Astronomy news

• Starbase Louisiana: SpaceX announces enormous $100 billion Starbase launch site

  25-08-2026 20:27 via space.com
  
  A new spaceport will bring 10 launch pads to Louisiana's Gulf Coast and support thousands of Starship launches per year.SpaceX and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced Tuesday (Aug. 25) a $100 billion investment in the state's Vermilion Parish to build "Starbase Louisiana," a sprawling new manufacturing and launch facility for SpaceX's massive Starship rocket. It will be one of the biggest projects in the state's history, and serve as SpaceX's largest center for spaceflight operations. Once
  
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• China's private, reusable Pallas-1 rocket aces debut launch (video)

  02-09-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  Another reusable Chinese rocket has taken to the skies.Pallas-1, a launcher developed by the Beijing-based company Galactic Energy, flew for the first time ever on Monday (Aug. 31), lifting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 10 p.m. EDT (0200 GMT and 10 a.m. Beijing time on Sept. 1).Everything went well on the mission, according to Galactic Energy.Galactic Energy's Pallas-1 rocket launches for the first time ever, on Aug. 31, 2026. (Image credit: CCTV)"The rocket
  
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• This was always the way: 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' is finally on Disney+

  02-09-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  Famed author Thomas Wolfe coined the phrase "You Can’t Go Home Again" with the title of his classic 1940 novel, and while that actually might be true in some cases, "The Mandalorian and Grogu" gets its homecoming as it arrives on Disney+ for fans today, Sept. 2, 2026.Honestly, this is probably where the $166 million "The Mandalorian"spinoff movie should have premiered in the first place, but Disney decided to test the big screen waters with its charismatic clansman and Baby Yoda. Sadly, it
  
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• 2 spacecraft headed to Mercury are about to begin their long-awaited arrival for Europe and Japan — watch it live on Sept. 3

  02-09-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  The BepiColombo mission is finally getting ready to arrive at its exotic destination.BepiColombo launched in October 2018 and took a long, looping and highly circuitous route toward Mercury our solar system's innermost planet. That journey is now nearly over, and the mission is gearing up for arrival.BepiColombo's two science orbiters — one run by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the other by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) — will separate from their power and propul
  
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• Blue Origin wins $700 million contract to build NASA's next Mars orbiter

  02-09-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  Blue Origin will build NASA's next Mars orbiter.The agency announced on Tuesday (Sept. 1) that it has selected Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company to develop the $700 million Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN), which is expected to be up and running at the Red Planet by 2030."The award marks a milestone in NASA's strategy to expand communications and navigation services beyond Earth and the moon, establishing the foundation for sustained exploration of Mars in the coming decades," NASA officials
  
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• 'You’re going to feel exposed, vulnerable, and very isolated' — 'Alien Isolation 2' creative director talks upping the scare factor for the sequel (interview)

  02-09-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  Released in 2014, "Alien: Isolation" was a sci-fi horror gaming masterpiece that combined stealth, survival horror mechanics, and cinema's greatest monster to create an underpants-ruiningly terrifying experience. After earning phenomenal reviews, winning awards, and selling millions of copies globally, players were left clamouring for a sequel. Now, 12 years later, it's finally happening. In June 2026, fans got what they’ve been waiting for: their first real glimpse into what Alien: Isolat
  
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• Supermassive black holes 'too big' for the early universe may not be so massive after all

  02-09-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  In the four years that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been making observations of the early universe, it has been delivering one scientific milestone after another. However, the $10 billion telescope has also left astronomers with a massive problem  — literally.The JWST has been routinely spotting supermassive black holes in the early universe that, at hundreds of millions of times the mass of the sun, are too big to have grown to such monstrous sizes before the universe w
  
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• Falcon Heavy brings the heat | Space photo of the day for Sept. 2, 2026

  02-09-2026 16:10 via space.com
  
  Fire spews from the 27 Merlin engines of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket during the launch of NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Aug. 30, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket can generate some serious thrust, leading to incredible displays of fireworks as seen in the photo above.What is it?In this photo, the 27 Merlin engines of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket spew fire as they generate the thrust that sent NASA's revolutionary Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope to orbit on
  
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• On this day in space! Sept. 2, 2016: Rosetta spacecraft finds long-lost Philae lander on Comet 67P after 2-year search

  02-09-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  On Sept. 2, 2016, the European Space Agency finally located Philae, its long-lost comet lander. Philae was a spacecraft about the size of a washing machine, and it was dropped off at Comet 67P by another spacecraft named Rosetta in November 2014. But when Philae's landing harpoons failed to deploy, it bounced all over the comet before tumbling into a shady place where its solar panels couldn't collect enough light. Philae did transmit some data to Rosetta while using the last of its batteries af
  
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• Scientists may have detected the 1st direct evidence of dark matter

  02-09-2026 15:18 via space.com
  
  In what could be a groundbreaking discovery, scientists report they may have detected the first direct evidence of dark matter. The potential detection came from the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment, in the form of a single suspected interaction between a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP), one of the leading hypothetical particle candidates for dark matter, and an everyday particle.Dark matter has been a headache for scientists because, despite accounting for 85% of the mass in the universe, scien
  
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• A bright space station will soar over the US this week — and it's not the ISS. Here's how to see it

  02-09-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  You may have seen the International Space Station whizzing across the night sky before, but have you ever seen China's Tiangong space station? Three taikonauts are currently orbiting Earth aboard the Tiangong space station — and just days after two of them spent 5.5 hours outside the station repairing a solar array, there are particularly good opportunities to see it from parts of the eastern U.S. over the next week, including several bright, high passes visible from New York City.On a fav
  
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• SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches Starlink satellites to orbit on its 35th flight

  02-09-2026 13:24 via space.com
  
  The Starlink missions keep on coming.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 27 of the company's internet satellites to orbit this morning (Sept. 2), lifting off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base at 4:42 a.m. EDT (0842 GMT; 1:42 a.m. local California time). It was the 35th flight for this Falcon 9's first stage, which is known as Booster 1063. That's just two shy of the SpaceX reuse record, which was set by B1067 last week.A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from California's Vandenberg Spac
  
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• Don't miss out on VisionQuest — stream the latest Marvel series from anywhere using this Proton VPN deal, now up to $168 off

  02-09-2026 13:00 via space.com
  
  When it comes to the best VPN services, there are plenty to choose from. Our tech-savvy colleagues at TechRadar and T3 have tried and tested the majority of the leading providers, and both these trusted sites awarded Proton VPN an impressive 4.5 out of 5 stars. Right now you can save 70% on a 2-year subscription to Proton VPN. TechRadar crowned Proton VPN as its 'best VPN service for privacy,' while T3 praised it as a 'feature-packed all-rounder VPN.' You can choose from 1-month, 1-year, or 2-ye
  
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• The moon might be hiding a history of ancient supernova explosions

  02-09-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  It's now possible to disentangle the sprinkling of supernova dust on the moon from the lunar dirt it is mixed up in, thanks to a new computer model that opens up the moon's surface as a time capsule holding details about the history of supernova explosions near the Earth as our solar system has travelled through space while orbiting the galaxy.When stars explode as a supernova, they shower space with debris, some of which is in the form of radioactive isotopes traveling at high velocity. Some of
  
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• Two astronauts replace ISS camera and docking aid on 6th-ever all-female spacewalk (video)

  01-09-2026 23:02 via space.com
  
  Two astronauts replaced a spacecraft docking aid and a video camera during a successful spacewalk outside of the International Space Station on Tuesday (Sept. 1).NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot got through most of the tasks set out for them even in light of Adenot's spacesuit developing a mobility issue late in the extravehicular activity (EVA), which lasted six hours and 49 minutes.After beginning the spacewalk from the U.S. Quest airlock at 8
  
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• Scientists trace 7 stages of a meteorite's life, from hurtling space rock to Earth's surface

  01-09-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  Studying 75 meteorites falling to Earth, scientists have identified the seven stages a space rock goes through as it crashes through our atmosphere, each of which is determined by different physical processes. The research found that there are more factors than mere evaporation that determine how fragments of asteroids and comets lose mass and speed passing through the atmosphere before slamming into the ground as meteorites. As well as just "burning up" in the atmosphere, space rocks also go th
  
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• Nonprofit wants to launch 80,000-year mission to Alpha Centauri in 2029 (video)

  01-09-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  The first dedicated mission to another star will launch before the end of the decade, if all goes according to plan.A nonprofit called the Fermi Explorer Mission announced today (Sept. 1) that it plans to send a small probe toward Alpha Centauri by 2029. But none of us will live to see the interstellar spacecraft's historic arrival; its journey is expected to take about 80,000 years."We hope to be both the first to leave and the last to arrive at Alpha Centauri," Philip Johnston, co-founder and
  
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• The 12 best sci-fi movies of the 2000s

  01-09-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  At the turn of the century, sci-fi evolved to new heights, which fortunately had nothing to do with Y2K (even if previous sci-fi movies might have led us to believe it would). Propelling themselves through the 00s, iconic franchises continued to thrive with both Star Wars and Star Trek continuing their dominion over sci-fi cinema. The decade also saw the birth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with 2008's Iron Man. The MCU now consists of 38 movies and counting, with many of them sitting fi
  
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• On this day in space! Sept. 1, 1979: NASA's Pioneer 11 probe becomes 1st spacecraft to visit Saturn

  01-09-2026 19:15 via space.com
  
  On Sept. 1, 1979, NASA's robotic space probe Pioneer 11 became the first spacecraft to fly by Saturn. Pioneer 11 launched in 1973 on a mission to explore the asteroid belt, Jupiter and Saturn. It launched directly toward Jupiter, then used Jupiter's gravity to slingshot around the planet, make a sharp turn and start flying toward Saturn. Four years and nine months later, it finally made it to Saturn. During its closest approach, it was about 13,000 miles (2,100 kilometers) above the planet's clo
  
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• Why do black hole flares die out? It may be down to how stars spin

  01-09-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  Some stars encounter supermassive black holes and live to tell the tale. New research shows why the flares these encounters cause dim over repeated episodes, and it may be down to the way these stars spin and an escaping binary partner that leaves them to be a stellar snack for a black hole.Some stars are unfortunate enough to encounter the supermassive black holes that sit at the heart of every galaxy, being subjected to immense tidal forces that turn them into a strand of stellar spaghetti, a
  
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• NASA's Roman Space Telescope is just one of a few missions named after real-life women

  01-09-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's next big space telescope is not only meant to unlock some of the mysteries of dark energy. It also is a pioneer in the naming of missions.Scientific American recently said that the observatory, which launched on Aug. 30, is the first ever space telescope ever named after a real-life woman: American astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, who supported development of the iconic Hubble Space Telescope and was NASA's first head of astronomy in the 1960s.The story is very different when it comes to men
  
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• 5 planets will light up the September sky — here's how to see them

  01-09-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  Venus, which has been such a prominent object in the western evening twilight sky since the start of spring, is now entering its final full month of visibility.With each passing day, it drops a bit lower in the southwest sky and sets a bit earlier and closer to the vicinity of the sun. By month’s end, making a Venus sighting will be rather difficult as it will be following the sun to below the horizon by only about 30 minutes.During the last week of September, Mercury pops up above the wes
  
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• Repairing the ISS 250 miles above Earth | Space photo of the day for Sept. 1, 2026

  01-09-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot on the outside of the International Space Station during an extravehicular activity on Aug. 25, 2026. (Image credit: ESA/NASA)Repairing an engineering marvel like the International Space Station is no easy feat by itself, but it's even more impressive when it's done 250 miles (400 kilometers) up.What is it?In this photograph, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sophie Adenot works on the exterior of the International Space Station on Aug. 25, 2026. The photo was tak
  
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• 'Orbitals' is a co-op sci-fi adventure that recaptures the magic of Saturday morning cartoons

  01-09-2026 11:00 via space.com
  
  Growing up, the best Saturday morning cartoons were the ones we re-enacted with our friends on the playground. Whether it was screaming at the top of our lungs to go Super Saiyan like in Dragon Ball Z, or sleuthing around the school as Darkwing Duck. In the years since our childhood, we’ve often bonded with both strangers and friends over memories of Saturday morning cartoons, remembering the quaint stories and characters that influenced our lives in surprisingly profound ways.Those storie
  
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• Watch 2 astronauts take 6th-ever all-female spacewalk today

  01-09-2026 06:05 via space.com
  
  Two astronauts will conduct history's sixth all-female spacewalk today (Sept. 1), and you can watch it live.NASA's Jessica Meir and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency will venture outside the International Space Station (ISS) at around 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on an excursion expected to last about 6.5 hours.You can watch it here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly via the agency. Coverage will start at 7:00 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and the European Space A
  
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• NASA's doomed Swift space telescope restarts science work after rescue mission fails

  31-08-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is back to studying the universe after spending months in a low-drag configuration while awaiting an orbital rescue mission that ultimately fell short.Mission controllers restarted two of Swift's three science instruments — its X-ray Telescope (XRT) and Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) — on Aug. 26. Both instruments had been shut down in February as part of an effort to minimize atmospheric drag and keep the aging spacecraft in orbit long eno
  
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• 'No guts, no glory': How I captured NASA's Roman Space Telescope cross the sun on a picture-perfect SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch

  31-08-2026 21:48 via space.com
  
  The SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying NASA's Roman Space Telescope crosses the face o the sun as it launches to space from Pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in this photo taken by Space.com's Josh Dinner from a Titusville Hobby Lobby parking lot. Here's how he did it. (Image credit: Space.com / Josh Dinner)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Standing in the parking lot of the Titusville Hobby Lobby was maybe something I should have planned on before traveling to Florida for the launch of NASA's
  
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• What's next for Roman Space Telescope? Here's how NASA's flagship observatory will open up the universe

  31-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's next big space telescope has left Earth, but it's not ready to start observing the heavens just yet.The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched yesterday (Aug. 30), riding a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket into the heavens. Astronomers are very excited about Roman, for it's expected to discover thousands of new exoplanets and shed light on mysterious dark energy and dark matter, among other accomplishments.Such science work is a few months off, however. Here's a brief rundown of the next st
  
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• What's next for NASA's just-launched Roman Space Telescope?

  31-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's next big space telescope has left Earth, but it's not ready to start observing the heavens just yet.The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched yesterday (Aug. 30), riding a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket into the heavens. Astronomers are very excited about Roman, for it's expected to discover thousands of new exoplanets and shed light on mysterious dark energy and dark matter, among other accomplishments.Such science work is a few months off, however. Here's a brief rundown of the next st
  
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• SpaceX, NASA delay next astronaut launch to ISS due to leak on Dragon spacecraft

  31-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX's next astronaut mission to the International Space Station won't launch on Sept. 12 after all.That flight, known as Crew-13, has been delayed due to an oxidizer leak in the propulsion system of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, NASA announced on Saturday (Aug. 29). "Joint NASA and SpaceX teams are performing additional tests and data review and will complete any necessary rework prior to launch," NASA officials wrote in an update on Saturday. "A new target date will be announced once available
  
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