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An artist's illustration of the ESA Comet Interceptor mission, showing the large main spacecraft in the foreground with its deployed solar panels, flanked by two smaller sub-probes, all approaching a comet whose bright white nucleus and two-toned tail — blue ion tail and golden dust tail — dominate the upper right of the image against a starry black background.

Science, Solar System

Could we send a spaceship to Comet 3I/ATLAS to collect samples and bring them back for analysis?

Andromeda’s star formation is slowing down

A wide-field telescopic photograph of the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) region, showing sweeping clouds of red and pink hydrogen emission gas interwoven with dark dust lanes against a densely star-filled background. A bright concentration of stars is visible along the left edge, and the characteristic shape of the nebula's dark "Gulf of Mexico" region is visible as a dark void near the center.

Astrophotography

Which filter should I use?

Robotic Spaceflight

Is NASA’s Swift Boost Mission spinning away?

Picture of the Day

A jagged, snow-covered mountain range sits beneath a dense, star-filled sky. Above the peaks, patches of orange, red, and blue glow softly amid dark, wispy clouds of dust, with a dense cluster of yellow stars and a bright orange-white star shining just above the highest summit.

A colorful cosmic canvas

Anushtup Roy Choudhury from Kolkata, India

Looming over the Himalayas in this vista are the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex and the Blue Horsehead Nebula (IC 4592). The former’s blue reflection nebulae, red clouds of emission, and dark dust lanes spread across Ophiuchus and Scorpius some 460 light-years away. The latter, lit by the blue subgiant Nu Scorpii, sits at roughly the same distance. The photographer stacked 200 tracked frames of 25 seconds each (nearly 1.4 hours of total exposure), taken at f/1.8 and ISO 1600 with a Sony mirrorless camera and a 135mm lens from Zanskar, India.

In the Sky

A sky chart showing the northeastern sky on August 10, 2026, at 10 P.M. The open star cluster NGC 7243 is highlighted with a dashed blue box near the center of the image. Deneb is labeled above it, Polaris to the left, Cassiopeia below and to the left, and the Great Square of Pegasus to the lower right. A faint band of the Milky Way is visible near the top of the image.

The Sky Today on Monday, August 10: Open cluster NGC 7243

What’s Launching This Week

What’s Launching This Week

A classified NRO launch and a Chinese triple-header set to launch this week

Today in the History of Astronomy

A large, complex silver spacecraft composed of stacked spherical tanks, cylindrical parts, and extended landing legs stands in the center of an indoor display room. The scene is brightly lit, highlighting the metallic sheen of the structure against smooth grey flooring and light blue-grey walls. White relief sculptures and a sign with Cyrillic text appear on the wall in the background to the left and rear.

Robotic Spaceflight, Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 9, 1976: Luna 24 blasts off

More News

A photograph of a total solar eclipse capturing the diamond ring effect, where a single brilliant point of sunlight blazes on the right side of the Moon's silhouette just as totality ends, surrounded by the softly glowing white corona. Several pink solar prominences are visible along the Moon's edge, and a warm golden glow fans out around the right side of the disc against a black sky.

Upcoming Events

How to see the August 12 total solar eclipse

A photograph of a total solar eclipse at totality, showing the Moon as a dark disc completely blocking the Sun, surrounded by the softly glowing white solar corona against a black sky. Several small pink solar prominences are visible along the edge of the Moon.

Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from August 7 to 14: A solar eclipse and shooting stars

A side-by-side pair of lunar eclipse images. On the left, a total solar eclipse shows the Moon as a black disc surrounded by the Sun's white corona, with several pink solar prominences visible along the edge. On the right, a total lunar eclipse shows the Moon glowing in deep red and orange hues — a "blood moon" — with a bright sliver of normal white moonlight still visible along the upper right edge.

August 2026: What’s in the sky this month? Solar and lunar eclipses, plus the Perseid meteors

Astrophotography

How one student captured the universe without light

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