Astronomy news

• 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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• 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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• 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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• 'PROMISE' me the moon? NASA wants to send spare nuclear-powered Mars rover to the lunar surface

  30-06-2026 23:25 via space.com
  
  NASA provided an Artemis update today (June 30), announcing new lunar landing contracts for its Moon Base initiative and a surprise new possible rover mission that could be headed to the moon's south pole. During the second monthly update that NASA has provided for its moon base plans, the agency named Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines as the providers of four robotic landers that will deliver scientific payloads to the surface of the moon, as NASA tests and expands the techno
  
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• Watch Rocket Lab launch Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite from New Zealand tonight

  30-06-2026 23:01 via space.com
  
  Rocket Lab will launch a Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite to orbit tonight (June 30), and you can watch the action live.An Electron rocket carrying the QPS-SAR-13 satellite is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site tonight at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT and 1 p.m. local New Zealand time on July 1).You can watch the launch live via Rocket Lab, with coverage beginning about 30 minutes before liftoff. Space.com will carry the stream as well, if the company makes it available.Japa
  
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• Rocket Lab aborts launch of Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite at last second

  30-06-2026 23:01 via space.com
  
  Update for 11 p.m. ET on June 30: Rocket Lab tried to launch "The Grain Goddess Provides" mission at 9 p.m. EDT on June 30 but aborted the attempt at the last second. It's unclear at the moment what caused the abort or when the company will try to fly again.Rocket Lab will launch a Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite to orbit tonight (June 30), and you can watch the action live.An Electron rocket carrying the QPS-SAR-13 satellite is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site t
  
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• Blue Origin starts rebuilding launch pad damaged by New Glenn rocket explosion — and it will look very different when it's done

  30-06-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  Blue Origin has started rebuilding the launch pad damaged by an explosive accident last month, but the company is working from a very different blueprint this time around.The company's huge New Glenn rocket exploded on May 28 during a routine engine test at Launch Complex 36A (LC-36A) at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket was destroyed, as were some important pieces of pad infrastructure, including the lightning tower and the transporter-erector, which hauled New Glenn from
  
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• ‘Just in time for Canada Day’: Spacewalking astronauts repair space station’s huge Canadarm2

  30-06-2026 22:30 via space.com
  
  Two NASA astronauts gave a robotic arm a hand up — or rather, a replacement wrist joint — during a successful spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday (June 30).Chris Williams and Jessica Meir, both flight engineers on the station's Expedition 74 crew, spent seven hours and 20 minutes repairing the Canadarm2 remote manipulator system (RMS) after it was observed drawing current but not moving as expected in late May. The 58-foot-long (18 meters) arm has been in reg
  
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• Mars may have once been filled with seas of magma that made the Red Planet habitable

  30-06-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Deep oceans of magma once sloshed about inside the crust of Mars, seismic measurements taken by NASA's InSight mission suggest. The marsquakes detected by InSight show a boundary 15 miles (24 kilometers) deep between two different types of rock that were formed by enormous pools of magma. The presence of these magma pools could completely change what we thought we knew about the early development of Mars.Already, scientists say the discovery could change what we know about the history of Mars. "
  
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• 'Star Fox' is an eye-catching reimagining of a timeless sci-fi classic, but we've been here before

  30-06-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  Star Fox 64 is the Nintendo game that refuses to fade away, and we're not complaining, especially when the new Switch 2 remake — simply titled Star Fox — amplifies its replay value and expands the original vision with a bunch of new content.Roughly a decade ago, Star Fox Zero almost killed the franchise for good. The ill-fated Wii U entry's structure and plot stuck staggeringly close to Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars for us PAL gamers), but no one could definitely answer if it was a remake,
  
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• Rubin Observatory begins filming the 'greatest cosmic movie ever' beginning a new era of astronomy

  30-06-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  The universe is ready for its close-up! That's because today marks the day that the Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins it's 10-year mission to shoot the greatest cosmic move ever created. The decade-long project officially known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) is set to revolutionize our view of the universe. That means June 30, 2026 marks the beginning of a new era for astronomy."Today, we begin filming the greatest cosmic movie ever made," U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) dir
  
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• America 250: How has telescope technology evolved since the dawn of the U.S.?

  30-06-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  The past 250 years of optical telescopes have seen revolutionary discoveries and technology that the telescope's inventor, a seventeenth century spectacle-maker by the name of Hans Lippershey, maybe wouldn't have believed possible. When we look back through the annals of telescope history, we find that a significant turning point came, coincidentally, just five years after the United States' Declaration of Independence was christened.It was back in England, in 1781. William Herschel had just mad
  
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• Europe's deadly heat wave seen from space | Space photo of the day for June 30, 2026

  30-06-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  Land surface temperature data captured by Europe's Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on Wednesday, June 23, 2026. The data were captured in the late morning, local time. (Image credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA)Over 1,300 deaths have been attributed to a heat wave that swept across Europe and broke temperature records earlier this month.From its perch in sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, Europe's Sentinel-3 satellite captured data that helps visualize the hea
  
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• 'Titan is actually a very reasonable destination for humans': Scientists start mapping out crewed mission to huge Saturn moon

  30-06-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  BOULDER, Colorado — After Earth's moon and Mars, where could humans plant their footprints? The "Humans to Titan Summit 2026" was held here on June 11 and June 12 to explore the concept of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, as the next human exploration destination, post-Mars. Researchers looked into how demanding such a trek could be and what would be required to make it, along with next steps to further that ambitious goal. A NASA image of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. (Image credit: NAS
  
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• NASA will announce moon base news today: Watch it live

  30-06-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  NASA will provide an update about its moon base plans this afternoon (June 30), and you can watch it live.Agency chief Jared Isaacman and Carlos García-Galán, the manager for NASA's moon base program, "will discuss the next set of awards for new lunar lander missions and preview upcoming opportunities as the agency works toward building a sustained presence on the moon," NASA officials wrote in a media advisory.The event will begin today at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT). You can watch i
  
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• June's Strawberry Moon serves up a low-hanging treat for skywatchers worldwide. Here are our favorite photos

  30-06-2026 12:08 via space.com
  
  The first full moon of summer, June's Strawberry Moon, wowed skywatchers worldwide with a spectacular display. June's full moon was the lowest-hanging full moon of the year for observers in the Northern Hemisphere. That's because a full moon always sits opposite the sun in the sky. During the summer solstice that just passed on June 21, the sun was following its highest path of the year; that means this full moon took the opposite route, skimming low across the southern sky. It rose in the south
  
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