Astronomy news

• Watch Isar Aerospace try to make history today with launch from Norway

  05-09-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  No rocket has ever reached orbit from European soil — but that could change today.The German company Isar Aerospace plans to launch its Spectrum rocket from Andøya Space Center in northern Norway today (Sept. 5), during a window that opens at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT; 10 p.m. local time in Norway). You can watch the historic attempt live here at Space.com, courtesy of Isar, or directly via the company. Coverage will begin at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT).Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket on the
  
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• The moon will hide Jupiter in broad daylight on Sept.8 — here's how to see it

  07-09-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  On Tuesday (Sept. 8), skywatchers can first catch a striking predawn pairing of the crescent moon and Jupiter, then — where conditions and location allow — attempt the much harder daytime occultation, when the moon hides the planet from view.Before sunrise: Find the moon and JupiterSet your alarm for 5 a.m. local time on Tuesday and look low toward the east-northeast sky. Check in advance for tall obstructions that could block your view of this delicate predawn tableau. A slender wan
  
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• Earth's moon could have formed in just 5 hours after giant impact

  07-09-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  The moon could have formed in a matter of hours following the giant impact between Earth and a Mars-size protoplanet early in the history of the solar system.The theory comes from new simulations that take into account how the internal temperature of young protoplanets affected their geologic properties and therefore the collisions they experienced. This giant impact scenario has become the leading theory of how the moon formed, thanks in particular to work done by planetary scientist Robin Canu
  
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• On this day in space! Sept. 7, 1995: NASA launches its 100th astronaut flight on space shuttle Endeavour's STS-69 mission

  07-09-2026 16:47 via space.com
  
  On Sept. 7, 1995, the space shuttle Endeavour launched on mission STS-69. This was the 100th successful crew spaceflight mission for NASA. Endeavour lifted off from NASA's historic Pad 39A launch site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the 11-day mission, five crewmembers did science experiments, deployed and retrieved a satellite called Spartan 201, and conducted a nearly seven-hour-long spacewalk to practice methods future astronauts would use to build the International Space Stati
  
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• Galaxies tangled in science and spirit | Space photo of the day for Sept. 7, 2026

  07-09-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  Nā 'Uhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola is the Hawaiian name given to this image of NGC 7253 — a pair of spiral galaxies caught in each other's gravity. This image was captured by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea. (Image credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)It is nearly impossible to fathom the entirety of a single galaxy — these realms can span hundreds of thousands of light-years, and sometimes are even millions of light-years across. So imagine t
  
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• The future of Earth observation: Private satellites and AI bring benefits but also pose risks

  07-09-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  We are a planet-based species: With a few notable (astronaut) exceptions, everyone who has ever lived remained glued to our spinning Earth, which now houses 8.3 billion people. That's the gravity of the situation. But we're also a world of floods, typhoons, earthquakes, heat and cold calamities, volcanic eruptions and even encounters with sun-caused auroras and bruises from incoming asteroids.It's quite a world worth watching — and for decades that's what spacecraft have been doing. But wh
  
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• Cheaper than Prime Day, this super-portable, beginner-friendly telescope is my number one choice for skywatching

  07-09-2026 13:00 via space.com
  
  I've got three telescopes in my home, but the Celestron FirstScope is my first stop when it comes to stargazing. Now this super-portable, beginner-friendly tabletop scope is $60 at Amazon, even cheaper than Prime Day!Save 20% on this moon-themed Celestron Firstscope at Amazon What makes the Celestron FirstScope so fantastic? It's all down to ease of use and portability. There's next to no assembly and once you've unboxed it, you can pick it up in one hand and head outside. Save $15 on this moon-
  
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• Labor Day in space: NASA astronauts get the holiday off

  07-09-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  Like most of their compatriots here on terra firma, the three Americans living off Earth will get to put their feet up today (Sept. 7).NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir and Anil Menon will get Labor Day off aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the agency said on Friday (Sept. 4). European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, the first French woman ever to perform a spacewalk, will also be off duty.However, the three Russian cosmonauts living on the ISS will have to clock in a
  
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• On this day in space! Sept. 6, 1947: The US Navy launches 1st V-2 rocket at sea in ballistic missile test

  06-09-2026 18:23 via space.com
  
  On Sept. 6, 1947, a rocket launched from an aircraft carrier for the first time. The V-2 rocket was captured from a German manufacturing site by the Allied forces at the end of World War II.V-2s were the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. They were designed by German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, a famous aerospace engineer, invented them for Nazi Germany before he was secretly moved to the U.S. and started working for NASA. Von Braun and the seized V-2 missile parts were b
  
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• SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 27 Starlink satellites, lands on ship at sea (video)

  06-09-2026 17:54 via space.com
  
  SpaceX launched 27 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit today (Sept. 6).The spacecraft rode to low Earth orbit (LEO) atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:26 a.m. EDT (1426 GMT; 7:26 a.m. local California time). The Falcon 9 rose into blue morning skies, which was something of a rarity; Vandenberg, and other areas of California's central coast, are often cloaked in fog.The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth as planned 8.5
  
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• Feel the Force with these 10 out-of-this-world Lego Star Wars starships

  06-09-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  Star Wars' starships are almost as memorable the saga's character and thanks to Lego's Star Wars range, you can build your own replicas of these iconic craft. We've rounded up the very best, from a palm-sized version of Darth Vader's Tie Fighter to a massive, table-hogging Star Wars Clone Wars-era Venator Star Destroyer.While several of these sets are display pieces, we've included some play-friendly models, such as this mid-sized Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon that can be swooshed around your
  
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• NASA expands Deep Space Network with giant new dish in California desert

  06-09-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's long-distance spacecraft-calling network just got a boost.The Deep Space Network (DSN), best known for communicating with distant spacecraft such as Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and New Horizons, added a 114-foot (34-meter) radio-frequency antenna in California, boosting capacity on the increasingly crowded network.More than 40 spacecraft exploring the solar system and interstellar space use DSN, which has struggled to keep pace with growing demand. Communications with the uncrewed Artemis 1 miss
  
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• Venus is disappearing from the evening sky — here's how to see it while you can

  05-09-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  Soon, the sky's most glamorous evening performer will take its leave. Since late March, Venus has been the unmistakable "Evening Star," gleaming shortly after sunset and stealing attention from nearly everything else in the twilight. In June, it helped stage a striking three-planet lineup after sundown, outshining both Jupiter and Mercury. Now the curtain is beginning to fall: Venus is sinking night by night and will trade its evening role for a morning one before October is over.A familiar danc
  
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• This Lego Star Wars UCS AT-ST set is cheaper than ever — I'll always love this chicken walker

  05-09-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  You can keep your space camels, the AT-ST is Star Wars' coolest land vehicle, and now this Lego Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series AT-ST is $39 off at Amazon, the cheapest this set has ever been. Save $39 on this Lego Star Wars UCS AT-ST at Amazon. Like the rest of Lego's Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series, this Lego Star Wars AT-ST is a seriously detailed model. It has some interactive features, including rotating guns and an opening hatch, but at 14.5 inches tall, this is very much a display
  
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• Private German rocket makes history, reaches orbit from European soil

  05-09-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  No rocket has ever reached orbit from European soil — but that could change today.The German company Isar Aerospace plans to launch its Spectrum rocket from Andøya Space Center in northern Norway today (Sept. 5), during a window that opens at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT; 10 p.m. local time in Norway). You can watch the historic attempt live here at Space.com, courtesy of Isar, or directly via the company. Coverage will begin at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT).Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket on the
  
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• This Week In Space podcast: Episode 226 — Who Owns The Moon?

  05-09-2026 15:30 via space.com
  
  On Episode 226 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Dr. Rainer Zitelmann to discuss the history of capitalism and how it applies to our future in space.Capitalism — and a strong profit motivation — has driven enterprise forcenturies. Two notable examples are the East India Company and the UStranscontinental railroad, and the various tycoons who built it. Inneither case, by today's standards, were the operations fair or ethicalon a number of fronts. Can we do
  
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• On this day in space! Sept. 5, 1977: NASA launches Voyager 1 on epic journey across the solar system

  05-09-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  On Sept. 5, 1977, Voyager 1 began its epic journey through deep space with a glorious morning launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.Voyager 1 initially launched on a mission to explore the outer planets. After flying by Jupiter and Saturn in 1979 and 1980, the spacecraft took a sharp turn and started heading straight out of the solar system.Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space in 2012, although scientists are still debating about exactly where that boundary lies.The sp
  
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• This NASA-funded 'Slingshot' spacecraft idea could map minerals on planets and moons across our solar system

  05-09-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  Nearby Earth, an iconic series of orbiting U.S. government satellites called Landsat have collectively been charting minerals and climate change for more than 50 years.What if we can do the same thing in space? A new NASA early-stage project, whimsically named "Interworld Slingshot Resource Surveys", aims to bring "Landsat-style mineral intelligence" to other worlds, including the moon. NASA is aiming to put a moon base on the lunar surface in the 2030s that would be staffed by astronauts, as th
  
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• Scientists detect signals of hydrogen from billions of years ago. Could this help us map out the universe?

  04-09-2026 23:00 via space.com
  
  Astronomers have used the MeerKAT radio telescope to detect hydrogen gas billions of light-years away from us — from a period when the cosmos was billions of years younger than its current age of 13.8 billion years. The research may provide astronomers with a new way of mapping the large-scale structure of the universe. The technique would rely on charting out where hydrogen, the universe's lightest and most abundant element, is located across the cosmos. It's known as hydrogen intensity m
  
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• Trekkies honor 'Star Trek's' 60th birthday with fan events, special screenings, and a world record Vulcan salute

  04-09-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  Creator Gene Roddenberry's "Wagon Train To The Stars," has certainly lived long and prospered since "Star Trek" first launched on the NBC Television Network on Sept. 8, 1966 with the hour-long debut episode titled "The Man Trap."Since then, this hopeful space fantasy franchise flourished and grew to encompass a total of 9 live-action series, 3 animated series, and 14 feature films across six decades, inspiring multiple generations with its adventurous spirit, enduring optimism, and thoughtful hu
  
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• Venus is becoming a thinner crescent — and that's when it finally starts making sense

  04-09-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Venus is something of a frustration for stargazers. It's the brightest planet and the easiest to see, while the sight of it close to a crescent moon is one of the most achingly beautiful sights in the sky. Yet it gives almost nothing away. Mars has its reddish color. Saturn rewards even a small telescope with its spectacular rings. Jupiter has moons, belts and an obvious disk. Venus, meanwhile, spends months blazing away in twilight looking exactly like what people who do not stargaze assume a s
  
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• Stars forge and deliver the elements that make up your body — and scientists may finally know how

  04-09-2026 18:00 via space.com
  
  Scientists are closer than ever before to understanding how stars forge the elements that comprise our planet, bodies and pretty much everything else around us — and they're gaining a clearer picture of where star explosions fit into the story. New research reported in two different papers looks at how stars forge elements as they explode and how these supernova explosions spread those elements — and other elements stars have forged during their lifetimes — throughout the cosmo
  
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• On this day in space! Sept. 4, 1962: NASA's Mariner 2 spacecrafts performs the 1st-ever maneuver in deep space so it could reach Venus

  04-09-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  On Sept. 4, 1962, NASA's Mariner 2 spacecraft performed the first-ever rocket maneuver in deep space as it did a quick mid-course correction on its way to Venus. It had launched just eight days earlier and needed to burn its engines to ensure that its trajectory would take it to Venus. The midcourse maneuver was necessary because the Atlas-Agena rocket that launched Mariner 2 didn't launch with enough accuracy to get the trajectory right in one shot. When it was about 1.5 million miles (2.4 mill
  
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• Hubble Telescope sees spectacular 'superbubble' | Space photo of the day for Sept. 4, 2026

  04-09-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  This nebula is named LHA 120-N44, or N44 for short, and it’s located in the constellation Dorado. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Gouliermis)About 160,000 light-years away lies one of our Milky Way's little galactic neighbors: The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). And thanks to a new observing program, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided us with an intricate image of a nebula in the LMC. The surprising part? There's a giant void at the center. Scientists call it a "superbubble."Wh
  
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• We played 'Exodus', a sci-fi RPG that should please 'Mass Effect' fans, even if you can't romance the talking octopus

  04-09-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  Exodus' journey so far has been quite transparent, with publisher Wizards of the Coast and developer Archetype Entertainment giving us a surprising number of updates and looks at the sci-fi action RPG over the years. Now, at Gamescom 2026, they've finally given us the release date and a striking hands-on demo.I was able to play a 50-minute demo that takes protagonist Jun Aslan (who you can customize Commander Shepard-style) and their companions to Khonsu, a huge orbital space platform above the
  
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• How did the infant sun form? Scientists get surprising new insights from 4.6-billion-year-old space dust

  04-09-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  New research suggests that dust from meteorites contains a "fossil record" dating back to the formation of the sun. The research reveals that magnetism played a far greater role in the birth of the solar system than had previously been suspected.Around 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was a cloud of gas and dust, known as a solar nebula. Over the next few million years, this cloud began to flatten, forming a donut-shaped ring or torus with a budding star gathering mass at its core. Eventu
  
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• Scientists watch a comet being born 3 billion miles away

  04-09-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  Astronomers have witnessed a small, icy body that orbits the sun out beyond Jupiter transforming into a comet, providing a missing link between comets and inert bodies called centaurs.The object in question is called 450P/LONEOS and is named after the Lowell Observatory survey that found it back in 2004. It is a centaur, which is a breed of inactive body that orbits the sun between Jupiter and Neptune. These objects are thought to have wandered in from the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto, their paths p
  
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• 'Alien: Isolation 2': Facing a ruthless and evolved Xenomorph in our Gamescom hands-on preview

  03-09-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  It's hard to downplay excitement for Alien: Isolation 2 after a first menacing teaser and promising early previews. Alien video games are in a good spot right now thanks to bangers like Aliens Dark Descent and Fireteam Elite 2, but nothing has hit quite like Creative Assembly's 2014 survival horror classic. Now, after a thrilling Gamescom hands-on demo, it looks like the studio has nailed it once again, bringing Xenomorph-shaped scares to the next generation. At least that's what its breezy prol
  
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• 2 spacecraft will soon reach Mercury after 8 years in space. Here's what BepiColombo can do

  03-09-2026 20:00 via space.com
  
  Mercury, the tiniest and least-explored planet in the inner solar system, is hiding mysteries far larger than itself — and finally, scientists will soon be getting not one but two spacecraft designed to decode the strange world.That's thanks to the BepiColombo mission, a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that launched in October 2018. After a harrowing journey through the inner solar system, the mission is tackling a crucial mane
  
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• 'Strange New Worlds'' latest episode is a soap opera spoof, but hasn't 'Star Trek' always been a soap opera in space anyway?

  03-09-2026 19:00 via space.com
  
  "Strange New Worlds"' fourth season has doubled down on the show's long-established penchant for seeking out new genres beyond "Trek"'s traditional frontiers. So far the Enterprise has encountered Martians, hangovers and Muppets, and now its latest mission, "Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass", has made a detour into full-on soap opera territory. Thanks to the meddling of Q junior Trelane (Rhys Darby), the ship's lighting is slightly off, day-to-day operations are punctuated by ad breaks, and
  
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