Astronomy news

Want to see Uranus? July 4 could be your best chance in decades

03-07-2026 14:00 via space.com

Want to see Uranus for yourself? Independence Day morning offers one of the best opportunities in decades, as the distant ice giant passes extraordinarily close to Mars in the predawn sky.Although we often hear that only five planets are visible to the unaided eye, Uranus can also be seen from Earth under the right conditions. As the seventh planet from the sun, it is very faint — near the threshold of naked-eye visibility at roughly sixth magnitude — so viewing it requires a very da

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America at 500: Where will we be in space in 2276?

03-07-2026 12:00 via space.com

The United States has taken some significant steps into the final frontier during its first 250 years.The nation has put people on the moon, helped build and operate a long-running space station in low Earth orbit (LEO) and sent fleets of robotic explorers to many corners of the solar system — and even beyond it, into interstellar space. All of this work has been done relatively recently, as the space age didn't dawn until 1957; when the U.S. was born on July 4, 1776, humanity was still se

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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 24 Starlink satellites from California (video)

03-07-2026 00:32 via space.com

SpaceX grew its Starlink network by 24 more satellites on Wednesday evening (July 1) with a launch from California.A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the two dozen new relay spacecraft (Group 17-46) lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:58 p.m. EDT (0258 GMT on July 2 or 7:58 p.m. PDT local time). About an hour later, SpaceX confirmed the satellites were successfully deployed in low Earth orbit.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink satellites launched f

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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 24 Starlink satellites from California

03-07-2026 00:32 via space.com

SpaceX grew its Starlink network by 24 more satellites on Wednesday evening (July 1) with a launch from California.A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the two dozen new relay spacecraft (Group 17-46)lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:58 p.m. EDT (0258 GMT on July 2 or 7:58 p.m. PDT local time). About an hour later, SpaceX confirmed the satellites were successfully deployed in low Earth orbit.Previous Booster B1100 launchesNROL-105 | 5 Starlink missionsThe Fal

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SpaceX fires up all 6 of Starship's engines ahead of 13th test flight (video)

03-07-2026 00:00 via space.com

Less than a week after its last test, SpaceX's latest Starship spacecraft went back to the stand for engine checkouts ahead of a coming test flight.The upper stage for SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, referred to simply as "Ship" — Ship 40, in this case — underwent a static-fire test of all six of its Raptor engines at the company's Massey site in Starbase, Texas. Ship 40 is in line for the 13th test flight of a fully stacked Starship, which is expected within the next month or so. Sp

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