On Sept. 1, 1859, amateur astronomer Richard Carrington observed a massive eruption of bright light from the Sun’s surface. It was the first recorded observation of a solar flare. Within only 17.5 hours, a coronal mass ejection (CME) – an expulsion of plasma and magnetic waves that often accompanies flares and prominences – reached Earth,Continue reading "Sept. 2, 1859: The Carrington Event peaks"

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Mercury passes 1.2° north of Regulus at 6 A.M. EDT; the pair is visible in the east just before sunrise, but it might be a challenging observation. You’ll want to get to a location above the surrounding terrain if possible, with an eastern horizon free of tall trees or buildings.  Rising around 5:30 A.M. localContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, September 2: Mercury meets Regulus"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Emeritus Dave Eicher invites you to head out during the early morning hours the first week of September. It’s then when you’ll see the brilliant planet Venus pass by the Beehive Cluster, which lies in the constellation Cancer the Crab. Venus will be easy to spot but if twilight has started,Continue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: Venus and the Beehive"

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Humanity is obsessed with astronomical record keeping. The Babylonians compiled their first listing of the stars in the 12th century b.c.e. Around 1000 b.c.e., they followed it with an expanded catalog that includes familiar constellations and star clusters, as well as motions of the Sun, the Moon, and the planets. The Mayans inscribed into stoneContinue reading "An introduction to common astronomical catalogs"

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Cepheid variables are some of the most well-known variable stars in the sky, responsible for helping astronomers accurately measure cosmic distances and famously clueing Edwin Hubble in to the fact that the Andromeda Galaxy was far beyond the Milky Way. So, tonight let’s begin September by finding the Cepheid variable that started it all: DeltaContinue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, September 1: Observe Delta Cephei"

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On Sept. 1, 1804, German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding peered through a 5-centimeter refracting telescope at a private observatory near Bremen, and discovered a celestial body he named Juno. Harding was part of the so-called Celestial Police. This group of astronomers had dedicated themselves to the search for the “missing planet” that the Titius-Bode lawContinue reading "Sept. 1, 1804: Karl Harding spots 3 Juno"

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September’s sky is rich with opportunities. Titan’s shadow continues to transit Saturn. The ringed planet reaches opposition along with Neptune, with both worlds in the same region of the sky. Mars is descending toward solar conjunction. Uranus is a fine binocular target, while Jupiter dominates the early morning. Venus starts the month near M44, thenContinue reading "September 2025: What’s in the sky this month? Saturn and Neptune reach opposition, as Jupiter and Venus greet the dawn"

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The evening sky boasts two naked-eye planets. Start your night’s viewing with ruddy Mars, which lies in the west as darkness falls. It treks eastward against the backdrop of Virgo, passing 2° north of the Maiden’s brightest star, 1st-magnitude Spica, on Sept. 12. The Red Planet shines at magnitude 1.6, slightly fainter than the blue-whiteContinue reading "September 2025: What’s in the Southern Hemisphere sky this month?"

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On Aug. 31, 1913, Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell was born in England. When he was 15, a school trip to hear a lecture on electricity prompted a keen interest in science and math, and Lovell would go on to study physics at Bristol University. He graduated with honors in 1934 and finished his Ph.D. onlyContinue reading "Aug. 31, 1913: Birth of Bernard Lovell"

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Bright Venus hangs near the lovely Beehive Cluster (M44) in Cancer this morning. Both rise more than two hours before the Sun and reach nearly 20° high in the east an hour before sunrise. Venus shines at magnitude –3.9, a blazing beacon just 1.4° southwest (to the upper right) of the Beehive.  At magnitude 3.1,Continue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, August 31: Venus hangs with the Beehive"

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The third member of NASA’s space shuttle program, Discovery had a fraught journey to its launch. First, a test in June of 1984 found a flaw in the thermal shield; then a launch scheduled for later the same month was delayed due to a computer failure. Attempt No. 2 was halted only four seconds beforeContinue reading "Aug. 30, 1984: Space Shuttle Discovery launches"

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Saturn’s moon Iapetus reaches greatest western elongation today, now located 9.5’ west of the ringed planet. Iapetus has two vastly different hemispheres, one light and one dark. As the moon orbits Saturn, it slowly rotates so that one and then the other side faces us, with its brightness varying vastly depending on which region isContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, August 30: Iapetus reaches western elongation"

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On Saturday, September 20, an ambitious project will be announced and celebrated in Animas, New Mexico, which lies near the Arizona border. And you’re invited. Dubbed “Lunar Base Alpha,” it will replicate the lunar landscape and feature rovers conducting science experiments and habitats that you’ll be able to stay in. The initial project will coverContinue reading "Experience the Moon on Earth"

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The first light from the explosion that was the death of a massive star in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud reached Earth on Feb. 23, 1987. Supernova 1987A’s proximity gave astronomers unprecedented access into the final stages of stellar life, and in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope began taking high-res images of the former star.Continue reading "Aug. 29, 1990: Hubble sees Supernova 1987A clearly"

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Rodney Pommier, taken from Portland, Oregon Roughly 40 million years ago near the core of the spiral galaxy NGC 7331, a white dwarf star ended its life in a thermonuclear explosion. The light from that explosion was detected July 14 by the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer project. This astroimager acquired the shot on the leftContinue reading "Spot the supernova"

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This evening Titan stands east of Saturn and Iapetus is far to the west, the latter approaching its greatest western elongation tomorrow. You can find the ringed planet already 15° high in the east at 10 P.M. local daylight time, continuing to rise until around 2:30 A.M., when it reaches the highest point in itsContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, August 29: Saturn’s moons line up"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, August 29The waxing Moon lies in southern Libra tonight. Our satellite is quickly approaching Scorpius, where it will meet the Scorpion’s brightest star in just a few days.  High in the southeast in the few hours after sunset is the small constellation SagittaContinue reading "The Sky This Week from August 29 to September 5: Saturn’s time to shine"

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Patrick A. Cosgrove from Honeoye Falls, New York Sharpless 2–124 is a faint emission nebula located around 15,000 light-years away in Cygnus. This image reveals intricate filaments of dust crossing the bright central region, reminiscent of the Trifid Nebula (M20). The imager took 14.2 hours of SHO and LRGB data with a 2.8-inch f/5.6 astrograph.

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iAFS2 automatic focuser  iOptronWoburn, MA The iAFS2 automatic focuser is designed to stay focused even after it is adjusted. It allows the user to control its movement three ways: by connecting to a computer, with affixed adjuster buttons, or with a manual focus wheel. The focuser also features a built-in temperature sensor and two USBContinue reading "Make summer last with these new astronomy products"

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A team of scientists claims a computational tool for studying black hole collisions could be our best bet for answering mysterious questions about the universe’s origins. In a new paper in Living Reviews in Relativity, they argue for applying a technique called numerical relativity to peer into the moment before the Big Bang.  At itsContinue reading "Scientists seek to discover what came before the Big Bang"

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The Northern Hemisphere’s summer is — by far — the best time to view our galaxy’s rich star fields. And it’s during summer that the spectacular Wild Duck Cluster flies through the Milky Way. German astronomer Gottfried Kirch discovered the Wild Duck Cluster in 1681. Messier made it his 11th catalog entry May 30, 1764,Continue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Observe the Wild Duck Cluster"

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Engineers at NASA successfully tested key hardware for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in a crucial two-day sequence on Aug. 7 and 8, according to an Aug. 26 press release from the agency. In simulated space-like conditions, the team confirmed that the telescope’s four solar panels and a unique, visor-like sunshade will unfold asContinue reading "Watch as the Roman Space Telescope unfurls its solar panels and visor in successful test"

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The space probe Galileo was launched in 1989 with the goal of studying Jupiter and its moons. On its way to the gas giant, it became the first spacecraft to do a flyby of an asteroid as it zoomed past 951 Gaspra on Oct. 29, 1991. Then, on Aug. 28, 1993, Galileo made its secondContinue reading "Aug. 28, 1993: An asteroid harbors a surprise"

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Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchoś) is passing less than 0.5° from magnitude 5.4 Lambda (λ) Coronae Borealis in the western sky this evening. The comet is quite faint at 15th magnitude, so you’ll want a dark observing site and a large scope to net it. Fortunately, you have the luxury of waiting until the sky isContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, August 28: Comet Wierzchoś passes Lambda Coronae Borealis"

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In the late 20th century, when we still captured celestial images on film, the few days around New Moon were the only times we could image deep-sky objects. The grainy, low-sensitivity films we used back then demanded the darkest skies possible for quality portraits. When First Quarter arrived, it was time to say goodbye toContinue reading "Tips for imaging during a Full Moon"

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SpaceX’s more than 400-foot-tall Starship rocket returned to form Tuesday, deploying its first payload and completing critical heat shield tests following a string of in-flight and preflight failures. The spacecraft experienced different issues on each of its previous three test flights, with explosions in January and March disrupting air travel. In June, a Starship exploded on the test stand asContinue reading "SpaceX Starship Flight 10 viewed as roaring success"

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New research suggests a giant impact may not have been responsible for the formation of Jupiter’s core. Most planetary scientists thought that a colossal collision with an early planet containing half of Jupiter’s core material could have mixed up the central region of the gas giant enough to explain its interior today. But a newContinue reading "A new theory explains how Jupiter’s core formed"

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When the Sun, Earth, and Mars all align so that from an earthly perspective, Mars is opposite the Sun, Mars is said to be at opposition. Mars oppositions happen about every other year, and at opposition – or rather, within a few days of it – Mars is also at its closest approach to EarthContinue reading "Aug. 27, 2003: Mars zooms in"

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José J. Chambó, taken from Farm Hakos, Namibia Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) glides by the star 9 Herculis in this Aug. 21 image, glowing with a greenish coma about 2′ wide and a 20″ tail. Captured at roughly magnitude 12.5, this icy visitor was 0.33 astronomical units (the average Earth-Sun distance) from the Sun. TheContinue reading "A comet in Hercules"

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The Moon moves 1.2° south of Spica during the daylight hours, sitting due south of Virgo’s luminary at 11 A.M. EDT. By this evening, a new line has formed in the sky, with Spica now between Mars and the Moon, which sits to the star’s left. An hour after sunset, Spica is still some 7°Continue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, August 27: The Moon moves past Spica"

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Astronomers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have discovered a huge expanding bubble of gas and dust surrounding a red supergiant star. It’s the largest structure of its kind ever seen in the Milky Way. The bubble was blown into space around 4000 years ago. The question scientists are asking is, “Why did the starContinue reading "A supergiant star’s expanding mystery"

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Born on Aug. 26, 1918, in West Virginia, Katherine Goble Johnson showed exceptional aptitude for mathematics from an early age. She skipped several grades, graduating high school by 14 and college by 18. Johnson was enrolled in West Virginia University in 1939 as one of the first three Black students to integrate the state’s graduateContinue reading "Aug. 26, 1918: The birth of Katherine Johnson"

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Asteroid 6 Hebe reaches opposition this morning at 10 A.M. EDT. Shining at magnitude 7.5, Hebe is located in Aquarius and rises shortly after sunset, remaining visible all night. You should be able to spot in binoculars or any small telescope. The best time to observe it is late in the evening and overnight intoContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, August 26: Asteroid Hebe reaches opposition"

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Mission highlight: A weekend of scrubs for Starship and New Shepard SpaceX was forced to scrub the highly anticipated tenth flight test of its Super Heavy Starship vehicle on Sunday, August 24, due to an undisclosed ground system issue. The call came just 30 minutes before liftoff from the company’s Starbase facility in Texas. TheContinue reading "SpaceX’s tenth Starship flight test now targeting Monday, August 25, after scrub"

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Owain Scullion New Zealand’s Arrowsmith Range, on the nation’s South Island, is the setting for this Milky Way panorama. The photographer used an astromodifed Fujifilm mirrorless camera to take two panoramas: the ground with a 23mm lens at f/2 and the sky with a 27mm f/1.4 lens and Hα and star glow filters. Subframes wereContinue reading "Home on the range"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out on the evening of August 26 and observe the pairing of a thin crescent Moon with Mars. A good strategy is to start looking around half an hour after sunset through binoculars. You’ll easily spot the Moon. Look just to the right of itContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Moon meets Mars"

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What is the circle that Earth’s axis traces out in its 26,000-year precession cycle? What bright stars are close to it? Tim BoyleNishinomiya, Japan As Earth orbits the Sun, it also spins about its axis in just less than 24 hours. Our planet exhibits other motions as well — the most dramatic of them isContinue reading "As Earth’s axis precesses over 26,000 years, what bright stars become the North Star?"

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NASA’s Great Observatories were intended to peer at the universe in different wavelengths: the Hubble Space Telescope in visible light, the Compton Gamma Ray in gamma rays, the Chandra X-ray Observatory in X-rays, and the Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared. The last of the four to be launched, Spitzer was carried into space on Aug.Continue reading "Aug. 25, 2003: The Spitzer Space Telescope launches"

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Observers who are quick to step outside after sunset can catch a delicate crescent Moon sinking in the west, now just 8 percent lit as sunrise begins to creep over the lunar nearside.  Magnitude 1.6 Mars sits 7° to the upper left (east) of the Moon, slowly becoming visible as the sky darkens. You canContinue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, August 25: The Moon reappears in Virgo"

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After much discussion and debate, an International Astronomical Union (IAU) vote on Aug. 24, 2006, reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet. “Throw away the placemats. Grab a magic marker for the classroom charts. Take a pair of scissors to the solar system mobile,” crowed the New York Times coverage. While sentiment from the general publicContinue reading "Aug. 24, 2006: Pluto is demoted"

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Mars is just less than 3° south of the gorgeous double star Porrima (Gamma Virginis) this evening. At magnitude 1.6, Mars is about a full magnitude brighter than Porrima (magnitude 2.7); the star will appear to the planet’s upper right in the western sky an hour after sunset, when they are roughly 7° high. ToContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, August 24: Virgo’s double star, Porrima"

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On Aug. 8 and Aug. 23, 1991, scientists from CalTech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory turned the 70-meter dish antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex on Mercury. The goal was to produce a radar map of the portions of Mercury not photographed by Mariner 10 during its 1974-75 flybys. But to the researchers’Continue reading "Aug. 23, 1991: Water on Mercury"

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New Moon occurs at 2:07 A.M. EDT. This particular New Moon has been garnering headlines as a Black Moon — specifically, a seasonal Black Moon. This is a non-scientific name that can be attributed to the third of four New Moons to occur in an astronomical season — e.g., between the summer solstice and theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, August 23: The Black Moon"

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Everything we see around us, from the ground beneath our feet to the most remote galaxies, is made of matter. For scientists, that has long posed a problem: According to physicists’ best current theories, matter and its counterpart, antimatter, ought to have been created in equal amounts at the time of the Big Bang. ButContinue reading "How a mysterious particle could explain the universe’s missing antimatter"

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American astronomer Edwin Hubble (after whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named) coined the term “Local Group” for the galaxies he had identified as moving through space with the Milky Way. The term appeared in his 1936 book, The Realm of the Nebulae. He identified 11 definite members with a possible 12th. Today, astronomers have shownContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Meet the Local Group"

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On Aug. 20, 1977, Voyager 2 launched from Cape Canaveral and began its epic journey to the outer planets – and beyond. Twelve years later, the spacecraft photographed Neptune as it approached the ice giant. Two days after that, on Aug. 22, 1989, NASA announced that Neptune had a ring system; the images had revealedContinue reading "Aug. 22, 1989: Voyager 2 reveals Neptune"

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Andrea Arbizza, taken from Modena, Italy The Omega Nebula (M17) in Sagittarius is also known as the Swan Nebula for its appearance in visual observations. But this deep image was taken with nearly 41 hours of exposure in Hα/OIII and SII/OIII dual-band filters with a 4-inch scope at f/4.8, revealing intricate detail in this star-formingContinue reading "Swan deep-dive"

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With no Moon in the evening sky, it’s time to check in with Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchoś), now in Hercules and visible for several hours after sunset. By 9:30 P.M. local daylight time, Wierzchoś is still 60° high in the west. You’ll find it about 9.5° west of magnitude 3.5 Eta (η) Herculis, one ofContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, August 22: Comet Wierzchoś passes planetary nebula NGC 6058"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, August 22Reaching its highest point in the sky around 11 P.M. local daylight time tonight is the Swan Nebula (M17). This gorgeous deep-sky object is a fan favorite of amateur astronomers thanks to its brightness, which makes it easy to find and observeContinue reading "The Sky This Week from August 22 to 29: A Black Moon"

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A new study suggests a novel approach in the long-running scientific endeavor to find intelligent life beyond Earth. Instead of casting a wide, speculative net across the cosmos, researchers from Penn State and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory propose a more targeted strategy: listen for alien civilizations in the same way they might be listening forContinue reading "To find alien life, try eavesdropping on their conversations with spacecraft, astronomers suggest"

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An international team of scientists, led by Northwestern University astrophysicists, has detected a never-before-seen type of exploding star, or supernova, that is rich with silicon, sulfur, and argon. Astronomers long have theorized that massive stars (10 to 100 times heavier than our Sun) have a layered structure. The outermost layers are made of the lightestContinue reading "The first supernova of its kind"

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On Aug. 21, 1914, a total solar eclipse over Europe on the eve of World War I drew much attention. Albert Einstein had been waiting for an eclipse to verify his theory of relativity – specifically the light-bending effects of gravity – and enlisted help from Erwin Findlay-Freundlich of Berlin Observatory. Findlay-Freundlich was to leadContinue reading "Aug. 21, 1914: Total solar eclipse tensions"

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Venus passes 7° south of Pollux at 5 A.M. EDT and the crescent Moon is now close to Mercury, preparing to pass 4° north of the solar system’s smallest planet at noon EDT. Let’s start in Gemini, which rises first and sits higher in the eastern sky before sunrise. An hour before the Sun crestsContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, August 21: Venus treks past Pollux"

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SpaceX’s powerful Starship rocket is nearing a return to action following an explosion on the company’s test stand in Texas and anomalies during three consecutive test flights. The FAA on Friday closed its mishap investigation into Starship Flight 9, during which the rocket reached orbit for the first time in 2025 but failed to hit its test objectives. That opens the doorContinue reading "SpaceX dissects Starship issues ahead of Flight 10"

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Oleg Bouevitch from Nepean, Ontario, Canada The dark nebula LDN 1251 in Cepheus — sometimes called the Rotten Fish Nebula — is a cold and dense cloud dotted by the occasional warm glow of forming stars within. The imager captured this region with a 14-inch scope at f/2 and 4 hours of exposure in RGBContinue reading "Spawning stars"

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Ursa Major III orbits the Milky Way at a distance of 32,600 light-years. Until now, it was considered a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Normally such a faint object wouldn’t be classified as such, but astronomers did so because of its large mass, which they assumed contains a lot of invisible dark matter. Recently, however, an internationalContinue reading "The Milky Way’s faintest dwarf galaxy might actually be a star cluster"

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Scientists have a good idea how stars should form in the central galaxies of rich clusters. The hot gas surrounding a cluster’s dominant innermost galaxy cools rapidly, sparking furious star formation. The problem: No one had found evidence for this cooling gas, and most central galaxies don’t create many stars. Astronomers suspect the solution toContinue reading "JWST’s view of the Phoenix Cluster sparks scientific conundrum"

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Rising levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere aren’t just affecting climate on Earth — they could also make weather in space more dramatic, says new research. A team led by scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, reports that the Earth’s upper atmosphere is changing how it responds toContinue reading "Our atmosphere is responding differently to solar storms, and satellites will feel the effects"

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Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) delivered a blow to hopes that the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d could be an Earth-like world, according to a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal. The data reveal that the rocky, Earth-sized planet does not possess a thick, Earth-like atmosphere. The finding is critical because aContinue reading "Earth-sized TRAPPIST-1 d does not have an Earth-like atmosphere"

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Born in 1915 in England, cosmologist Fred Hoyle attend Cambridge University, where he would later become a professor. Among other things, Hoyle would become known as the man who coined the term big bang – but, ironically, he used the phrase in his criticism of the theory. Instead of believing that the universe originated inContinue reading "Aug. 20, 2001: Cosmologist Fred Hoyle dies"

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The Moon passes 5° north of Venus at 7 A.M. EDT; in the early-morning sky, Luna now floats to the upper left of the blazing planet, between that world and the magnitude 1.2 star Pollux in Gemini.  Although cataloged as the Twins’ beta star, Pollux is actually a tad brighter than Alpha Geminorum, also calledContinue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, August 20: An early-morning gathering"

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Amid the cold silence of the main belt, a giant rock drifts through space. It has existed for billions of years unchanged, but today, it will be irrevocably broken. Another rocky object hurtles toward it, smashing the asteroid and sending a shower of shards outward. One dangerously large fragment careens toward the Sun on aContinue reading "Did Earth once have a ring?"

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Astronomers have discovered a new, tiny moon orbiting Uranus, bringing the ice giant’s total number of known satellites to 29. A team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, identified the previously unknown moon using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), according to a recent NASA press release. The detection was madeContinue reading "Webb spots a new, tiny moon orbiting Uranus"

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Voyager 2 has traveled farther than any spacecraft. It’s a little more than 12.4 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) away, just beyond the edge of our solar system. But Fudan University astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi is already thinking about how we might study black holes a generation from now: by sending tiny spacecraft on a decades-longContinue reading "What a mission to a black hole could look like"

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A rock that crashed through the roof of a Georgia home this summer has a story to tell, and it begins long before the existence of our planet. Scientists at the University of Georgia (UGA) who studied fragments of the object determined it is approximately 4.56 billion years old, making it about 20 million yearsContinue reading "A Georgia meteorite older than Earth"

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On Aug. 19, 1646, John Flamsteed was born in Derbyshire, England. Though he left school early due to illness and family obligations, he studied astronomy independently and eventually attended Cambridge University. European maritime trade was rapidly expanding during his lifetime, yet sailors still struggled with the longitude problem – north-south distance was easy to calculateContinue reading "Aug. 19, 1646: The birth of John Flamsteed"

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Greg Polanski, taken remotely via AstroCamp in Nerpio, Albatece, Spain The emission nebulae Sharpless 2–115 glows in this image at right, while planetary nebula Sh 2–116 sits just left of top center in this scene near Deneb in Cygnus. The photographer used a 5-inch scope to take 16.8 hours of data in the Hubble palette.

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Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation 19° from the Sun at 6 A.M. EDT. Now shining a bright magnitude 0, it stands 5° high in the east an hour before sunrise. The planet is now some 42 percent lit and 7” wide.  Mercury is located near central Cancer, just 2° south of M44, the BeehiveContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, August 19: Mercury reaches greatest western elongation"

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Mission highlight: Starship Flight 10 scheduled for Sunday  With the future of NASA’s Artemis moon missions riding on its success, SpaceX is targeting this Sunday, August 24, for the tenth flight test of its Super Heavy Starship vehicle. Liftoff from the company’s Starbase facility in Texas is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EDT. This flight isContinue reading "SpaceX’s tenth Starship flight test lifts off Sunday, August 24"

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Before spacecraft missions, how did astronomers determine the mass, size, and composition of the giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune)? K. QureshiCalgary, Alberta Excellent question. Astronomers are often faced with seeking information about objects they cannot visit to examine. Instead, they use mathematical laws and observation to determine the characteristics of the planets. DeterminingContinue reading "Before spacecraft, how did astronomers determine the mass, size, and composition of the giant planets?"

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Gianni Tumino from Ragusa, Sicily, Italy Perseid meteors and lava shoot across the sky above Mount Etna in this composite. The photographer used a Canon mirrorless camera and zoom lens at 70mm and f/1.4 to take four 4-second exposures at ISO 6400.

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out as twilight begins on the morning of August 19 to see a thin crescent Moon. Below the Moon, you’ll easily spot Jupiter and Venus. And still lower, if your sky conditions are good, you’ll be able to see Mercury, the innermost planet. Good luck!

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During the total solar eclipse of Aug. 18, 1868, two astronomers, Pierre Jules César Janssen of France and J. Norman Lockyer of England, each independently discovered a new line in the Sun’s spectrum. Lockyer thought it showed an undiscovered element, which he named helium. (In Greek mythology, Helios was the Sun god.) Although scientists wouldContinue reading "Aug. 18, 1868: Helium is discovered"

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The second Titan shadow transit of the month occurs overnight tonight, so set your sights on Saturn late this evening. The ringed planet rises in the east around 9:30 P.M. local daylight time, gaining altitude hour by hour. Shining at magnitude 0.7, Saturn is easy to find as the brightest point of light in southwesternContinue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, August 18: Titan’s shadow transits Saturn"

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Astronomer Asaph Hall met Angeline Stickney at New York Central College in 1855. Two years his elder, she instructed him in geometry and German, and was reputedly so strong a mathematician that Hall and his classmate made a game of trying to stump her, yet never could. The pair were married the following year. ForContinue reading "Aug. 17, 1877: Asaph Hall discovers Phobos"

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Nights are slowly shortening, but even as summer begins to wind down, the Summer Triangle still flies high in the sky overnight. Formed by three bright stars, this large asterism is highest around local midnight, when its center — through which the plane of the Milky Way flows — is some 70° high above theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, August 17: Open cluster NGC 6910 shines near Gamma Cygni"

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In March of 1899, William Pickering discovered Phoebe, a moon of Saturn, on photographic plates taken on Aug. 16, 1898, by DeLisle Stewart. It was the first moon to be discovered photographically, rather than observationally, and over a hundred years later, it would be the first target of the Cassini spacecraft. Phoebe orbits at aContinue reading "Aug. 16, 1898: Phoebe makes an appearance"

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Last Quarter Moon occurs at 1:12 A.M. EDT as sunset sweeps across the lunar nearside following the Full phase last week. Visible in the early-morning sky, the Moon lies just under 4° west of the Pleiades in Taurus some two hours before sunrise, rising in the east. (The Moon will continue to creep closer toContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, August 16: The Moon reaches Last Quarter"

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed federal agencies to relax requirements for commercial launch and reentry licenses in a bid to jump-start competition in the U.S. space sector. The White House issued an executive order that calls for the elimination of environmental reviews and portions of Part 450 — a set of launch safety-related measures that tookContinue reading "Commercial spaceflight receives boost with Trump order"

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The basic unit of astronomical time measurement is the day, one rotation of Earth on its axis. But there is more than one way to define day. We can define it based on the Sun. One solar day is the time for the Sun to leave and return to your local meridian, the imaginary line that joins theContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Sidereal Time"

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On Aug. 15, 1977, a narrowband radio signal was detected by the Big Ear Radio Telescope at Ohio State. The signal was powerful, lasted for 72 seconds, and was picked up on only 1 of 50 possible channels. It also showed a distinct pattern – starting low, growing, and then decreasing again — suggesting itContinue reading "Aug. 15, 1977: The Wow! Signal arrives"

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Dwarf planet 1 Ceres is stationary at 9 P.M. EDT, though to spot it you’ll have to get up early, as it’s only visible in the morning sky. Around 4 A.M. local daylight time, Ceres is just over 40° high in the southern sky. The main belt’s largest body is currently making its way throughContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, August 15: Ceres stands stationary"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, August 15Dwarf planet 1 Ceres reaches its stationary point in Cetus the Whale at 9 P.M. EDT. Previously it was moving eastward relative to the background stars. Now it will begin to move westward, or retrograde. Ceres is only visible in the morningContinue reading "The Sky This Week from August 15 to 22: The Moon hangs with the morning planets"

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If you missed my first 10 cool things about the Sun, you can read them here. Now you’re ready for 10 more. 11. Astronomers call the Sun’s visible surface the photosphere. Its thickness ranges from tens of miles to a few hundred miles. 12. The chromosphere is a layer about 1,200 miles thick that lies aboveContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: 10 More Cool Things About the Sun"

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NASA’s Explorer 6 satellite was launched Aug. 7, 1959, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft’s mission was to study Earth’s magnetic fields and radiation, as well as cosmic rays, geomagnetism, and micrometeorites. It also carried a photocell scanner, an instrument intended to photograph Earth’s cloud cover. A complication with one of its solar cells leftContinue reading "Aug. 14, 1959: Explorer 6 images Earth"

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Massimo Tamajo from Syracuse, Sicily, Italy A Perseid meteor streaks above Mount Etna in Italy in this Aug. 10 shot, taken just days before the peak of this year’s shower. The photographer used a Nikon mirrorless camera and 16mm lens at f/2.5 to take a 5-second exposure at ISO 640. Editor’s note: This credit andContinue reading "Perseid peak"

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The Moon reaches perigee at 1:59 P.M. EDT. Perigee is the point in the Moon’s orbit when it is closest to Earth; this afternoon, our satellite will sit 229,456 miles (369,274 km) away.  Mercury is just starting to emerge from the Sun’s glare, presenting a challenging but reachable target. Now shining at magnitude 1, theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, August 14: Mercury reappears"

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After years of certification snags, the U.S. Space Force finally has its latest National Security Space Launch (NSSL) rocket. The newest branch of the U.S. armed forces on Tuesday launched United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur to geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), marking the two-stage, heavy-lift launch vehicle’s debut national security mission. The NSSL program isContinue reading "ULA Vulcan makes successful Space Force debut"

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Using an AI algorithm, astronomers have discovered a new type of supernova likely resulting from the merger of a dying star and its black hole companion. In July 2023, the Zwicky Transient Facility discovered supernova SN 2023zkd, located 730 million light-years from Earth. Six months later, in January 2024, an artificial intelligence algorithm known asContinue reading "How AI helped uncover a new type of supernova"

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If you own a telescope with an aperture (the size of the lens or mirror) of 4 inches or more, there’s a wonderful object now high in the sky as darkness falls. It’s called the Ring Nebula, also known as M57 — the 57th object on French comet hunter Charles Messier’s famous list. He discovered the RingContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Observe the Ring Nebula"

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Likely the best-known meteor shower of the year, the Perseids occur from late July through late August annually, typically peaking around Aug. 12-13. Meteor showers occur when the Earth passes through the debris field left behind as a comet orbits the Sun. In the case of the Perseids, that comet is Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, discovered inContinue reading "Aug. 13, 2011: Perseids from space"

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Chirag Upreti from New York City Venus and Jupiter met in a conjunction on the early morning of Tuesday, Aug. 12, captured in this shot above Croton Reservoir in New York State at nautical twilight. The photographer used a Sony mirrorless camera and lens at 24mm and f/5.6, taking a 1.5-second exposure at ISO 200.

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The Wild Duck Cluster, also cataloged as M11, flies high in Scutum this evening about two hours after sunset. Around 10 P.M. local daylight time, you can find it some 40° high in the south, some 3° west-southwest of the tail feathers of Aquila the Eagle. As an open cluster, M11’s stars are young, estimatedContinue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, August 13: The Wild Duck Cluster flies overhead"

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Using the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has imaged an interstellar comet. This icy body was discovered by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on July 1, 2025, when it was 420 million miles (676 million kilometers) from the Sun. ATLAS is an asteroid impact early warning system developed by the University of Hawai’i. AfterContinue reading "Hubble estimates the size of a comet from deep space"

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The latest astronaut crew conducting research on the International Space Station (ISS) returned to Earth on Saturday, marking the successful completion of NASA’s 10th Commercial Crew mission to the orbital laboratory. The crew of NASA and SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission splashed down off the coast of California on Friday morning, ending its nearly five-month mission. DuringContinue reading "NASA, SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts splash down"

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The Smithsonian Institution began collecting aeronautical artifacts in 1876, when it acquired 20 Chinese Imperial kites. By the end of World War I, a Section of Aeronatics had been established within the Division of Engineering, and Smithsonian Secretary Charles Walcott had mandated that the institution collect aircraft of historical significance. In particular, Charles Lindbergh’s SpiritContinue reading "Aug. 12, 1946: President Truman establishes the National Air Museum"

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Katelyn Beecroft from London, Ontario, Canada The dark nebula LDN 673 in Aquila is a dusty complex that blots out the light of background stars behind it — to this imager, visually resembling a Rorschach test. The image represents 18.8 hours of LRGB exposure with a 2.8-inch f/5.6 refractor.

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This morning is a busy one: Venus passes 0.9° south of Jupiter at 4 A.M. EDT, the two planets officially meeting in a conjunction as the Perseid meteor shower peaks. Step outside at 4 A.M. local time to catch the show. At that time, Venus and Jupiter are some 7° high in the east, locatedContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, August 12: Venus and Jupiter meet, the Perseid meter shower peaks"

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Mission highlight: USSF-106’s historic flight scheduled for Tuesday In last week’s edition, we mistakenly reported that the USSF-106 mission was scheduled for August 10. On August 5, United Launch Alliance announced the official launch date. The historic flight is now set to lift off on Tuesday, August 12, at 7:59 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral’sContinue reading "Historic ULA Vulcan launch slated for Tuesday, August 12"

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By reanalyzing archival data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), scientists have discovered a giant, expanding bubble that is pushing against and distorting the protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star, WSB 52. You can see an animation of this event here: Stars and their planets form when large molecular clouds collapse in on themselves.Continue reading "Stellar jet pressures planet-forming disk"

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On June 28, the Yerkes Future Foundation (YFF), the nonprofit that has operated Yerkes Observatory since 2020, finalized the legal transfer of the site’s massive astronomical glass plate collection from the University of Chicago, according to an Aug. 7 press release. The foundation is now the official owner and steward of all 180,000 plates. BeforeContinue reading "Yerkes Observatory acquires historic glass plate collection"

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Will the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft be damaged when they finally pass through the Oort Cloud? Terry WilsonNorth Prince George, Virginia The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft were launched in 1977. Both passed Jupiter in 1979 and went on to Saturn a few years later, after which Voyager 2 also continued onContinue reading "Will Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 be damaged when they pass through the Oort Cloud?"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out on the evenings of August 12th and 13th to watch for rapid streaks of light crossing the sky. Those streaks occur when Earth passes through a stream of particles left behind by a comet. Because they all appear to originate from the constellation Perseus,Continue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: The Perseid meteor shower"

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After spending the 1850s at Harvard Observatory calculating orbits, Asaph Hall became an assistant at the U.S. Naval Observatory at Washington, D.C., in 1862. He was quickly promoted, and by 1873 had not only held several scientific discussions with Abraham Lincoln during the president’s visits to the observatory, but had also been put in chargeContinue reading "Aug. 11, 1877: Asaph Hall discovers Deimos"

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Ron Brecher The Bear Claw Nebula — also catalogued as Hartl-Dengl-Weinberger 2 and Sharpless 2–200 — is a planetary nebula in Cassiopeia filled with thin, dense filaments. The imager took 55⅔ hours of Hα/OIII/RGB data with a 14-inch f/11 scope.

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Asteroid 89 Julia reaches opposition at 5 A.M. EDT. Shining at magnitude 8.5, it’s easily reachable with binoculars or any telescope. This evening Julia rises around sunset and is visible all night, reaching its highest point around 1 A.M. local daylight time. A few hours earlier, though, around 11 P.M. local daylight time, Julia isContinue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, August 11: Asteroid Julia reaches opposition"

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On Aug. 10, 1990, the Magellan orbiter arrived at Venus and was inserted into orbit. Its goal was to map the surface of the planet, using radar to peer beneath the cloudy atmosphere. Launched aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in May 1989, Magellan was the first deep space probe launched from a shuttle. Budget constraintsContinue reading "Aug. 10, 1990: Magellan enters venusian orbit"

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Saturn’s two-toned moon Iapetus stands 1.5′ north of the ringed planet early this morning, shining around 11th magnitude. Spending much of its time far from Saturn, Iapetus rotates in lockstep with its orbit, so that its magnitude changes throughout its orbit as its brighter or darker hemisphere faces us. When it is north or southContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, August 10: Iapetus stands north of Saturn"

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The Soviet Luna program, designed for lunar research and mission planning, ran from 1959 to 1976. On Aug. 9, 1976, Luna 24, the final mission of the program, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in present-day Kazakhstan. The probe landed on the Moon’s surface nine days later, in the Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises), a previouslyContinue reading "Aug. 9, 1976: Luna 24 blasts off"

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Full Moon occurs at 3:55 A.M. EDT this morning. August’s Full Moon is also called the Sturgeon Moon, so named by Native Americans for the prevalence of these fish in late summer.  You might think it’s quite easy to observe the Full Moon, but there are a few complicating factors. First, the Full Moon isContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, August 9: A Full Sturgeon Moon rises"

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Editor’s note: The following story ran in our June 2015 issue. In today’s celebrity-obsessed culture, the word hero gets bandied about far too often. But what other term would you use to describe astronaut James Lovell? A veteran of four spaceflights, his accomplishments paved the way for the first Moon landing and helped define NASA’sContinue reading "Jim Lovell in his own words"

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Legendary astronaut James “Jim” Lovell, whose steady command during the harrowing Apollo 13 mission captivated the world, died Friday in Lake Forest, Illinois. He was 97. A veteran of four spaceflights, his career was defined by an extraordinary composure and leadership in the face of unprecedented danger. Born in 1928, Lovell was a proud U.S.Continue reading "Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell dies at 97"

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A whole new world next door A team of astronomers has found evidence of a candidate gas giant planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, a Sun-like star in the closest stellar system to our own. Initial observations hinting at the planet’s existence were made in August 2024 using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).Continue reading "Webb telescope discovers potential new world in neighboring star system"

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Recently, I posted the first part of this list, which you can find here. This is part 2. 6. Cut down the moonlight Many observers use either neutral density filters or variable polarizing filters to reduce the Moon’s light. I prefer the latter because an observer can change how much light the filter transmits. TwoContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Tips for Observing the Moon, Part 2"

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A pioneer mission in astrometry – the measurement of the position, distance, motion, brightness, and color of stars – the European Space Agency’s (ESA) High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite, or Hipparcos, launched on Aug. 8, 1989. There were immediately problems when a rocket-engine failure kept Hipparcos from reaching its planned orbit. However, the satellite wasContinue reading "Aug. 8, 1989: The Hipparcos satellite launches"

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Pablo Javier Lucero, taken from Val-d’Oronaye, France In this self-portrait, the photographer (and specialty coffee enthusiast) is serving coffee in the foreground of a carefully planned nightscape encompassing both the winter and summer arches of the Milky Way. The panoramas were taken on successive nights at the end of March with a Sony mirrorless cameraContinue reading "Coffee and milk"

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Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, August 8The Moon passes just 0.0009° north of Pluto at 1 A.M. EDT, although our satellite’s bright light will hide the tiny dwarf planet’s dim glow from view. Tonight, we’re visiting a summertime favorite: the double star Albireo in Cygnus the Swan. AlreadyContinue reading "The Sky This Week from August 8 to 15: Venus and Jupiter meet amid Perseid meteors"

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Tonight, we’re visiting a summertime favorite: the double star Albireo in Cygnus the Swan. Already 60° high in the east an hour after sunset, Albireo — also cataloged as Beta (β) Cygni — marks the head of Cygnus, sitting opposite the brighter star Deneb (Alpha [α] Cyg) at the Swan’s tail. Around 9 P.M. localContinue reading "The Sky Today on Friday, August 8: View Cygnus’ colorful double star, Albireo"

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The Moon offers something for every amateur astronomer. It’s visible somewhere in the sky most nights, its changing face presents features one night not seen the previous night, and it doesn’t take an expensive setup to enjoy it. To help you get the most out of viewing the Moon, I’ve developed some simple tips. FollowContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: Tips for Observing the Moon, Part 1"

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During a solar eclipse, astronomers who study heliophysics are able to study the Sun’s corona – its outer atmosphere – in ways they are unable to do at any other time. The brightest part of the Sun is so bright that it blocks the faint light from the corona, so it is invisible to mostContinue reading "2 spacecraft flew exactly in line to imitate a solar eclipse, capture a stunning image, and test new tech"

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Meterorite ALH 84001 fell to Earth from Mars about 13,000 years ago, landing in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica. It was discovered in 1984 and taken to the Johnson Space Center, where in 1994 researchers saw possible signs of life: carbonate minerals and microscopic structures that resembled nanobacteria. Further research commenced, and on Aug.Continue reading "Aug. 7, 1996: NASA announces martian life"

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Rich Ruffini from Wasilla, Alaska Solar prominences and intricate surface texture dot this view of the Sun, highlighting the dynamic activity of our nearest star in hydrogen-alpha light. The image was captured on June 28, 2025, with a Lunt 50mm solar telescope and monochrome camera.

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If you’re up in the very early hours on Thursday, turn southwest to catch the waxing Moon before it sets. Most of the nearside is on display, and we’re looking specifically toward the southwestern limb for the large, flat crater Schickard and a nearby feature called the Wargentin pancake. They lie just northwest of theContinue reading "The Sky Today on Thursday, August 7: Feast on the Wargentin Pancake"

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In what researchers are calling the most comprehensive survey of its kind, scientists at Curtin University in Australia have cataloged more than 112,000 unintended radio emissions from Starlink satellites. These emissions now regularly disrupt astronomical observations and may jeopardize the future of radio astronomy. New study reveals high level of Starlink interference The study, conductedContinue reading "Starlink interference threatens radio astronomy’s golden age"

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Everyone loves lists, it seems. My three “10 Cool Facts About the Moon” lists proved popular, so I’m following up with three lists about the Sun. Here’s the first one. 1. The Sun is a star. It’s similar to all the stars we see at night. Of course, some of them are hotter, and someContinue reading "Michael’s Miscellany: 10 Cool Things About the Sun"

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On Wednesday, July 30, 2025, Gilmour Space Technologies completed the first test launch of its 23-meter, 30-ton hybrid Eris rocket from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland, Australia. Aiming to reach low Earth orbit, the rocket instead flew for just 14 seconds, arcing up and away from the launch pad and strafing sideways beforeContinue reading "Gilmour TestFlight1 fails with sideways hop"

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NASA launched its Mars rover Curiosity inside the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) on Nov. 26, 2011. Complete with 10 science instruments and 17 cameras, the robot can analyze mineral types, search for signs of microbial life, and take color panoramas of the Red Planet’s surface. Curiosity’s landing on Mars was a new process, nicknamed theContinue reading "Aug. 6, 2012: Curiosity lands on Mars"

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Pete Fleurant, taken from the Okie-Tex Star Party in Kenton, OK Sharpless 2–173 — also known as the Phantom of the Opera Nebula — is an emission nebula around 10,000 light-years from Earth in Cassiopeia. The image comprises 8.2 hours of exposure with a 5-inch scope in the Hubble palette.

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Saturn passes 1.1° due south of Neptune at 6 A.M. EDT. The pair of planets is visible overnight, rising around 10 P.M. local daylight time and setting after sunrise. They stand highest in the sky around 4 A.M. local daylight time, when they are 50° above the southern horizon. Saturn stands out in southwestern PiscesContinue reading "The Sky Today on Wednesday, August 6: Neptune stands north of Saturn"

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In a recent development revealed through documents obtained by Politico, NASA’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, has accelerated plans to deploy a 100-kilowatt (100kW) nuclear reactor on the Moon. The directive orders the agency to solicit industry proposals for the reactor and sets an aggressive 2030 launch timeline, aiming to establish a sustainable human presence onContinue reading "Sean Duffy accelerates plan for lunar nuclear reactor"

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If you head out before sunrise (say, about 5 a.m. local time) and look eastward during the next few days, you’ll see planetary motion in action. Venus, blazing at magnitude –4.0, and Jupiter, no slouch itself shining at magnitude –2.0, are getting closer each day. Tomorrow morning (which is Wednesday, August 6 as I write this), theContinue reading "Venus and Jupiter dance in the morning sky"

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Neil Alden Armstrong was born on Aug. 5, 1930, in Ohio. A naval pilot from 1949 to 1952, Armstrong flew 78 missions in Korea. After leaving active duty, he enrolled at Purdue University and earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955, and then joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). During hisContinue reading "Aug 5, 1930: The birth of Neil Armstrong"

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Alessandro Carrozzi The edge-on Splinter Galaxy (NGC 5907) hosts a faint stream of stars, captured in this deep LRGB image consisting of around 12.5 hours of exposure taken with 20- and 12-inch remote scopes in Spain. The stream is what remains of a dwarf satellite galaxy that merged with the Splinter at least 2.5 billionContinue reading "A stellar stream"

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Asteroid 4 Vesta is making its way through northwestern Libra, visible in the evening hours as the region slowly sets. Tonight it is passing near the star Xi1 (ξ1) Librae, making it a bit easier to identify. It is also not far from Xi2 Lib. The best time to look for Vesta is earlier inContinue reading "The Sky Today on Tuesday, August 5: Vesta lines up with two stars"

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In a major editorial decision, the journal Science has officially retracted a famous and fiercely debated 2011 paper that proposed the existence of an “arsenic-based” life-form.  The original study claimed that a microbe, GFAJ-1, isolated from California’s arsenic-rich Mono Lake, could grow by substituting the toxic element arsenic for phosphorus. The provocative claim challenged aContinue reading "Science retracts controversial ‘arsenic life’ paper"

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Mission highlight: USSF-106 prepares for flight  On Sunday, August 10, at 8:07 p.m. EDT, a United Launch Alliance Vulcan VC4S rocket will lift off from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-41 carrying the USSF-106 mission for the U.S. Space Force. The flight is doubly historic: it marks the first U.S. national security launch aboard a Vulcan rocket, andContinue reading "ULA Vulcan to launch historic navigation satellite"

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What are the factors that result in so many different sizes and classes of stars? Kenton BowersPahrump, Nevada To understand how we classify and differentiate the stars we see in the sky, we first need to understand how they are born and change throughout their lives.  Star formation begins with a massive cloud of coldContinue reading "Why are there so  many different types of stars?"

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In this episode, Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher invites you to head out on the morning of August 13 to see the bright planets Venus and Jupiter close together low in the eastern sky. This dramatic duo are both in the constellation Gemini the Twins, and its beautiful stars make this a scene that you don’t wantContinue reading "This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher: Venus and Jupiter pair up"

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In early August 1972, a series of flares and other solar-storm phenomena generated extreme space weather events in what is considered a Carrington-class event. By the 4th, a coronal mass ejection had reached Earth, arriving in just 14.6 hours – a record. Electrical, telephone, and other communication-grid problems hit North America while bright aurora dancedContinue reading "Aug. 4, 1972: Extreme space weather detonates mines"

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Marcella Botti The constellation Cassiopeia and numerous emission nebulae lie over the Nufenen Pass in Switzerland in this image taken with a Canon DSLR and 24mm f/2.8 lens, taking 18 minutes of total sky exposure at ISO 6400.

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The northern sky’s standout globular, M13 in Hercules, is placed just right to give it a try tonight. Around 10 P.M. local daylight time, M13 is some 70° high in the west and won’t fully set until an hour before sunrise. Glowing at magnitude 5.8, it will show up well in binoculars or any telescope.Continue reading "The Sky Today on Monday, August 4: The summer sky’s standout glob, M13"

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David Fabricius was born in modern-day Germany in 1564. He became a Lutheran pastor, but maintained a strong interest science throughout his life, also working as a cartographer and even corresponding with Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. It’s his discovery of Aug. 3, 1596, that he’s best known for, though: When he saw an unusuallyContinue reading "Aug 3, 1596: David Fabricius discovers Mira"

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U.S. observers can catch the first of two transits of Titan’s shadow across Saturn this month — and one of the last few of the year, before cosmic alignment that allows the shadow to cross the cloud tops comes to an end. Saturn now rises shortly after 10 P.M. local daylight time and is locatedContinue reading "The Sky Today on Sunday, August 3: August’s first Titan shadow transit"

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Visible in Scotland, the total solar eclipse of Aug. 2, 1133, featured nearly 4½ minutes of totality. This eclipse provides just one of many historical examples of people wrongly associating a celestial spectacle with an earthly event: In his Historia Novella, written between 1140 and 1143, English historian William of Malmesbury linked the eclipse withContinue reading "Aug. 2, 1133: A total eclipse is misremembered"

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Mars is now moving through Virgo, sitting low in the western sky after sunset. Shining at magnitude 1.6, the planet is at its faintest for the year; in the coming months, it will slowly start brightening again, but with a price. It’s now closing in on the Sun from our point of view, heading forContinue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, August 2: Mars slips past Beta Virginis"

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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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