Astronomy news

• When a total solar eclipse darkens the sky on Aug. 12, these citizen scientists will be watching

  04-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Meet the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast Initiative — a passion-driven citizen science endeavour that shares breathtaking views of total solar eclipses while capturing valuable data on the sun's incandescent atmosphere.At the heart of our solar system is a burning ball of superheated gas 100 times the width of Earth, with a thermonuclear reaction raging at its core. Its radiation and gravity hold the planets in their orbit and allow for the existence of life on our Blue Marble. Yet despite centu
  
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• August full moon 2026: When, where and how to see the Sturgeon Moon

  04-08-2026 19:48 via space.com
  
  The full moon of August 2026 will occur at 12:18 a.m. (0416 GMT) on Aug. 28, as the lunar disk shines directly opposite the sun in Earth's sky. Its arrival will trigger a breathtaking lunar eclipse late in the month, which will be visible across the Americas and parts of Africa and Europe as Earth passes between the sun and moon to bathe the lunar disk in shadow.August's full moon is often referred to as the Sturgeon moon — a Native American name that reflects the time of year that the gia
  
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• SpaceX launches Starlink satellites on 90th Falcon 9 flight of the year (video)

  04-08-2026 19:37 via space.com
  
  SpaceX has launched yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to the final frontier.A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's foggy Vandenberg Space Force Base today (Aug. 4) at 1:05 p.m. EDT (1705 GMT; 10:05 a.m. local time), carrying 24 of the broadband spacecraft toward low Earth orbit (LEO).It was the 90th Falcon 9 liftoff of the year and the 70th of 2026 devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 24 Starlink internet satellites
  
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• 'A very busy mission': SpaceX on track to launch 4 astronauts to the ISS on Sept. 12

  04-08-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  The next crew, spacecraft and rocket to fly to the International Space Station are on schedule to meet their mid-September launch date, mission managers and the astronauts told reporters on Monday (Aug. 3).SpaceX's Crew-13 astronauts — commander Jessica Watkins and pilot Luke Delaney of NASA, mission specialist Josh Kutryk with the Canadian Space Agency and mission specialist Sergey Teteryatnikov of Russia's federal space corporation Roscosmos — will become only the second crew to fl
  
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• A 9,000-pound SpaceX rocket will crash into the moon tonight. Will you be able to see it?

  04-08-2026 17:58 via space.com
  
  A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage is on a collision course with the moon, and skywatchers may be wondering whether they'll be able to witness the rare event firsthand when it slams into the lunar surface early Wednesday morning (Aug. 5).The 45-foot-long (13.8-meter), 8,000-pound (4,000-kilogram) rocket stage, left over from the January 2025 launch of Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and ispace's Hakuto-R lunar missions, is expected to strike the moon at about 2:35 a.m. EDT (0635 UTC) on Aug.
  
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• ISS astronaut spies a swirling super storm | Space photo of the day for Aug. 4, 2026

  04-08-2026 16:07 via space.com
  
  A photograph of a swirling typhoon in the Pacific Ocean taken by NASA astronaut Anil Menon from the cupola of the International Space Station on Aug. 2, 2026. (Image credit: NASA/Anil Menon)NASA astronaut Anil Menon captured an incredible photograph of a swirling typhoon in the Pacific Ocean from the International Space Station on Aug. 2, 2026.What is it?According to his post on X sharing the image, Menon used an iPhone to capture the photo from the space station's cupola, a domed structure buil
  
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• On this day in space! Aug. 4, 2007: NASA launches Phoenix Mars lander to Red Planet

  04-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  On Aug. 4, 2007, NASA launched its Phoenix Mars Lander on a mission to touch down on Mars.The robotic spacecraft was designed to search for environments that could be suitable for microbial life and to study the history of water on the Red Planet. It lifted off atop a Delta II rocket at about 5:30 a.m. ET from what is now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and spent almost 10 months making its way to Mars. When it arrived at the Red Planet, it landed farther north than any spacecraft
  
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• 'Significant areas of Mars may have once been covered by water': Scientists find hidden clue in Spirit rover data

  04-08-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  More than 20 years after NASA's Spirit rover began exploring Mars, scientists have uncovered a hidden clue in its archival data that adds to mounting evidence that the Red Planet was once rich in liquid water.Researchers reanalyzed measurements collected by Spirit between 2004 and 2010, revealing widespread traces of crystalline hematite and altered magnetite in ordinary Martian soil — iron-bearing minerals that point to ancient chemical changes consistent with interactions between water a
  
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• Are aliens running out of places to hide? It turns out we've searched much more of the galaxy than we realized

  04-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  When people grow impatient at the lack of success in the search for alien life, researchers often point to how few of the Milky Way's 100 billion stars or so have been searched so far. But it may be that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has surveyed more stars than astronomers had realized.Louisa Mason, a PhD student at the University of Manchester, had a recent epiphany that astronomers have actually searched much more of our galaxy for radio signals than we thought. Mason ca
  
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• I bought a $50 telescope on Facebook Marketplace — here's what I learned

  04-08-2026 11:00 via space.com
  
  When brand new entry-level telescopes start at a few hundred dollars, the idea of getting anything decent for pocket change sounds like a pipe dream. Yet the secondhand market often hides real bargains for those willing to hunt them down. Deals like this appear because people buy on impulse, then quickly lose interest for various reasons. Facebook Marketplace seemed like the best bet for such a deal, so I opted to keep an eye on the site for potential local bargains on the best telescopes I coul
  
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• This Sky-Watcher is an ideal beginner telescope for solar observing

  04-08-2026 09:00 via space.com
  
  SpecificationsAperture: 3 inches / 76mmFocal length: 25-inches / 630mmFocal ratio: f/8.3Optical design: Achromatic doublet dedicated H-alpha refractorFilter type: Hydrogen-alpha, 656.28nm (meets ISO 12312-2)Etalon: Sky-Watcher Solis etalon technology (Blocking filter: 11.5mm blocking filter integrated into supplied diagonalTuning system: Mechanical Trifid/Triffid pressure tunerFocuser: 2-inch dual-speed Crayford focuserFinder: Integrated solar finderEyepiece: 20mm 70-degree 1.25-inch eyepieceMou
  
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• CNN dives into how Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are backing NASA's race to the moon against China (exclusive clip)

  04-08-2026 00:00 via space.com
  
  The great technological leaps in American history have often featured influential industrialists who step forward as vanguards, leading the way to a better tomorrow while emerging as major players in extreme endeavors.Spaceflight is no exception.A new CNN documentary titled "Eclipsing Power: Musk, Bezos, and the New Space Race" shines a light on how a pair of visionary billionaires, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, have been shaping and steering our country's space program and the bright future of priv
  
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