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Astrophotography

How one student captured the universe without light

Andromeda’s star formation is slowing down

A dark, curved planet with a warm orange-brown atmospheric glow fills the lower right of the frame, its horizon lit by a small, bright orange star glowing near the center of the image. The black background is scattered with faint white stars, with a soft orange haze surrounding the star.

Astronomers just found the first atmosphere on a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone

Robotic Spaceflight

Is NASA’s Swift Boost Mission spinning away?

Picture of the Day

A jagged, heavily cratered lunar landscape curves along the horizon, lit at a low, raking angle so every crater rim and ridge casts a long, sharp shadow. Countless overlapping craters of all sizes cover the gray surface, fading into darkness where the Moon's curve meets black sky.

The Moon’s hidden southwest corner

Damian Peach from Hampshire, U.K.

Favorable libration briefly tilts the Moon’s southwestern limb into view in this image, exposing three heavily foreshortened craters: Bailly (center left) at roughly 180 miles (300 kilometers) across; the well-preserved Hausen (upper left); and 149-kilometer Drygalski (upper right), so close to the limb it is normally hidden entirely, and lies close to the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole.

In the Sky

A sky chart showing the southern sky on August 3, 2026, at 4:30 A.M. The crescent Moon is visible near the top center, with Saturn labeled just to its left. Neptune is highlighted with a red dashed circle just below and to the right of the Moon. The star Fomalhaut is labeled in the lower right. The sky is deep blue-black with a faint twilight glow near the dark horizon.

The Sky Today on Monday, August 3: A solar system trio

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 circular image shows a bright teal, comet-like streak streaming horizontally across a pitch-black field filled with countless tiny stars. The teal streak features a brighter, compact head near the center of the circle, trailing off into a wispy blue-green tail toward the left. The surrounding dark background is dotted with mostly white and warm orange pinpricks of light, creating high contrast with the central glowing shape.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug 3, 1596: David Fabricius discovers Mira

More News

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?

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

A sky chart showing the eastern sky on August 2, 2026, one hour before sunrise. Mars glows as a warm orange point in the upper center of the image. The twin stars Castor and Pollux are visible in the middle left, Mercury shines brightly just above the horizon in the lower center, and the red supergiant star Betelgeuse is visible to the right. The sky fades from deep blue above to a warm twilight glow near the treeline silhouette.

Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from July 31 to August 7: Mercury stands west of the Sun

A rocket climbs into a black night sky, leaving a bright golden-white trail that curves slightly as it rises. The glow reflects off calm water in the foreground, forming a bright vertical streak on the surface, with a dark, flat horizon line separating sky and water.

Solar System, Space Exploration

An abandoned SpaceX rocket is about to crash into the Moon

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