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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• 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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• Perseverance rover watches 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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• My 5 favorite sights to see in the night sky with binoculars

  19-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  Top 5 things to see in the night sky with binoculars — ranked by an expertBeyond simple naked-eye observing, a pair of the best binoculars are the most accessible way to experience the night sky. They are affordable (although pricier models are available), very easy to use compared to telescopes and they offer a wide range of celestial sights, from our solar system neighbors to distant deep-sky objects. They are great for both beginners, casual observers and even veteran stargazers who wan
  
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• I sailed to Greenland for a total solar eclipse — what I saw left me speechless

  19-08-2026 15:42 via space.com
  
  I woke up on the morning of Aug. 12 and looked out of the window to something I hadn't dared hope for: blue sky. After days of scrutinizing weather models that seemed determined to test the nerves of everyone aboard the HX Expeditions ship MS Spitsbergen, somehow, against the odds, the clouds had cleared. Even then, I didn't trust it (especially after my 2024 eclipse experience). We had traveled thousands of miles, crossed the Greenland Sea and ventured deep into Scoresby Sund to put ourselves i
  
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• Astronomers discover a giant, rocky 'mega-Earth' 23 times more massive than our planet

  19-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  Astronomers have discovered an unusually massive, dense exoplanet that challenges conventional ideas about how rocky planets form.Called GJ 523b, the exoplanet is about 2.5 times wider than Earth but packs roughly 23 times our planet's mass into that relatively compact size. Worlds this large and dense are sometimes referred to as "mega-Earths," an informal term for unusually massive, predominantly rocky planets. GJ 523b's high density suggests it contains relatively little atmosphere despite be
  
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• Touchdown! Private Chinese rocket aces landing on 2nd-ever flight (video)

  19-08-2026 03:29 via space.com
  
  China just notched another big spaceflight milestone.The Beijing startup LandSpace successfully landed the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket this evening (Aug. 18), becoming the first Chinese company ever to do so during an orbital launch.It was just the second Chinese orbital rocket touchdown overall. The first was pulled of on July 10 by a Long March 10B, which is built by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).The first stage of Landspace's Zhuque-3 rocket
  
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• Touchdown! Private Chinese rocket aces landing on 2nd-ever flight

  19-08-2026 03:29 via space.com
  
  China just notched another big spaceflight milestone.The Beijing startup LandSpace successfully landed the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket this evening (Aug. 18), becoming the first Chinese company ever to do so during an orbital launch.It was just the second Chinese orbital rocket touchdown overall. The first was pulled of on July 10 by a Long March 10B, which is built by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).The Long March 10B had some help returning to E
  
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• Forget 'Halo' — the latest 'Futurama' episode has a ring world covered in super-intelligent rats (exclusive)

  18-08-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  Ringed worlds seem to be a fertile source of science fiction material, whether it be in sci-fi master Larry Niven's circular alien constructs in his "Ringworld" novels, the spherical megastructures of "Halo's" video game universe — which just launched its "Campaign Evolved" remake of the original game for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on July 28 — or the ringed orbital habitat for the ultra-rich depicted in director Neill Blomkamp's 2013 sci-fi flick, "Elysium."Leave it to the funny folks
  
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• NASA astronaut and 1st female French spacewalker remove failed ISS antenna but run out of time for replacement

  18-08-2026 21:36 via space.com
  
  Two astronauts — including the first French woman in history to perform a spacewalk — worked outside of the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday (Aug 18), becoming temporary TV repairpersons. Just like what frequently happens on Earth, the work required more time than the "appointment" allowed, requiring a second visit to be scheduled.NASA astronaut Anil Menon and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot were tasked with the removal and replacement of a Space-to-Gr
  
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• Starship lives! SpaceX craft arrives at Christmas Island after 24-day ocean ordeal

  18-08-2026 19:29 via space.com
  
  The seas have been kind, or at least kinder than expected, to SpaceX's Starship spacecraft, as it's been tugged through the Indian Ocean to friendlier tides. Ship 40, the upper stage that flew on Starship's Flight 13 test launch, performed the vehicle's first successful intact ocean splashdown at the end of its mission on July 24, after lifting off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas. The spacecraft landed in the Indian Ocean as planned and has since become the focus of the SpaceX Rec
  
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• Watch SpaceX launch its 100th mission of the year tonight

  18-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX is about to hit the century mark for the third year in a row.A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base tonight (Aug. 18), during a four-hour window that opens at 10 p.m. EDT (7 p.m. local time; 0200 GMT on Aug. 19).It will be the 97th Falcon 9 launch of the year and the 100th mission of 2026 overall for SpaceX. You can watch live via the company's website, beginning about 10 minutes before liftoff.Tonight's mission will carry 24 of SpaceX's S
  
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• SpaceX launches its 100th mission of the year, sends Starlink satellites to orbit (video)

  18-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX has hit the century mark for the third year in a row.A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday (Aug. 19) at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT; 9:01 p.m. on Aug. 18 local time).It was the 97th Falcon 9 launch of the year and the 100th mission of 2026 overall for SpaceX. The Falcon 9's first stage rests on the deck of a drone ship after its successful landing on Aug. 19, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)The mission is carrying 24 of SpaceX's Starlink internet
  
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• SpaceX launches its 100th mission of the year, sends Starlink satellites to orbit

  18-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX has hit the century mark for the third year in a row.A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday (Aug. 19) at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT; 9:01 p.m. on Aug. 18 local time).It was the 97th Falcon 9 launch of the year and the 100th mission of 2026 overall for SpaceX. The Falcon 9's first stage rests on the deck of a drone ship after its successful landing on Aug. 19, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)The mission is carrying 24 of SpaceX's Starlink internet
  
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• Hydrogen-powered 'rocket car' tops 400 mph in record-breaking test (video)

  18-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  Is it a rocket car? Tearing across the Utah desert at over 400 mph (644 kph), a hydrogen-powered car has set a new land speed record. Wing Commander Andy Green, a retired British Royal Air Force fighter pilot, just set a new world land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the JCB Hydromax vehicle. On two different runs on Aug. 11, the car went 400.623 mph (644.740 kph) and then 412.135 mph (663.267 kph), which averages out to 406.320 mph (653.909 kph). That's the fastest that any car wit
  
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• Hubble, James Webb team up to capture the 'Black Eye Galaxy' | Space photo of the day for Aug. 18, 2026

  18-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The "Black Eye Galaxy" is captured in this new composite image from the Hubble Space Telescope and JWST.(Image credit: NASA, CSA, ESA, F. Belfiore (European Southern Observatory – Germany), J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute), A. Leroy (The Ohio State University), and D. Thilker (The Johns Hopkins University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America))Sometimes, incredibly powerful space telescopes work together to accomplish amazing things. Recently, observatio
  
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• Hubble, James Webb Space Telescope team up to capture the 'Black Eye Galaxy' | Space photo of the day for Aug. 18, 2026

  18-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The "Black Eye Galaxy" is captured in this new composite image from the Hubble Space Telescope and JWST.(Image credit: NASA, CSA, ESA, F. Belfiore (European Southern Observatory – Germany), J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute), A. Leroy (The Ohio State University), and D. Thilker (The Johns Hopkins University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America))Sometimes, incredibly powerful space telescopes work together to accomplish amazing things. Recently, observatio
  
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• A beginner’s guide to observing the night sky with a manual telescope

  18-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  The night sky is not an impenetrable “blanket of stars.” There is depth and detail that can be navigated and known, probed and plundered for rewards — and the best way to do all of that is with a manual telescope. Sure, you can get a motorized computerized “go-to” telescope and even one of the best smart telescopes that self-align and do all the work for you. Arguably, they also take much of the reward and leave you none the wiser. Can users of smart telescopes find
  
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• It's harder to poop in space. Scientists may finally know why

  18-08-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  Astronauts have long struggled with constipation in space. Now, scientists may finally understand why.A new study of 52 astronauts who lived aboard the International Space Station (ISS) suggests that microgravity may slow the movement of food through the intestines, changing how gut bacteria break down nutrients. The findings could ultimately help researchers develop dietary strategies to keep astronauts' digestive systems running smoothly during future missions to the moon and Mars — whil
  
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• See gorgeous views of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse captured from space

  18-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  The Aug. 12 total solar eclipse didn't only plunge millions of people across Greenland, Iceland and Spain into a false twilight — a fleet of spacecraft orbiting our planet managed to capture the magic, too. August's total solar eclipse occurred as the moon passed directly between the sun and Earth during its monthly new moon phase. Those lucky enough to be in the path of totality watched on in awe as the moon progressively swallowed the light of the sun, ultimately revealing our star's ten
  
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• Watch European astronaut make history during spacewalk today

  18-08-2026 06:05 via space.com
  
  Sophie Adenot will make spaceflight history today (Aug. 18).The European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut will become the first French woman ever to conduct a spacewalk, an activity she'll undertake with NASA astronaut Anil Menon.The duo are scheduled to step outside the International Space Station (ISS) for a 6.5-hour excursion today at around 8:35 a.m. EDT (1235 GMT). You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA. Coverage starts at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).Sophie Adenot is part of the Eu
  
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