Astronomy news

• 5 disturbing things we saw after digging into the recent 'Dune: Part 3' trailer

  22-07-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  The latest "Dune: Part 3" trailer arrived back on July 8, and it was a sumptuous banquet of startling set pieces, intergalactic political unrest, close-quarter combat, and a whole lot of sand and ash. A fine follow-up to the initial March teaser, to be sure. After letting it marinate in our minds for a while, let’s break down five items of particular interest in this newest preview of the Denis Villeneuve-directed conclusion to his trilogy of far-future sci-fi epics adapted from author Fra
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (6 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 17:24 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• Planet hunter gets the silent treatment | Space photo of the day for July 24, 2026

  24-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  ESA's Plato spacecraft completes critical testing ahead of its spaceflight.(Image credit: ESA - R. Moorkens O'Reilly)A planet-hunting spacecraft named Plato just passed a series of critical tests as it prepares for the challenges of outer space. What is it?Gleaming in the light of a laboratory, this box of electronics is actually the European Space Agency's Plato spacecraft sitting inside a special test chamber where it underwent critical tests ahead of its planned spaceflight. The Plato (PLAnet
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (7 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 15:35 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• The easiest way to learn the summer night sky starts with these 3 stars

  24-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  There is a particular moment every July when the night sky makes perfect sense to me. Every time I step outside at night, I instinctively look overhead for the Summer Triangle. Not because it's the most spectacular sight in the sky. In fact, the vast asterism is almost suspiciously simple: three bright stars, large enough to cut through twilight and light pollution without much effort.Experienced stargazers quietly depend on the Summer Triangle more than we admit. People imagine astronomy involv
  
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• Lightning strike on Chinese rocket captured in epic launch photo

  24-07-2026 14:57 via space.com
  
  A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the Tianlian II-06 satellite blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on July 23, 2026 in Xichang, Sichuan Province of China. (Image credit: Zhou Quan/VCG via Getty Images)Lightning struck a Chinese rocket shortly after liftoff this week, as seen in incredible video and photographs.A Long March-3B rocket lifted off from China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Thursday (July 23) carrying a communications relay satellite destined for geostation
  
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• Epic photo captures lightning striking a Chinese rocket during liftoff

  24-07-2026 14:57 via space.com
  
  A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the Tianlian II-06 satellite blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on July 23, 2026 in Xichang, Sichuan Province of China. (Image credit: Zhou Quan/VCG via Getty Images)Lightning struck a Chinese rocket shortly after liftoff this week, as seen in incredible video and photographs.A Long March-3B rocket lifted off from China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Thursday (July 23) carrying a communications relay satellite destined for geostation
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (9 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 14:20 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• This Week In Space LIVE: The Viking Mars landings 50 years later

  24-07-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  Hey, Space Fans! Every weekend here at Space.com, you may have noticed we highlight the latest episode of the podcast This Week In Space, a TWiT show co-hosted by yours truly and my friend and colleague Rod Pyle, a space historian and editor of the National Space Society magazine Ad Astra. This Week In Space episodes usually drop each Saturday, but this week we're doing something a bit different. To mark the 50th anniversary of NASA's Viking landings (Viking 1 touched down on Mars on July 20, 19
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (10 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 13:01 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• Hubble telescope watches unique nova explosion fire cosmic 'bullets' through the Milky Way at 20 million mph

  24-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  Using NASA's long-serving Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that a stellar explosion in the Milky Way is blasting out cosmic bullets travelling at 20 million miles per hour.The cosmic explosion in question is V445 Puppis, which erupted in 2000 and is the only known "helium nova" in our galaxy. Though astronomers have been studying V445 Puppis for two decades, much of the phenomena associated with it were shrouded in mystery due to a vast cloud of dusty debris that surrounded th
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (11 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 11:58 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (12 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 10:50 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (13 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 09:49 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (14 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 08:46 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (15 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 07:40 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (16 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 06:43 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (17 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 05:46 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (18 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 04:46 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (19 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 03:45 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (20 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 02:38 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 27 Jul 2026 (3 days away): Lunar occultation of Sigma Sagittarii

  24-07-2026 01:28 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 Australia, Antarctica, New Zealand and Tasmania amongst others.
  
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• 27 Jul 2026 (3 days away): Asteroid 3 Juno at opposition

  24-07-2026 01:28 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Asteroid 3 Juno makes closest approach to the Earth.
  
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• 27 Jul 2026 (3 days away): 134340 Pluto at opposition

  24-07-2026 01:28 via in-the-sky.org
  
  134340 Pluto is optimally positioned for observation.
  
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• 26 Jul 2026 (2 days away): Saturn enters retrograde motion

  24-07-2026 01:28 via in-the-sky.org
  
  Saturn reverses its direction of motion across the sky.
  
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• 25 Jul 2026 (Tomorrow): The Moon at apogee

  24-07-2026 01:28 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.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (22 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 01:28 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• 24 Jul 2026 (23 hours away): Lunar occultation of Antares

  24-07-2026 00:31 via in-the-sky.org
  
  The Moon will pass in front of Antares (Alpha Scorpii), creating a lunar occultation visible from countries and territories including Antarctica, French Southern Territories, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Falkland Islands amongst others.
  
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• Vulcan Centaur swapped out again: NASA goes with SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for launch of space weather mission

  23-07-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  NASA is shaking things up for its next mission to research the sun. The six satellites of NASA's Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE) mission are poised to launch to Earth orbit soon, to serve as an early warning system for incoming solar storms. They were originally slated to lift off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket but have now been assigned a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, according to a NASA mission update. SunRISE will fly to space as part of a rideshare mission
  
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• 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 4: Release date & how to watch Paramount+’s sensational sci-fi series

  23-07-2026 22:45 via space.com
  
  2026 is the 60th anniversary of "Star Trek". To help celebrate the show that creator Gene Roddenberry described as "Wagon Train to the Stars,""Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" returns to Paramount+ for its penultimate season. From teasers and trailers that first dropped last summer and fall, we’re anticipating a rollicking batch of dynamic episodes that draw on diverse subgenres, with everything from classic film noir crime stories and time travel to spooky ghost stories and sword-clashing s
  
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