In a bold new proposal for exploring the Red Planet, aerospace firm AeroVironment has unveiled “Skyfall,” a mission concept that would ditch the traditional rover and lander in favor of a swarm of six autonomous helicopters. Developed with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the concept aims to dramatically lower the cost and complexity of landingContinue reading "‘Skyfall’ concept could deploy a helicopter swarm on Mars"

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The next time you look at a star, imagine a rocky planet orbiting at just the right distance for a climate that supports liquid water on its surface. Picture thick forests upon vast landscapes teeming with wildlife. Or consider a water world devoid of land where strange marine life swims beneath a hydrogen sky. MaybeContinue reading "The search for biosignatures in the Milky Way"

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When you set up your telescope, you want to give yourself the best chance to make successful observations. Top-notch equipment will certainly help, but another key is knowledge. Here are a few things about the eye that I’ve learned through the years. OK, decades. Astigmatism The best corrective device for astigmatism seems to be hardContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: The Observer’s Eye"

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Born Aug. 1, 1818, Maria Mitchell was raised in the Quaker tradition, which allowed equal education for boys and girls. This, plus lessons from her father, afforded her the opportunity to become skilled in astronomy, mathematics, and navigation. After a brief stint as a teacher, she became the first librarian of the Nantucket Antheneum. SheContinue reading "Aug 1, 1818: The birth of Maria Mitchell"

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Gerald Rhemann, taken from Farm Tivoli, Namibia IC 4603/4 are a pair of nebulae located in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex — a region known for its vivid colors in deep-sky photography. Among the typical blues of reflection nebulae are yellows caused by dust reflecting light from Antares, as well as the reds and magentasContinue reading "A colorful tapestry"

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The longer nights of August beckon with several treats this month. Saturn and Neptune undergo their second conjunction of the year, appearing together in a low-power telescope eyepiece. Telescopic observers also get two shadow transits of Titan across Saturn. Early risers enjoy a spectacular conjunction of the two brightest planets in the sky, Venus andContinue reading "August 2025: What’s in the sky this month? Two planetary conjunctions, two Titan shadow transits, and the Perseids’ peak"

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Although Mars reached opposition in January, it remains a fixture on August evenings. In fact, it’s the only planet visible as twilight fades to darkness. The planet moves eastward against the background stars of Virgo, approaching that constellation’s luminary, 1st-magnitude Spica. The magnitude 1.6 Red Planet makes a nice color contrast with the blue-white star.Continue reading "August 2025: What’s in the Southern Hemisphere sky this month?"

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First Quarter Moon occurs at 8:41 A.M. EDT. Rising early in the afternoon, the Moon then reaches apogee — the farthest point from Earth in its orbit — at 4:36 P.M. EDT, when it will be 251,134 miles (4041,61 km) away. Readily visible in the south at sunset, our satellite is now half-lit and showsContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, August 1: August brings the First Quarter Moon"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, August 1First Quarter Moon occurs at 8:41 A.M. EDT. The Moon then reaches apogee — the farthest point from Earth in its orbit — at 4:36 P.M. EDT, when it will be 251,134 miles (4041,61 km) away. Corona Borealis the Northern Crown isContinue reading "The Sky This Week from August 1 to 8: A conjunction of Saturn and Neptune"

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The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks this morning with no moonlight to interfere with your view of shower meteors.  These meteors appear to radiate from a point in the sky to the lower right of the star Skat (magnitude 3.3) in Aquarius as the constellation sets in the early-morning sky. An hour before sunrise,Continue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, July 31: The Southern Delta Aquariid meteor shower peaks"

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Fernando Oliveira de Menezes, taken from Munhoz, Brazil The Prawn Nebula (IC 4628) lies around 6,000 light-years away in Scorpius. This star-forming region displays striking striations of ionized gas sculpted by stellar winds and radiation. The photographer took 83 hours of exposure in the Hubble palette with a 6-inch f/7 refractor.

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Recently, I posted two lists of Moon facts, each containing 10 that were pretty cool. They’ll also help you answer questions about our lone natural satellite. You’ll find them here and here. Well, here are 10 more … #21. A total of 12 American astronauts have walked on the Moon. They traveled there as partContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: 10 More Cool Things About the Moon"

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With the Space Race heating up, the Ranger program was developed as an answer to Sputnik: The U.S. would land spacecraft on the Moon. When President John F. Kennedy vowed in 1961 to put a man on the lunar surface, the project evolved. Instead of being purely scientific or exploratory, Ranger spacecraft would also beContinue reading "July 31, 1964: Ranger 7 returns the first close pictures of the Moon"

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This is a tale of rediscovery. I have been an astronomer for more than half a century. My current observing concentrates on showcase nebulae and galaxies or the pursuit of fine lunar detail. But recently, I had a reawakening that transported me back to when I received my first “serious” telescope, a 4-inch reflector, atContinue reading "Discover great star clusters of the New General Catalogue"

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Roughly 11,000 years ago, a massive star in the constellation Cassiopeia reached the end of its all-too-brief life. When the star’s iron core collapsed, it triggered a shock wave that ripped the rest of the star apart and lit up its small corner of the galaxy. Unfortunately for earthbound observers, thick dust clouds in theContinue reading "JWST spies the aftermath of a famous supernova"

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When you think of the great popularizers of astronomy in the past, two names stand out in particular — Carl Sagan and Sir Patrick Moore. Patrick (1923–2012) holds the world’s record for popularizing the subject; his BBC TV program The Sky at Night, the staple for those learning about the universe in the UK, wasContinue reading "Watch a film on Sir Patrick Moore online"

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Astronomers have long sought signs of life beyond Earth, with exoplanets like K2-18 b — a world about 124 light-years away — offering tantalizing possibilities. In 2023 and again in April 2025, a team using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) detected molecules in K2-18 b’s atmosphere they claimed could be a biosignature: dimethyl sulfideContinue reading "New study revisits signs of life on K2-18 b"

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Quite a number of small galaxies lie near us in the universe but are obscured by dust in our own galaxy and so are hard to see. Such is the case with Dwingeloo 1, a nearby barred spiral in Cassiopeia. So obscured is this galaxy that it remained undiscovered until 1994, when it was uncoveredContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Dwingeloo 1"

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In 1610, Galileo Galilei became the first person to observe Saturn with a telescope. However, he was puzzled by what he saw: At first, he thought the planet had two moons, like lobes on either side of it, almost making it look like Saturn had ears. Two years later, when he observed the planet again,Continue reading "July 30, 1610: Galileo sees Saturn’s rings"

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The constellation Andromeda the Princess is part of the largest mythologically connected group in the sky. Her parents are Cepheus the King and Cassiopeia the Queen. Perseus the Hero saved her from being sacrificed to Cetus the Whale (a sea monster in the tale). And Pegasus the Winged Horse was born when Perseus cut offContinue reading "Explore the wonders of the constellation Andromeda"

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Dave Doctor from Las Cruces, New Mexico NGC 7129 is a reflection nebula 3,000 light-years away in Cepheus, aglow with the red hues of hot hydrogen gas and the blue reflected light of hot, young stars. The imager took 30⅓ hours of exposure in HαLRGB filters with a 14-inch f/3.8 scope.

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Asteroid 4 Vesta remains an easy-to-spot target in western Libra, just 5° north of Zubenelgenubi, the Balance’s double alpha star. Tonight and tomorrow offer an excellent opportunity to see the 7th-magnitude space rock move relative to the background of stars, as it currently lies less than 0.5° from a slightly fainter 8th-magnitude background star (HDContinue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, July 30: Vesta passes a field star"

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All amateur astronomers, both visual observers and imagers, want their views to display great contrast. Contrast is the difference in brightness between various parts of a telescopic image. When light is scattered in the field of view, for whatever reason, it reduces the difference between the dark and bright areas of the image. Contrast isContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Image contrast"

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Mobile Porta Mount VixenSaitama, JapanThe Mobile Porta Mount is the new, easily portable piece in the popular Porta line. The alt-azimuth accessory has friction stop motion to locate objects quickly. Telescopes weighing up to 7.7 pounds (3.5 kilograms) can be attached. The mount head can be detached and the multiarm can be folded, both forContinue reading "Heat up your observing with these new products"

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When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, the Space Race exploded as the U.S. and Soviet Union competed to show their dominance in the technology and military spheres. Sputnik 2 and then 3 followed, and real concerns about the U.S. falling behind were raised. Congressional hearings began in 1957, and President Dwight D. EisenhowerContinue reading "July 29, 1958: NASA is founded"

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Marty Weintraub from Duluth, Minnesota Aurora borealis glimmer over the peaks above Steinfjord on the Norwegian island of Senja, located around latitude 69° north. The photographer used a Sony mirrorless camera and 14mm lens at f/2 to take a 0.6-second exposure at ISO 3200.

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Saturn still stands out in the early-morning sky as a bright, 1st-magnitude point of light in southwestern Pisces. Two hours before sunrise, the ringed planet is roughly 50° high in the south and offers an easy stepping-stone to Neptune, which lies 1° north of Saturn — close enough to catch both worlds in a singleContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, July 29: Saturn and its moons"

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Professional and amateur astronomers post amazing photos of the sky. A colorful, star-filled Milky Way is often shown rising above a landscape, and photos from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal amazing and vivid colors in galaxies and nebulae. As beautiful as these pictures are, they also can be misleading because they don’t truly represent whatContinue reading "Observe the sky’s colorful stars"

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Mission highlight: NISAR and SpaceX Crew-11 prepare for takeoff On Wednesday, July 30, at 8:10 a.m. EDT, India’s GSLV Mk II will launch from the Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre carrying NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar). NISAR is designed to chronicle changes in Earth’s land and ice in unprecedented detail. The satellite’s dual-radar system willContinue reading "NISAR and ISS crew exchange headline a busy week of launches"

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Jamie Cooper from Northamptonshire, U.K. Rupes Recta, or the Straight Wall, is a 70-mile-long (110 kilometers) lunar fault. When the Sun is low, it casts a shadow that makes it appear like a dramatic cliff, though in reality, its slope is gentle.

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I have an unusual affliction, and have suffered from it since I was a kid. My dad, John, was a professor of organic chemistry and also very involved in a range of other interests, one of which was history. So I was marched all over historical sites as a kid, and as soon as theContinue reading "A voice from the past"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out on the evening of July 28 and observe a close grouping of the thin crescent Moon and Mars. Be sure to look for these objects on the 28th because each night after that the Moon will move farther to the east, away from theContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Crescent Moon meets Mars"

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The total solar eclipse of July 28, 1851 is important for two reasons. First, English amateur astronomer and author George F. Chambers wrote that it was the first that spawned dedicated eclipse expeditions. The path of totality stretched from what is today western Canada to Ukraine. European astronomers, however, targeted Norway and Sweden. Bergen, Norway,Continue reading "July 28, 1851: The first photo of a total eclipse"

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The Moon passes 1.3° south of Mars at 4 P.M. EDT and sits horizontally in line with the Red Planet after sunset this evening. By 9 P.M. local daylight time, the pair is 15° high in the west, both now in Virgo the Maiden. They are visible for about two hours, setting shortly before 10:30Continue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, July 28: The Maiden hosts the Moon and Mars"

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During its July 26, 2005, launch, cameras captured a large piece of foam falling from space shuttle Discovery’s fuel tank. Since the Columbia disaster two years prior – the break-up of the shuttle on entry and the deaths of the seven crewmembers – had been caused by foam hitting the wing and rupturing a heatContinue reading "July 27, 2005: NASA grounds the space shuttles"

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This evening, look high in the southeast a few hours after sunset to find the stately constellation Aquila the Eagle, anchored by its brightest star, magnitude 0.8 Altair. In the northwestern regions of this constellation, near where it borders Ophiuchus, the bright open cluster NGC 6709 is our target for study tonight. Shining at magnitudeContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, July 27: An open cluster in the Eagle"

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In September 1999, the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project discovered a comet – Comet C/1999 S4, or Comet LINEAR – on a course for the Sun. Its unusual behavior drew attention: By July 5-7 of the following year, the Hubble Space Telescope had watched a piece of its crust blow off as ifContinue reading "July 26, 2000: Comet LINEAR disintegrates"

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The Crab Nebula (M1) has one of the most famous origin stories around: The light from the supernova that created the nebula was recorded by ancient astronomers when it appeared as a “guest star” in July 1054. The new star, which sat near Zeta (ζ) Tauri, one of the horns of Taurus the Bull, wasContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, July 26: Venus recreates the Crab Nebula’s supernova"

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The far-northern constellation Camelopardalis the Giraffe rarely garners significant attention from sky observers. But this faint grouping of naked-eye stars does hold a number of unusual treats, and one of them is known as Pazmino’s Cluster. Catalogued in the 1950s by German astronomer Jürgen Stock, and given the designation Stock 23, the small group ofContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Pazmino’s Cluster   "

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NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission is officially underway following a successful launch Wednesday at 2:13 p.m. EDT. The twin satellites rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Ground controllers confirmed contact with both satellites three hours after separation, marking the beginning of a four-week commissioningContinue reading "NASA’s TRACERS mission launches to study space weather"

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Born on July 25, 1920, Chushiro Hayashi graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in physics in 1942. After World War II service in the navy, he returned to school, finishing his doctorate in 1954 and becoming a professor at Kyoto University in 1957. An innovator, he applied fundamental physics to astronomy andContinue reading "July 25, 1920: The birth of Chushiro Hayashi"

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Bob Fera/Steve Mandel, taken from El Sauce Observatory, Chile The Statue of Liberty Nebula (NGC 3576) in Carina glows with intricate ribbons and pillars of gas and dust shaped by powerful stellar winds and radiation from young, massive stars. The imagers used a 17-inch f/6.8 scope to take Hα/OIII/RGB exposures of 600, 600, 120, 120,Continue reading "Lady Liberty"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, July 25Pluto reaches opposition at 3 A.M. EDT. Opposition is when objects typically appear at their best, and with no Moon in the sky, observers with large scopes and little light pollution may be able to visually snag the dwarf planet. Pluto mayContinue reading "The Sky This Week from July 25 to August 1: See the Southern Delta Aquariids peak"

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Pluto reaches opposition at 3 A.M. EDT. Opposition is when objects typically appear at their best, and with no Moon in the sky, observers with large scopes and little light pollution may be able to visually snag the dwarf planet. Pluto may be at its best, but it is still magnitude 14.4. According to AstronomyContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, July 25: Pluto reaches opposition"

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Our Milky Way Galaxy is filled with stars — perhaps as many as 400 billion — although it’s hard to estimate the number because the faintest stars, M dwarfs, are very hard to see over long distances. In any case, stars are being born and dying all around us, and we only see “snapshots” of theseContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Perseus Moving Group "

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On July 21, 2025, NSF NOIRLab issued a press release stating that astronomers had detected a long-anticipated companion star to the red supergiant Betelgeuse. The team of astrophysicists, led by Steve Howell, senior research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, observed Betelgeuse’s companion using ‘Alopeke, a speckle imager mounted on the Gemini North Telescope locatedContinue reading "Betelgeuse’s long-lost companion emerges from the shadows"

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Pascal Fouquet The rocket contrail from an early-morning SpaceX Starlink launch on July 8 formed high-altitude noctilucent clouds stretching across the Florida sky, seen in this image near Venus and the Pleiades (M45). The photographer took an 8-second exposure with a Nikon DSLR at ISO 160 and 50mm lens at f/4.

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Astronomers have discovered a new member of a rare and mysterious class of solar system objects known as sednoids — a subset of extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs) with exceptionally distant, elongated orbits. Even at their closest approach to the Sun, these icy bodies remain far beyond Neptune’s gravitational influence, traveling on paths that defy easyContinue reading "New sednoid “Ammonite” discovery deepens Planet Nine mystery"

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Having launched on July 16, 1969, and landed on the Moon on July 20, the Apollo 11 astronauts returned home and splashed down in the Pacific on July 24, 1969. In a historically momentous trip, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had become the first people to step onto the Moon. (The third member of theirContinue reading "July 24, 1969: Apollo 11 returns home"

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Astrophotography is a hobby with a huge learning curve, and one aspect that can muddy the waters is the dizzying array of filters on the market. What is narrowband? What size do I need? Which are good for monochrome and one-shot color? Let’s cover some of the basics. There are two types of filters forContinue reading "The basics of astroimaging filters"

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New Moon occurs at 3:11 P.M. EDT, leaving the sky dark and perfect for observing faint objects such as 3I/ATLAS, our newest interstellar interloper. Currently around 17th magnitude and gliding through Ophiuchus, you’ll want a scope that’s on the larger side (at least 6 inches, preferably more) to nab your own photograph of this ancientContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, July 24: Can you photograph 3I/ATLAS?"

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In our September 2025 issue, astronomer and Pluto mission leader S. Alan Stern explores how the field of planetary science has transformed during his decades-long career. From the discovery of exoplanets to finding hidden oceans throughout the solar system to the rise of commercial spaceflight, he lists his top five revolutions in planetary science inContinue reading "What are your top five revolutions in planetary science?"

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Georgii Konkov from Williamsburg, Virginia The Monkey Head Nebula refers to NGC 2174/5, a star-forming region featuring a nebula surrounding an open cluster roughly 5,300 light-years distant in Orion. The imager took 148.4 hours of SHORGB data with a 5-inch scope at f/5.6.

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On July 23, 1999, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia; it would see first light a few weeks later, on Aug. 26. With resolution eight times greater than any previous scope, Chandra is the most powerful X-ray telescope ever built. The observatory is intended to help scientists understand the universe’s evolutionContinue reading "July 23, 1999: Chandra X-Ray Observatory launches"

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If you are a frequent reader of Astronomy, then you likely have seen images on its pages of objects from the famous Lynds’ Catalogue of Dark Nebulae. These mysterious dark clouds of interstellar dust are denoted by the letters LDN followed by a catalog number, such as LDN 881. I have contributed some of thoseContinue reading "The quest for the ultimate catalog of dark nebulae"

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The Moon and Jupiter share the morning sky as they rise together in Gemini the Twins. The pair is about 3° high in the northeast an hour and a half before sunrise, forming an elongated triangle with 3rd-magnitude Epsilon (ε) Geminorum between and slightly above them.  The Moon is a delicate crescent that is justContinue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, July 23: Jupiter shares the morning sky with the Moon"

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The Soul Nebula, catalogued as IC 1848 and Westerhout 5, is a sprawling emission nebula lying very close in the sky to another mammoth star forming region, its neighbor IC 1805, the Heart Nebula. Both lie in Cassiopeia and are so large they are quite faint to see visually, but make for great astroimaging targets. Continue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: The Soul Nebula   "

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José Rodrigues The Milky Way arcs above the Tua River in northern Portugal in this tracked panorama. The photographer used an astromodified Canon mirrorless camera at ISO 6400 and a 28mm lens at f/2.2 to blend exposures of the ground (fourteen panels of 120-second exposures), sky (nine panels of ten 30-second exposures), and the MilkyContinue reading "Milky Way over the Tua Valley"

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Researchers Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University and Gabriel Brammer of the University of Copenhagen have uncovered a remarkable cosmic system in archival data from the James Webb Space Telescope’s COSMOS-Web survey: a pair of colliding disk galaxies whose overlapping rings create a glowing figure-eight, dubbed the “Infinity Galaxy.”  But it’s not just the shapeContinue reading "Webb Telescope discovers possible direct collapse black hole in galaxy collision"

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About 10,000 years ago, a new star appeared in what we now recognize as Cygnus the Swan. It was the light from a supernova explosion that occurred about 2,400 years earlier, when a star with roughly 20 times the Sun’s mass had exhausted its nuclear fuel. This caused the core to collapse, triggering a shockContinue reading "HST captures the Veil Nebula in prismatic color"

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Born in 1746 in Ponte, Italy, Giuseppe Piazzi was ordained as a priest in 1769. He taught theology, philosophy, and mathematics at various points in his career, but in 1787 became a professor of astronomy, and King Ferdinand of Sicily appointed him as the director of the Palermo Astronomical Observatory. On New Year’s Day 1801,Continue reading "July 22, 1826: Fr. Giuseppe Piazzi dies"

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Can you find Lacerta the Lizard? This small, dim constellation is visible in the northeast after sunset, sitting below the flying form of Cygnus and to the lower right of house-shaped Cepheus.  Lacerta’s alpha star shines at magnitude 3.8; you can find it about 19° east of bright Deneb in Cygnus. This luminary may seemContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, July 22: NGC 7243, Lacerta’s open cluster"

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More than 280 current and former NASA employees have warned that “rapid and wasteful changes” dictated by the White House will have “dire” consequences for the space agency. On Monday, the 56th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, personnel from every NASA center and mission directorate addressed a letter to the agency’s interim administrator,Continue reading "NASA personnel warn of ‘dire’ consequences of proposed cuts"

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One of the most interesting areas to explore with a wide-field scope exists in the rich Milky Way of Cassiopeia. You might think of Orion, Taurus, Scorpius, or Sagittarius. But Cassiopeia is loaded with small, interesting deep-sky objects, mostly clusters and nebulae, and has a few big nebulae too. One of them is IC 1805,Continue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: The Heart Nebula"

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Mission highlight: NASA TRACERS on the cusp of launching NASA’s TRACERS mission (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) headlines a July 22, 2:13 p.m. EDT Falcon 9 rideshare launch, flying alongside several secondary payloads from Vandenberg. TRACERS consists of two identical spacecraft designed to study magnetic reconnection — the explosive process that drives spaceContinue reading "NASA’s TRACERS leads busy spaceflight schedule"

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Fabrizio Melandri from Voltana, Italy Thousands of fireflies fill the open air as Planet Earth turns slowly in this stack of 42 thirty-second exposures taken with an 18mm lens at f/4 and at ISO 200.

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out and observe the sky’s sixth-brightest open cluster, NGC 6231, in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. This object has been dubbed by amateur astronomers the “Northern Jewel Box.” Although sharp-eyed observers may pick this up with their naked eyes, its swarms of stars look bestContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: Open cluster NGC 6231"

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Born in New Hampshire in 1923, Alan Shepard served in the Navy during World War II, subsequently entering flight training and graduating from the Navy Test Pilot School in 1951. In 1959, he was selected for Project Mercury as one of America’s first seven astronauts, alongside Gil Grissom, Deke Slayton, and John Glenn. On MayContinue reading "July 21, 1998: Alan Shepard dies"

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Saturn’s tidally locked, two-toned moon Iapetus reaches eastern elongation today, standing a full 9′ east of Saturn. The moon appears faintest at eastern elongation, when its darker hemisphere is turned toward us and it glows a faint 12th magnitude. However, without our Moon lighting the early-morning sky, you might try to spot faint Iapetus —Continue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, July 21: Iapetus reaches eastern elongation"

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Viking 1 landed on Mars on July 20, 1976, the first spacecraft to do so and successfully return data. (The Soviet Mars 3 lander had touched down in 1971, but contact was cut off before any data could be received.) The two Viking spacecrafts were designed to be both orbiters and landers; the orbiter’s primaryContinue reading "July 20, 1976: Viking 1 lands on Mars"

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The Moon passes in front of several stars in the Pleiades cluster in an occultation this morning, best seen from North and Central America. Both the view and its timing are heavily location dependent — you can check this International Occultation Timing Association’s page to find when Electra (17 Tauri), the first star to vanish behindContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, July 20: The Moon occults the Pleiades"

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July 19, 418 C.E., marks the first total solar eclipse (of which we have a record) during which a comet was seen. Turkish-born Church historian Philostorgius wrote in Book XII of the Epitome Historiae Ecclesiasticae: “When Theodosius had reached adolescence, on the nineteenth of July at about the eighth hour, the sun was so completelyContinue reading "July 19, 418: A solar eclipse/comet combo"

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Seventh-magnitude 4 Vesta is an easy catch from any location and with any equipment: binoculars or a telescope. Tonight, it’s just 5’ from a magnitude 7.5 field star, creating a temporary artificial double star to enjoy.  You’ll find Vesta in the northwestern corner of Libra, near that constellation’s border with Virgo. It now sits aboutContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, July 19: Vesta forms a double star"

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At 7:15 a.m. EDT on July 14, the crew of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) undocked from the International Space Station, wrapping up an 18-day stay that marked new milestones in commercial and international spaceflight.  The team — led by veteran NASA astronaut and current Axiom Space human spaceflight director Peggy Whitson — splashed down safelyContinue reading "Axiom Mission 4 crew returns to Earth after historic ISS stay"

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Fernando Oliveira de Menezes from São Paulo, Brazil Globular cluster M4 lies just west of Antares (Alpha [α] Scorpii). To a visual observer, a 6-inch scope reveals dozens of stars; this image comprising 2.6 hours resolves nearly the entire cluster, yielding a star field that feels like you could fall into it. Click to seeContinue reading "Glorious resolution"

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Many faint planetary nebulae went undiscovered for surprisingly long times after Charles Messier and the Herschels stopped cataloguing nebulous objects lying around parts of the sky. It wasn’t until 1980 that two Austrian astronomers, Alois Purgathofer and Ronald Weinberger, found a large, faint planetary nebulae as they searched plates of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Continue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: PuWe 1   "

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You’ve set your telescope up and are showing people some of the wonders in the sky. Of course, they’re going to ask you questions. Here are some you might be asked. How many do you know the answers to? Question 1: Approximately how old is the universe? Question 2: Which planet in our solar system has theContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: 25 Questions About Astronomy"

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Born on July 18, 1921, John Glenn grew up in Ohio and joined the Marine Corps in 1943. He flew 59 combat missions in World War II and 63 in the Korean War before being selected by NASA for the Mercury program. In 1962, he spent five hours orbiting the Earth in the Friendship 7Continue reading "July 18, 1915: The birth of John Glenn"

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Titan’s shadow transits the cloud tops of Saturn this morning, beginning around 2:50 A.M. EDT. At that time, Saturn (in the constellation Pisces) should be above the horizon for most of the U.S., with the Last Quarter Moon a good distance away, straddling the border of Pisces and Aries.  Saturn, at magnitude 0.9, is theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, July 18: Titan’s shadow transits"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, July 18Mars remains close to Sigma (σ) Leonis, Leo the Lion’s back foot, in the evening sky for several days. Shining at magnitude 1.5, the Red Planet is just over 1° southwest of the 4th-magnitude star tonight.  An hour after sunset, Mars isContinue reading "The Sky This Week from July 18 to 25: Have you seen our interstellar visitor?"

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The sky is filled with interesting and unusual planetary nebulae, which give us a forward look at the end state of our own star and solar system. Some of the faintest and most unusual planetaries were discovered long after the NGC and IC catalogs, and so bear strange designations. Such is the case with aContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Jones-Emberson 1  "

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In 2021, the United Nations General Assembly declared July 20 International Moon Day, a celebration of our nearest celestial neighbor on the anniversary of the day Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969. The Starmus Festival, founded by astronomer Garik Israelian and astronomer and musician Brian May, is involved with many astronauts and hasContinue reading "Celebrate International Moon Day with Starmus"

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Astronomers are continuing to gather data on 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar object (ISO) to pass through our solar system — and possibly the most intriguing yet. Since its discovery on July 1, 2025, new analyses have revealed clues about its origins, composition, age, and potential for future observation. Here’s what the latest research tellsContinue reading "What we know so far about 3I/ATLAS, the interstellar visitor"

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The Apollo-Soyuz mission, which occurred 50 years ago this month, was the culmination of a series of fitful attempts at possible international cooperation on human spaceflight. But before one astronaut and one cosmonaut met in an airlock in orbit over the Earth, there were wiretaps and hot dogs, language lessons and vodka toasts. And thoughContinue reading "50 years since the ‘Handshake in Space’: The legacy of Apollo-Soyuz"

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After years of planning, training, and international negotiation, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission culminated in 1975 when spacecraft from the U.S. and the Soviet Union docked in space. On July 17, the Apollo and Soyuz capsules locked together, utilizing an “androgynous” system of petal-shaped plates, and their commanders, Thomas Stafford and Aleksey Leonov, shook hands.Continue reading "July 17, 1975: The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project link-up"

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Gerardo N. Rigiroli from Buenos Aires, Argentina The nebula NGC 3503 in Carina is a stellar nursery that glows brightly at the center of this image, surrounded by ghostly tendrils of gas and dust. At bottom left is the open cluster NGC 3532. The image comprises just over 17 hours of SHORGB data taken withContinue reading "Starbirth in the Keel"

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Mercury stands stationary at 3 A.M. EDT amid the stars of Cancer. The solar system’s smallest planet will now start sliding westward, or retrograde, appearing to “fall” back toward the Sun as it moves through its tight, 88-day orbit.  You can catch Mercury in the evening sky, but only if you’re quick — it’s justContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, July 17: Mercury stands still"

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On November 23, 2023, a groundbreaking astronomical event unfolded as scientists from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration detected the most massive black hole merger ever observed. The finding was detailed in a July 13, 2025, press release shared by the University of Birmingham. This cosmic collision occurred when two colossal black holes, approximately 100 and 140 timesContinue reading "Astronomers detect the most massive black hole merger ever"

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A newborn planetary system is forming around HOPS-315, a protostar (one that recently formed) that sits some 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Orion the Hunter. This star isn’t in the star-forming region known as the Orion Nebula, however. It lies in a region of space known as the L1630 molecular cloud. Astronomers often seeContinue reading "Astronomers see a new solar system forming for the first time"

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Planck’s constant is one of the most important numbers in all of physics. It is, essentially, the ultimate guide to the quantum world. It tells us where quantum effects are important, the fundamental energy carried by light and matter, and more. And it all started as an ugly hack. The black body In the lateContinue reading "What is Planck’s constant?"

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The sky is full of interesting and unusual asterisms. If you look around hard enough, or are tired enough, you can convince yourself that you see patterns of stars that resemble practically anything.  But certain asterisms, simply patterns of stars that are composed of members not physically associated with each other, stand out more thanContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: The Broken Engagement Ring"

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In 1839, the president of Harvard University invited William Bond to move into a house on campus and, by virtue of bringing along his own astronomical equipment, become the university’s first astronomer in residence. With public interest spurred by the 1835 passage of Halley’s Comet and the Comet of 1843, Harvard soon had enough moneyContinue reading "July 16, 1850: Bond and Whipple photograph Vega"

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Chris Schur, taken from Payson, Arizona The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS — just the third to be discovered — is captured in this amateur shot (click and zoom in to see inset) next to the open cluster M23 (at right). The imager used a 10-inch f/3.9 scope to take 30 minutes of LRGB exposure.

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The now-waning Moon is passing through Pisces in the early-morning sky. Our satellite slides 3° north of Neptune at 6 A.M. EDT, then passes 4° north of Saturn at 7 A.M. EDT. It’s a lovely view for early risers, who can catch the scene in the few hours before dawn. Two hours before sunrise, theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, July 16: The Moon hangs with Neptune and Saturn"

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Sotheby’s in New York will be auctioning the largest martian meteorite ever found on Earth on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale. Known as NWA 16788, it was found in Niger in November 2023 by a meteorite hunter. The meteorite, which is red, brown, and gray in color, measures 15 by 11 byContinue reading "The biggest piece of Mars on Earth is up for auction"

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Ron Brecher from Guelph, Ontario, Canada The dwarf galaxy IC 2574 is also known as Coddington’s Nebula, having been discovered by American astronomer Edwin Foster Coddington in 1898, when the nature of galaxies was not yet known. In Hydrogen-alpha light, bright knotty clumps indicate prodigious amounts of star formation. This image comprises just over 17Continue reading "A knotty galaxy"

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Born July 15, 1943, Jocelyn Bell Burnell is a British astrophysicist best known for her discovery of pulsars. In 1967, when she was a graduate student in radio astronomy at the University of Cambridge, Bell Burnell noticed “scruff” in the data she was reviewing from the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. Bell Burnell jokingly called thisContinue reading "July 15, 1943: Birth of Jocelyn Bell Burnell"

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The center of the Milky Way is on display during summer evenings, arcing slowly through the southern sky. The galactic center is located near the magnitude 4.5 star 3 Sagittarii, which sits just 4.7° northwest (to the upper right, late this evening if you’re facing south) of Gamma (γ) Sgr, the star at the tipContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, July 15: Great views of the galactic center"

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Massimo Tamajo from Syracuse, Sicily, Italy The effects of atmospheric refraction can distort the appearance of the Sun near the horizon — especially when atmospheric inversions are created above an ocean that is cooler than the air above it.

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In a universe governed by turbulence and chaos, perfection is rarely more than a mathematical ideal. Yet astronomers are puzzling over a newfound object that seems to defy that rule: a glowing, nearly flawless circular shell of gas and dust, likely the remnant of a long-dead star, that has remarkably preserved its shape in aContinue reading "Astronomers discover a perfectly spherical supernova remnant"

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Mission Highlight: Gilmour Eris Testflight 1 After weeks of delays, Australia is finally poised to join the orbital launch club. Gilmour Space Technologies is expected to debut its Eris rocket with a test launch from Queensland’s Bowen Orbital Spaceport no earlier than (NET) July 16. The three-stage rocket, powered by hybrid engines fueled by aContinue reading "Gilmour aims for orbit again as Starlink surges continue"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out and observe M4, the wonderful globular cluster in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. You can use the Scorpion’s brightest star, 1st-magnitude Antares, as your guide. Although sharp-eyed observers may pick this up with their naked eyes, its swarms of stars look best through aContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: Globular cluster M4"

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In a July 10 markup meeting, the Senate Appropriations Committee, responsible for crafting the specific spending bills that allocate federal funds across the government, pushed back against President Trump’s proposed FY2026 budget. The comments signaled bipartisan resistance in the Senate to steep cuts in federal science funding. The president’s proposed budget, released in May, aimedContinue reading "Senate appropriations committee pushes back on 2026 NASA budget cuts"

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Why will our Sun expel its outer layers as it dies? Daniel StanyerAugusta, Kansas First, let’s discriminate between expansion and expulsion. Expansion happens because the thermal pressure from the increased energy production in the Sun’s interior exceeds the gravitational force keeping the Sun’s matter close to its core. The Sun will expand until a newContinue reading "Why will our Sun expel its outer layers as it dies? "

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New Horizons launched in January 2006, and by July 14, 2015, it had reached its primary goal: Pluto. The first spacecraft to study Pluto up close, it conducted measurements of Pluto’s atmosphere, mapped the surface geology, observed Pluto’s moons. New Horizons also investigated the dwarf planet’s interior structure, adding support to the theory that PlutoContinue reading "July 14, 2015: New Horizon arrives at Pluto"

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Saturn stands stationary amid the stars of Pisces at 4 A.M. EDT. It is followed two hours later by asteroid 3 Juno, which reaches its stationary point in Libra at 6 A.M. EDT.  Only Saturn is visible in the morning sky, while Juno is up after sunset. Starting in the morning, look for magnitude 0.9Continue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, July 14: Saturn and Juno are stationary"

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On July 13, 1969, the Soviet Union launched Luna 15, an unmanned spacecraft seen as a rival to the American Apollo 11 mission, which launched just three days later. Luna 15’s goal was to land on the Moon, collect rock samples, and return to Earth before the Apollo astronauts. But the heightened moment of competitionContinue reading "July 13, 1969: Luna 15 launches"

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Venus passes 3° north of Aldebaran in Taurus at midnight EDT; the pair is visible in the early-morning sky, well positioned in the east for two hours before sunrise.  Venus is notably brighter — magnitude –4.1, far outshining magnitude 0.9 Aldebaran, the brightest star in the Taurus and cataloged as Alpha (α) Tauri. Together, theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, July 13: The Bull has two eyes"

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The Soviet Union launched Phobos 2 on July 12, 1988, the second of two uncrewed probes designed to study Mars, moons Phobos and Deimos, the Sun, and the interplanetary environment. Each probe was equipped with 25 instruments including high-energy detectors; X-ray and solar photometers; infrared, ultrasound, and gamma-ray spectrometers; and more. Phobos 1 was lostContinue reading "July 12, 1988: Phobos 2 launches"

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Already high in the east an hour after sunset is the constellation Lyra the Lyre, easy to locate thanks to its brightest star, magnitude 0 Vega. Tonight, we’re looking southeast of this star at M56, an 8th-magnitude globular cluster in near the border of Lyra and Cygnus. In fact, one of the easiest ways toContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, July 12: M56 in Lyra"

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Xiaofeng Qu, taken from Lijiang, Yunnan, China The Geminid meteor shower appears to rain down upon the Gaomeigu Astronomical Observatory (altitude: 10,500 feet [3,200 meters]) in this carefully composed 10-panel panorama. Also visible are numerous Hα features glowing across the sky, like the Orion Loop just above the observatory dome. The imager used 4 NikonContinue reading "High-altitude shower"

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I thought I’d write a bit about several eye-related topics. First up is resolution, which is the ability to see details in objects. We have decreased resolution at night, and little color vision as well, for multiple reasons: reduced numbers of retinal cells firing, the color shift in sensitivity vs. the focus ability of theContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: The Eyes Have It"

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There is a battle brewing over ownership of a retired NASA space shuttle. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump at the White House last week, sets aside $85 million to relocate the space shuttle Discovery from its current home at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northernContinue reading "Smithsonian pushing back on plans to relocate space shuttle"

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On July 11, 1801, French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons made his first comet discovery, c/1801 N1. When he’d began his career in 1789 as a doorkeeper (essentially, a concierge) at Marseille Observatory, the directors had recognized his talents and taught him more about astronomy. That background, combined with his exceptional observational skills and the ability toContinue reading "July 11, 1801: Jean-Louis Pons finds his first comet"

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There’s a demon in the early-morning sky, amid the stars of Perseus the Hero. Second-magnitude Algol (Beta Persei) is also famously known as the Demon Star, and you can spot it two hours before sunrise, standing 30° high in the east, to the upper left of the Pleiades.  Algol is dubbed a demon because everyContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, July 11: The demon in the morning sky"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, July 11The Moon passes just 0.02° north of the dim, distant dwarf planet Pluto at 7 P.M. EDT. However, the bright light from our satellite will make Pluto — already a challenging object requiring the largest amateur instruments — even more difficult toContinue reading "The Sky This Week from July 11 to 18: The Moon hangs with Saturn and Neptune"

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President Donald Trump announced Wednesday evening that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy would serve as an “interim administrator” of NASA. “He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.Continue reading "Trump taps Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as ‘interim’ NASA head"

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Chuck Ayoub from Redford, MI Globular cluster M53 in Coma Berenices (at right) is accompanied by fainter NGC 5053 (at left). Astronomers have reported evidence for a tidal tail, suggesting the pair have interacted in the past. The imager took 2.5 hours of exposure with a Celestron RASA 8-inch f/2 scope and a one-shot colorContinue reading "An ancient pair"

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Quasars were a mystery when first discovered in the early 1960s. They are extremely distant, starlike objects that emit enormous amounts of energy. Years later, astronomers understood that quasars are the extremely energetic centers of young galaxies, powered by supermassive black holes. The fact that they are mostly young (the black holes generally quiet downContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: NGC 3079 and Quasar 0957+561   "

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Few authors have had as big an impact on space journalism as Jeffrey Kluger. His 1994 book Lost Moon, co-authored with Astronaut James Lovell, was the basis for the 1995 film Apollo 13, which starred Tom Hanks and was directed by Ron Howard. Other books by Kluger have focused on the flight of Apollo 8 and NASA’s unmannedContinue reading "Behind the scenes of NASA’s Project Gemini: Astronomy chats with Jeffrey Kluger"

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Inventor Nikola Tesla was born July 10, 1856, in what is now Croatia (then part of the Austrian Empire). In 1899, Tesla recorded cosmic radio waves in his Colorado Springs, Colorado, laboratory. Though he believed the waves were extraterrestrial signals from another planet, today we know that they are part of the spectrum of anContinue reading "July 10, 1856: The birth of Nicola Tesla"

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Full Moon occurs at 4:37 P.M. EDT this afternoon and will rise in the southeast around the time the Sun is setting in the northwest. The July Full Moon is also called the Buck Moon, and this month our satellite also rises at its farthest point south in 18.6 years: some 7° more southerly thanContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, July 10: The Full Buck Moon swings low"

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When President Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law on July 4, an amendment to the legislation introduced by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) provided NASA with additional funding beyond the standard fiscal year 2025 budget. This extra money — around $9.9 billion — is intended to support key programs like Artemis, theContinue reading "Congress adds Artemis funding to Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” backing NASA’s Moon return plans"

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On July 9, 1979, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft came within 404,003 miles (650,180 kilometers) of Jupiter. Launched in August 1977, the Voyager probes were originally planned to study Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 1 arrived at Jupiter in March 1979, and Voyager 2 followed a few months later. Equipped with narrow- and wide-angle cameras, an interferometer,Continue reading "July 9, 1979: Voyager 2’s Jupiter visit"

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Adriano Anfuso/Vikas Chander The elliptical galaxy NGC 474 (lower right) contains multiple shell-like structures and tidal tails as a result of past interactions with other galaxies. The galaxy is currently interacting with a neighboring spiral galaxy, NGC 470 (just to its left). The lenticular galaxy NGC 467 (at left) is a background galaxy, more thanContinue reading "Shells of its former self"

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Venus hangs below the Pleiades in the early-morning sky today. The bright planet is quickly closing in on Taurus’ brightest star, Aldebaran, which it will pass closely next week. Step outside 90 minutes before sunrise to spot blazing Venus (magnitude –4.1) about 8.4° below the Pleiades open cluster (M45) in the east. The planet isContinue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, July 9: Venus and the Pleiades"

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In July 1992, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 made its closest approach to Jupiter, skimming 25,000 miles (40,000 km) above Jupiter’s cloud tops. That put Shoemaker-Levy 9 within the gas giant’s Roche limit; the planet’s tidal forces broke the comet into more than 20 pieces, giving it a “string of pearls” appearance and setting the stage forContinue reading "July 8, 1992: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks up"

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Steve Leonard from Markham, Ontario, Canada The Spider Nebula (Sharpless 2–234, at right) weaves a tangled web next to the Fly, also known as NGC 1931 (at left). The imager used a dynamic Foraax palette on 20¼ hours of SHORGB data to bring out detail across the wide dynamic range of the scene, yielding detailContinue reading "Cosmic predation"

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Climbing to 60° high in the east two hours before sunrise, the constellation Andromeda lies just to the upper right of the easy-to-spot W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. This morning, let’s enjoy a view of the star cluster NGC 7686 in northwestern Andromeda, about 3° northwest of 4th-magnitude Lambda (λ) Andromedae.  This bright group of stars shinesContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, July 8: Catch NGC 7686 in Andromeda"

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NGC 2685, often called the Helix Galaxy, is quite an unusual object. It is a lenticular (lens-shaped) galaxy that is also a polar ring galaxy, showing a ring of material at 90° orientation to its main axis, resulting from an interaction with a nearby galaxy. It is also a Seyfert Galaxy, its active nucleus powered byContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: The Helix Galaxy   "

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Gilmour Space Technologies has officially announced that the earliest available launch window for its Eris rocket is no earlier than (NET) July 16. The launch was postponed on July 2 due to adverse weather conditions. The company confirmed the updated launch window on July 3, citing Australia’s regulatory requirement for a two-week notice to theContinue reading "Gilmour delays debut launch, Starlink flies into the week solo"

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Greg Meyer from Phoenix, Arizona Three objects fill this vista on the border of Cepheus and Cygnus: the Seahorse Nebula (Barnard 150) at left and the Fireworks Galaxy (NGC 6956) and open cluster NGC 6939 at right. The imager captured over 17 hours of exposure in LRGB filters with a 3.2-inch scope.

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out during the evening of July 7 and observe the pretty bright Moon passing Antares, also known as Alpha Scorpii. Look sharp, because the Moon’s light may hinder your view of the star, especially if your location has high clouds or smoke overhead. Good luck!

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How did a Cepheid variable star help Edwin Hubble prove the Andromeda Nebula was a galaxy?  Roger BradySan Quentin, California Cepheids are rare variable stars with periods ranging from about 1 to 120 days. Their light curve — a chart showing brightness over time — is characterized by rapid brightening followed by slow dimming inContinue reading "How did Edwin Hubble prove Andromeda was a galaxy?"

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Astronomers have spotted a rare cosmic duo: a neutron star that rotates nearly a hundred times every second locked in an ultra-tight orbit with a semi-shredded star. The scientists who found the pair say one of these stars swallowed the other whole and then spat it back out. It’s the first discovery of a millisecondContinue reading "‘Strange binary’: Astronomers discover a pulsar and a helium star orbiting each other"

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Vikas Chander from New Delhi, India The 10.4-meter Gran Telescopio Canarias lies beneath the stars and Venus atop Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma in the Canary Islands. The imager used a Sony mirrorless camera and 85mm lens at f/4 to take two hundred 30-second exposures at ISO 100. Above the clouds

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Perhaps 100 billion galaxies exist in the universe at this time, although the cosmos could be infinite and the number even larger. Of the huge number of galaxies, several thousand are bright enough to be viewed nicely with a small or medium-sized backyard telescope. And of course the orientations of galaxies in space are allContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Edge-on galaxy NGC 5907"

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Mission Highlights: Axiom 4 Delayed The launch of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) has been postponed for a second time. This delay stems from a pressure leak in the Russian Zvezda service module aboard the International Space Station (ISS), following previous weather-related issues and a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 rocket. As of JuneContinue reading "Axiom 4 launch delayed again as Starlink and Blue Origin missions prepare for liftoff"

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The White House’s proposed 2026 NASA budget calls for a dramatic 24 percent cut to funding, reducing NASA’s budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. If enacted, this would mark the agency’s smallest budget since 1961, when adjusted for inflation. The most severe reductions target NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), which faces a 47 percentContinue reading "This graphic shows what’s at stake in the proposed 2026 NASA budget"

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When the Sun becomes a red giant, will the outer planets and moons become more temperate and conducive to Earth-like life? Terrence A. MurrayCincinnati, Ohio When the Sun runs out of hydrogen fuel and expands into a red giant, it will eventually encompass the innermost planets of the solar system, out to about Earth’s orbit.Continue reading "When the Sun becomes a red giant, will the outer planets and moons become more temperate?"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out on the evening of June 16 to observe a close passage of the star Regulus by Mars. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion and sits at the bottom of that figure’s “backward question mark,” which is the Lion’s head,Continue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: Mars passes the star Regulus"

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On June 16, 1963, 26-year-old Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova made history by becoming the first woman to travel into space. A former factory seamstress, Tereshkova was an accomplished amateur parachutist with over 100 jumps — a vital skill, since Vostok cosmonauts ejected before landing. Selected from over 400 applicants in 1962, she underwent months ofContinue reading "June 16, 1963: Valentina Tereshkova is the first woman in space"

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Mars will pass 0.8° north of Regulus at midnight EDT, and both are visible for several hours after sunset for evening observers to enjoy.  In the post-sunset sky, look west to find the two standing close together, with Mars just to the upper right of Regulus. Both star and planet are the same magnitude (1.4)Continue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, June 16: Mars and Regulus shine together"

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On June 15, 763 BCE, a near-total solar eclipse occurred over northern Assyria and was recorded by observers in Nineveh, the capital city. This event is preserved in the Eponym Canon, a list of historical events made by the Assyrians on clay tablets, following a specialized calendar system. The text notes: “Insurrection in the CityContinue reading "June 15, 763 BCE: Assyrians record a solar eclipse"

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The teams operating the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — NASA’s two most in-demand observatories and among its most scientifically productive missions — are preparing to reduce operations due to funding shortfalls, officials said last week at the summer meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Anchorage, Alaska. The comments came atContinue reading "James Webb, Hubble space telescopes face reduction in operations over funding shortfalls"

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Two hours after sunset, the sky is dark and the constellation Canes Venatici is high in the west, nestled beneath the curve of Ursa Major’s long tail, which also creates the handle of the Big Dipper asterism.  Located in northern Canes Venatici is M51, famously known as the Whirlpool Galaxy. It’s easy to find justContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, June 15: View the Whirlpool and its companion"

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On June 14, 1949, a rhesus monkey named Albert II was launched into space aboard a V-2 rocket from White Sands, New Mexico. Prior to Albert II, animals including fruit flies, mice, and another monkey (Albert I) had been launched in rocket and balloon flights as part of American space biology research, but Albert II’sContinue reading "June 14, 1949: The first mammal in space"

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The Moon doesn’t rise until late tonight, leaving a dark window after sunset to explore the sky. Back in Leo in the west this evening, you might try your luck with Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, also known as Schwassmann-Wachmann 1. Now around 13th magnitude, the comet is sliding through southwestern Leo. Today, Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 is roughly 2°Continue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, June 14: Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 sits at Leo’s feet"

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The sky is filled with great planetary nebulae for backyard observers. Their small size and relatively high surface brightnesses make them easy to observe in most telescopes — and decent targets on less than perfect nights. The constellation Cygnus is filled with bright planetaries, lying as it does smack dab on the center of theContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: NGC 7008"

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At one point, Sally Ride was arguably the most famous woman in the world. She flew two missions for NASA, including the one that made her the first American woman in space. She gave hundreds of interviews, and has appeared in countless books, on commemorative stamps, even on Sesame Street. She has a Barbie dollContinue reading "New documentary ‘Sally’ tells the full life story of America’s first female astronaut"

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Greg Meyer from Phoenix, Arizona Star trails encircle the landscape of northern Arizona in this 360° image that uses a stereographic projection. In the “foreground” of the scene lies the photographer’s Starpoint Australis portable tent observatory. The photographer captured the star trails with an Insta360 X4 camera, stacking around five hundred 30-second images taken atContinue reading "A world in motion"

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This is my open letter to all aurora chasers. After returning home from a successful trip to the 2024 Okie-Tex Star Party in early October, I received alerts from SpaceWeather.com indicating increased activity on the Sun. Predictions called for a severe geomagnetic storm, with a chance of auroral activity as far south as Alabama. IContinue reading "How I learned to love the Northern Lights"

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Every 11 years, activity on the Sun peaks. More sunspots, prominences, flares, and other phenomena are seen on our star’s face, plus, there’s an uptick in visible aurorae here on Earth. This time period is called the solar cycle, and we’re in the middle of the peak of the current one, solar cycle 25. TheseContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Take a Look at the Sun"

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Pioneer 10 holds the titles for many “firsts”: It was NASA’s first mission to the outer planets, the first spacecraft to fly beyond Mars, the first to traverse the asteroid belt, and the first to fly past Jupiter. It was also the first spacecraft placed on a trajectory to escape the solar system into interstellarContinue reading "June 13, 1983: Pioneer 10 leaves solar system"

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Mercury now shines at magnitude –0.8 in the evening sky, lingering above the horizon some 80 minutes after the Sun disappears. Tonight, the solar system’s smallest planet stands just 20′ from the 3rd-magnitude star Mebsuta (Epsilon [ε] Geminorum), near the middle of the constellation Gemini.  You can catch the pairing with binoculars or a smallContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, June 13: Mercury meets Mebsuta"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, June 13Mercury is making its way through Gemini, passing close to the star Mebsuta (Epsilon [ε] Geminorum) this evening. Visible for more than an hour after sunset, the magnitude –0.8 planet shines brightly in the west. Through binoculars or a telescope, you’ll beContinue reading "The Sky This Week from June 13 to 20: The Red Planet visits Regulus"

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Sometimes even scientists get lucky. Yale University astronomer Imad Pasha was scanning some ground-based images when he stumbled across a galaxy boasting several rings. Because the object’s name, LEDA 1313424, doesn’t roll off the tongue, his team nicknamed it the Bullseye. This Hubble image reveals why it’s an apt moniker: The galaxy boasts nine rings,Continue reading "Hubble spots a cosmic bullseye"

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Francisco Javier Pérez Olvera, taken from Mixquiahuala, Hidalgo, Mexico This wide-field view captures a broad swath of the star-forming Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, spanning the Flame Nebula (NGC 2024) to the Orion Nebula (M42). The imager used a 54mm f/4.5 astrograph and dual-band Hα/OIII filter with a one-shot color camera to take 16 hours 40Continue reading "From the Flame to Orion"

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On June 12, 2021, Nova Herculis 2021 (V1674 Herculis) erupted, and was discovered by amateur astronomer Seiji Ueda of Japan. The white dwarf quickly became visible to the naked eye, surging to 10,000 times brighter than it originally had been. Its speed was unprecedented: V1674 Herculis faded from that peak brightness in just over oneContinue reading "June 12, 2021: Seiji Ueda discovers Nova Herculis 2021"

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Saturn’s two-faced moon Iapetus reaches its greatest western elongation today. At western elongation, the moon’s lighter hemisphere is turned toward Earth, making it brightest and easiest to view through a telescope.  First, locate Saturn above the eastern horizon around 4 A.M. local daylight time, roughly 90 minutes before sunrise. At this time, the planet shouldContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, June 12: Iapetus at its best"

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Andrei Pleskatsevich, taken from Minsk, Belarus The reflection nebula IC 63 lies near the star Navi (Gamma [γ] Cassiopeiae). Through a telescope, the object often appears to be concealed by the star’s glare, inspiring its common nickname, the Ghost of Cassiopeia. This imager took 5 hours of exposure with a 3-inch scope.

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Launched in February 2020, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar Orbiter probe has been looping around the Sun with a special purpose in mind: Studying the poles of our star.  The planets orbit the Sun in a single plane, called the ecliptic. This means we’re roughly even with the Sun’s equator and don’t see itsContinue reading "ESA’s Solar Orbiter reveals the Sun’s poles for the first time"

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Forty Ways to Know a Star: Using Stars to Understand Astronomy Princeton Architectural PressNew York, NY In Forty Ways to Know a Star: Using Stars to Understand Astronomy, Jillian Scudder explores stars’ greatest mysteries through 40 short essays accompanied by photos and illustrations. An astrophysicist, science blogger, and Oberlin College associate professor, Scudder details theContinue reading "New astronomy products to kick off your summer observing"

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Born in 1888, artist and illustrator Chesley Bonestell became famous for his realistic paintings of space. His work spanned decades and many formats and publications; perhaps most influential was his collaboration with Wernher von Brain on the 1952–54 Collier’s series, “Man Will Conquer Space Soon!” By making the stuff of science fiction seem achievable, his artwork helpedContinue reading "June 11, 1986: Chesley Bonestell dies"

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Full Moon occurs this morning at 3:44 A.M. EDT. Early risers can catch the Moon setting in the southwest shortly before sunrise, while anyone out in the evening will see the Full Moon rising again in the southeast not long after the Sun has set. That’s because the Full Moon is always located opposite theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, June 11: The June Strawberry Moon"

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When galaxies run into each other, they often appear to merge gracefully, their cores pirouetting around one another, drawn by their mutual gravitational attraction as their spiral arms extend outward in repose and their disks dissolve into an eternal embrace. But not in galaxy cluster PLCKG 287.0+32.9. Like a high-speed multi-car pileup in a HollywoodContinue reading "Galaxy cluster pileup sets record for the size of its glow"

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Mission Highlight: Axiom 4 — A historic multinational endeavor The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), launching on June 11 at 8:00 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center, will carry crew members from India, Poland, and Hungary—representing each nation’s first mission to the International Space Station. The historic flight will be commanded by NASA veteran Peggy WhitsonContinue reading "Axiom 4 makes history while SpaceX Starlink launches dominate the week"

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Here’s an oddball open star cluster I bet you’ve never seen — it’s catalogued as Pismis-Moreno 1. Lying at a high declination in the northern constellation Cepheus, it was discovered by Armenian-Mexican astronomer Paris Pismis and Mexican astronomer Marco Moreno-Corral.  Little data has been collected on this small group, which measures 9’ across and isContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Pismis-Moreno 1"

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Ah, spring. Finally, it’s warm enough for even thin-blooded observers (like me) to break out their binoculars and telescopes. If you’re new to astronomy, however, you’ll want to become familiar with the constellations and bright stars that populate this season’s night sky before looking through the eyepiece. Then, when you read that a sky treatContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: The Spring Sky"

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Humanity’s need to track the Moon’s changing phases and motions is ancient. Mammoth hunters used the Moon as a timekeeper, carving crescent-shaped notches into bone and tusk. Sumerian astronomers recorded the Moon’s motion on clay tablets more than 3,000 years ago.  But as reliable and trustworthy as the Moon may seem, its dance around EarthContinue reading "How tracking the Moon helped astronomers unlock our understanding of celestial motion"

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Eugene Parker, pioneer of theoretical solar and plasma astrophysics, was born June 10, 1927. Parker revolutionized the field of heliophysics, notably by first proposing the existence of the solar wind — a stream of charged particles ejected from the Sun — in 1958. His theory was confirmed by Mariner II in 1962. Among many otherContinue reading "June 10, 1927: The birth of Eugene Parker"

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Marty Weintraub from Duluth, Minnesota An auroral display shimmers on the night of May 28/9 over Lake Saganaga in Minnesota, near the Canadian border. The photographer notes that wildfire smoke caused the aurora to take on a “fuzzy, diffuse” appearance — even though the image itself is sharp with pinpoint stars. A Sony mirrorless camera andContinue reading "Smokey aurorae"

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The Moon passes 0.3° south of Antares at 7 A.M. EDT. You can catch them early this morning, when they are highest in the south just after midnight on the 9th. The Moon’s bright light dominates the southern sky as our satellite quickly waxes toward the Full phase, which it will reach in just overContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, June 10: The Moon meets Antares"

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I spent part of last week in one of my favorite places, Flagstaff, Arizona, at Lowell Observatory. This storied institution is well known, and as I have written about previously, holds a unique place in the history of American science. Founded in 1894 by the Boston explorer and scientist Percival Lowell, the institution presents aContinue reading "Lowell Observatory faces big challenges"

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Near the Moon’s western limb lies Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms — a vast swath of terrain spanning 1,600 miles (2,500 kilometers) north to south, and covering 10.5 percent of the lunar surface. Its hinterland is peppered with a teeming sea of craters. One of them, at its southeastern extremity, honors Britain’s first AstronomerContinue reading "350 years of astronomers royal: Astronomical advisors to the British monarchs"

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The White House’s proposed 2026 budget includes sweeping cuts to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), slashing its funding by approximately 47 percent, as reported by the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The NASA science budget reductions would significantly impact programs across astrophysics, heliophysics, Earth science, and planetary science, raising concerns throughout the scientific community. NASA willContinue reading "NASA to discuss proposed science budget cuts Thursday"

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Are either of the Voyager spacecraft capable of taking a picture of our solar system from their current interstellar locations? Jake CunninghamEugene, Oregon No, but let’s talk about how the spacecraft that once dazzled scientists and the public alike with images of our solar system came to this state. To preserve power and memory, missionContinue reading "Can either Voyager image our solar system from their current location?"

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Mark Johnston from Scottsdale, Arizona Prominences play on the limb of the Sun in this image taken June 7.

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out later in the evening to observe what most observers think is the sky’s most colorful area. Named for the nearby star Rho Ophiuchi, this region in the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius boasts emission, reflection, and dark nebulae, star clusters, and a red 1st-magnitude star,Continue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Rho Ophiuchi Region"

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In early 1987, a team led by MIT’s Jacqueline Hewitt was imaging radio-emitting objects with the Very Large Array radio telescope as part of a gravitational lens survey. The unusual appearance of object MG1131+0456 – an oval with elongated bright spots at the ends – led to further investigation, and the researchers eventually concluded itContinue reading "June 9, 1988: First image of an Einstein ring"

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The constellation Hercules is high in the east after dark this evening. Rich with deep-sky objects, we’re passing by the Strongman’s most famous (M13) for its second-brightest globular cluster: M92.  But don’t feel like you’re settling for second best: This cluster is only a little fainter and smaller than M13, so it’s a stunning sightContinue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, June 9: Hercules’ other globular"

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Giovanni Cassini was born in Perinaldo, in what is now Italy, on June 8, 1625. Early work on Jupiter and Mars’ rotational periods and the positions of Jupiter’s satellites led to an invitation to Paris and the Academie des Sciences by King Louis XIV; he became director of the Observatorie de Paris in 1671, andContinue reading "June 8, 1625: The birth of Giovanni Cassini"

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Today, Mercury passes 2° north of Jupiter at 4 P.M. EDT. You can catch them together in the evening twilight, sinking in the west after sunset. But be quick: They are just a few degrees above the horizon half an hour after sunset. If you can get to a location with a clear western horizon,Continue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, June 8: A conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter"

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NASA launched the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer satellite, or EUVE, on June 7, 1992, to conduct an all-sky survey at wavelengths inaccessible from the ground. The first satellite designed to operate in the short-wave ultraviolet range, its “objectives included discovering and studying UV sources radiating in this spectral region, and analyzing effects of the interstellar mediumContinue reading "June 7, 1992: The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer launches"

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There’s a short dark window of about an hour after the Moon sets and before twilight begins to brighten the sky this morning. Use it to track down one of the most famous planetary nebulae in the sky: M27, the Dumbbell Nebula. Shining at magnitude 7.4 and stretching some 8’ by 6’, this was theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, June 7: The Dumbbell Nebula"

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“Extraterrestrial Cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction,” by physicist Luis Alvarez, geologist Walter Alvarez, Frank Asaro, and Helen Michel, was published in Science June 6, 1980. In it, the authors propose that an asteroid crashing to Earth was responsible for the death of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. (The timeline was later amended to 66Continue reading "June 6, 1980: The asteroid impact theory"

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When you become a young observer of the skies, happy to be out in a dark field at night with a 6-inch or 8-inch scope, you never dream of the kind of night of observing I experienced on Thursday, June 5. I am in Flagstaff, Arizona, during part of this week, spending some time atContinue reading "Observing with a 4-meter telescope"

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Shift4 Payments founder and private astronaut Jared Isaacman believes “some people” within the White House “that had some axes to grind” are behind the surprising withdrawal of his nomination to lead NASA. In April, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted 19-9 to send Isaacman’s nomination to the full chamber. His confirmation voteContinue reading "Isaacman blames withdrawal of NASA Chief nomination on retribution"

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One of the most important factors to amateur astronomers is seeing, which is defined as the steadiness of the atmosphere at your observing site. You can tell how good (or bad) the seeing is by viewing a reasonably bright (2nd magnitude) star near the zenith. If it’s twinkling wildly, the seeing is bad. But if theContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Tube Currents"

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Philippe Moussette, taken from Cap-Rouge, Quebec, Canada Smoke from wildfires burning across northern Canada gives the Sun an otherworldly glow in this 1/2000-second exposure taken with a Canon DSLR and 300mm lens with 2x teleconverter at f/10 and ISO 100.

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The Moon passes 0.5° south of Spica at 11 A.M. EDT. The pair hangs in the evening sky, located in the south an hour after sunset.  By this evening, the Moon has moved some 6.3° southeast of Spica, the star that anchors Virgo the Maiden as its alpha luminary. Spica is magnitude 1 and sitsContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, June 6: The Moon and Spica"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, June 6The Moon passes 0.5° south of the magnitude 1.0 star Spica at 11 A.M. EDT. The pair hangs in the evening sky, located in the south two hours after sunset. They are now some 6.3° apart, with the waxing Moon to Spica’sContinue reading "The Sky This Week from June 6 to 13: Jupiter and Mercury meet"

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NGC 6946 is a bright galaxy sometimes called the Fireworks Galaxy due to its high rate of supernovae. It lies in a very rich star field right on the border of Cepheus and Cygnus.  This object is an intermediate spiral, meaning it structurally leans a little toward being a barred spiral. It was discovered byContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: NGC 6946"

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There have been times through the years when I’ve gone observing and have been unprepared. Whether it was an action I should have taken, an item that I forgot, or some bit of observing wisdom that would have made my session better. Hopefully, the following list will better prepare you for when you next headContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Observing tips"

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On June 5, 1819, British mathematician and astronomer John C. Adams was born in in Cornwall. The first to predict the existence of Neptune, he wrote in his journal on July 3, 1841: “Formed a design in the beginning of this week of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities inContinue reading "June 5, 1819: The birth of John C. Adams"

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Bob Fera/Steeve Body/Steve Mandel Emission nebulae NGC 3576, 3603, 3572, and 3503 all feature in this wide-field vista of nebulae in Carina. The imagers captured Hα/OIII/RGB exposures of 380, 380, 100, 100, and 100 minutes respectively with a 4.2-inch scope.

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Now rising in the east after sunset is the famous Summer Triangle, so called because it sits high overhead on summer nights. As we head for the Northern Hemisphere summer solstice later this month, the three stars that make up this asterism will rise earlier and earlier each night.  Tonight around 11 P.M. local daylightContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, June 5: Summer Triangle rising"

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Emmanuel Delgadillo from Jalisco, Mexico The Tadpoles, lying in the emission nebula IC 410, are stellar nurseries that will birth infant stars. Their “tails” of gas and dust are blown outward by winds and radiation from the open star cluster NGC 1893, which lies within the nebula. The imager used a 10-inch f/5 scope to takeContinue reading "A pond of stars"

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It’s difficult for amateur astronomers to fully share the wonders of the night sky with a visually impaired child. Well, that task has gotten a bit easier thanks to All About Orion, the new book by Dean Regas. This large (8½” by 11″) book contains 24 pages full of information about most people’s favorite constellation. It’s publishedContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: All About Orion"

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One of the earliest recorded eclipses is found in in the Shijing, a collection of ancient poetry whose compilation is also credited to Confucius. The eclipse in question occurred during the Zhou dynasty. Though the exact date is uncertain, some astronomers have pointed to the total eclipse of June 4, 781 B.C.E. (though this would have onlyContinue reading "June 4, 781 B.C.E: A great eclipse in China"

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Asteroid 2 Pallas is visible in the late evening and overnight into the early morning. Around local midnight, you’ll find this main-belt world some 16° high in the eastern sky, a few degrees east of the four-star lozenge in Delphinus also called Job’s Coffin.  This small, diamond-shaped asterism is made from four 4th-magnitude stars: Alpha,Continue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, June 4: Pallas swims with the Dolphin"

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One of the largest emission nebulae in the far northern sky can be found in IC 1396, a bright glow in Cepheus that contains several complex objects. Among them are the red supergiant star Mu Cephei; the double stars Struve 2816 and Struve 2819; the dark nebula van den Bergh 142, known as the ElephantContinue reading "Deep-Sky Dreams: Emission nebula IC 1396"

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Emmanuel Joly from Le Cannet-des-Maures, France Narrowband Hα, SII, and OIII filters were used to collect 31.6 hours of data with an 8-inch scope for this portrait of the Wizard Nebula, which surrounds the open cluster NGC 7380 in Cepheus. The star field comprises RGB exposure times of 45 minutes each.

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How did we get here? Few topics in astronomy intrigue us more than this simple five-word query. Yet the simplicity hides multiple layers of complexity. How did the universe come into existence? How did stars form out of an initial mix of mostly hydrogen and helium gas? How did planets grow in the dusty disksContinue reading "Live long and prosper: JWST images NGC 346"