Astro News

Vikas Chander from New Dehli, India Barnard’s Loop, the Pleiades (M45), and the California Nebula (NGC 1499) are just some of the deep-sky objects aglow with ionized hydrogen in the sky over an abandoned washing plant at a diamond mine in the Sperrgebiet (“forbidden territory”) of southwestern Namibia. Th photographer used an astromodified Sony mirrorlessContinue reading “Diamonds in the sky” The post Diamonds in the sky appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

SpaceX and NASA are targeting Jan. 15 for the launch of the private Blue Ghost moon lander from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Movies are usually shot on 35mm, but we’re feeling the 380mm barrage for this one. For Super Earth!

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time should spot many new “dark comets” after coming online in July 2025.

Galaxies are not islands in the cosmos. While globally the universe expands—driven by the mysterious “dark energy”—locally, galaxies cluster through gravitational interactions, forming the cosmic web held together by dark matter’s gravity. For cosmologists, galaxies are test particles to study gravity, dark matter and dark energy.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit continues to give us great views of Earth from the ISS, this time beaming home video of green auroras shimmering over bright city lights.

A study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, introduces a newly defined “filament channel” function. This new function provides a novel theoretical foundation for predicting solar eruptions by determining whether new emerging flux (NEF) can trigger instability in solar filaments. The study was led by Prof. Lin Jun from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

John Glenn’s last correspondence before his death was to approve the use of his name for Blue Origin’s first orbital-class rocket. Glenn hailed the booster for what it could enable for spaceflight.

An international team of astronomers have investigated a large Galactic supernova remnant designated G278.94+1.35. Results of the study, published Dec. 30 on the pre-print server arXiv, shed more light on the properties of this remnant.

The phenomenon of a Full Moon arises when our planet, Earth, is precisely sandwiched between the Sun and the Moon. This alignment ensures the entire side of the Moon that faces us gleams under sunlight. Thanks to the Moon’s orbit around Earth, the angle of sunlight hitting the lunar surface and being reflected back toContinue reading “2025 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases” The post 2025 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

A preview of Titan Books’ “Star Trek Cocktails: A Stellar Compendium”

The James Webb Space Telescope captured images of 44 individual stars in a gorgeous portrait of a distant galaxy.

In the 3 years since it was launched, Webb has made a host of intriguing discoveries. Here’s a rundown of its most important findings so far. The post 3 years of the Webb telescope: Here’s what it’s discovered first appeared on EarthSky.

Blue Origin plans to launch its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket for the first time ever in the wee hours of Friday morning (Jan. 10).

Physicists have proposed a solution to a long-standing puzzle surrounding the GD-1 stellar stream, one of the most well-studied streams within the galactic halo of the Milky Way, known for its long, thin structure, and unusual spur and gap features.

India postponed its first attempt to dock two SpaDex satellites in Earth orbit from Jan. 6 until Jan. 9, to allow more time for tests.

Near the Moon’s eastern limb lies Mare Crisium — the Sea of Crises — a low basalt plain embayed by rugged mountains. Carved by a colossal impact some 3.9 billion years ago, the 460-mile-wide (740 kilometers) mare appears largely flat and featureless. But lingering whispers of a volcanic past are everywhere, from its ubiquitous darknessContinue reading “Blue Ghost Mission 1 will send the first U.S. lander to Mare Crisium” The post Blue Ghost Mission 1 will send the first U.S. lander to Mare Crisium appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

It’s time to ring in the Martian New Year with a variety of strange sights on the planet’s Northern Hemisphere.

New research suggests that Pluto may have acquired its most massive moon, Charon, through an ancient grazing impact, which the science team refers to as a “kiss and capture”.  The study uses computer models to suggest a possible new method by which large bodies in the Kuiper Belt could come into orbit of one another.Continue reading “Pluto may have ‘kissed’ Charon to capture it” The post Pluto may have ‘kissed’ Charon to capture it appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Earth spins as it orbits the Sun, and the solar system is orbiting the galactic center. So, if I go outside and look up, in what direction are we heading? Dale PetersonOak View, California When you gaze up at the constellation Hercules, you are looking out the front window of the spacecraft called Earth. Our planetContinue reading “Where is the solar system heading?” The post Where is the solar system heading? appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

An impressive 93 launches lifted off from Florida’s coast in 2024, setting a new Space Force record for the second year in a row.

Maine-based bluShift Aerospace is planning for its next big milestone: a suborbital flight test toward the end of 2025.

SpaceX aims to launch the seventh Starship flight test on Jan. 10. It will mark the first time the company attempts to deploy a payload during the flight.

Pluto may have got romantic to capture its largest moon, colliding and engaging in a passionate but icy 10 hour kiss with Charon billions of years ago.

Billions of years ago, in the frigid outer reaches of our solar system, two icy worlds collided. Rather than destroying each other in a cosmic catastrophe, they spun together like a celestial snowman, finally separating while remaining forever linked in orbit. This is how Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, originated, according to a University of Arizona study that challenges decades of scientific assumptions.