Astronomy news

• Watch Rocket Lab launch Japanese radar satellite to orbit early on Sept. 1

  31-08-2026 06:05 via space.com
  
  Rocket Lab will launch a private Japanese radar satellite to orbit early Tuesday morning (Sept. 1), and you can watch the action live.An Electron vehicle is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Tuesday during a window that opens at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT; 11:30 p.m. local New Zealand time). It's carrying a single Strix satellite for Synspective, a Tokyo-based Earth-imaging company.You can watch it live via Rocket Lab, beginning about 30 minutes before launch. Space.com wi
  
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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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• On this day in space! Aug. 31, 1965: NASA's ginormous Super Guppy carrier plane takes 1st flight like a flying whale

  31-08-2026 16:42 via space.com
  
  On August 31, 1965, NASA's Super Guppy cargo plane took its first test flight. This oversized aircraft looks a bit like a giant flying whale. It was built by a company called Aero Spacelines and based on the Boeing B-377 Stratocruiser. NASA uses these funny-looking planes to transport large cargo, like spacecraft parts and other smaller aircraft.(See the Super Guppy swallow a T-38 supersonic jet!) At the time, they needed the planes to transport Apollo program rocket stages from California to Fl
  
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• Roman telescope leaves its rocket behind | Space photo of the day for Aug. 31, 2026

  31-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope separates from a SpaceX Falcon Heavy upper stage after launching on Aug. 30, 2026. (Image credit: NASA)NASA caught a breathtaking image of its next-generation Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope deploying into space shortly after launch.What is it?This image was captured just some 31 minutes after the Roman telescope took off atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday (Aug. 30). The photo shows the Nancy Grace Ro
  
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• September full moon 2026: When, where and how to see the Harvest Moon

  31-08-2026 15:00 via space.com
  
  The full moon of September 2026 will occur at 12:49 p.m. EDT (1649 GMT) on Sept. 26 as the moon glows opposite the sun in Earth's sky.September's full moon is often referred to as the Harvest moon — a traditional name for the full moon that falls closest to the September equinox, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.Sadly, the sun, Earth and moon won't line up again to create a spectacular lunar eclipse, as was the case in August. But it'll still present a magnificent treat for stargazers
  
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• Scientists discover massive 'thermal anomaly' beneath the surface of Mars

  31-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  New research into the interior of Mars further emphasizes that the Red Planet is a world of two very different halves.Deep inside the southern hemisphere of Mars, the temperature is up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees Celsius) warmer than beneath the northern hemisphere, deepening the mystery of the strange dichotomy between the Red Planet's flattened north and craggy southern highlands."Scientists usually assume that the interiors of planetary bodies are generally spherically symmetric, b
  
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• Watch Rocket Lab launch Japanese radar satellite to orbit early on Sept. 2

  31-08-2026 06:05 via space.com
  
  Rocket Lab will launch a private Japanese radar satellite to orbit early Wednesday morning (Sept. 2), and you can watch the action live.An Electron vehicle is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Wednesday during a window that opens at 7:00 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT; 11:00 p.m. local New Zealand time). It's carrying a single Strix satellite for Synspective, a Tokyo-based Earth-imaging company.You can watch it live via Rocket Lab, beginning about 30 minutes before launch. Space.co
  
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• Watch Rocket Lab launch Japanese radar satellite to orbit early Aug. 31

  31-08-2026 06:05 via space.com
  
  Rocket Lab will launch a private Japanese radar satellite to orbit early Monday morning (Aug. 31), and you can watch the action live.An Electron vehicle is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Monday during a window that opens at 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT; midnight on Sept. 1 local New Zealand time). It's carrying a single Strix satellite for Synspective, a Tokyo-based Earth-imaging company.You can watch it live via Rocket Lab, beginning about 30 minutes before launch. Space
  
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• Trump calls in to NASA press conference to celebrate launch of Roman Space Telescope, a mission he tried to cancel

  30-08-2026 21:00 via space.com
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —President Trump interrupted a NASA press conference today (Aug. 30) to congratulate the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team on a successful launch. Just a few years ago, however, the president tried to cancel this very mission. In today's briefing, mission leadership was going through the specifics of Roman's successful launch and the science the observatory is expected to deliver when NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman got a phone call. It was the president. The ro
  
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• 'What a glorious dawn launch': Why the Roman Space Telescope's picture-perfect liftoff beyond Earth is such a big deal

  30-08-2026 20:44 via space.com
  
  CAPE CANAVAREL, Fla. — It was a bright and sunny morning here in Florida when the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off planet Earth against a magical blue sky. "What a glorious dawn launch," Jackie Townsend, the Roman Space Telescope's project manager, said during a post-launch press conference on Sunday (Aug. 30). "The ride was magnificent — it put us right where we wanted to be. All of the deployments went great." Roman lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket right on cu
  
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• On this day in space! Aug. 30, 1992: Astronomers discover 1st Kuiper Belt object out beyond Pluto

  30-08-2026 16:51 via space.com
  
  On Aug. 30, 1992, astronomers spotted an object orbiting the sun beyond Pluto for the very first time. It was the first Kuiper Belt object ever detected.Before then, Pluto was believed to be the most distant planetary body of our solar system. No one had seen anything orbiting farther out because these so-called Trans-Neptunian objects were far too faint to detect with the technology they had at the time.With new digital imaging techniques, astronomers were able to spot a new and tiny world orbi
  
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• Liftoff! NASA's Roman Space Telescope soars to the stars on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in spectacular launch (video)

  30-08-2026 14:56 via space.com
  
  CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new era of astronomy is about to begin after NASA's newest flagship observatory leaped from the terrestrial bounds of Earth into the vastness of space this morning.NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched today (Aug. 30) on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center here in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT) at Launch Complex-39A (LC-39A).Roman is NASA's newest orbital observatory designed to add to the wealth of research
  
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• NASA's Roman Space Telescope is ready for launch aboard SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket

  30-08-2026 00:44 via space.com
  
  A new flagship observatory is about to launch to space and join the ranks of its powerful predecessors, like the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. NASA's groundbreaking new Nancy Roman Grace Space Telescope is ready to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. It's scheduled to depart from Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bound for a gravitationally stable spot in space called Lagrange Point 2, or L2, nearly 1 million miles (1.6 million km) from Earth. The
  
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• This Week In Space podcast: Episode 225 — Get a Grip!

  29-08-2026 17:03 via space.com
  
  On Episode 225 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik are joined by Adam Kall of KMI to discuss their work on the ISS, the goals of the company, and how nature — via the humble octopus and gecko lizards — may provide answers for orbital debris mitigation. The mitigation of orbital debris is an increasingly serious problem that has not gotten enough attention, but this is changing. Commercial companies are addressing orbital debris, and one of them, KMI Space, hasflown its ex
  
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• When is the next lunar eclipse?

  29-08-2026 17:00 via space.com
  
  August's "almost Blood Moon" partial lunar eclipse has come and gone, delighting stargazers with a gorgeous natural light show as light filtered by our planet's atmosphere turned it a deep crimson around the point of maximum eclipse.But when is the next lunar eclipse?Earth won't darken the moon again until Feb. 20, 2027, when a penumbral eclipse will cast our planet's soft outer shadow across February's full "Snow Moon", so named for the freezing weather that occurs around the time it rises. Fuj
  
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• On this day in space! Aug. 29, 1965: NASA's Gemini 5 breaks spaceflight duration record after 2 astronauts spent '8 days in a garbage can'

  29-08-2026 16:14 via space.com
  
  On Aug. 29, 1965, two NASA astronauts returned from their record-breaking Gemini 5 mission. Astronauts Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad spent eight days in Earth orbit, and for the first time, the United States set a world record for the duration of a crewed spaceflight. The Gemini 5 mission launched on Aug. 21, 1965 atop a Titan II rocket from what was then the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (now the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station) in Florida. While in orbit, the astronauts were supposed to
  
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• SpaceX test-fires Starship Super Heavy booster ahead of critical Flight 14 (video)

  29-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX just took another step toward the highly anticipated next test flight of its Starship megarocket.The company conducted an engine test with Starship's giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, on the launch pad at its Starbase site in South Texas on Friday (Aug. 28)."Full duration 33-engine static fire with the Super Heavy booster preparing for Flight 14," SpaceX wrote in a Friday X post that shared two videos of the test.SpaceX fired up all 33 engines of its Super Heavy booster to
  
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• SpaceX test-fires Starship Super Heavy booster ahead of critical Flight 14

  29-08-2026 16:00 via space.com
  
  SpaceX just took another step toward the highly anticipated next test flight of its Starship megarocket.The company conducted an engine test with Starship's giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, on the launch pad at its Starbase site in South Texas on Friday (Aug. 28)."Full duration 33-engine static fire with the Super Heavy booster preparing for Flight 14," SpaceX wrote in a Friday X post that shared two videos of the test.Full duration 33-engine static fire with the Super Heavy boos
  
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• Meeting Nancy Grace Roman: What was the 'mother of Hubble' really like?

  29-08-2026 14:00 via space.com
  
  Nearly a decade ago, I found myself laughing alongside one of the most iconic women in astronomy. This week, a telescope bearing her name launches to the stars. So let's travel back in time and meet Nancy Grace Roman together. Standing under a tent in Washington D.C. at the 2017 inaugural "March for Science," a hodgepodge of scientists and reporters crowd together as the rain pours down outside. "That's Nancy Roman," I hear Bill Nye whisper to me as we stood on the outskirts of the tent. And as
  
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• Who was Nancy Grace Roman? NASA's next big space telescope is named after the 'Mother of Hubble'

  29-08-2026 12:00 via space.com
  
  The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is about to launch on an incredible adventure to help scientists explore the great mysteries of the universe. But who was Nancy Grace Roman? You might have heard about the upcoming launch on Sunday morning (Aug. 30), which will send NASA's next flagship space telescope up to investigate everything from dark matter and dark energy to far-off worlds beyond our solar system. But do you know who the telescope is named for? This observatory will be an absolute po
  
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• What time will SpaceX launch NASA's Roman Space Telscope on Aug. 30? (Full mission timeline)

  29-08-2026 00:31 via space.com
  
  A huge SpaceX rocket is just days away from launching NASA's next great observatory into space: the Roman Space Telescope. But if you're hoping to watch it live online, you'll have to get up pretty early on Sunday (Aug. 30) or you'll miss it. NASA's Roman Space Telescope, named after the late NASA astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, will launch no earlier than Sunday on a mission to map the galaxy like never before. Liftoff is set for 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT) from a NASA pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida
  
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• What time will SpaceX launch NASA's Roman Space Telescope today? (Full mission timeline)

  29-08-2026 00:31 via space.com
  
  A huge SpaceX rocket is just minutes away from launching NASA's next great observatory into space: the Roman Space Telescope. But if you're hoping to watch it live online, you'll have to get up pretty early today (Aug. 30) or you'll miss it. NASA's Roman Space Telescope, named after the late NASA astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, will launch on a mission to map the galaxy like never before. Liftoff is set for 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT) from a NASA pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. You can follow the mis
  
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• Our choice as one of the best budget telescopes now has 17% off — this telescope deal is worth grabbing fast

  28-08-2026 22:00 via space.com
  
  The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is one of the best telescopes for beginner-to-intermediate stargazers who want to view deep-sky objects and appreciate assistance in manually locating the targets.Right now, the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is 17% off, down to just $414.99, its cheapest since Prime Day in June.In our Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ review, our expert tester Damian Peach awarded it an impressive 4 out of 5-star. Damian noted that it was an exquisite telesco
  
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