Astronomy news

• Lightning strike on Chinese rocket captured in epic launch photo

  24-07-2026 14:57 via space.com
  
  A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the Tianlian II-06 satellite blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on July 23, 2026 in Xichang, Sichuan Province of China. (Image credit: Zhou Quan/VCG via Getty Images)Lightning struck a Chinese rocket shortly after liftoff this week, as seen in incredible video and photographs.A Long March-3B rocket lifted off from China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Thursday (July 23) carrying a communications relay satellite destined for geostation
  
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• Starship in space! See highlights of SpaceX megarocket's epic Flight 13 test launch (video)

  28-07-2026 00:00 via space.com
  
  The 13th test flight of SpaceX's Starship megarocket went pretty well — and provided some amazing visuals, too.Flight 13 launched on Friday (July 24), sending the 408-foot-tall (124 meters) Starship Version 3 (V3) vehicle aloft from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas.Starship's Super Heavy booster had some engine issues on its way back to Earth. But the Ship upper stage hit all of its marks, successfully deploying 20 next-gen Starlink satellites, re-igniting one of its Raptor engines in
  
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• Rocket Lab to start launching missile-defense missions from Alaska under $266 million Space Force deal

  27-07-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  Rocket Lab is expanding its launch operations to the snowy north.The California-based company, which already flies from New Zealand and Virginia, just inked a $266 million deal with the U.S. Space Force to fly up to 18 missile-defense missions, most of them from Alaska."The size and scale of this contract reflects the Space Force's confidence in our ability to meet their urgent national security demands with speed, responsiveness and scale, and we're proud to provide the high-frequency launch ca
  
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• 25 years on, 2001's 'Planet of the Apes' has become a bit of a guilty pleasure

  27-07-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  We didn't exactly go bananas for Tim Burton's odd take on "Planet of the Apes" back in 2001, but now, on the occasion of the sci-fi film’s 25th anniversary, we've had time to reflect on not only the summertime spectacle's notable missteps, but also its unsung merits.Invading the hallowed grounds of director Franklin Schaffner’s 1968 original "Planet of the Apes" was risky business at best, but 20th Century Fox rolled the dice with their long-gestating $100 million remake and a compet
  
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• On this day in space! July 27, 1962: The 1st zero-g cosmonaut training flight took off on a Soviet jetliner

  27-07-2026 19:20 via space.com
  
  On July 27, 1962, two Russian cosmonauts boarded a Soviet airliner and experienced weightlessness without going to space. This was the first time cosmonauts completed zero-G training on an airplane. The Tupolev Tu-104 was a type of jetliner originally designed to transport 50 passengers. It was modified to accommodate cosmonauts who needed to train in an environment that simulated weightlessness. By flying in a parabolic arc, passengers could experience 6 to 25 seconds of weightlessness on each
  
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• On this day in space! July 27, 1962: The 1st zero-g cosmonaut training flight takes off on a Soviet jetliner

  27-07-2026 19:20 via space.com
  
  On July 27, 1962, two Russian cosmonauts boarded a Soviet airliner and experienced weightlessness without going to space. This was the first time cosmonauts completed zero-G training on an airplane. The Tupolev Tu-104 was a type of jetliner originally designed to transport 50 passengers. It was modified to accommodate cosmonauts who needed to train in an environment that simulated weightlessness. By flying in a parabolic arc, passengers could experience 6 to 25 seconds of weightlessness on each
  
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• Are we overlooking signs of alien life that aren't technological or biological? 'Bread would be a signature of intelligence'

  27-07-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  The search for alien life has tended to focus on looking for either signs of extraterrestrial technology or evidence of biological processes on other worlds. But new and ongoing research suggests that scientists should start considering signs of intelligence that are not necessarily technological, but which are sufficiently complex as to be evidence of a conscious mind at work. Biosignatures are possible signs of biology on other planets, whereas technosignatures are clues to the presence of adv
  
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• We've found huge discounts on a range of ZWO astronomy cameras, including three we love

  27-07-2026 16:25 via space.com
  
  ZWO is well known for its Seestar smart telescopes but they also make dedicated astronomy cameras for use with telescopes to get highly detailed astrophotography. We have reviewed three of these ZWO astrocams and they have delivered beautiful images of the different objects. The color cameras like the ZWO ASI183MC Pro and ZWO ASI533MC Pro have delivered beautiful colored detail in galaxies and nebulas, whereas the monochrome ZWO ASI175 mono delivered exceptional solar photography.Explore the ZWO
  
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• Curiosity Mars rover inspects cracked wheel | Space photo of the day for July 27, 2026

  27-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  A photo of one of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover's wheels, taken by the rover using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on July 23, 2026, or Sol 4963 of its mission. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has experienced some serious wear and tear during its nearly 14 years on the Red Planet.A new photo posted to Curiosity's raw image server offers a close-up of the damage one of the rover's wheels has experienced as it explores the Martian surface.What is it?Curiosity lande
  
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• Curiosity Mars rover inspects cracked wheel | Space photo of the day for July 24, 2026

  27-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  A photo of one of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover's wheels, taken by the rover using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on July 23, 2026, or Sol 4963 of its mission. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has experienced some serious wear and tear during its nearly 14 years on the Red Planet.A new photo posted to Curiosity's raw image server offers a close-up of the damage one of the rover's wheels has experienced as it explores the Martian surface.What is it?Curiosity lande
  
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• X-ray spacecraft finds supermassive black hole stirring up the 'red potato' galaxy: 'There may be a cook in this cosmic kitchen'

  27-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  Using the Chandra X-ray spacecraft, astronomers have seen a supermassive black hole jet churning and "cooking" gas surrounding a galaxy nicknamed the "red potato." And this potato is seen as it was when the universe was around 2 billion years old. The galaxy in question is officially designated MQN01 J004131.9-493704 and is located about 11.7 billion light-years from Earth at the intersection of a vast cosmic web along which galaxies formed in the early universe. Originally discovered by the Jam
  
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• Private companies could ruin the night sky for the entire world, and international law can't stop them

  27-07-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can single-handedly green-light massive spaceflight projects that could completely change the view of the night sky for the entire world. Despite the outcry these projects have caused, space law experts say there is very little other nations and the international community can do to thwart them if the FCC were to grant them licenses.On July 10, the FCC approved an application by California-based Reflect Orbital to launch a 59-by-59-foot (18-by-18
  
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• This is the best lunar eclipse until New Year's Eve 2028 — Here's how to spot the 'almost blood moon' on Aug. 27

  27-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  One month from today, skywatchers across the Americas, Europe and Africa will have the chance to witness the best lunar eclipse until New Year's Eve 2028. On Aug. 28, Earth's shadow will cover up to 96% of the moon's disk in an exceptionally deep partial lunar eclipse. At maximum eclipse, only a thin sliver of the moon will remain outside Earth's darkest shadow, creating an "almost blood moon" with nearly the entire lunar surface glowing a deep reddish-orange. Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar ecl
  
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• An 'almost blood moon' is coming on Aug. 27 and it'll be the best lunar eclipse until NYE 2028

  27-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  One month from today, skywatchers across the Americas, Europe and Africa will have the chance to witness the best lunar eclipse until New Year's Eve 2028. On Aug. 28, Earth's shadow will cover up to 96% of the moon's disk in an exceptionally deep partial lunar eclipse. At maximum eclipse, only a thin sliver of the moon will remain outside Earth's darkest shadow, creating an "almost blood moon" with nearly the entire lunar surface glowing a deep reddish-orange. Unlike a solar eclipse, a lunar ecl
  
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• A seed that flew around the moon grew into this tree in NYC

  27-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  NEW YORK — Madison Square Park in midtown Manhattan is home to some 44 tree species. And on a Thursday afternoon blanketed in wildfire smoke, a small crowd gathered to see one in particular. The slender American sweet gum looked unassuming, especially compared to the enormous English elm neighboring it. But this tree had a secret: it had traveled 1.3 million miles before landing in New York.The sapling was germinated from one of 1,000 seeds NASA sent aboard the uncrewed Artemis I mission,
  
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• What happened to space horror movies?

  26-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  We all know the cliché: any horror franchise that goes on long enough inevitably goes to space. Critters, Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, Dracula… they've all taken a trip to the stars.The trope, fair or not, has often overshadowed the fact that science fiction and horror are absolutely perfect bedfellows, with outer space's total isolation, tiny quarters, and oppressive vastness perfectly suited for the horror genre. Horror movies set in space have delivered classics of both genres t
  
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• I'm not an astronaut, but I went to the International Space Station (sort of)

  26-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  NEW YORK — I'm the kind of person who, every so often, falls into accidental daydreams about the concept of space. Usually because I'm listening to some sort of sad girl Spotify playlist, I start feeling infuriated that we may never learn the true meaning of the cosmos and become embarrassingly poetic about our isolation on Earth. I tend to ponder how strange microgravity is and begin Googling things like "what lies beyond the edge of the universe best evidence we have" and "when commercia
  
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• We talk with astronaut Michael Foale about the 1997 Space Station Mir crisis: 'He took all the blame of the collision on his shoulders'

  25-07-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  All systems are go! PBS just launched the second episode of its "Once Upon a Time in Space" miniseries on Tuesday, titled "The Russian Thing," and we’ve got an exclusive clip from the harrowing chapter that focuses on near disasters aboard the Space Station Mir in 1997. In addition to the video, we’re also proud to share an exclusive interview with NASA's celebrated British-American astronaut Michael Foale, who is featured prominently in the new segment regarding the infamous cargo p
  
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• This Week In Space podcast: Episode 220 — First on Mars

  25-07-2026 17:11 via space.com
  
  On Episode 220 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Dr. Pascal Lee and astrobiologist Dr. Penny Boston to mark the 50th anniversary of Viking 1's landing on Mars.This week, we cover how Starship Flight 13 finally prepares to launchamid a legal battle over SpaceX's proposed land swap at Starbase, plus aChinese Long March 3B rocket gets struck by lightning during liftoff,yet still delivers its satellite safely.Then, we revisit the Viking 1 mission's groundbreaking life-det
  
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• An off-the-shelf camera could help us find more black holes smashing together

  25-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  Fixing a problem inside one of the world's most sophisticated scientific observatories might seem like the kind of challenge that demands a multimillion-dollar upgrade or revolutionary new technology. But for scientists working on the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which listens for ripples in spacetime generated by cosmic collisions like merging black holes, the solution to a mild but persistent engineering challenge turns out to be as simple as an off-the-shelf cam
  
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• NASA astronaut, 2 cosmonauts returning to Earth on July 26: Watch it live

  25-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  A U.S.-Russian crew will return to Earth from the International Space Station early Sunday morning (July 26), and you can watch their homecoming live. A Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos is scheduled to undock from the orbiting lab on Sunday at 3:02 a.m. EDT (0702 GMT).The Soyuz, known as MS-28, will land on the steppe of Kazakhstan about 3.5 hours later, at 6:26 a.m. EDT (1026 GMT). You can wa
  
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• NASA astronaut, 2 cosmonauts return to Earth after 241 days on space station (video)

  25-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  A U.S.-Russian crew returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Sunday morning (July 26), after 241 days in orbit.A Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos undocked from the orbiting lab on Sunday at 3:03 a.m. EDT (0703 GMT).The Soyuz, known as MS-28, landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan 3 hours and 24 minutes later, at 6:27 a.m. EDT (1027 GMT). Roscosmos' SoyuzMS-28 spacecraft is seen
  
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• NASA astronaut, 2 cosmonauts return to Earth after 241 days on space station

  25-07-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  A U.S.-Russian crew returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Sunday morning (July 26), after 241 days in orbit.A Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos undocked from the orbiting lab on Sunday at 3:03 a.m. EDT (0703 GMT).The Soyuz, known as MS-28, landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan 3 hours and 24 minutes later, at 6:27 a.m. EDT (1027 GMT). Roscosmos' SoyuzMS-28 spacecraft is seen
  
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• SpaceX's Starship megarocket makes the 'softest splashdown' ever after launching next-gen Starlink satellites in Flight 13 test (video)

  25-07-2026 03:40 via space.com
  
  SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket on a critical 13th test flight late Friday, but there was no triskaidekaphobia on this mission. The July 24 test launch, Space's Starship Flight 13 mission, sent a towering rocket the size of a 40-story skyscraper into space from South Texas, returned its massive Booster to Earth, and then — in a feat perhaps none saw coming — gently landed its Starship upper stage in the Indian Ocean, where it tipped over to float belly up on the sea.
  
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• ZWO Seestar S30 Pro smart telescope review

  24-07-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  Smart telescopes like the Seestar S30 Pro have changed astrophotography and, arguably, urban astronomy. The Seestar S30 Pro takes that concept further than most. Small enough to fit inside a camera backpack, it combines a refractor telescope, motorized mount, dual cameras and image-processing software into a compact unit controlled entirely from a smartphone. Within minutes of powering on, it can align itself to the night sky, slew to a specified target and begin stacking exposures to reveal gal
  
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• We boldly chat with 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' showrunners about space dinosaurs and Lovecraftian horrors for season 4 (interview)

  24-07-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman are the primary ringleaders behind "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds", and they're about to unleash the next cluster of 10 Season 4 episodes for their spirited space show. With an abundance of genre-crossing indulgences that are scary, surreal, and sometimes silly, the Paramount+ hit is operating at full warp speed in this penultimate outing, the debut episode of which just premiered on July 23, 2026.We hitched a ride with the acclaimed executive producers to l
  
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• We boldly chat to 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' showrunners about dinosaurs in space and Lovecraftian horrors for season 4 (interview)

  24-07-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman are the primary ringleaders behind "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds", and they're about to unleash the next cluster of 10 Season 4 episodes for their spirited space show. With an abundance of genre-crossing indulgences that are scary, surreal, and sometimes silly, the Paramount+ hit is operating at full warp speed in this penultimate outing, the debut episode of which just premiered on July 23, 2026.We hitched a ride with the acclaimed executive producers to l
  
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• What lurks beneath the volcanoes of Jupiter's moon Io? NASA's Juno probe just took a peek

  24-07-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  Scientists have measured temperatures beneath the surface of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io, offering the first-ever glimpse of the hidden heat driving the most volcanically active world in the solar system.During close flybys of Io in late 2023 and early 2024, NASA's Juno spacecraft turned its Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument toward the moon, probing roughly six to 20 feet (two to six meters) beneath its surface. Originally designed to peer through Jupiter's thick clouds, the instrument instea
  
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• Planet hunter gets the silent treatment | Space photo of the day for July 24, 2026

  24-07-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  ESA's Plato spacecraft completes critical testing ahead of its spaceflight.(Image credit: ESA - R. Moorkens O'Reilly)A planet-hunting spacecraft named Plato just passed a series of critical tests as it prepares for the challenges of outer space. What is it?Gleaming in the light of a laboratory, this box of electronics is actually the European Space Agency's Plato spacecraft sitting inside a special test chamber where it underwent critical tests ahead of its planned spaceflight. The Plato (PLAnet
  
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• The easiest way to learn the summer night sky starts with these 3 stars

  24-07-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  There is a particular moment every July when the night sky makes perfect sense to me. Every time I step outside at night, I instinctively look overhead for the Summer Triangle. Not because it's the most spectacular sight in the sky. In fact, the vast asterism is almost suspiciously simple: three bright stars, large enough to cut through twilight and light pollution without much effort.Experienced stargazers quietly depend on the Summer Triangle more than we admit. People imagine astronomy involv
  
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