Astronomy news

• Total solar eclipse 2026 thrills millions with a stunning cosmic spectacle (photos, video)

  12-08-2026 21:30 via space.com
  
  And just like that, it's over.Total solar eclipses are incredible moments in time, but they are fleeting. As the moon passes directly in front of the sun and its shadow sweeps across Earth's surface, the temperature drops and the light takes on an eerie twilight quality. Birds and other animals go quiet. It's a spectacle unlike any other. And for millions today who were lucky enough to be in the path of totality across Greenland, Iceland and Spain, that's exactly what they experienced. "I cannot
  
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• An impressive partial lunar eclipse will turn the moon an eerie red for millions of people tonight

  27-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  Tonight (Aug. 27-28), the full Sturgeon Moon will slip into Earth's shadow, creating a stunning "almost blood moon" as up to 96.2% of the lunar surface disappears into the darkest part of our planet's shadow, the umbra. At maximum eclipse, much of the moon may take on an eerie reddish hue as sunlight filtered through Earth's atmosphere is refracted into the shadow and onto the lunar surface. Only a thin sliver of moon will escape Earth's umbra, appearing as a bright arc against an otherwise dim,
  
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• From spy satellite to space telescope: The unlikely origins of NASA's Roman Space Telescope

  26-08-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  NASA took the guts out of old spy satellites to build the groundbreaking Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – but how? And why? Years of hard work and anticipation are culminating as we sit on the verge of NASA's launch of its next-generation space telescope. Set to lift off this upcoming Sunday (Aug. 30) aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the Roman Space Telescope will push astronomy into the future, exploring the mysteries of dark energy, studying far-off worlds and expanding our unders
  
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• Astronomers discover hot watery exoplanet destined to be swallowed by its star

  26-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Astronomers have discovered a new ocean world outside the solar system that orbits extremely close to its parent star. This means that the extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet," is in hot water, both literally and figuratively. The exoplanet orbits the star HD 176071 located around 335 light-years away, and is about two and a half times the size of Earth, but has about eight and a half times the mass of our planet. That indicates to scientists that this planet is about 50% water. At a distance from
  
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• A black star in a false Spanish twilight: Here's the story of my 1st total solar eclipse

  26-08-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  I had never seen a total solar eclipse. That's a strange thing to admit for the skywatching writer at Space.com, but the truth is that the opportunity had simply never come up. When it comes to eclipses, I've always been beguiled by their beauty from afar. I've always hoped to see that strange moment when a black sun manifests to extend a glowing atmosphere into the fleeting twilight of totality. But after 37 years I hadn't once found myself in the path of the moon's inner shadow, and it was sta
  
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• Massive space mirrors could be 40 times brighter than the full moon, astronomers warn. 'It will be worse than big cities like London'

  26-08-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  Each of the sun-reflecting mirrors proposed by U.S.-based startup Reflect Orbital will appear 40 times brighter than the full moon to observers standing within its beam on Earth, a study has found. The light pollution produced by each of those mirrors would completely wipe out stars from the sky for those underneath them, turning the starry night into an eerie twilight zone."It will be worse than big cities like London," Gaspar Bakos, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Princeton an
  
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• Chance gaze at old Hubble Telescope image leads to discovery that could reveal dark matter's secrets

  26-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  In late June 2023, on a morning train commuting to work in New York City, David Hendel was scrolling through a recent astronomy paper on his phone when a half-page image caught his eye. The image, captured a year earlier by the Hubble Space Telescope, showed UGC 9050-Dw1, a dwarf galaxy some 115 million light-years from Earth. It appeared as little more than a faint, diffuse smudge of bluish-white light that astronomers call an ultra-diffuse galaxy — a type of galaxy so sparsely populated
  
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• Heat shield under fire | Space photo of the day for Aug. 26, 2026

  26-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  At the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, researchers are testing the capsule heat shield for the Draco mission.(Image credit: ESA)Sometimes, to accomplish your mission, you have to start a few fires. What is it? At the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) in Belgium, researchers put a heat shield to the test, blasting it with scorching-hot flames to see how it would handle the intense temperatures it would experience when reentering Earth's atmosphere. The heat shield is for Drac
  
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• 'Star Wars: Zero Company' review: XCOM-like strategically recaptures the magic of your favorite Star Wars films

  26-08-2026 15:17 via space.com
  
  Across the decades, Star Wars' secret sauce has always been a feeling – an intoxicating mixture of whimsy and adventure that’s nearly impossible to replicate. That’s especially true with the original film trilogy and the prequel film trilogy, even if the two have distinctly different flavors. The series forays into video games have seen a lot of success, but Zero Company does something I’ve never seen a Star Wars game do before: it seamlessly combines the two different er
  
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• 'Star Wars: Zero Company' recaptures the magic of your favorite Star Wars films (review)

  26-08-2026 15:17 via space.com
  
  Across the decades, Star Wars' secret sauce has always been a feeling – an intoxicating mixture of whimsy and adventure that’s nearly impossible to replicate. That’s especially true with the original film trilogy and the prequel film trilogy, even if the two have distinctly different flavors. The series forays into video games have seen a lot of success, but Zero Company does something I’ve never seen a Star Wars game do before: it seamlessly combines the two different er
  
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• SpaceX's final Falcon 9 Starlink launch from Florida creates gorgeous 'jellyfish' over New York City (video)

  26-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX's launch from Florida early this morning (Aug. 25) was memorable in more ways than one.The mission, which sent 29 Starlink internet satellites skyward from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:33 a.m. EDT (0933 GMT), was the 100th flight of 2026 for SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. It was also the 37th flight for this particular vehicle's first stage, setting a new reuse record for the company.And we learned a few hours after liftoff that it was also the last-ever Falcon 9 Starlink
  
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• SpaceX sends Starlink satellites to orbit on predawn launch from California

  26-08-2026 13:04 via space.com
  
  SpaceX launched 27 more of its Starlink broadband satellites to orbit today (Aug. 26), in a predawn liftoff from California's central coast.The spacecraft rode atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 5:35 a.m. EDT (0935 GMT; 2:35 a.m. local California time). The rocket's first stage came back to Earth as planned about 8.5 minutes later, landing atop the SpaceX droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean. It was the 24th flight for this particu
  
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• Inside the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA's next great observatory

  26-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  NASA is just days away from launching its next major space observatory. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to lift off Aug. 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, heading for a spot roughly 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth. Unlike the James Webb Space Telescope, which trades panoramic views for a narrow field of view to peer deeply into small, specific patches of the sky, Roman is built for scale. Its field of view is 100 times
  
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• Watch the partial lunar eclipse online tonight with these free livestreams

  26-08-2026 09:00 via space.com
  
  A spectacular partial lunar eclipse will darken 96% of the full "Sturgeon Moon" tonight (Aug. 27-28). Here's how you can watch the "almost blood moon eclipse" live online from the comfort of your home. Each phase of the partial lunar eclipse will occur simultaneously for everyone on the night side of Earth. But if clouds ruin your view — or the moon is below the horizon at the time of the eclipse — there's no need to fret!Read on to discover a selection of YouTube live streams that'l
  
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• Watch the partial lunar eclipse online Aug. 27-28 with these free livestreams

  26-08-2026 09:00 via space.com
  
  A spectacular partial lunar eclipse will darken 96% of the full "Sturgeon Moon" overnight on Aug. 27-28. Here's how you can watch the "almost blood moon eclipse" live online from the comfort of your home. Each phase of the partial lunar eclipse will occur simultaneously for everyone on the night side of Earth. But if clouds ruin your view — or the moon is below the horizon at the time of the eclipse — there's no need to fret!Read on to discover a selection of YouTube live streams tha
  
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• How to watch the Aug. 27-28 partial lunar eclipse live online

  26-08-2026 09:00 via space.com
  
  A spectacular partial lunar eclipse will darken 96% of the full "Sturgeon Moon" overnight on Aug. 27-28. Here's how you can watch the "almost blood moon eclipse" live online from the comfort of your home. Each phase of the partial lunar eclipse will occur simultaneously for everyone on the night side of Earth. But if clouds ruin your view — or the moon is below the horizon at the time of the eclipse — there's no need to fret!Read on to discover a selection of YouTube live streams tha
  
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• 'You just saved the video dish': Two astronauts complete spacewalk to replace ISS antenna

  25-08-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  "Houston, we have a working comm link again." Thanks to the efforts of two astronauts, such a call is possible again using one of two Space-to-Ground antennas outside the International Space Station (ISS). The pair finished the replacement of a faulty dish assembly during a spacewalk on Tuesday (Aug. 25). Anil Menon of NASA and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency (ESA), who previously removed a faulty dish during a spacewalk on Aug. 18, installed a spare in its place and moved the broken
  
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• 'Aliens: The Video Games' author Mike Diver on overlooked Alien games, tracking down retro game developers, and the future of the Xenomorph (interview)

  25-08-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  The history of Alien video games is long and twisty, but Mike Diver — veteran writer, editor, critic, and journalist — decided a few years ago to make a complete chronicle of Xenomorph-filled games his next big adventure. Ahead of Aliens: The Video Games' August 30 release, we sat down with him and discussed the franchise's past, present, and future in games.The following interview has been edited for better flow."I played a lot of Alien 3 on Mega Drive," Diver recalls when asked abo
  
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• 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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• The bubbling surface of doomed supergiant star Betelgeuse has been revealed like never before

  25-08-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Betelgeuse may be a well-known and often-studied stellar object, but that doesn't mean astronomers aren't capable of capturing this doomed star in a completely new light. A team of scientists examined the doomed red supergiant star with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), gaining new, highly detailed insights into its turbulent surface.Betelgeuse, located around 600 light-years away, captured the public's attention a few years ago when the rapid and dramatic dimming of the i
  
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• The Roman Space Telescope will reveal the universe in a way the JWST and Hubble cannot

  25-08-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  Even if you aren't the kind of person who often looks up the latest space images, it's hard to navigate life (especially on the internet) without running into a few. Try choosing a new iPhone background and you'll have your pick of sharp, gray moon portraits. Watch an old "Star Trek" episode and you may not realize how many of those translucent nebulas outside the spaceship's windows were based on real, hard data. When it comes to space, we're spoiled. Mind-bending objects light-years away from
  
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• NASA's Roman Space Telescope will reveal the universe in a way the JWST and Hubble cannot

  25-08-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  Even if you aren't the kind of person who often looks up the latest space images, it's hard to navigate life (especially on the internet) without running into a few. Try choosing a new iPhone background and you'll have your pick of sharp, gray moon portraits. Watch an old "Star Trek" episode and you may not realize how many of those translucent nebulas outside the spaceship's windows were based on real, hard data. When it comes to space, we're spoiled. Mind-bending objects light-years away from
  
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• Sun fires powerful M6.9 solar flare and CME toward Earth — could it boost northern lights chances this week?

  25-08-2026 16:50 via space.com
  
  Today (Aug. 25), the sun unleashed a powerful M6.9 solar flare from a restless Earth-facing sunspot, hurling a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space — and Earth could potentially be in the firing line. The M6.98 solar flare erupted from the active sunspot region 4513 and peaked at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), according to SpaceWeatherLive. 4513 has been particularly active over the last 24 hours, firing off a barrage of solar flares including five powerful M-class eruptions. Solar flares are ra
  
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• NOAA issues geomagnetic storm watch as CMEs head toward Earth — northern lights possible Aug. 27-28

  25-08-2026 16:50 via space.com
  
  Aurora chasers are on alert after NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) issued a moderate (G2) geomagnetic storm watch for Friday (Aug. 28), as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) launched from the sun yesterday (Aug. 25) head toward Earth.
  The CME arrival follows a powerful M6.9 solar flare from restless sunspot region 4513 on Aug. 25. NOAA's SWPC has also issued a minor (G1) geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday (Aug. 27), as a stream of fast solar wind from a coronal hole is expected to buff
  
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• On this day in space! Aug. 25, 1997: NASA launches Advanced Composition Explorer to track solar wind and so much more

  25-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  On Aug. 25, 1997, NASA launched the Advanced Composition Explorer, or ACE satellite to study energetic particles traveling through space.It lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Delta II rocket and spent the next three and a half months making its way to its orbital post near the L1 Lagrangian point, a point of gravitational equilibrium between Earth and the sun. There, the spacecraft is monitoring the stream of accelerated particles coming from the sun known as the solar wind.ACE
  
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• Astronauts make history repairing the ISS | Space photo of the day for Aug. 25, 2026

  25-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and NASA astronaut Anil Menon complete a spacewalk on Aug. 18, 2026.(Image credit: Roscosmos/Anna Kikina)Intensely focused and tethered to a floating laboratory in the vacuum of space, two astronauts spent over 6 hours working on the International Space Station during a historic spacewalk. What is it?Two astronauts aboard the ISS set out on a spacewalk recently (Aug. 18). European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and NASA astronaut Anil Menon set out recently a hi
  
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• Polish startup Ares Shield hired to protect data center satellites with high-power microwave weapons

  25-08-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  The final frontier is getting more and more contested, so satellite companies are investing in some self-defense.At least one of them is, anyway. Florida-based Lonestar Data Holdings announced today (Aug. 25) that it has contracted Polish startup Ares Shield to provide protection for its off-Earth data centers, in a deal worth up to $6 million."Our clients entrust us with mission-critical data, which is why we treat the security of our orbital infrastructure as the foundation of our entire servi
  
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• NASA satellites ace world's 1st 'lost-in-space' GPS-free navigation experiment

  25-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  No GPS available in space? A satellite experiment may have a solution for that.NASA's Starling mission — made up of a swarm of four cubesats in low Earth orbit (LEO) — is testing out navigation by using other satellites as moving landmarks. The hope is that this tech will allow future missions to navigate if GPS is not available.The three-year-old tech demo will be extended beyond its previous expiration date this year until at least 2028, NASA announced on Monday (Aug. 17). The aim
  
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• Stream 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' and 'Silo' securely from anywhere with 87% off Surfshark VPN

  25-08-2026 13:00 via space.com
  
  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' fourth season is well underway, and if you're determined not to miss an episode, this Surfshark VPN deal is for you.At just $2.39 a month with this deal, Surfshark One will let you view it and other sci-fi shows and movies wherever you are. Save an astonishing $464 on 28 months of Surfshark VPN, making it just $2.39 a monthAside from letting you watch and rewatch Strange New Worlds' puppet episode from anywhere in the world, Surfshark One effectively guarantees you
  
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• What time is the partial lunar eclipse tonight? Here's when to see the 96% 'blood moon'

  25-08-2026 09:00 via space.com
  
  A dramatic partial lunar eclipse will occur tonight (Aug. 27-28), with almost the entire moon slipping into Earth's shadow. At its peak, at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 GMT) on Aug. 28, 96.2% of the lunar surface will be covered by Earth's dark umbral shadow, leaving only a slender portion of the moon directly illuminated by the sun. The rest of the lunar surface may take on an eerie reddish-orange hue, creating an impressive 'almost blood moon'. The eclipse will be visible from North and South America,
  
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