reusability with Flight 15 — the first attempt to catch the megarocket's Ship upper stage, as the company eyes hourly launches by 2030.SpaceX is targeting today (Nov. 13) for Starship's 15th flight, which will lift off from the company's Starbas site in South Texas. If all goes well, the mission — which you can watch here at Space.com — will end on Saturday (Nov. 14) wit
  
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• Powerful Vulcan Centaur rocket launching for 1st time in 9 months today: Watch it live

  13-11-2026 12:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly today (Nov. 13) for the first time in nine months, and you can watch the action live.A Vulcan Centaur topped with 40 Amazon Leo internet satellites is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 12:54 p.m. EST (1754 GMT).You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of ULA, or directly via the company. Coverage will start 20 minutes before liftoff.ULA's second Vulcan Centaur rocket lifts off fr
  
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• Powerful Vulcan Centaur rocket launching for 1st time in 9 months Nov. 14: Watch it live

  13-11-2026 12:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Update: United Launch Alliance has delayed the launch of its Vulcan Centaur rocket to Saturday (Nov. 14) at 12:32 p.m. ET (1732 GMT) due to a power issue in a liquid gaseous nitrogen factory that pumps propellant into the rocket. "The vehicle and spacecraft are healthy," ULA wrote in an update on X.United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly on Saturday (Nov. 14) for the first time in nine months, and you can watch the action live.A Vulcan Centaur topped with 40 Amazon Leo inte
  
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• 'Don't panic': SpaceX pens familiar message on Starship ahead of historic double-catch test flight

  13-11-2026 09:03 via Latest from Space.com
  
  SpaceX has a message for itself, and for the spacecraft set to make history today (Nov. 13): Don't panic.The company's Starship megarocket will conduct its 15th test flight this afternoon, a landmark liftoff that will feature the first-ever attempt to catch both of its stages with its launch tower's "chopstick" arms.On Thursday (Nov. 12), SpaceX rolled the Flight 15 upper stage, a vehicle known as Ship 42, out to the launch pad at its Starbase site in South Texas to prep. The company shared phot
  
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• Watch SpaceX attempt a historic Starship launch and double-catch landing today (Nov. 13)

  13-11-2026 06:05 via Latest from Space.com
  
  SpaceX plans to launch its Starship megarocket on an unprecedented mission today (Nov. 13), and you can watch the action live.Starship is scheduled to launch on its 15th test flight today from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, during a 75-minute window that opens at 5:45 p.m. EST (2245 GMT; 4:45 p.m. local Texas time). SpaceX plans to bring both of Starship's stages back to Starbase for a catch by the launch tower's "chopstick" arms — something it has never done before.You can watch it al
  
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• 'Man of Tomorrow': Release date, plot, cast & everything we know about the 'Superman' sequel

  12-11-2026 23:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  It feels like yesterday when we were discussing Superman, the first big-screen entry in James Gunn's rebooted DCU. Now Gunn is out, and Skydance (the company formed by the merger of Warner and Paramount) is already dismantling his grand plans for the DCU. That means that Man of Tomorrow, which arrives next summer, will be the final entry in Gunn's ambitious, and occasionally divisive, DC experiment. The DCU's first chapter — officially titled 'Gods and Monsters' — gave us Supergirl and Clayf
  
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• This supernova impostor baffled astronomers for 15 years — until they found a hidden black hole feeding on an unstable star

  12-11-2026 22:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  A cosmic imposter that has faked being a supernova 27 times and counting is actually a hot, luminous, and decidedly unstable star that is being fed on by a vampiric black hole or neutron star, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has discovered.When a massive star reaches the end of the road and runs out of nuclear fuel to power fusion reactions in its core, the star is destroyed in a supernova explosion. That’s what astronomers thought they had found on 11 January 2012, when they observed what
  
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• On this day in space! Nov. 12, 2014: European Philae probe lands on Comet 67P, bounced twice and then got lost for nearly 2 years

  12-11-2026 21:19 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Nov. 12, 2014, a European spacecraft named Philae landed on Comet 67P. To say it was a bumpy landing would be an understatement. The European Space Agency's Philae lander separated from an orbiter called Rosetta ahead of its historic landing in 2014. It was supposed to use harpoons to secure itself on to the surface of Comet 67P, but the harpoons never fired. When it touched down, it immediately bounced back up into space. The first bounce brought Philae half a mile above the comet's surface
  
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• SpaceX's Starship megarocket will launch to orbit on Nov. 13. Will you be able to spot it in the night sky?

  12-11-2026 21:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  SpaceX's Starship megarocket is slated to launch on its ambitious 15th flight test as soon as this Friday (Nov. 13). Will you be able to spot its leviathan upper stage, known as Ship, or its Starlink satellite passengers as they circle Earth during the historic orbital jaunt? Flight 15's 75-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. EST (2245 GMT) on Nov. 13. Starship will fly from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, where it will be 4:45 p.m. at the opening of the window — about an hour befor
  
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• 'Warhammer Survivors' is the perfect gateway into the 40K universe

  12-11-2026 20:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  We've had no shortage of great Warhammer 40K games lately, but most aren't exactly aimed at the casual crowd. Warhammer Survivors changes that, finally providing curious gamers with an easy entry point into the grim darkness of the 41st millennium.Developed by Auroch Digital (in collaboration with Vampire Survivors' Poncle), this new spin on the survivors-like roguelite subgenre mixes the sci-fi 40,000 setting with the pure fantasy Age of Sigmar universe. This means heroes and enemies from all o
  
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• Dark matter breakthrough coming? Euclid space telescope unveils its 1st look into the dark universe (video)

  12-11-2026 18:28 via Latest from Space.com
  
  On Thursday (Nov. 12), the Euclid space telescope released its first major batch of data, capturing the light of more than a billion objects over an area of sky as big as 9,500 full moons. The data release lays the foundation for one of the largest-ever 3D maps of the cosmos and many groundbreaking discoveries about the nature of dark energy and dark matter.The European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid space telescope has been called the "Dark Universe Detective" because of its capability to investig
  
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• Pakistani astronaut set to become 1st international visitor to China's Tiangong space station this month

  12-11-2026 18:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  An astronaut from Pakistan is set to launch on China's Shenzhou 24 mission in the coming weeks and become the first-ever international visitor to the Tiangong space station. A pair of astronaut candidates from Pakistan have been training at the Astronaut Centre of China in Beijing, following an agreement reached between China and Pakistan in Islamabad in February 2025 and a subsequent selection process. China's human spaceflight agency confirmed in a Nov. 7 press statement that the upcoming Shen
  
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• The replicants are running the city in thrilling final trailer for ‘Blade Runner 2099’ (video)

  12-11-2026 17:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  One of the most anticipated fall TV series, "Blade Runner 2099," recently dropped its final neon-tinted trailer, and now we’ve finally got a handle on the plot dynamics of this dystopian thriller set in the cyberpunk world of Ridley Scott's original. Prime Video's bold and brooding 8-episode series lands Nov. 25 as a tangential sequel to Denis Villeneuve's "Blade Runner 2049," unfolding some 50 years after the 2017 feature film. Now the artificial inmates are running the asylum when violent re
  
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• Satellite snaps rare birds-eye view of the ISS | Space photo of the day for Nov. 12, 2026

  12-11-2026 16:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  A satellite looks down at the International Space Station in orbit.(Image credit: HEO)A commercial satellite has spotted the International Space Station (ISS), giving us a unique view of the orbiting lab from above. What is it?Most of the time, when we see the ISS, it is from down here on Earth or from the viewpoint of the astronauts onboard, peering out the windows at the station's limbs, solar arrays and instruments. But in this snapshot, which was posted on X on Nov. 9 by the Australian compa
  
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• I used the Vaonis Vespera 3 for weeks and here’s who I would recommend it to — full review

  12-11-2026 16:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  I’ve spent a lot of time with smart telescopes, from relatively inexpensive Seestar models to the original Vaonis Vespera and the Vespera Pro. They all promise essentially the same thing — you put a telescope outside at night, choose something interesting on your smartphone and let the technology take care of the rest. The Vaonis Vespera 3 does that exceptionally well, but after spending several nights with it, I’m convinced it’s designed for a rather different kind of buyer.The telescop
  
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• The 'eclipse of the century' will plunge these 8 wonders of the Roman Empire into darkness on Aug. 2, 2027

  12-11-2026 15:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Ancient Egyptian temples will inevitably dominate the story of the total solar eclipse on Aug. 2, 2027. After all, the path of totality crosses Luxor, home to Karnak, the Valley of the Kings, and some of the ancient world's most famous monuments. But follow the moon's shadow west and another ancient civilization comes into view. Before reaching Egypt, totality will sweep across the Mediterranean and North Africa, passing over an extraordinary collection of Roman cities, fortresses, theaters, tem
  
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• Astronomers stunned after James Webb Space Telescope discovers the earliest pair of black hole-powered quasars

  12-11-2026 14:00 via Latest from Space.com
  
  Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered the oldest pair of supermassive black hole-powered quasars ever seen. There's just one problem: they shouldn't exist!The compact quasar pair, spotted with the aid of the Gemini North telescope, has been designatedJ1602+4228AB and nicknamed Nāpōwawāʻenakaulua, which means "Two celestial bodies of fathomless powerful darkness in the brilliance of heat reincarnating energy into the universe." The compact quasar pair is see
  
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• SpaceX launches 2nd mystery mission for US Space Force in 6-day span (video, photos)

  12-11-2026 06:24 via Latest from Space.com
  
  SpaceX launched a classified mission for the U.S. Space Force from California tonight (Nov. 11), the second such flight for the company in a six-day span.A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base tonight at 11:36 p.m. EST (8:36 p.m. local California time; 0136 GMT on Nov. 12), kicking off a mission called USSF-627.Vandenberg hosted a similar liftoff less than a week ago: On Nov. 6, a Falcon 9 sent the USSF-432 mission skyward from the site, which lies on Californ
  
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