Astro News

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s company Blue Origin is poised to launch its first orbital rocket next week, marking a pivotal moment in the commercial space race currently dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

On Episode 142 of This Week In Space, Rod and Tariq talk about 2025 in space!

A recap of “Silo” Season 2 Episode 8, “The Book of Quinn”

A preview of Marvel Comics’ “Predator vs. Spider-Man #1”

A constellation of small satellites could help researchers view processes in close vicinity of supermassive black holes like never before.

NASA’s beleaguered Mars Sample Return program currently faces extreme costs of up to $11 billion and a timeline that could reach 2040.

PST: Art and Science Collide exhibits are on view across Los Angeles.

The first launch of New Glenn could occur between Jan. 6 and Jan. 12, according to the FAA.

Researchers believe dark rocks at the site of a future Mars rover landing mission may be left over from ancient volcanic eruptions, and may be protecting signs of life — if there ever was life on Mars.

Michael Telesco, taken from Peña Trevinca, Spain This previously unnoticed reflection nebula in Perseus was found by Michael Telesco. Inspired by discoveries of objects by astrophotographers like Julian Shapiro and Bray Falls, he says he did some “extensive survey deep-diving” and found a bright mid-infrared region that had been identified by the Infrared Astronomical SatelliteContinue reading “A dancing horse” The post A dancing horse appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Accomplished actor Steve Zahn lifts the layers on Solo, how he got the “Silo” job, and what it’s like working with Rebecca Ferguson.

Life on Earth could not exist without carbon. But carbon itself could not exist without stars. Nearly all elements except hydrogen and helium—including carbon, oxygen and iron—only exist because they were forged in stellar furnaces and later flung into the cosmos when their stars died. In an ultimate act of galactic recycling, planets like ours are formed by incorporating these star-built atoms into their makeup, be it the iron in Earth’s core, the oxygen in its atmosphere or the carbon in the bodies of Earthlings.

New results from China’s Chang’e 5 mission suggest that the Moon possessed a magnetic field well into its midlife, much longer than previously documented. In work published Jan. 1 in Science Advances, researchers report rocks recovered from the sample-return mission that are weakly magnetized — and just 2 billion years old. While not conclusive, the resultsContinue reading “The middle-aged Moon had a magnetic field” The post The middle-aged Moon had a magnetic field appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

The sun fired off an X1.2-class solar flare on Friday (Jan. 3), triggering radio blackouts throughout parts of the South Atlantic ocean, Africa and South America.

SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 rocket of 2025 as it sent the Thuraya 4 communications satellite to orbit from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Friday (Jan. 3).

You and I are living through a revolution in amateur astronomy. Not long ago, I would have advised beginners to stay away from astroimaging, because getting good results is both expensive and time consuming. Not anymore. Today, I tell them that state-of-the-art smart telescopes are available at comparatively reasonable prices that let tech-savvy neophytes getContinue reading “Could the Seestar S50 be your first imaging telescope?” The post Could the Seestar S50 be your first imaging telescope? appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

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 new study in published in Physical Review Letters analyzes the most complete set of galaxy clustering data to test the ΛCDM model, revealing discrepancies in the formation of cosmic structures in the universe, hinting at a new physics.

A rare group of aligned, star-birthing dwarf galaxies resemble a cosmic string of pearls.

Aurora alert — a coronal hole is spewing fast solar wind toward Earth, potentially boosting geomagnetic activity and supercharging northern lights Jan. 4 to Jan. 5.

Leaders of NASA sit in an awkward position. While they are the head of a widely recognized organization, they’re often not the most famous individual in the agency. More people probably know the names of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the astronauts currently “stranded” on the International Space Station, than Bill Nelson, the current NASAContinue reading “The awkward job of the NASA administrator” The post The awkward job of the NASA administrator appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

An independent review team is delivering a final report to NASA leadership to determine if the agency’s Mars Sample Return mission is salvageable after facing scrutiny for its $11 billion budget.

Friday, January 3Asteroid 14 Irene reaches opposition at 2 A.M. EST within northwestern Gemini the Twins. The magnitude 9.6 main-belt world is visible roughly all night, from sunset until sunrise, located roughly halfway between the stars Tau (τ) and Epsilon (ε) Geminorum. Irene was the 14th asteroid discovered in the main belt, spotted by JohnContinue reading “The Sky This Week from January 3 to 10: Earth’s closest approach to the Sun” The post The Sky This Week from January 3 to 10: Earth’s closest approach to the Sun appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Celestial fireworks that erupt all year long but last a fraction of a second, fast radio bursts, may have traced them to the immediate surroundings of extreme and highly magnetic dead stars.

This New Year’s Day, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe added to the festive cheer by sending home its first detailed telemetry data soon after its record-breaking closest-ever approach to the sun.