After failing to make it past Earth orbit on March 31, 1972, the remains of a Venus mission launched by the former Soviet Union circled our planet for years and was given the name Cosmos (or Kosmos) 482. While the rocket stage and other pieces returned to Earth weeks later, the lander itself made anContinue reading "Failed Soviet-era spacecraft returned to Earth on Saturday"

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Our Local Group of galaxies contains at least 80 members, the vast majority of which are dwarfs. These small galaxies are somewhat hard to detect in or near the plane of the Milky Way (thus, the uncertainty about the number); one such galaxy is the Ursa Minor Dwarf Galaxy. It was discovered by A.G. WilsonContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: The Ursa Minor Dwarf Galaxy"

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I’ve long wondered whether dew point or relative humidity is more important for good seeing. Which would be better: a cool night with lower dew point but higher humidity, or a warm night with higher dew point but lower humidity? William ShepardTroy, Michigan Dew point/relative humidity questions come up fairly often and this is aContinue reading "Is dew point or relative humidity more important for good astronomical seeing?"

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When you put your hand out the window of a moving car, you feel a force pushing against you called drag. This force opposes a moving vehicle, and it’s part of the reason why your car naturally slows to a stop if you take your foot off the gas pedal. But drag doesn’t just slowContinue reading "How spacecraft ‘brake’ in space using drag"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out and observe a planetary nebula in the constellation Ursa Major the Great Bear. Amateur astronomers call it the Owl Nebula because it has two dark circles superimposed on a bright round background. Overall, it looks like the face of an owl. Also known asContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Owl Nebula"

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Just a few decades ago, when we glanced skyward, we didn’t know for certain whether any star visible to the naked eye hosts planets like our own. Now, NASA scientists estimate that, on average, there may be at least one planet for every star in the Milky Way. That’s billions of extrasolar planets in ourContinue reading "These five famous stars in the sky host exoplanets — observe them tonight"

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Chris Cook from Harwich, Massachusetts The salt flats of Badwater Basin — the lowest point in North America — are lit by a First Quarter Moon in in this star trail shot representing 6 hours of exposure.

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Full Moon occurs at 12:56 P.M. EDT this afternoon. May’s Full Moon is also called the Flower Moon and because our satellite is still near apogee, it will appear some 29’ across, slightly smaller than the Full Moon’s average size (about 31’) in the sky.  The Full Moon rises roughly opposite the Sun, so LunaContinue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, May 12: May’s Full Moon, Mars, and the Beehive Cluster"

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The gas giant Jupiter still dominates the constellation Taurus as it sets in the west after sunset. Jupiter now stands just to the right of Alheka (Zeta Tauri), one of the tips of the Bull’s two horns. The magnitude –1.9 planet remains the brightest point of light in the constellation, making it easy to centerContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, May 11: Callisto grazes Jupiter"

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The Moon passes 0.4° south of Spica at 4 A.M. EDT. The best time for observing this pairing is in the few hours between midnight and 3 A.M. local daylight time, when they are still comfortably high above the horizon.  At that time, turn west to see the nearly Full Moon (now 95 percent lit)Continue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, May 10: The Moon meets Spica"

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Venera 13, launched by the Soviets in 1981, captured this image of the surface of Venus. Dr. Ksanfomality/Astronomicheskii Vestnik Editor’s note: This story was originally published Aug. 26, 2020. It was updated May 9, 2025, with details of the failed mission Kosmos-482. The Pioneer and Voyager probes the United States sent to explore the outerContinue reading "The Venera program: Interplanetary probes from behind the Iron Curtain"

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In 1958 the great extragalactic astronomer George Abell of UCLA compiled a catalog of galaxy clusters. It was extended by Abell and collaborators in 1987 and eventually contained 4,076 clusters. Abell 2256 is a rich cluster lying in Ursa Minor. It contains more than 500 members and lies about 800 million light-years away. The clusterContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Abell 2256"

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Congratulations to all Catholics. Yesterday, your College of Cardinals elected a new pope. In honor of him taking the name Leo XIV, I thought this would be a good time to tell you some facts about the constellation Leo the Lion. Actually, to commemorate the new pope, 14 facts. I) Leo is a springtime constellation in the Northern Hemisphere.Continue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Leo the Great"

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During the height of the Cold War in the 1960s and 1970s, the USSR launched 29 spacecraft towards Venus, the planet scientists call Earth’s “twin sister”. Three flew past Venus, and went into orbit around the Sun. Sixteen orbited or landed on Venus, where they experienced a climate often described as “hellish”. Ten got stuckContinue reading "More than 50 years later, a failed Soviet spacecraft is about to return to Earth"

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Mark Johnston from Scottsdale, Arizona This large ejection of plasma on the Sun “looks like a hummingbird catching a mosquito,” the imager noted. He captured the feature March 24 with a 6-inch apochromat, a Daystar Hα “eyepiece,” and a monochrome solar camera.

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Asteroid 9 Metis reaches opposition at 2 A.M. EDT in the constellation Libra — not far from Vesta, which reached opposition a week ago. Visible from sundown to sunup, the best time to look for Metis is around local midnight, when it is transiting and stands highest in the southern sky. Metis is shining atContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, May 9: Metis reaches opposition"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, May 9Asteroid 9 Metis reaches at opposition at 2 A.M. EDT in the constellation Libra. The 10th-magnitude main-belt world is visible with binoculars or a telescope all night from sunset to sunrise. It stands highest around local midnight when it appears in theContinue reading "The Sky This Week from May 9 to 16: May’s Full Flower Moon blooms"

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Located between Mars and Jupiter lies Vesta, the second-largest body within the main asteroid belt. For generations, astronomers thought Vesta wasn’t an ordinary asteroid: It also contained properties of a planet, with layers forming a crust, mantle, and core. However, a recent analysis using data from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft mission may force astronomers to throwContinue reading "Vesta is simpler inside than previously thought"

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Northern Cepheus contains a strange nebula with a very long name. Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula (JAI-al-boo-dag-ian) was discovered by Armenian astronomer Armen Gyulbudaghian in 1977 and its variability was demonstrated by Martin Cohen in 1981.  It is a strange variable nebula associated with the variable star PV Cephei, which ranges from magnitude 14.6 to 18.1 and liesContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Gyulbudaghian’s Nebula"

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Today I want to talk about something beginning observers tend to overlook. It a process of the human eye called dark adaptation. In terrestrial terms, it helps us see better at night and in dark places. That makes it important for our safety. For amateur astronomers, however, it’s important because it allows us to seeContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Dark adaption"

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Women have long contributed meaningful scientific discoveries to the field of astronomy; however, men have primarily dominated the vocation. As of 2019, women earn about 40 percent of the Ph.D.s granted in the field of astronomy, but that has not always been the case. And there are many cases of women working in astronomy onlyContinue reading "10 women who changed astronomy"

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Josh Dury, taken from Somerset, U.K. A parhelic circle — an optical phenomenon caused by sunlight reflecting off of atmospheric ice crystals — emerges in this photo from the Sun, which is simultaneously surrounded by a halo. A parhelic circle has the unique characteristic of circling sky at the same altitude (angle above the horizon)Continue reading "Circling the Sun"

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High in the southern sky around 4 A.M. local daylight time is the stunning Swan Nebula (M17), also known as the Omega Nebula. It glides serenely through northern Sagittarius, far above the spout of the Teapot asterism as it sits right-side up in the sky this morning.  With no Moon above the horizon, if you’veContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, May 8: The swimming Swan Nebula"

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A recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters has provided the most precise distance to the Coma Cluster of galaxies yet — and also has deepened a crisis in cosmology. The problem is that when we look around the local universe, the universe seems to be expanding faster than predicted by the current modelsContinue reading "Why some astronomers are starting to doubt cosmology’s standard model"

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High at northern latitudes lies a spectacular and unique nebula you should observe if you’re not already familiar with it. The Iris Nebula (NGC 7023) is an odd reflection nebula in Cepheus, not far from the border with Draco. Because of its slight resemblance to an iris flower, observers long ago gave it its popularContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: The Iris Nebula"

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Beyond our solar system, sub-Neptunes — gassy planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune — reign as the most common type of exoplanet observed in our galaxy. Despite their prevalence, no such planets exist around our Sun, so these worlds have remained shrouded in mystery. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) recently observed exoplanetContinue reading "JWST reveals secrets of a sub-Neptune exoplanet"

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On May 7, 1617, the German astronomer David Fabricius passed away. A contemporary of Johannes Kepler, the two frequently corresponded. I thought about him the other day when I was observing the Sun. And although I’d rather celebrate his birthday (March 9, 1564), I didn’t want to wait another 10 months to do so. FabriciusContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Celebrating David Fabricius"

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Sérgio Conceição from Elvas, Portugal The Milky Way arches above the Menhir of Meada, thought to be the largest example on the Iberian Peninsula of a menhir — stones placed upright by Bronze Age (or possibly earlier) peoples for reasons unknown. The imager used a Canon mirrorless camera and 15mm lens to take two minutesContinue reading "Standing stone"

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Venus blazes a bright magnitude –4.7 in the morning sky today. To its right, 1st-magnitude Saturn is also readily visible to the naked eye, while elusive Neptune lies between them. You’ll have a brief opportunity to catch the distant magnitude 7.8 ice giant in your sights with binoculars — or, better yet, a telescope —Continue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, May 7: View Venus, Saturn, and Neptune"

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The sky is filled with thousands of amazing objects for you to explore with binoculars or a small telescope. I’ll be highlighting an interesting object or group of objects in this new daily series, Deep-Sky Dreams. This takes me back to my earliest days in amateur astronomy, when I had a pair of binoculars, aContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: The Cepheus Molecular Cloud"

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NASA launched the SPHEREx Space Observatory this year on March 25 — and the first results are in. The orange-hued image was taken at an infrared wavelength of 3.29 micrometers, capturing a cloud of molecules similar to smoke or soot. The blue-toned image is of the same portion of the sky, but was taken atContinue reading "NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope makes its debut"

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The NASA and European Space Agency’s Hubble Space Telescope snapped a mesmerizing shot of an astronomical oddball, known as Arp 184 or NGC 1961. This strange spiral galaxy’s single broad arm earned it a place in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies, published in 1966. That structure, along with multiple past supernovae, makes it anContinue reading "Hubble examines a twisted galaxy"

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I hope this series of thoughts (can I call them blogs?) help you become better observers. I’ll include observing tips and techniques, facts about constellations, reviews of books or websites, and trivia. Because there’s no right way to order this series, I’m just going to do the one I’m thinking about on that day. SomeContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Aperture masks"

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Vikas Chander from New Delhi, India Abell 35 (Sharpless 2–313) is a nebula in Hydra surrounding a stellar binary, one of which is a white dwarf. The nebula resembles a planetary nebula, produced by a dying star in the process of becoming a white dwarf throwing off its outer layers. However, the prominent bow shockContinue reading "A shocking mystery"

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This morning is the best time to catch the annual Eta Aquariid meteors, born from the debris left by the famous Halley’s Comet.  The shower’s radiant lies in Aquarius, just to the lower left of the 3rd-magnitude star Sadalmelik as the constellation rises a few hours after midnight. That’s fine, though, because the best timeContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, May 6: The Eta Aquariids peak"

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On Wednesday, April 23, I set off for the Starmus Festival in La Palma, Canary Islands, along with my pal and fellow editor Michael Bakich and his wife Holley. But we didn’t get very far. Multiple delays from Tucson to Dallas meant we would miss our flight to Madrid. We had to wait until FridayContinue reading "Starmus Festival stretches continents"

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The Milky Way Galaxy is full of cosmic objects of varying shapes and sizes — sometimes resembling objects here on Earth. A galactic center radio filament called G359.13142-0.20005 (or G359.13 for short) is seen here in X-ray (blue) and radio (gray) light. Astronomers have likened the 230 light-year-long structure to a cosmic “bone” perpendicular toContinue reading "A speeding pulsar may have ‘broken’ this cosmic bone"

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Do black holes exist forever? If not, how do they die? If yes, is the number of black holes in the universe always increasing? Eliot H. GinsbergRiverview, Florida Black holes are known for their voracious appetites, consuming everything — even light — that falls inside them with no hope of escape.  But in 1974, StephenContinue reading "Do black holes exist forever?"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out the evening of May 5 to see Mars close to the Beehive Cluster in the constellation Cancer the Crab. In fact, because Mars doesn’t move all that fast, you’ll be able to spot the Red Planet near the open star cluster several days beforeContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: Mars and the Beehive Cluster"

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Look west this evening after sunset to catch a glimpse of bright Jupiter, slowly setting between the horns of Taurus the Bull. An hour after sunset, Aldebaran — the Bull’s eye — is getting low, but Jupiter remains some 20° high.  With a telescope, center the stately gas giant in your field of view. It’sContinue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, May 5: Europa vanishes behind Jupiter"

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Comets are notoriously unpredictable. Some of the most spectacular of these icy visitors pop up unexpectedly, careening toward the Sun and bursting out in spectacular fashion with little advance notice. Others are spotted over a year before they make their closest approach, but break apart and fizzle out. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was the rare comet thatContinue reading "Remembering Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS: The comet of the year"

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Emanuele La Barbera, taken from Piano Battaglia, Sicily, Italy This deep view of Bode’s Galaxy (M81; center), the Cigar Galaxy (M82; lower left), and NGC 3077 (lower right) is the result of more than 59 hours of HαLRGB exposure split across a a 3.3-inch refractor and 5-inch reflector. The wispy clouds this image reveals areContinue reading "Going deep"

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The White House on Friday released its fiscal year 2026 discretionary budget request, proposing a dramatic reduction in NASA’s overall funding from about $25 billion to $18.8 billion, or about 25 percent. But not all programs will be affected equally. The discretionary or “skinny” budget is akin to a blueprint and is an early stepContinue reading "NASA budget proposal boosts human exploration — at expense of science"

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The detection of life beyond Earth would be one of the most profound discoveries in the history of science. The Milky Way galaxy alone hosts hundreds of millions of potentially habitable planets. Astronomers are using powerful space telescopes to look for molecular indicators of biology in the atmospheres of the most Earth-like of these planets.Continue reading "How much evidence do scientists need to claim they’ve found alien life?"

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Giovanni Passalacqua, taken in Sicily, Italy A flow of glowing lava is echoed by star trails (most prominently Sirius at left) in the skies above an erupting Mount Etna. The photographer used a Canon mirrorless camera and 150mm lens to capture this scene.

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Open sky Sky View TentsBuena Vista, CO The new Sky View XL Stargazing Tent is for those who want coverage while seeking the stars. This 90-by-90-inch (228.6 by 228.6 centimeters) tent offers views of the sky from every angle with a bug mesh specifically crafted for high visibility. It offers enough room for three adultsContinue reading "New astronomy products blossoming this month"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, May 2Asteroid 4 Vesta reaches opposition at 2 A.M. EDT this morning. The magnitude 5.7 main-belt world is visible all night throughout the month of May, arcing slowly through Libra the Balance. The best time to view it is overnight around local midnight,Continue reading "The Sky This Week from May 2 to 9: The Eta Aquariids peak"

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A brand-new instrument has captured a cluster of sunspots — dark surface spots caused by strong magnetic fields — on our glorious Sun in an unprecedented amount of detail. This image was taken during the first-light observation of the new Visible Tunable Filter (VTF), which was recently installed on the U.S. National Science Foundation’s DanielContinue reading "World’s biggest solar telescope captures sunspots as never seen before"

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There are tens of billions of Sun-like stars in the Milky Way, an immense tally that encourages the possibility that extraterrestrial life peppers the universe. Finding evidence for aliens — even microscopic ones — would confirm the widespread belief that life is not an unlikely event, constrained to a small number of planets and moons.Continue reading "Can we detect alien artifacts?"

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David Gluchowski from Brooklyn, New York City Sitting in the middle of 42nd Street (waiting for a bus?) is a day-old crescent Moon in this shot taken at 9:10 p.m. on April 28. The photographer used a Canon mirrorless camera and 600mm lens, taking a 1/15-second exposure at f/6.3 and ISO 1600.

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Jupiter and Mars are on display during May evenings. It’s your last chance to grab a good view of Jupiter before it drops out of sight for midsummer. A gathering of planets in the morning sky offers some nice opportunities, and in the first week of May they’re joined by meteors from the annual EtaContinue reading "May 2025: What’s in the sky this month? Jupiter and Mars shine in the evening, while more planets gather before dawn"

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As twilight fades to night these May evenings, Mars stands out in the northern sky. It begins the month near the center of Cancer the Crab not far from the magnificent Beehive star cluster (M44). The planet passes less than 1° north of the cluster during May’s first week. Mars’ eastward motion carries it intoContinue reading "May 2025: What’s in the Southern Hemisphere sky this month?"

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Wide-field imaging is a passion of mine. Something about capturing a large swath of the night sky filled with delicate billows of ionized hydrogen stimulates the imagination and creates a sense of awe at the beauty of our universe. For two years, my favorite wide-field refractor has been my William Optics RedCat 71, but I’veContinue reading "Review: The RedCat 91 is a refractor everyone should want"

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Our universe has been expanding ever since it was born in the Big Bang. For decades, most cosmologists believed the universe’s expansion was slowing. Gravity, pulling on all matter, would eventually overcome the momentum from the Big Bang, halting or even reversing the expansion. But in 1998, supernova observations revealed a surprise: the universe isContinue reading "New findings suggest dark energy may be changing over time"

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About 800 million miles (1.2 billion kilometers) from Earth lies cloud-cloaked Titan, largest of Saturn’s 146-strong retinue of moons. In this dark, subfreezing patch of the outer solar system, the Sun glows at barely 1 percent of its strength in Earth’s skies. It’s hardly an ideal place to search for life, but impossible as itContinue reading "NASA gives OK to build drone that will fly on Saturn’s moon Titan"

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Emil Andronic from Hemel Hempstead, U.K. The unusual shape of NGC 3718 is a barred spiral galaxy with an unusual, twisted shape — likely due to interactions with nearby NGC 3729. Lying around 120 million light-years away, it’s also listed as the 214th entry in Halton Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. This imager took 37⅓Continue reading "A twisted galaxy"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out in the evening this spring to observe one of the sky’s finest deep-sky objects: the Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as M51. And as a bonus, you’ll also see a second galaxy — NGC 5195 — interacting with the Whirlpool. You’ll need a medium size telescope, such as aContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Whirlpool Galaxy"

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Our universe is filled with particles, such as electrons and protons, which make up all the stuff on our planet and beyond: animals, plants, people, planets, asteroids, stars, gas clouds, and galaxies. Antimatter was first discovered in 1928 by physicist Paul Dirac, but it wasn’t through any experiment. Instead, he was working to blend theContinue reading "How does the universe make antimatter?"

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About 2,600 light-years away, a dead star is sending signals from beyond the grave.  Astronomers recently found the strange beacon, which appears to be a pulsar blinking in slow motion — something that shouldn’t be possible. “It’s incredibly exciting to discover such a long-period pulsar,” says Yuanming Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at Swinburne University inContinue reading "Astronomers find a strange pulsar blinking in slow motion"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, April 25The Moon passes 1.9° due north of Neptune at 6 A.M. EDT this morning. Early rises will be able to catch the Moon hanging between Venus and Mercury in the predawn sky — check out last week’s column for details.   LaterContinue reading "The Sky This Week from April 25 to May 2: Venus at its brightest"

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Andrea Arbizzi from Modena, Italy In May 1980, Alois Purgathofer and Ronald Weinberger discovered this faint planetary nebula, now known as Purgathofer-Weinberger 1 (PuWe 1). It lies just 1,300 light-years away in Lynx and is the second-largest known planetary in apparent size, with a diameter two-thirds that of the Full Moon. The imager took 28Continue reading "A nearby planetary"

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In the 35 years since the Hubble Space Telescope flew to space, it has taken pictures of comets, merging galaxies, planets, supernova remnants, and more. The first-of-its-kind telescope — a joint NASA and European Space Agency effort — was lofted aboard the shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. Since then it has made nearly 1.7Continue reading "Hubble’s best images, 35 years since its launch"

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Last month, the European Space Agency (ESA) released a huge dataset from its space telescope Euclid. The release featured three deep-field mosaics glittering with 380,000 galaxies and hundreds of examples where the light of distant objects is bent and magnified by the gravitational influence of massive galaxies. The mosaics were captured in the constellations ofContinue reading "Euclid unveils treasure trove of 380,000 galaxies in first major data release"

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NASA’s Lucy spacecraft visited the asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson on Sunday, April 20, coming within 600 miles (920 kilometers) of the object located in the inner region of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.  The asteroid was named after the paleontologist Donald Johanson, who in 1974 co-discovered the first identified example of previously unknown typeContinue reading "Peanut-shaped surprise for Lucy in asteroid flyby"

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Steve Leonard from Markham, Ontario, Canada The visual appearance of the March 13/14 total lunar eclipse was captured in this composite of three stacks of images: One for the eclipsed Moon, one for the background star field, and a third stack of overexposed frames to capture the diffuse glow around the Moon. The imager usingContinue reading "Blood glow"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out before sunrise and view brilliant Venus. The planet, which is only outshone by the Sun or the Moon, will lie low in the eastern sky. It will rise and hour or so before the Sun. Even as morning twilight begins to brighten the sky,Continue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: Venus in the Morning Sky"

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Huang Dandan/Liu Dongyu, taken from Ming’antu Town, Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia, China The stars spin above the north-south-aligned antennas of the Interplanetary Scintillation Observation (IPS) Telescope, China’s first radio telescope for studying interplanetary scintillation. This stacked image was captured with a Sony mirrorless camera and 14mm lens, with 15-second exposures at f/3.2 and ISOContinue reading "Scintillating star trails"

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NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission launched March 12, sending up a constellation of four Earth-orbiting satellites with the goal of studying how the Sun’s activity influences the space environment around Earth. This week, the four satellites opened their cameras to the sky and captured their so-called first light images inContinue reading "PUNCH sees first light, prepares to study how the Sun creates our space weather"

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Looking like a bird ready to take flight from atop a post, this dusty filament within the Eagle Nebula was recently captured in intricate detail by the Hubble Space Telescope.  Also known as M16, this nebula lies some 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Serpens the Serpent and surrounds an open star cluster. ThisContinue reading "A dark, dusty pillar stretches across re-released Hubble image"

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Be careful out there, astronomers: There could be a dark galaxy in our midst.  In research published today in Science Advances, researchers from the Chinese National Academy of Sciences discovered that a fast-moving cloud of gas near the Milky Way may not be a cloud at all, but rather a small galaxy made mostly ofContinue reading "Astronomers find a rare ‘dark galaxy’ within our Local Group"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, April 18Jupiter still rules the early-evening skies, standing prominently in Taurus in the west as darkness falls. Located between the two horns of Taurus the Bull and above its red giant eye, Aldebaran, Jupiter is the brightest point of light in the west,Continue reading "The Sky This Week from April 18 to 25: The Lyrid meteor shower peaks"

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The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83) in Hydra checks almost every box an amateur astronomer could desire. This stunning barred spiral spans a hefty 14′ and, at magnitude 7.5, ranks among the sky’s 10 brightest galaxies. Its only drawback is location — at a declination of –30°, it lies farther south than any other galaxy inContinue reading "M83: Big, bright, and beautiful"

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Scientists have reported new observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that strengthen the case that the exoplanet K2-18 b has molecules in its atmosphere that, on Earth, are produced only by life. The work, announced Wednesday, builds on previous observations from JWST published in 2023 by the same team that yielded weak hintsContinue reading "K2-18 b could have dimethyl sulfide in its air. But is it a sign of life?"

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Vast Space, one of several commercial firms vying to replace the International Space Station (ISS) following its planned deorbit at the end of the decade, this week signed key agreements that heighten the competition. At the 40th Space Symposium in Colorado, where Vast’s Haven-1 space station was on display, the company secured deals that give it direct ISS access andContinue reading "Vast bolsters commercial space station plans with key agreements"

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Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump’s nominee for NASA administrator, finally got his day in the Senate and laid out his vision for the space agency to pursue missions to both the Moon and Mars. During Isaacman’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Wednesday, the billionaire entrepreneur and civilian astronaut fieldedContinue reading "NASA Chief nominee Isaacman fields questions about Moon, Mars, Musk"

The post NASA Chief nominee Isaacman fields questions about Moon, Mars, Musk appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

The U.S. is in the midst of a second Space Race, and NASA is in a time crunch. The space agency is preparing to send American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era. But after delaying the Artemis III lunar landing twice in 2024, there is much work to beContinue reading "Keeping up in the second Space Race takes diligence"

The post Keeping up in the second Space Race takes diligence appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

On Monday morning, an all-female group of civilians including pop star Katy Perry and award-winning broadcast journalist Gayle King flew to the edge of space and back. Perry, King, and four others were selected as the crew of Blue Origin’s New Shepard Mission 31 (NS-31), which launched at 9:30 a.m. EDT from the company’s Launch Site OneContinue reading "Blue Origin flies Katy Perry, Gayle King, and other customers to space"

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Since it began collecting data, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has shined a light on the early universe, helping us better understand the timeline of events that led to our modern-day cosmos.  In a paper published March 26 in Nature, a University of Copenhagen-led team reports finding a galaxy right at a crucial momentContinue reading "JWST spots the earliest galaxy yet clearing the universe’s hydrogen ‘fog’"

The post JWST spots the earliest galaxy yet clearing the universe’s hydrogen ‘fog’ appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Much of what scientists know about the early solar system comes from meteorites – ancient rocks that travel through space and survive a fiery plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. Among meteorites, one type – called carbonaceous chondrites – stands out as the most primitive and provides a unique glimpse into the solar system’s infancy. The carbonaceousContinue reading "Why meteorites that hit Earth have less water than the asteroid bits brought back by space probes — a planetary scientist explains"

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Pete Scifres from Westlake Village, California Reflection Canyon, located at the end of an 8-mile hike into Utah’s Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, serves as the foreground for this view of the spring Milky Way. The photographer captured the sky with a Canon mirrorless camera and a 15-second exposure at f/1.8 and ISO 4000 withContinue reading "Upon further reflection"

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Jared Isaacman, billionaire, CEO and nominee to become the next NASA administrator, faced questions on April 9, 2025, from members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation during his confirmation hearing for the position. Should the Senate confirm him, Isaacman will be the first billionaire – but not the first astronaut – to head NASA. Perhaps evenContinue reading "Trump’s nomination for NASA leader boasts business and commercial spaceflight experience"

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Before Einstein, special relativity, and E = mc2, what was the prevailing theory on the Sun’s seemingly eternal energy? William FieldsDayton, Ohio The question of what energy source powers the Sun has been around for literally centuries. During the 1800s, some thought that a constant shower of meteors onto the Sun might do the trick.Continue reading "Before Einstein, what did astronomers think powered the Sun?"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out and view a close grouping of planets in the early morning hours of April 21. That morning, you’ll be able to see Venus, Mercury, and Saturn low in the east. You won’t need a telescope or binoculars to view them, just use your eyes.Continue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: A conjunction of planets"

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Time under dark skies is precious, and for a lot of us, getting out to those sites can be tough. When we do, often we end up observing alone, or with a few intrepid others at an astronomy club observing session. And sometimes that solitude is what we’re looking for: just you and the sky.Continue reading "Don’t want to observe alone? Go to a star party!"

The post Don’t want to observe alone? Go to a star party! appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Exceptions announced late Friday night to the Trump administration’s so-called “reciprocal tariffs” are unlikely to provide any relief to the amateur astronomy industry, as they do not cover categories for telescopes, mounts, or digital cameras. The updated guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) affects the reciprocal tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald TrumpContinue reading "No relief for astronomy industry in new tariff exemptions"

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NASA could see a 20 percent cut to its overall 2026 budget, with funding for its science division slashed in half, if a preliminary budget proposal from the White House is enacted. The cuts would, among other impacts, cancel several missions and shut down NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The proposed cuts were laid outContinue reading "NASA faced with massive budget cuts in White House proposal"

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In late March, three amateur astronomers discovered Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN). Immediately, predictions began appearing online stating the brightness this object might reach. But, as comet discoverer David Levy says, “Comets are like cats. They have tails and do what they want.”  In other words, don’t bet the house that current predictions will come true.Continue reading "C/2025 F2 (SWAN): A new comet is in the spring sky"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, April 11An hour after sunset, the bright planet Jupiter stands out in eastern Taurus, forming a V with the two tips of the Bull’s horns, Zeta (ζ) Tauri and Gamma (γ) Aurigae. Below Jupiter shines Aldebaran, the Bull’s alpha star, a magnitude 0.9Continue reading "The Sky This Week from April 11 to 18: The April Full Pink Moon shines"

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The telescope industry in the U.S. has been thrown into chaos as a result of the Trump administration’s escalating trade conflict with China, as manufacturers contemplate price hikes and worry about the possibility of slowing demand. In the latest round of tariffs, U.S. President Donald Trump announced April 9 that duties on goods imported fromContinue reading "Amateur astronomy industry grapples with tariff chaos"

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I’m leading another eclipse trip. No surprise there. I’ve traveled to observe 16 total solar eclipses, and on all but two of them I was the official astronomer. But this one’s special, even for me.  First, it boasts the longest totality — 6 minutes 23 seconds — that anyone alive will be able to witness.Continue reading "Come with Astronomy associate editor Michael Bakich to Egypt"

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Chris Schur from Payson, Arizona Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN), discovered March. 29 by amateur astronomers in public imagery taken by the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) camera on ESA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observer (SOHO) spacecraft, has reached magnitude 7.5. This imager caught the comet on April 8 in the morning sky with an 8-inch RASA scopeContinue reading "A fledgling SWAN"

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Lucky is the word I’d use for any telescopic observers who got to see one of the most stunning spectacles in nature when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter in July 1994. The collision left inky scars in the planet’s atmosphere that persisted for months, with the largest welts visible in even the smallest of telescopes.Continue reading "How you can observe impacts on Jupiter"

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As of 2025, astronomers have identified at least 14 stars within 10 light-years of the Sun. After the Alpha Centauri system, the next closest is Barnard’s Star, a solo red dwarf roughly 6 light-years away. And thanks to new observations, we now know that Barnard’s Star is orbited by four small, rocky exoplanets. But it’sContinue reading "Three new planets found around Barnard’s Star"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out and view the first major meteor shower of the spring, the Lyrids. Because more than one meteor shower originates from the constellation Lyra, these are the April Lyrids. This shower is visible from April 15 to April 29, with the peak coming on AprilContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The April Lyrid Meteor Shower"

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In the century or so since Edwin Hubble discovered that the Milky Way is just one of countless galaxies in the universe, our understanding of our home galaxy has grown in leaps and bounds. But as recent research into a new type of cosmic object shows, there’s still plenty left to learn. Astronomers found twoContinue reading "Mystery ‘interstellar icy objects’ are carrying the seeds of life"

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Gianni Tumino from Ragusa, Italy Evening views of the Milky Way’s central regions return to the Northern Hemisphere, as seen in this shot taken from Punta Castellazzo on the island of Sicily, Italy. To image the sky, the imager used a Canon EOS Ra and 28mm lens at f/3.2 with a dual-band filter to captureContinue reading "The summer Milky Way returns"

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Launch providers SpaceX, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance — a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin Space — on Friday snapped up billions of dollars in national security launch contracts. Space Systems Command, the branch of Space Force responsible for development, acquisition, launch, and logistics, estimated the value of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL)Continue reading "SpaceX, Blue Origin, ULA win Space Force contracts worth up to $13.7B"

The post SpaceX, Blue Origin, ULA win Space Force contracts worth up to $13.7B appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

A new study by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) contradicts corporate claims that a proposed hydrogen fuel facility would not harm observatories in Chile. Earlier this year, ESO alerted the astronomy community that its facilities at Paranal — with some of the world’s darkest skies — were threatened by the plans to build a 7,400-acreContinue reading "ESO report shows energy plant would cause ‘devastating and irreversible’ impact"

The post ESO report shows energy plant would cause ‘devastating and irreversible’ impact appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

The annual Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) was held over the weekend of April 5 and 6 at Rockland Community College in Suffern, New York. Organized by the Rockland Astronomy Club, NEAF is one of the world’s premier annual astronomy expos. It brings together amateur astronomers, professionals, and industry leaders for a weekend of discovery andContinue reading "The best new astronomy products we saw at NEAF 2025"

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Is there evidence of a planet ever existing between Mars and Jupiter? MarkSmithtown, New York This splendid question gives us an opportunity to distinguish between what we know and what we believe might be true. First, we know that myriad small bodies orbit the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. These objects are the asteroids that comprise the mainContinue reading "Was there ever a planet between Mars and Jupiter? "

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The new Hestia telescope by Vaonis is the third of the company’s innovative instruments I have reviewed, and once again, I’m impressed. Vaonis named their creation for the Greek goddess of the hearth and home, and released it after a successful 2023 Kickstarter campaign which raised $4.1 million in just a month. The Hestia isContinue reading "Review: Astronomy tests Vaonis’ Hestia telescope for your smartphone"

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Sixty years ago, a fleet of sleek little spaceships paved the way for America to land a man on the Moon. Project Gemini was a series of two-man, Earth-orbital missions that pioneered rendezvous, docking, and maneuvering in-space, as well as spacewalking — all of which had to be perfected before there was any chance ofContinue reading "How Project Gemini changed spaceflight"

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Fabrizio Melandri from Voltana, Italy The partial solar eclipse of March 29, 2025, gave viewers along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard a view of “devil’s horns” — the horns of a partially eclipsed Sun emerging from the horizon at sunrise. This photographer captured this phenomenon from Monticello, Maine, with a 4-inch f/7 refractor and Nikon DSLR.

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The first astronaut crew to fly directly over Earth’s poles splashed down safely on Friday after nearly four days on orbit. Civilian astronauts Chun Wang, Jannicke Mikkelsen, Rabea Rogge, and Eric Phillips — the international crew of SpaceX’s private Fram2 mission — landed around 12:19 p.m. EDT and exited their SpaceX Dragon capsule without assistance, allowing researchers to study how theContinue reading "Fram2 astronauts splash down after historic polar spaceflight"

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The Mars Curiosity rover has found the largest organic molecules yet on the Red Planet. Organic molecules are the building blocks of life, although they can also be produced by geological processes. While there’s currently no way to prove whether these particular molecules were formed from processes associated with life, their very discovery shows thatContinue reading "Curiosity discovers largest organic molecules yet on Mars"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, April 4This evening, the roughly half-illuminated face of the Moon hangs in Gemini, high in the south an hour after sunset. First Quarter Moon occurs at 10:15 P.M. EDT. The two brightest stars in Gemini are Castor (magnitude 1.6) and Pollux (magnitude 1.2).Continue reading "The Sky This Week from April 4 to 11: Catch your last views of Uranus"

The post The Sky This Week from April 4 to 11: Catch your last views of Uranus appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

As World War II drew to a close, the Allies were eager to get their hands on one of the most technologically amazing yet terrifying weapons in Nazi Germany’s armamentarium: the V-2 rocket. A long-range, liquid-fueled supersonic guided missile, the V-2 could carry a 2,000-pound (910 kilograms) warhead a staggering 200 miles (320 kilometers) fromContinue reading "Megaroc: The British manned space program that almost was"

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Andrei Pleskatsevich, taken from Minsk, Belarus The Seagull Nebula is a region of nebulosity lying on the border between constellations Monoceros and Canis Major; the emission nebula forming the bird’s “head” carries the catalog designation IC 2177. The imager used a 3-inch f/4.5 scope and one-shot color camera to take 10 hours of exposure.

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Gitanjali Rao was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Stephen Hawking Medal Junior, an award created to inspire young innovators.

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Sky watchers The University of Arizona PressTucson, AZ Star Gazers: Finding Joy in the Night Sky, by prolific astronomy writer David H. Levy, is a collection of personal essays celebrating amateur and professional astronomy. Bringing together his decades of sky-watching experience, this 172-page book gives readers insight into Levy’s thoughts on James Webb Space Telescope,Continue reading "Spring for new astronomy products this month"

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The Federal Aviation Administration has completed its investigations looking into “mishaps” that occurred during Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launch and SpaceX’s Starship Flight 7 in January. On Jan. 16, Blue Origin’s New Glenn-1 reached orbit on its debut flight. While the launch was successful, the rocket lost its lower stage during its descent. Later thatContinue reading "FAA concludes Blue Origin, SpaceX January ‘mishap’ investigations"

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he first commercially built rocket to lift off from continental Europe came tumbling back to Earth within seconds. But its manufacturer considers the mission a success. The test flight, “Going Full Spectrum,” was the debut launch of Norwegian company Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum, a two-stage orbital launch vehicle designed to compete with SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9Continue reading "Debut flight of Isar Aerospace Spectrum rocket ends in explosion"

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From the editor: As the extraordinary pace of astronomical discovery carries on, we increasingly see that the stuff of life is spread throughout the cosmos. Life, even complex life, must be common out there. We know of several hundred billion stars in our galaxy, at least 100 billion galaxies, and planets around most of theContinue reading "Earth as a planet"

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My childhood fascination with the night sky led me to study astronomy and physics at university. By my second year, I was operating the telescope atop the physics building, tracking celestial objects — just like astronomy student Kate Dibiasky in the disaster movie Don’t Look Up.I never imagined I’d also soon find myself alerting othersContinue reading "Solving the climate equation"

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In many ways, Tony Fadell built the digital world we live in. At the turn of the millennium, his efforts to build a pocket-sized, hard-disk-based device that could hold 1,000 songs in MP3 format caught the attention of Apple. Within months, he had been hired by the firm, and less than a year after hisContinue reading "How to build climate solutions: An interview with Tony Fadell"

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Next week, a crew of private astronauts is expected to go where no one has gone before. Chun Wang, the crypto entrepreneur who purchased the Fram2 mission from SpaceX in August, announced Friday that the three-to-five-day sojourn — the first human spaceflight to fly directly over the Earth’s poles — is scheduled to launch fromContinue reading "SpaceX’s Fram2 mission will aim for the poles"

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After a scrubbed test flight on Monday, a German spaceflight company has determined its next opportunity to launch the first commercial orbital launch vehicle from mainland Europe. Munich-based Isar Aerospace postponed the debut launch of its Spectrum rocket, citing unfavorable winds at Norway’s Andøya Spaceport. On Tuesday, Isar said it will now target Thursday atContinue reading "German firm eyes Thursday for Europe’s first commercial orbital launch"

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Astronomers have finally identified the source of mysterious radio waves from deep space, tracing the signals back to an unusual stellar pair locked in a swift orbit, flashing out their location for the universe to hear. In research published March 12 in Nature Astronomy, a team of astrophysicists finally found the source of strange, minute-longContinue reading "This dead star is still sending us radio signals"

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The quest to send humans to Mars is on: US President Donald Trump talked about it in his inauguration speech this year. Such an epic endeavor could help to answer fundamental questions about the Red Planet, including the biggest question of all: Did Mars once host life — and does it still? Central to thoseContinue reading "Ghost rivers, hidden lakes: The long search for water on Mars"

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Greg Polanski from Kanata, Ontario, Canada The ever-popular Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237–9/46) lies 10° east of Betelgeuse and is an impressive telescopic sight. Deep imaging reveals the line of dark Bok globules — small dense clouds where baby stars are forming — that appear to lie suspended within the nebula. The imager took 12⅓ hoursContinue reading "Bathed in blue"

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To detect neutrinos, scientists use vast observatories located underground, shielded from cosmic ray interference. These detectors rely on Cherenkov radiation, a bluish light produced when high-speed muons, created by rare neutrino collisions, travel faster than light through water or ice. Photomultiplier tubes amplify this light, allowing astronomers to trace the neutrino’s path and energy.

The post How do neutrino telescopes work? appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Astronomers have discovered more than 300 exoplanetary systems that have three or more known planets. Most of these planets are about the same size and spaced close together, earning them the moniker “peas in a pod.” They also orbit near their stars, in many cases closer than Mercury is to the Sun.  Our solar system,Continue reading "Our solar system is not as unusual as we thought"

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Could the nearby star Sirius B explode as a type Ia supernova, like some other white dwarf stars in binary star systems have? Bruce MasonEncinitas, California A type Ia supernova occurs when a white dwarf — the cooling remnant of an aging star — draws hydrogen from a companion sun. When the dwarf reaches 1.4Continue reading "Will Sirius B explode as a type Ia supernova?"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to view an unusual event: a partial eclipse of the Sun. Depending on where you are, you might see the Moon cover up to 90 percent of the bright solar disk. Remember, however, even 10 percent of the Sun is dangerous to look at, so wear approvedContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: A Solar Eclipse"

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Greg Meyer from Phoenix, Arizona This dusty figure of the Baby Eagle Nebula (LBN 777) is part of the larger Taurus Molecular Cloud. The dust is dimly lit by young stars within the cloud; the brownish color gives away the presence of larger dust grains. This image comprises nearly 24 hours of LRGB exposure withContinue reading "Cosmic fledgling"

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The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is one of the Milky Way’s closest neighbors. It’s a small, irregular galaxy that orbits the Milky Way, and is an easy naked-eye object from the Southern Hemisphere. As one of the only galaxies outside our own where telescopes can resolve individual stars and small scale structures, astronomers love toContinue reading "Our near galactic neighbor might have a supermassive black hole"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, March 21By 10 P.M. local daylight time, the constellation Canes Venatici the Hunting Dogs is some 45° high in the east. Nestled under the curve of the Big Dipper’s handle, this seemingly innocuous star pattern hosts several popular deep-sky objects.  One of thoseContinue reading "The Sky This Week from March 21 to 28: Galilean moon action"

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A French researcher was denied entry to the United States and expelled from the country for expressing “a personal opinion” on U.S. president Donald Trump’s research policies, the French government said March 19. France’s research minister, Philippe Baptiste, told the wire agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the researcher, from France’s National Center for Scientific ResearchContinue reading "French space researcher denied entry to U.S. over views on Trump’s policies: report"

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Rui Santos, taken from Leiria, Portugal In this solargraph, the Sun’s journey across the sky is captured continuously for 43 days, its trails interrupted by overcast days and passing clouds. To create the image, the photographer transformed a beer can into a pinhole camera and lined the interior with light-sensitive photographic paper. In the foregroundContinue reading "A (really) long exposure"

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After 268 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams made their highly anticipated return to Earth on Tuesday evening. But while they are back on solid ground, the vehicle that flew them to the orbital laboratory faces an uncertain future. Wilmore and Williams were commander and pilot, respectively,Continue reading "What’s next for Boeing Starliner?"

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Astronomers at the University of Michigan have discovered a new satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Milky Way’s closest major galactic neighbor, and it has broken the record for the faintest such galaxy yet discovered. Both the Milky Way and Andromeda are known to have a slew of smaller galaxies that orbit them, caughtContinue reading "Andromeda has a new faintest satellite galaxy"

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Hera, European Space Agency’s (ESA) flagship planetary defense mission that launched in October 2024, took images of Mars and Deimos, one of its two moons, yesterday. The mission’s flyby was used as a gravity assist to its final destination at the binary asteroid system Dimorphos and Didymos. The mission also used this journey past MarsContinue reading "Martian moon caught on camera during Hera flyby"

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SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom capsule safely splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday evening bringing astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams home after the two spent 286 days in space aboard the International Space Station.

The post SpaceX capsule returns NASA astronauts after nine months aboard ISS appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in June for an intended eight-day stay, are expected to finally return to Earth Tuesday after spending more than nine months orbiting the planet. The space agency on Sunday said it expects the astronauts — the commander and pilot ofContinue reading "How to watch: Starliner crew set for splashdown after nine-month ISS stay"

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Powering spacecraft with solar energy may not seem like a challenge, given how intense the Sun’s light can feel on Earth. Spacecraft near the Earth use large solar panels to harness the Sun for the electricity needed to run their communications systems and science instruments. However, the farther into space you go, the weaker theContinue reading "Inside radioisotope generators, the ‘nuclear batteries’ that power faraway spacecraft"

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You could forgive M17 for having an identity crisis. Observers refer to this emission region as the Omega, the Swan, and even the Checkmark Nebula. M17 doesn’t even know what constellation to call home — most of it lies in Sagittarius, but its northern edge crosses into Serpens. Yet no one can deny the stellarContinue reading "M17 stars in a cosmic vista"

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Marco Wong from Redhill, U.K. The Milky Way arches over the Cuckmere River in Sussex, U.K., in this blended panorama. The imager used a Canon DSLR and captured the sky panels with a 28mm f/1.4 and with exposures of 52 seconds at ISO 800; the foreground panels were captured with a 13mm f/2.8 lens atContinue reading "From dusk til dawn"

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The Blue Ghost lunar lander finished surface operations on March 16, 2025, wrapping up a smashing success of a mission. Designed, built, and flown by Firefly Aerospace, based near Austin, Texas, Blue Ghost executed a flawless two-month-long voyage, capped by a stunning landing and two weeks of operations at Mare Crisium. The success of theContinue reading "Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander nails lunar mission"

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What is the benefit of a 2″ eyepiece compared to a 1¼” eyepiece? Tom NagyNorth Ridgeville, Ohio A 2″ eyepiece delivers a wider true field of view (the actual amount of sky visible) than a 1¼” eyepiece of the same focal length. Two factors determine the true field: the telescope’s focal length and the diameterContinue reading "What is the difference between a 2″ eyepiece and a 1¼” eyepiece?"

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You know, after decades of pointing optics toward the sky, I consider myself a knowledgeable observer. But while researching the Pleiades a few months back, I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t the brightest star cluster. And there were other surprises when I started comparing overall brightnesses of deep-sky objects. For instance, you mightContinue reading "Observe the brightest deep-sky objects"

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SpaceX, the world’s dominant commercial space launch provider, is looking to ramp up the activity of its workhorse rocket. The FAA on Friday released a draft environmental assessment (EA) analyzing the company’s proposal to more than double the number of Falcon 9 launches from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force StationContinue reading "SpaceX proposal would more than double Falcon 9 launches at Cape Canaveral"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out soon and look at the planets in the evening sky. The highest is Mars, the so-called Red Planet. The giant planet Jupiter is a bit lower but much brighter. Brightest of all is Venus, low in the west. If you want to see thatContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Planets Align"

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Astronomers and space scientists are living in a state of fear and anxiety as the Trump administration and Elon Musk-led U.S. DOGE Service target science spending and diversity initiatives with actions that are already damaging research and threaten to set back U.S. scientific leadership for years, scientists tell Astronomy. The assault began during Trump’s firstContinue reading "Space scientists fearful as Trump administration targets science and mulls NASA cuts"

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Philippe Moussette, taken at Cap-Rouge, Quebec, Canada The reddened shadow of Earth falling upon the Moon during the lunar eclipse of March 13/14 — a so-called Blood Moon — is captured in this sequence taken with a Canon mirrorless camera and 600mm lens.

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The public is enamored of images returned to Earth by space probes. Whether they show the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, or the icy surface of Pluto, these captivating images garner loads of attention.  In addition to cameras, robotic probes always carry an array of scientific instruments that get far less attention fromContinue reading "Why so many spacecraft carry magnetometers"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, March 14The Moon reaches Full phase early this morning at 2:55 A.M. EDT, with a total lunar eclipse underway. Everyone across the U.S. can watch the event, and no special equipment is needed — just your eyes!  Totality begins about half an hourContinue reading "The Sky This Week from March 14 to 21: The start of spring"

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Jamie Cooper from Northamptonshire, U.K. Craters dot the Moon’s rugged south pole region in this shot taken March 7 with a 16-inch Dobsonian. The central-peak crater just above and left of center is Moretus, and Clavius is the large crater at lower right (with multiple smaller craters inside).

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We’ve always known Mars as the Red Planet — but it turns out, we may have had the reason why wrong. If so, it could revise much of what we know about the history of our smaller neighbor planet. In a study published Feb. 25 in Nature Communications, researchers tied the nature of Mars’ redContinue reading "Could Mars’ red color have formed under wet conditions?"

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A recent paper suggests that if astrobiologists want to make an educated guess about what life on Venus might look like, they should look to a weird microbe called A. ferrooxidans, found here onEarth. Earthly life-forms are the only examples we have of what life looks like, so astrobiologists often study them for clues aboutContinue reading "Strange microbes on Earth might help us understand life on Venus"

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Comets develop the spectacular long tails that they are known for by approaching the Sun. When they get too close, their icy volatile materials begin to sublimate away, carrying along clouds of dust. But this activity usually only happens relatively close to the Sun, as comets spend most of their time in the outer solarContinue reading "Astronomers have spotted the most distant comet ever discovered"

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During the night of March 13, most of North and South America will be treated to a total lunar eclipse, an event popularly referred to as a Blood Moon. The event is aptly named — the Moon is cast in a dark red, brown, or orange color during totality, giving it an eerie appearance inContinue reading "How to get the most out of the lunar eclipse"

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Simon Todd, taken from Haywards Heath, U.K. The Christmas Tree Cluster lies at the center of this image, filled with young, newborn stars and surrounding nebulosity cataloged as NGC 2264. That includes the Cone Nebula, just left of center. The Fox Fur Nebula lies directly below the bright blue star (S Monoceros) at center. ThisContinue reading "Stellar nativity scene"

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If you weigh a certain amount on Earth, how much less or more would you weigh on the Moon? MakaylaArkansas The short answer is that you would weigh roughly one-sixth your Earth weight on the Moon. So if your bathroom scale reads 180 pounds (81.6 kilograms) on Earth, it would read 30 pounds (13.6 kg)Continue reading "How much less would you weigh on the Moon than on Earth?"

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Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is particularly captivating for scientists. This is thanks in large part to its status as the only other planetary body in the solar system known to host an atmosphere about 1.5 times denser than Earth’s and bodies of liquid on its surface. (Unlike Earth, however, where most surface liquid is water,Continue reading "Cryovolcanism on Titan may replenish its thick atmosphere"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out on the evening of March 13. That’s when one of the year’s best celestial events — a total eclipse of the Moon — will begin. It will continue into the early morning hours of the 14th, so if you want to see it all, get ready for aContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: A Total Eclipse of the Moon"

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One of the most competitive segments in the amateur telescope marketplace these days spans 3- to 5-inch apochromatic refractors. Once considered telescopes for the well-to-do, these instruments are now affordable to many backyard stargazers. And one of the newest companies to enter this market segment is Starfield Optics from Caledon, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.Continue reading "We test Starfield Optics’ 115mm Géar Triplet APO"

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Rob Lyons, taken from Vancouver, Canada This wide-field vista spans the constellations Cepheus and Cassiopeia and includes an host of deep-sky objects. From left to right: NGC 7822 (the Question Mark Nebula), LBN 576 (the Garlic Bulb Nebula), NGC 7635 (the Bubble Nebula), Sharpless 2–157 (the Lobster Claw Nebula), and Sharpless 2–155 (the Cave Nebula).Continue reading "Group photo"

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Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission has ended after its lunar lander, Athena, apparently toppled over as it touched down and came to rest on its side yesterday in a shadowed crater, the company announced. In a statement released this morning, the company said its batteries had run out and they did not expect it to reawaken.Continue reading "Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 Moon lander is lying dead in a crater"

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Millions of viewers who tuned into Thursday’s broadcast of SpaceX Starship’s eighth test flight experienced a collective déjà vu as the mammoth rocket exploded and rained down flaming hunks of metal in eerily similar fashion to Flight 7. So too did pilots flying over the Caribbean ocean, many of whom were forced to change course to avoid theContinue reading "SpaceX Starship explodes, disrupts air travel a second time"

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All lunar eclipses — whether penumbral, partial, or total — offer us thought-provoking views of Earth’s shadow. Frequently, lunar eclipses offer up peculiar color effects, with the shadowed Moon appearing reddish due to the state of Earth’s atmosphere. But the March 14, 2025, total lunar eclipse all but guarantees additional optical phenomena of a differentContinue reading "Look for these effects during the next lunar eclipse"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, March 7Look north after dark tonight to find the curved form of the Little Dipper. The smaller of the two famous dipper-shaped asterisms in the northern sky, the Little Dipper extends from the North Star, Polaris, at the end of its handle. ButContinue reading "The Sky This Week from March 7 to 14: A total lunar eclipse"

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After a successful launch last week aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission landed on the Moon on March 6 shortly after 11:30 a.m. EST. The craft is transmitting back to its control center and able to collect some level of solar power. However, its landing orientation and the status of otherContinue reading "IM-2 lands on the Moon but its status is uncertain"

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Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 22. That’s when the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) will be out in force to show you the wonders of the heavens at the annual Tucson Astronomy Festival. The event will be held at Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, Ramada 1, 3482 E. River Road, Tucson. Things will get startedContinue reading "Get ready to attend the Tucson Astronomy Festival"

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When Intuitive Machines’ Athena lunar lander makes moonfall around 12:30 p.m. EST Thursday, spectators on Earth will be able to watch it happen. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab is partnering with Comcast to stream the landing at the moon’s south pole, share never-before-seen 3D lunar images, and provide live updates of the 20-day missionContinue reading "How to watch Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 Moon landing"

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In November 2022, a Chinese Long March 5B rocket reentered the atmosphere with no ability to control where it fell. As a precaution, France, Spain, and Monaco closed some of their airspace along the booster’s possible path. As it happened, the rocket reentered over the Pacific Ocean, not Europe. But the airspace closures still resultedContinue reading "Rocket debris poses risks to aircraft operations"

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Abhijit Patil, taken from Mendocino County, California The unusual rock formations that give Bowling Ball Beach its name are usually submerged and visible only at low tide. The imager used an astromodified Nikon mirrorless camera and 16mm lens to create a five-shot vertical panorama. The sky panel makes use of UV/IR-cut filter and star trackerContinue reading "Celestial spheres"

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Another great celestial event is coming. And this one’s really easy to observe because you can see it with just your eyes. Not only that, but anyone in the U.S. under a clear sky will be able to watch it. On Thursday, March 13 (and continuing into the 14th), the Moon will pass through theContinue reading "Don’t miss tonight’s total lunar eclipse"

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During the Cold War, the U.S. and USSR raced to be first to send robotic and human explorers to the Moon, traversing lunar terrain and returning samples to Earth. These exploits and their scientific returns were crucial to unlocking the history of the Moon — and by extension, the history of our solar system. ButContinue reading "The new golden age of Moon exploration"

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The Northeast Astronomy Forum and Space Expo (NEAF) is celebrating 34 years in Suffern, New York, just 40 minutes outside of New York City. This two-day event, taking place April 5 and 6 at Rockland Community College, features 120 telescope and equipment vendors, talks from industry experts, and opportunities to do your own solar viewing.Continue reading "The NEAF Expo is back again for its 34th year"

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What are Lagrangian points? Dean TreadwayJesup, Georgia The Lagrangian equilibrium stability points, or L points, are the five places where the combined gravitational forces of two bodies produce regions of gravitational balance. These are little pockets where other bodies can, in theory, remain orbiting in place without expending much energy. Three of these L points, L1, L2 andContinue reading "What are Lagrangian points?"

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Greg Meyer from Phoenix, Arizona Messier objects M97 (bottom right) and M108 (top left) are similar in apparent brightness and size. But while M97 (also known as the Owl Nebula) is a planetary nebula lying just 2,600 light-years away, M108 is a galaxy 30 million light-years away. This Hα/OIII/RGB image represents 27 hours of exposureContinue reading "Depth perception"

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To the Moon University of Chicago PressChicago, IL Lunar: A History of the Moon in Myths, Maps, and Matter compiles 44 hand-drawn cartographic charts created by illustrator-cartographers from the U.S. Geological Survey. This 256-page hardback contains 500 color images, as well as commentary on Earth’s natural satellite from experts and scholars, combining scientific observations andContinue reading "Lucky new astronomy product finds this month"

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New research, published today in Nature Astronomy, found that water may have formed in the first 200 million years of the universe’s lifetime. The life-giving molecule may have been created so quickly by the deaths of the universe’s first stars. The study also found that rocky planets could be built in the water-rich environment leftContinue reading "The first stars may have flooded the early universe with water"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out during the early evening hours of March 5. That evening, the Moon will pass quite close to the Pleiades star cluster. Also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45, this group of stars is easy to see with your naked eyes. Still, binoculars mightContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Moon meets the Pleiades"

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In October 1995, after decades of serious effort, astronomers announced the first discovery of a planet orbiting a Sun-like star. Until then, the few planets known to exist beyond the solar system accompanied pulsars, the collapsed remnants of burnt-out stars, and had revealed themselves through glitches in the precise timing of the pulsars’ radio emission.Continue reading "Explore 30 years of exoplanet discoveries"

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Two planets stand out in March’s evening sky, but let’s start our tour with a pair of lesser lights that hug the western horizon. Although Venus lies a respectable 30° from the Sun at the beginning of the month, it appears low in the sky. On the 1st, you can find the planet 5° highContinue reading "March 2025: What’s in the Southern Hemisphere sky this month?"

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A total eclipse of the Moon is the highlight of this month, visible across North and South America. Venus remains very bright and transitions from evening to morning late in the month. Mercury joins Venus for a few evenings, offering the best opportunity to see both planets in twilight. Mars and Jupiter dominate the lateContinue reading "March 2025: What’s in the sky this month? A total lunar eclipse, Venus remains bright, and Mars and Jupiter continue to dominate"

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If I’m being honest, the title of this story should be “When is T Coronae Borealis going to explode again?” T Coronae Borealis (T CrB) is classified as a recurrent nova — a star that blows its top over and over. Such objects are rare; fewer than a dozen have been identified in our galaxy.Continue reading "When is T Coronae Borealis going to explode?"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, February 28Venus is a prominent fixture in the evening sky, still hanging on at magnitude –4.8 and setting nearly three hours after the Sun. It’s currently located in central Pisces, far outshining any stars in the region.  Because Venus is an inferior planetContinue reading "The Sky This Week from February 28 to March 7: The Moon joins the planets"

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UPDATE Wednesday, March 12, 2025: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying PUNCH successfully launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:10 P.M. EDT on March 11. By early on March 12, the four satellites of the PUNCH constellation had been deployed and ground controllers confirmed acquisition of signal with them. On March 2, a SpaceXContinue reading "NASA’s PUNCH is set to study how the Sun influences the space around us"

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Vikas Chander from New Delhi, India; taken via Obstech The Pencil Nebula (NGC 2736) is part of the Vela supernova remnant’s shock wave, which gives it a thin visual appearance. This deep image, however, reveals the trails of material left in the wake (at left) of the shock wave (center). The imager took 20⅔ hoursContinue reading "Pencil thick"

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In the 1970s, images from the NASA Mariner 9 orbiter revealed water-sculpted surfaces on Mars. This settled the once-controversial question of whether water ever rippled over the Red Planet. Since then, more and more evidence has emerged that water once played a large role on our planetary neighbor. For example, martian meteorites record evidence forContinue reading "Scientists have discovered a 3-billion-year-old beach buried on Mars"

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There are trillions of charged particles – protons and electrons, the basic building blocks of matter – whizzing around above your head at any given time. These high-energy particles, which can travel at close to the speed of light, typically remain thousands of kilometers away from Earth, trapped there by the shape of Earth’s magneticContinue reading "Lightning strikes link weather on Earth and weather in space"

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UPDATE Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying IM-2 successfully lifted off at 7:16 P.M. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 26. Early next month, a robotic lander will arrive at the Moon’s south pole bearing an eclectic suite of payloads to search for subsurface water ice. Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 is targeting a touchdownContinue reading "Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission launches to the Moon"

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UPDATE Wednesday, March 12, 2025: The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying SPHEREx successfully launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:10 P.M. EDT on March 11. Following deployment, the SPHEREx observatory established a signal with ground controllers and its mission will soon begin. An infrared space telescope is scheduled to launch this week to mapContinue reading "SPHEREx launches to conduct a cosmic census"

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Josh Jones/Kaptas Attila, taken via Deep Sky Chile The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) is the sky’s most impressive emission nebula, bar none, for visual observers. Also pictured in this wide-field image at left is NGC 3324, an open star cluster that appears to lie within a blue lagoon in this Hubble-palette image taken with aContinue reading "Southern showcase"

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In this episode, Dave Eicher invites you to go out and try to observe a celestial object that’s quite difficult to see — the Horsehead Nebula. This dark nebula, made of dust and super-cold gas, lies in the constellation Orion the Hunter. You’ll need a dark observing site and a large telescope, something like an 11-inch Celestron.Continue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: See the Horsehead Nebula"

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On Feb. 13, 2023, something extraordinary happened deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea. KM3NeT’s Astroparticle Research with Cosmics in the Abyss (ARCA) telescope, a sprawling underwater array of ultra-sensitive photodetectors, caught sight of the telltale sign of an incredibly rare cosmic messenger: a highly energetic fundamental particle known as a neutrino. With an estimated energy ofContinue reading "Underwater detector spots the most energetic neutrino yet"

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Friday, February 21The Moon passes 0.4° south of the bright red giant Antares in Scorpius this morning at 4 A.M. EST. The pair is visible in the predawn sky.  This evening, let’s look for another bright red giant: Betelgeuse, the famous star that serves as one shoulder of Orion the Hunter. An hour after sunset,Continue reading "The Sky This Week from February 21 to 28: Saturn and Mercury meet"

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Massimo di Fusco, data acquired via Chilescope The globular cluster M68 in Hydra lies at lower left of this image; at upper right is the variable star HD 109799. In 2021, astronomers confirmed the latter to be a member of the γ Doradus class of variable stars, which pulsate with waves driven by gravity, likeContinue reading "A glob and a star"

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UPDATE Feb. 24, 2025: With new observations over the weekend, the odds of 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032 have declined to 0.0039 percent — effectively eliminating concerns about that encounter. 2024 YR4 has now fallen from the riskiest asteroid on NASA’s automated Sentry list of potentially hazardous asteroids to the seventh highest position. InContinue reading "Asteroid 2024 YR4’s odds of hitting Earth in 2032 are now effectively zero"