Astronomy news

• Another reusable rocket? Japan launches, lands RV-X prototype (video)

  18-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  Japan has succeeded in the first-ever flight test of its RV-X experimental reusable rocket prototype. The launch — or hop, considering its duration and distance — took place at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Noshiro test facility on July 11 and lasted about 40 seconds. The 24-foot-tall (7.3 meters) test vehicle, powered by a single engine, rose just over 33 feet (10 m) in the air and traveled a horizontal distance of approximately 50 feet (15 m) across the site's con
  
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• The 1st 'Avengers: Doomsday' trailer is here, and it's stuffed to bursting with superheroes

  20-07-2026 23:05 via space.com
  
  One thing is for certain: there will absolutely be no shortage of superheroes in Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Doomsday", as evidenced by this first full trailer that showcases everyone from the Wakandans and the X-Men to the Fantastic Four and Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Avengers. Plus, we get slivers of a metal-masked Victor Von Doom looming over the mayhem to further whet the appetites of MCU acolytes before the Russo Brothers’ epic lands Dec. 18."Something's coming," Downey's Doom decla
  
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• SpaceX targets July 23 for crucial Starship Flight 13 test launch after abort

  20-07-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX has pushed the next launch of its Starship megarocket back a few more days.Elon Musk's company is now targeting Thursday (July 23) for Flight 13 of Starship, the giant, fully reusable vehicle it's developing to help get people to the moon and Mars, among other spaceflight tasks.If all goes to plan, the 408-foot-tall (124.4 meters) Starship will lift off from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas on Thursday during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local T
  
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• Scientists discover mystery molecule on Pluto and Saturn's moon Titan: 'We cannot say what it is'

  20-07-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  Separated by billions of miles and shaped by very different environments, Saturn's smoggy moon Titan and the dwarf planet Pluto have, on paper, little in common.Titan is a geologically active world cloaked in an atmosphere denser than Earth's, its landscape shaped by seas of liquid methane and vast dunes built from organic particles that rain out of its skies. Pluto, by contrast, is a frigid outpost with a tenuous atmosphere hovering above an icy, frozen surface.Yet, observations from the James
  
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• 50 years after Viking 1's historic Mars landing, NASA is looking to the Red Planet's skies

  20-07-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Half a century after first putting hardware down on Mars, NASA is looking to explore the Red Planet's skies.On July 20, 1976, the Viking 1 lander touched down in the western reaches of Chryse Planitia (the "Golden Plain"), a large circular landform that lies 22.5 degrees north of the Martian equator.It was the first-ever Mars landing for NASA. Viking 1, along with its twin Viking 2, went on to conduct the first fully successful mission on the Red Planet's surface. (The Soviet Union's Mars 3 prob
  
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• 'Stranger Things' at 10: The Netflix streaming icon that made it cool to like science again

  20-07-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  In July 2016, "Stranger Things" stormed its way into the pantheon of pop culture greats. Finding the sweet spot of '80s nostalgia, horror, and sci-fi, the Duffer Brothers' series established itself as one of Netflix's flagship shows and a favourite water cooler topic for close to a decade.Much like "Jurassic Park" encouraged an entire generation to suddenly view paleontology through a new set of eyes, the same can be said about "Stranger Things" and science. Seriously, how many of us discovered
  
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• Twice in a row: SpaceX rocket aborts launch at last second again (video)

  20-07-2026 18:09 via space.com
  
  That's two last-second launch aborts in a row for SpaceX.One of the company's Falcon 9 rockets tried to loft 24 Starlink internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California this morning (July 20), but the attempt was aborted just as the first-stage engines started firing up.Something similar happened on Thursday afternoon (July 16), when SpaceX attempted to launch the 13th test flight of its Starship megarocket. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket tries to launch 24 Starlink satellites from
  
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• Four astronauts, 3 spacecraft, 2 weeks in orbit: Artemis III will be NASA's most complicated mission ever

  20-07-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  NASA has never flown a mission like Artemis III, and it's shaping up to become one of the most elaborate spaceflights in history. NASA has provided more details about the Artemis III flight scheduled for next year, and, if all goes according to plan, the objectives the astronauts will be checking off their list will contain more than a few "firsts" for the Artemis program and human spaceflight overall. That includes the first crewed NASA mission to rendezvous and dock with two separate designed
  
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• Artemis II was an incredible reminder of our shared humanity just when we needed it most (op-ed)

  20-07-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  For ten glorious days starting on April 1, 2026, one human endeavor captivated our home planet across continents and time zones: the NASA Artemis II mission to orbit the moon, the first crewed mission to cislunar space since 1972. In an Easter-Passover week that had especially demoralizing headlines on global conflicts, this mission presented a powerful vision of what journeying together and taking enormous risks for a shared purpose towards a shared future could look like.Much has been spoken a
  
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• Get stabilized views of the cosmos with the Canon 18x50 IS binoculars, now almost 30% off

  20-07-2026 16:27 via space.com
  
  The Canon 18x50 IS binoculars are ideal for stargazing and are able to deliver clarity on night sky objects, thanks to their image stabilization. The 50mm objective lenses are the benchmark for stargazing binoculars and are able to deliver bright views of the night sky. They are currently 30% off their retail price.You can get the Canon 18x50 IS all-weather binoculars on sale for $1195 from Amazon.When it comes to stargazing, image-stabilized binoculars are a cut above the rest. Even at high mag
  
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• Ancient sandstorm leaves behind wreckage on Mars | Space photo of the day for July 20, 2026

  20-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's Curiosity rover snapped this image on the surface of Mars, and scientists think it's the wreckage of an ancient sandstorm.(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)NASA's Curiosity rover has uncovered evidence of ancient sandstorms on the Red Planet. What is it?Scientists think ancient Mars was quite different than it is today. While we might know it now as a barred, reddish wasteland, billions of years ago it actually had an atmosphere. Scientists even think that it had flowing rivers and exp
  
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• Rocket launch costs have dropped 96% since 1960. How low can they go?

  20-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  The costs of space launch have fallen 96% in the past six decades and have the potential to plummet by nearly as much by 2040, a new study finds.However, such an improvement might get hampered by a number of challenges, such as the rise of space debris in orbit or a single company monopolizing commercial space launch, researchers added.Although previous analyses of space launch suggested that costs had dropped over time, one major problem with these prior studies was that they "considered the co
  
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• Did Viking 1 find life on Mars 50 years ago? Here's why the debate continues

  20-07-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  In looking back and commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Viking missions to Mars, one is struck by the bold and audacious undertaking.Twin spacecraft missions — each consisting of a lander and an orbiter — made their way to Mars and into the history books. The Viking 1 lander planted its legs on the terrain of Chryse Planitia 50 years ago today, on July 20, 1976, while its Viking 2 counterpart touched down at Utopia Planitia on Sept. 3 of that year.Among their duties, the dual l
  
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• An artificial 'Saturn's ring' of satellites could soon fill the sky, astronomers warn

  20-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  A bright "Saturn's ring" of satellites could circle the night sky if plans to launch a million data center spacecraft and tens of thousands of space mirrors come to pass. This ring, traversing the sky for hours after dusk and before dawn, would outshine every star and planet, and be visible from every spot on Earth.Hugh Lewis, a professor of astronautics at the University of Birmingham in, the U.K., told Space.com that the only way to accommodate the high number of data center constellations tha
  
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• 'Aliens' at 40: James Cameron's sequel is a sci-fi icon, but did you know he quit the movie twice?

  19-07-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  Where does James Cameron's "Aliens" rank among the other Alien movies? That depends on who you ask. Some might say it's the best, while others put it just behind the original (spoiler alert: it's the best). Regardless, there's no denying that this 1986 film shifted gears, moving the franchise from horror to horror-tinged sci-fi action and paving an alternate path for the future.As Cameron stated in an interview with Lofficier, the plan always was "to do a film that was not as scary... it's scary
  
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• Should we trust AI in the search for alien life? Scientists aren't so sure

  19-07-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  Artificial intelligence could easily fall into the trap of identifying non-life as life on other worlds, claim two researchers from Michigan State University who have tested AI on simulated life in a computer program."We had previously seen that AI has a big Achilles heel when it is trying to classify things that are unlike the things in its training examples," Michigan's Christoph Adami told Space.com. "We call these 'out-of-distribution' samples and it is just incredibly easy to get AI to misc
  
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• How Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar' turned general relativity into the bad guy

  19-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The biggest blockbusters of 2014 threw up a varied rogues' gallery of bad guys. In "Transformers: Age of Extinction", it was a reincarnated version of Optimus Prime's perma-nemesis, Megatron, while Captain America faced off against a reborn Hydra infiltrating the upper echelons of the US government in "The Winter Soldier". For Spider-Man, it was Electro, while Maleficent showed up in live-action to give Sleeping Beauty nightmares. Christopher Nolan has never been one to go with the Hollywood cro
  
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• 10 places in the US and Canada to see August's partial solar eclipse and Perseid meteor shower in 1 trip

  19-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  Aug. 12, 2026, offers a rare double-header for skywatchers across northeastern North America: a partial solar eclipse during the afternoon followed, hours later, by the peak of the Perseid meteor shower beneath dark summer skies. The eclipse is part of a total solar eclipse happening in eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain. "The neat thing about seeing a partial eclipse, especially one that is total somewhere else, is that you get to join in with the whole event that's going on,
  
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• James Webb Space Telescope discovers how black holes feed themselves

  19-07-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have been given a glimpse of the mechanisms that supermassive black holes use to feed themselves. The observations could help scientists discover how supermassive black holes with masses millions, often even billions, of times that of the sun grew so fast so soon after the Big Bang.While all large galaxies have supermassive black holes at their hearts, some are slumbering giants, consuming little surrounding gas and dust, while others
  
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• Scientists told them, 'No, it's too dangerous,' but they did it anyway: Inside Japan's super-close asteroid flyby

  19-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft returned spectacular images of a near-Earth asteroid following a super-close flyby on July 5, but heated debate was needed before teams signed off on the daring attempt.When images of the asteroid Torifune arrived on the morning of July 6 Japan time, Makoto Yoshikawa and his team at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) got two surprises at once. Torifune turned out to be a contact binary, in which two chunks of rock have come together under gravity, and the
  
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• This Week In Space podcast: Episode 219 — SpaceX Goes to War!

  18-07-2026 15:40 via space.com
  
  On Episode 219 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik discuss the space headlines for the past few weeks.It's been busy, and some exciting things are happening! A couple ofcompanies are moving into the space solar power arena — something we'velong advocated — and that's welcome progress. Starship is set to flyStarship test number 13, and a lot is riding on this — the system isoverdue for some proof of concept to keep up with NASA's HLS contract.An exoplanet spotted a d
  
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• 'We knew we had a lot to live up to': As 'Aliens' turns 40, we chat with the legendary VFX masters who created the Alien Queen (interview)

  18-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  It's almost inconceivable that 40 years have passed since what's been called the greatest sci-fi action film of all time (and not just by us) assaulted theaters with the juiced-up sequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 classic, "Alien." Director James Cameron's propulsive vision for a gung-ho military-style movie would call upon Stan Winston Studio's elite creature effects crew from 1984's "The Terminator" — a team that would later work on "Predator," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," "Jurassic Park,"
  
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• 'We knew we had a lot to live up to': As 'Aliens' turns 40, we chat to the legendary VFX masters who created the Alien Queen (interview)

  18-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  It's almost inconceivable that 40 years have passed since what's been called the greatest sci-fi action film of all time (and not just by us) assaulted theaters with the juiced-up sequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 classic, "Alien." Director James Cameron's propulsive vision for a gung-ho military-style movie would call upon Stan Winston Studio's elite creature effects crew from 1984's "The Terminator" — a team that would later work on "Predator," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," "Jurassic Park,"
  
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• Beyond the Perseids: 6 meteor showers worth watching this summer

  18-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  The Perseids may be the summer meteor shower everyone marks on the calendar, but they are not the only reason to look up this season. From mid-July through late August, Earth plows through several other streams of comet and asteroid debris, triggering a series of lesser-known meteor showers across Northern Hemisphere skies. Most will not deliver the dazzling hourly rates of the Perseids, and moonlight will spoil some peak nights in 2026. But for patient skywatchers under dark skies, these lesser
  
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• Remembering 'Ulysses 31', the '80s cartoon that transported 'The Odyssey' to outer space

  18-07-2026 00:00 via space.com
  
  It's not known whether "Ulysses 31" was on Christopher Nolan's radar in his teenage years, but it's intriguing to think it could have influenced the director's decision to take on Homer's "The Odyssey". This animated space opera, a French/Japanese co-production, delivered a crash course in Greek mythology to a generation of kids who grew up in the '80s. And, although it looks more like "Star Wars" than Homer's original tale, it had a decent stab at transferring the Classics to the 31st century (
  
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• These 'metallic' dunes on Mars look like sci-fi. What are they really?

  17-07-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  If you still picture Mars as a monotonous red desert, it may be time for an update.The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter has been capturing some of the Red Planet's most surreal landscapes, and its latest images reveal a sprawling field that looks like molten metal frozen across the floor of an ancient Mars crater.The shimmering "waves" aren't metal at all, however. They are dark sand dunes dusted with seasonal frost, much of it carbon dioxide, or "dry ice," that settles on the surfac
  
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• The Perseid meteor shower starts this week. Here's why you should look up now

  17-07-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  People keep asking me about the total solar eclipse on August 12. That's understandable. For anyone in the Northern Hemisphere, it is shaping up to be a joyous day of astronomy. Totality will cross eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain, but much of Europe will see a very deep partial eclipse, and even parts of North America will see a small bite taken from the sun. Then, just hours later, the Perseid meteor shower will peak beneath perfectly moonless skies. What a double-act! The
  
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• 'Aliens' at 40: Here are 26 reasons why James Cameron's sequel is still the greatest sci-fi action movie of all time

  17-07-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Making a sequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 classic "Alien" should have been a disaster. This was a movie that defined a whole new sub-genre of outer-space horror, a perfectly structured scarefest that also introduced one of cinema's greatest-ever monsters to the world.Luckily, James Cameron — then one of Hollywood's hottest properties off the back of "The Terminator" — has never been a shrinking violet, and was brave enough to face the Xenomorph challenge head-on. Reinventing the franchi
  
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• Earth's largest particle accelerator opens new window into the early universe just after the Big Bang: 'A culmination of a decades-long quest'

  17-07-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  After more than two decades of searching, scientists have finally observed a phenomenon in a hot and dense particle 'soup' similar to that which filled the cosmos moments after the Big Bang. The observation could help cosmologists better understand the incredibly hot and dense state of the universe in its earliest moments.The world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), regularly creates this so-called quark-gluon plasma by smashing together the atomic nuclei of h
  
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• Vikram-1, India's 1st private orbital rocket, launches on historic debut flight

  17-07-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  An Indian company will make history early Saturday morning (July 18), and you can watch the action live.Skyroot Aerospace plans to launch its Vikram-1 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, on the Indian barrier island of Sriharikota, on Saturday at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 GMT; 11:30 a.m. India Standard Time). Vikram-1 is the first-ever privately built Indian orbital rocket, so its liftoff could blaze a new trail for the nation and for commercial spaceflight.You can watch the launch live here at S
  
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