Astronomy news

• 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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• 'Silo' season 3: Release date & how to watch Apple TV's sensational post-apocalyptic saga

  02-07-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  "Silo" season 3 is almost upon us, offering another round of riveting episodes of Apple TV's undeniably intriguing sci-fi series. We're about to learn how the end of the world began with the new season's split-timeline between Silo 18 and the Before Times, when the madness all started.Adapted from Hugh Howey's trilogy of dystopian sci-fi novels, "Wool," "Shift," and "Dust," "Silo" was created by and executive produced by Emmy-winning producer Graham Yost ("Speed," "Band of Brothers," "Justified"
  
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• Apollo 11 landing site, a cosmic Eagle and a blue-white star: 4 night sky targets to celebrate America 250

  02-07-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  TheUnited States' 250th birthday is almost here, so why not take a break from the fireworks and explore four America-themed wonders hiding in the summer night sky?Celestron NexStar 4SE(Image credit: Amazon)The Celestron NexStar 4SE is ideal for beginners wanting quality, reliable and quick views of the night sky. For a more in-depth look at our Celestron NexStar 4SE reviewOur celestial sightseeing targets run the gamut from lone stars and constellations to historic lunar landmarks and an uncanni
  
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• 'Stellar death is not the end': James Webb Space Telescope glimpses the fate of the solar system in a weird exoplanet orbiting a dead star

  02-07-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe an oddball gas giant exoplanet orbiting a dead star, a white dwarf, located some 80 light-years away. This "life after death" system gives scientists a portentous vision of what the solar system may look like in around 6 billion years after the sun has exhausted the hydrogen in its core, shed its outer layers, and left behind a smoldering white dwarf stellar remnant. Prior to the final stages of that transformation, our star
  
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• Astronomers discover a potentially habitable planet just 25 light-years away. 'This one is exciting'

  02-07-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  A potentially habitable rocky world has been found in the habitable zone around a red dwarf just 25 light-years from us.However, faced with a hostile wind of radiation from its host star, it remains unclear whether this new exoplanet supports an atmosphere, or the possibility of life. Nevertheless, astronomers are celebrating the discovery. "This one's exciting," said Paul Robertson of the University of California, Irvine, in a statement. "It's one of our closest cosmic neighbors. Twenty-five li
  
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• How to invade planet Earth: An alien's guide to bringing the human race to its knees

  02-07-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  It looks there for the taking, doesn't it? The third rock from the sun just sitting there, all defenceless, run by squabbling politicians ruling over a human race who'd rather be sharing "get ready with me" videos than vigilantly watching the skies as they should be.But next time you set your sights on invading planet Earth, remember that it's easier said than done. Some of the mightiest alien attack forces in existence have met their match in this particular corner of the Milky Way, as the resi
  
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• How to invade planet Earth: A sci-fi movie alien's guide to bringing the human race to its knees

  02-07-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  It looks there for the taking, doesn't it? The third rock from the sun just sitting there, all defenceless, run by squabbling politicians ruling over a human race who'd rather be sharing "get ready with me" videos than vigilantly watching the skies as they should be.But next time you set your sights on invading planet Earth, remember that it's easier said than done. Some of the mightiest alien attack forces in existence have met their match in this particular corner of the Milky Way, as the resi
  
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• 'Flying saucer' arrives at NASA for Artemis 3 moon mission in time for World UFO Day | Space photo of the day for July 2, 2026

  02-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The weather cover for the Artemis 3 SLS core stage arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.(Image credit: NASA/Amber Jean Notvest)Did a flying saucer just land at NASA? It sure looks like it. This is actually the weather cover for the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is currently gearing up to launch the Artemis 3 mission in mid-2027.What is it? Aboard NASA's Pegasus barge, floating out in the Atlantic ocean, sits what looks like a classic, sci-fi movie UFO flying sauc
  
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• July full moon 2026: When, where and how to see the Buck Moon

  02-07-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  The July full moon occurs at 10:36 a.m. EDT (1436 GMT) on July 29, when the lunar disk appears fully lit as it shines opposite the sun in Earth's sky. The July full moon is often called the "Buck Moon", to reflect the time of the year when young male deer grow out their antlers in the northern hemisphere and is the first full moon of summer, occurring soon after the 2026 summer solstice. When to see the July full moonLook to the east at sunset on July 29 to catch the full Buck Moon as it climbs
  
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• In 1776, the moon was a clock, a calendar and a streetlight — and it was 31 feet closer to Earth

  02-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  After Americans declared independence on July 4, 1776, a waning gibbous moon rose in the night sky. To the people celebrating the birth of a new nation, it would have looked much the same as the moon we see today. But there was one subtle difference: 250 years ago, the moon was about 31 feet (9.4 meters) closer to Earth than it is now."The moon is currently drifting away from Earth at a rate of about 3.8 centimeters [1.5 inches] per year, which is coincidentally roughly the same speed at which h
  
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• Sun fires off 10 solar flares in 24 hours as multiple Earth-bound CMEs raise northern lights hopes for July 4 weekend

  02-07-2026 11:53 via space.com
  
  Heads up aurora chasers! The sun has been very busy. After unleashing an X1.1 solar flare on June 30, the sun continued its outburst by firing off 10 M-class solar flares in 24 hours! Several of these eruptions were accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that appear to be at least partially Earth-directed. Exactly how many of these solar storms will reach Earth (and how effective they will be) is still being calculated, but space weather forecasters say the coming days could bring heighten
  
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• Steven Spielberg sci-fi movies ranked, worst to best

  02-07-2026 00:00 via space.com
  
  Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi movie, Disclosure Day, has finally hit cinemas worldwide. It's been eight years since the iconic director released a movie in this genre, re-entering his UFO era with a twisted alien thriller. To mark his momentous return to sci-fi cinema, we've taken time to gaze across his entire sci-fi slate, ranking them from worst to best. We use the term 'worst' lightly, though. Spielberg is a movie legend after all. To date, he's directed over 30 films during his illustrio
  
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• Watch Atlas V rocket launch 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites early on July 2

  01-07-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch another batch of Amazon's internet satellites to orbit early Thursday morning (July 2), and you can watch it live.An Atlas V rocket carrying 29 Amazon Leo spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday, during a 29-minute window that opens at 12:24 a.m. EDT (0424 GMT).You can watch it live here at Space.com courtesy of ULA, or directly via the company. Coverage will begin at around midnight EDT (0400 GMT)
  
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• Atlas V rocket launches 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites to orbit from Florida (video)

  01-07-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched another batch of Amazon's internet satellites to orbit early Thursday morning (July 2).An Atlas V rocket carrying 29 Amazon Leo spacecraft lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday at 12:30 a.m. EDT (0430 GMT).All of the satellites were successfully deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO) as planned, ULA announced 70 minutes after liftoff. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches 29 Amazon Leo satellites from Cape Canaveral S
  
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• Atlas V rocket launches 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites to orbit from Florida

  01-07-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched another batch of Amazon's internet satellites to orbit early Thursday morning (July 2).An Atlas V rocket carrying 29 Amazon Leo spacecraft lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday at 12:30 a.m. EDT (0430 GMT).All of the satellites were successfully deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO) as planned, ULA announced 70 minutes after liftoff. Amazon Leo is the Amazon's broadband megaconstellation in LEO (hence the name), which will even
  
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• 'Rocket's Red Glare': How NASA's Artemis 2 moon mission celebrated America's 250th birthday

  01-07-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  It doesn't get more America than giant rockets and missions to the moon.That's why NASA painted two giant "America 250" logos on the rocket that launched the Artemis 2 astronauts around the moon earlier this year. The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off on April 1, carrying the Orion spacecraft to orbit with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen. Their 10-day mission around the moon and back to Earth began wit
  
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• This weird 'hot Jupiter' exoplanet has a hotspot in the wrong place, and astronomers aren't sure how

  01-07-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Hot Jupiters are some of the most extreme planets in the universe, blazing gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn that exist so close to their stars that they complete orbits in a matter of days. Now, new research may rewrite the definition of these planets that make the solar system look a little bit mundane.The extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, at the heart of this rethink is CoRoT-2 b, a world with 3.5 times the mass of Jupiter and 1.5 times the size of our solar system's largest planet, located ar
  
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• The growing number of satellites in orbit could soon make telescopes obsolete. 'For astronomy, this would obviously be catastrophic'

  01-07-2026 18:56 via space.com
  
  If the number of satellites in Earth's orbit exceeds 100,000, humanity may lose its ability to study the universe from the planet's surface. That's the conclusion of a study conducted by astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) which warns that if existing plans to deploy a million orbiting data centers and tens of thousands sun-reflecting mirrors were to come to fruition, the world's most cutting-edge astronomical telescopes may as well be mothballed."We can reach conditions whe
  
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• July's planetary lineup is changing — and Venus is the last one standing

  01-07-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  The three-planet evening show that graced June's twilight sky has now dwindled to one lone survivor.Mercury and Jupiter are now swinging behind the sun and are lost in the bright solar glare. Only Venus remains evident after sunset, and even here the dazzling evening star itself is showing subtle signs of slowly dropping down into the sunset fires; it is getting noticeably lower in the western sky with each passing week.It will pass close to the brightest star in Leo the Lion, Regulus, during th
  
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• NASA will send a soccer ball to the moon —if the US wins the World Cup

  01-07-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  Jared Isaacman is doing his best to spur his country on to sporting glory.The NASA chief announced on Tuesday (June 30) that the agency will send a FIFA World Cup 2026 soccer ball to the moon if the U.S. men's national team manages to win the tournament, which is going on right now."So, a little bit of motivation for the United States here on this one," Isaacman said during a livestreamed press event on Tuesday. "We're going to one-up Alan Shepard in the golf game on the lunar surface, and we're
  
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• Ocean-monitoring satellite spots wildfire smoke from space | Space photo of the day for July 1, 2026

  01-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  Swirls of wildfire smoke can be seen over Canada.(Image credit: NASA)Wildfires across the globe can be seen all the way from space. And one unexpected tool has come in handy to spot plumes of wildfire smoke: a satellite designed to study Earth's oceans. What is it? In this photo, we can see swirls of wildfire smoke over the Great Lakes in Canada. Fluffy white clouds float over the land and lakes, in contrast to the wisps of gray smoke, which float out from massive wildfires that ripped through N
  
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• Stunning new NASA space telescope images reveal the universe in red, white and blue for America 250

  01-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has released four stunning images of cosmic wonders, depicted in red, white and blue to coincide with the United States' 250th anniversary on July 4.The four images reveal superheated gas in a distant galaxy cluster, the swirling spiral galaxy known as Messier 94, a glowing nebula found in our own Milky Way galaxy, and the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, respectively.Along with the colorful cosmic images, the Chandra team produced sonifications in which the data
  
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• New NASA space telescope images reveal the universe in stunning red, white and blue for America 250

  01-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has released four stunning images of cosmic wonders, depicted in red, white and blue to coincide with the United States' 250th anniversary on July 4.The four images reveal superheated gas in a distant galaxy cluster, the swirling spiral galaxy known as Messier 94, a glowing nebula found in our own Milky Way galaxy, and the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, respectively.Along with the colorful cosmic images, the Chandra team produced sonifications in which the data
  
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• In 1776, the solar system only had 6 planets. Now, it has 8. Does it end there?

  01-07-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  Over the past 250 years, the number of "planets" in our solar system has ranged from six to nine — and, briefly, even 11 — depending on what astronomers knew at the time and how they defined a planet. As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, that changing tally offers a unique lens on humanity's evolving understanding of the cosmos since 1776.Throughout history, astronomers have discovered new worlds, identified entirely new classes of celestial objects and r
  
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• Sun unleashes powerful X-class solar flare and Earth-bound CME that could spark northern lights for July 4 weekend

  01-07-2026 12:09 via space.com
  
  A restless Earth-facing sunspot unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare on June 30, triggering radio blackouts across parts of North America. The X1.1 solar flare erupted from sunspot region AR4479, peaking at 4:50 p.m. EDT (2050 GMT) according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. The intense burst of X-rays released during the eruption reached Earth in just over 8 minutes, triggering strong (R3) radio blackouts across the daylight side of Earth. This mainly affected high-frequency radio
  
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• Powerful X-class solar flare triggers radio blackouts across North America

  01-07-2026 12:09 via space.com
  
  A restless Earth-facing sunspot unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare on June 30, triggering radio blackouts across parts of North America. The X1.1 solar flare erupted from sunspot region AR4479, peaking at 4:50 p.m. EDT (2050 GMT) according to NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. The intense burst of X-rays released during the eruption reached Earth in just over 8 minutes, triggering strong (R3) radio blackouts across the daylight side of Earth. This mainly affected high-frequency radio
  
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• NASA audit puts Boeing's Starliner under an even bigger microscope: When will it fly astronauts again?

  01-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  It's unclear when Boeing will be able to send more astronauts to the International Space Station, a new NASA audit warns.Technical issues with Boeing Starliner's spacecraft, across two uncrewed flights and a two-astronaut test mission known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), come under scrutiny in a new report about NASA's Commercial Crew Program from the agency's Office of the Inspector General (OIG)."Many of these [Starliner] issues are related to three longstanding technical challenges that have prev
  
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