Astronomy news

• Could 'dark photons' explain dark matter?

  21-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  New research suggests that if dark matter is composed of "dark photons," it would not have heated the early cosmos like scientists previously thought. If correct, this discovery could represent a paradigm shift in the hunt for the universe's most mysterious stuff.Dark matter remains so elusive because, despite outweighing the everyday matter that composes stars, planets, moons and our bodies by a ratio of five to one, it is effectively invisible. That is because it doesn't interact with light. A
  
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• Japan unveils Mars moon sample-return spacecraft ahead of Oct. 19 launch (photos)

  21-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  The world just got its first good looks at some hardware that will make spaceflight history.Last Thursday (Aug. 13), Japan unveiled the spacecraft that make up its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which aims to snag samples of the Mars moon Phobos and haul them to Earth — something that has never been done.The big reveal came at Tanegashima Space Center, the site from which MMX will launch toward the Red Planet atop an H3 rocket. And we just got some clarity about when that liftoff
  
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• SpaceX fires up Starship ahead of megarocket’s 1st orbital flight (video)

  21-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX is picking up the pace of preparations for the next launch of its giant Starship rocket. On Wednesday night (Aug. 19), the company completed a single-engine static fire test with its Ship 41 vehicle, the upper stage that's in line to fly Starship's upcoming Flight 14 mission. As its name suggests, Flight 14 will be Starship's 14th test flight, but it will be the rocket's first launch into orbit, if all goes according to plan. The recent engine burn was designed to prepare for that jaunt.
  
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• 'Dark stars' could be the seeds of supermassive black holes, scientists say

  21-08-2026 17:37 via space.com
  
  A mysterious hum of gravitational waves that fills the cosmos may be the echo of "dark stars" that served as the seeds of the first supermassive black holes.These low-frequency gravitational waves were detected back in 2023 using an array of cosmic lighthouses, or pulsars, in a so-called "pulsar timing array." Pulsars are neutron stars that spin rapidly and regularly while blasting out collimated beams of radiation from their poles that can be used to detect tiny fluctuations in space and time.
  
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• SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites, lands rocket on ship at sea (video, photos)

  21-08-2026 17:28 via space.com
  
  SpaceX launched yet another Starlink mission today (Aug. 21), sending 29 more of the broadband satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast.The spacecraft flew aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 11:14 a.m. EDT (1514 GMT). That was a day later than planned; SpaceX scrubbed a liftoff attempt on Thursday (Aug. 20) for reasons that were not immediately clear.The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth as planned today, landing ab
  
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• SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites, lands rocket on ship at sea (photos)

  21-08-2026 17:28 via space.com
  
  SpaceX launched yet another Starlink mission today (Aug. 21), sending 29 more of the broadband satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast.The spacecraft flew aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 11:14 a.m. EDT (1514 GMT). That was a day later than planned; SpaceX scrubbed a liftoff attempt on Thursday (Aug. 20) for reasons that were not immediately clear.The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth as planned today, landing ab
  
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• Ancient stars dazzle in a celestial chandelier | Space photo of the day for Aug. 21, 2026

  21-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The Chandelier Cluster, or globular cluster NGC 6723, as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.(Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Sarajedini, G. Piotto)Stars scattered across the cosmos sparkle in the appropriately named Chandelier Cluster. What is it? The Hubble Space Telescope captured this twinkling image of NGC 6723, or the Chandelier Cluster, a globular star cluster located 27,000 light-years away in our Milky Way galaxy. Every bright spot in this mesmerizing cosmic chandelier is an in
  
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• My favorite thing in the night sky appears on Aug. 28 — and it proves Earth is a sphere

  21-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  What's your favorite thing in the night sky? Maybe it's the Pleiades, that sparkling open cluster that dominates winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Perhaps it's a sight of the Milky Way arching across the summer sky. Or could it be Saturn, a close-up sight of which has many people reaching for their wallets to buy a bigger telescope.My favorite sight? It's us or, rather, our shadow. It's something that's only observable during a partial lunar eclipse — and there's one coming up very soon.
  
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• China's Chang'e 7 moon probe will launch this weekend on the most ambitious lunar mission in history

  20-08-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  China's moon exploration program is readying an ambitious robotic mission, one composed of an orbiter, a lander, a rover, a hopper, and a wide range of international experiments including a U.S.-supported payload. In April of this year, Chang'e-7 hardware was transported to the Wenchang launch site, targeting an Aug. 24 (Beijing time) launch atop a Long March 5 Y14 rocket. The lander's destination is the edge of Shackleton Crater in the lunar south pole region. After launch, the Chang'e-7 orbite
  
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• SpaceX will try for 1st Starship tower catch 'in a few months,' Elon Musk says

  20-08-2026 22:30 via space.com
  
  We'll have to wait a bit longer for a highly anticipated Starship milestone, it appears.On Aug. 4, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said the company aimed to attempt the first-ever catch of Starship's upper stage on the vehicle's next test flight, which is tentatively targeted for late August.But that doesn't seem to be in the cards anymore. "Looks like we will probably catch the ship with the tower in a few months," Musk said early this morning (Aug. 20) via X, the social media platform he boug
  
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• Microbes from Earth may survive on the moon, scientists find

  20-08-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  Microbes from Earth might survive the harsh surface of the moon, albeit in a state of suspended animation, a new study finds.Previous research suggested the surface of the moon was too harsh for microbes to survive. Specifically, a 2019 study found ultraviolet rays and heat from the sun are the greatest barriers for microbial life on the lunar surface. However, this prior work did not account for the shelter that hills and valleys might supply on the moon. These could prove especially significan
  
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• 'Wet Hot American Summer': The raunchy 2000s teen movie that was actually about a space station falling to Earth

  20-08-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  LOS ANGELES – On a Saturday evening in Los Angeles, I found myself watching acclaimed actor Elizabeth Banks sing Tom Petty songs along with her fellow actors while writer/director David Wain played the drums. This incredible, bizarre performance celebrated the 25th anniversary of the raunchy, summer camp cult classic "Wet Hot American Summer." But do you remember that it's actually a space movie? This movie — the debut feature film from co-creators David Wain and Michael Showalter &m
  
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• 'Wet Hot American Summer': The raunchy 2000s comedy that was actually about a space station falling to Earth

  20-08-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  LOS ANGELES – On a Saturday evening in Los Angeles, I found myself watching acclaimed actor Elizabeth Banks sing Tom Petty songs along with her fellow actors while writer/director David Wain played the drums. This incredible, bizarre performance celebrated the 25th anniversary of the raunchy, summer camp cult classic "Wet Hot American Summer." But do you remember that it's actually a space movie? This movie — the debut feature film from co-creators David Wain and Michael Showalter &m
  
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• A weather satellite 22,000 miles above Earth saved my 2026 total solar eclipse cruise on the Mediterranean Sea

  20-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  When the 11,000-ton cruise ship Le Boréal set sail from Nice, France, on Thursday, Aug. 6, its 205 passengers and 136 crew members began a voyage whose success would depend not only on careful planning, but also on the ship's ability to outmaneuver clouds at the last critical hour. The ship is owned and operated by the French cruise line Compagnie du Ponant. This eclipse cruise was the result of more than a year's planning by Ponant, and most of those who signed on were there specifically
  
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• Ludicrous, nonsensical, an affront to canon — 'Strange New Worlds'' puppet episode is an instant classic

  20-08-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  SPOILERS AHEAD! ANYONE YET TO WATCH "LEVEL-FIVE TRANSPORTER ACCIDENT" SHOULD PROCEED WITH CAUTION TO AVOID VIOLATING TEMPORAL PRIME DIRECTIVES.Back in the late '70s and early '80s, A-list stars were queuing up to guest on "The Muppet Show". Over five glorious seasons, the likes of Steve Martin, Diana Ross and Roger Moore were happy to have themselves upstaged by Kermit the Frog and his legendary felt ensemble. Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, C-3PO and Chewbacca even went on a crossover adventure with the
  
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• Mars Express orbiter captures detailed new video of the crater where Mark Watney was stranded in 'The Martian'

  20-08-2026 18:58 via space.com
  
  Europe's Mars Express orbiter has captured new, stunning imagery flying low over a geological region of the Red Planet shaped by ancient waterflow billions of years ago. Mars Express launched in 2003 and is operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It's equipped with the High Resolution Stereo Camera, which scans multiple points of perspective across regions of Mars' surface to create 3D color renderings. During a low pass on the spacecraft's highly elliptical orbit, Mars Express flew over th
  
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• Try not to be hypnotized by the 'Eye of Africa' | Space photo of the day for Aug. 20, 2026

  20-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The Richat Structure (also known as the "Eye of Africa" in Mauritania in Africa as photographed by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir from aboard the International Space Station.(Image credit: Jessica Meir/NASA)The "Eye of Africa" swirls across Mauritania in a hypnotizing snapshot captured from space.What is it? A 25-mile-wide (40 kilometer-wide) circular structure made up of concentric ridged rings sticks up from the Earth in Mauritania, a country on the coast of northwestern Africa. While it might lo
  
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• James Webb Space Telescope finds 'hidden stars' making the universe's 1st galaxies much bigger than we knew

  20-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  Imagine looking at a vast city on Earth from a great distance, knowing nothing about that city; you may assume that its only buildings are the largest, most visible skyscrapers. But, get closer or look with a far more powerful tool, and you would begin to discover smaller buildings between mountainous skyscrapers. Now, the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered that this looks like that is a fitting analogy for early galaxies.Astronomers are finding that in between the brightest stars, the 't
  
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• Partial lunar eclipse live: Latest news, viewing tips and live updates from Aug. 27-28 eclipse

  20-08-2026 12:04 via space.com
  
  The countdown is on for the deep partial lunar eclipse of Aug. 27-28. Over the next week, we'll be bringing you the latest eclipse news, viewing tips as well as live updates throughout eclipse night. Although this isn't quite a total lunar eclipse, it's pretty close! At maximum eclipse, 96.2% of the moon will slip into Earth's dark central shadow known as the umbra, according to Time and Date. Much of the moon may take on a rusty red hue, while a thin sliver remains brightly illuminated.It's the
  
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• A 96% partial lunar eclipse is just 1 week away: Here's what you need to know

  20-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  We're just one week away from a stunning partial lunar eclipse on Aug. 27-28, when billions across North America, South America, Africa and Europe will see Earth's shadow dye the moon a subtle crimson hue, while leaving a thin crescent exposed to direct sunlight. August's partial lunar eclipse will occur as Earth passes directly between the sun and moon during the full moon phase — an imperfect alignment that will see our planet's intense inner shadow cover 96% of the visible face of our n
  
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• Watch Rocket Lab launch a private Japanese Earth-observing satellite to orbit today

  20-08-2026 06:05 via space.com
  
  Rocket Lab will launch a private Japanese Earth-observing satellite to orbit this morning (Aug. 20), and you can watch the action live.An Electron vehicle is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site today, during a window that opens at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT; 1 a.m. on Aug. 21 local New Zealand time), carrying aloft a radar satellite for the Tokyo-based company iQPS.Rocket Lab will stream the proceedings live, starting at about 30 minutes before liftoff. You can watch via the compa
  
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• Scientists just found the fastest known star in the Milky Way. It zooms around our black hole at 15,500 miles per second

  19-08-2026 23:58 via space.com
  
  Astronomers have found the fastest known star in the Milky Way, a faint object racing around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy. Dubbed S301, the star reaches about 15,500 miles (25,000 kilometers) per second at its fastest — more than 8% the speed of light. "What is special about this star is that it's orbiting Sagittarius A* on a very tight orbit, taking just 8.7 years to complete it, and is approaching the black hole at a mere 12 times the distance of
  
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• Private mission to save NASA's Swift space telescope fails

  19-08-2026 22:15 via space.com
  
  NASA is calling off the effort to save its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after a private rescue spacecraft couldn't overcome its own problems in orbit.LINK, the specialized probe from Katalyst Space that NASA contracted for the Swift Boost mission, was delivered to space on an air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket on July 3. The vehicle was designed to rendezvous with the Swift Observatory in order to grapple and raise it to a more stable orbit, but LINK ran into trouble when it began
  
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• Scientists create 'laundry gun' for astronauts to clean their clothes by shooting out plasma

  19-08-2026 22:05 via space.com
  
  If you have ever shared a room with multiple people for days on end, you may know how clothes and living conditions can rapidly turn rather smelly. Imagine that happening in a confined spacecraft.Even worse, since water on a space mission is in short supply, space travelers can't easily do their laundry. This is more than a body odor problem — unclean clothes and linens are ripe feeding grounds for infectious bacteria. Astronauts might wear the same clothes for days or even weeks, seal awa
  
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• 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' finally blasts onto Disney+ next month

  19-08-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  Despite our love for little "Baby Yoda", "The Mandalorian and Grogu" wasn't the thrilling "Star Wars" feature film to drag fans back to theaters when it dropped back in May. It wasn't bad, but it felt more like a TV special than a cinematic event.But now the $166 million space opera — recruited from the Disney+ series that ran for three seasons from 2019-2023 — is now about to enter Earth orbit and finally land in the streaming sphere when it hits Disney+ starting Sept. 2, 2026. Will
  
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• Dark matter could magnify the jets of a ravenously feeding supermassive black hole

  19-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Astronomers have discovered that a jet of plasma erupting from a distant supermassive black hole at near-light-speed is being gravitationally lensed by an unseen clump of dark matter. The discovery could tell us about the source of cosmic "ghost" particles called neutrinos.The supermassive black hole in question is powering a type of quasar called a blazar. All quasars involve supermassive black holes surrounded by vast quantities of material upon which the black holes feed. Material that isn't
  
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• A SpaceX rocket slammed into the moon this month — and a NASA spacecraft has spotted its lunar grave (photos)

  19-08-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's veteran moon-circling spacecraft, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), has imaged the impact site of that errant Falcon 9 upper stage. The photos were taken on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, just a few days after the SpaceX rocket body slammed into the moon near Einstein Crater at 5,400 mph (8,690 kph). LRO's high-resolution camera system, known as LROC, got good views of the aftermath from a variety of angles, snapping away every 117 minutes, the time it takes the orbiter to circuit the moon. T
  
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• Mysterious Russian 'space activity' causes US Air Force flight to Antarctica to turn around: report

  19-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  A mysterious incident over the southern Indian Ocean forced a U.S. Air Force aircraft to turn around due to an unnamed hazard in space.According to several New Zealand-based news outlets, a U.S. Air Force (USAF) C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft left Christchurch Airport on New Zealand's South Island on Tuesday (Aug. 18) bound for McMurdo Station in Antarctica. Aircraft trackers using flight radar software noticed the C-17 turn around over the ocean some two hours into its flight.According to
  
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• 13 sci-fi books that inspired our favorite shows and movies

  19-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  The world of science fiction started with the written word, long before it hit the silver screen. Stories of man-made life, Martians, and other marvelous subject matter were being read long before the first sci-fi movie was released in 1902: Georges Méliès' "A Trip to the Moon". Some of these stories became classic tales that have been repeatedly adapted for Hollywood and television, think Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds."This isn't by any means an
  
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• Perseverance rover watchs alien solar eclipse on Mars | Space photo of the day for Aug. 19, 2026

  19-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's Perseverance Mars rover saw a solar eclipse from the Martian surface.(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)People around the world enjoyed stellar views with last week's total solar eclipse. And the day after we looked up to see the moon obscuring out sun, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover looked up to see its own Martian solar eclipse. What is it? Solar eclipses aren't unique to Earth. In theory, any planet with at least one orbiting moon would have times where that moon might eclipse some pa
  
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