Free Archives | Astronomy Magazine

A dense web of thin blue-purple filaments spans the entire frame, threading through deep red and maroon voids to converge on a blazing central cluster of orange, yellow, and white gas. Scattered across the field, smaller orange and gold clumps glow at the intersections of the filaments. The overall effect resembles a three-dimensional cosmic spiderweb

Cosmology, Features

Untangling the cosmic web

Four astronauts in bright orange Orion spacesuits pose for an official crew portrait against a muted blue-gray background. Two stand at the back and two sit in front; all hold or rest their hands near their white helmets.

Human Spaceflight

Meet the astronauts flying on Artemis 3

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rises from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, surrounded by a billowing cloud of white exhaust and a bright orange flame at the base. The rocket climbs vertically against a hazy blue-gray sky, flanked by four lightning rod towers. Launch infrastructure, including a yellow crane arm and concrete support structures, is visible at the bottom of the frame.

What's Launching This Week

SpaceX and Rocket Lab set for liftoff this week

Human Spaceflight

ISS crew back to normal after emergency shelter order

An artist's illustration of two astronauts in white spacesuits working on the gray lunar surface beside a large cylindrical mobile habitat on wheels, with a smaller open surface vehicle to the right and equipment cases scattered between them, set against a black sky.

Human Spaceflight

How NASA plans to build a Moon Base

What's Launching This Week

SpaceX, China set for busy launch week

Could aliens ever visit Earth?

Space Exploration

New Glenn explosion: what it means for Blue Origin and SpaceX

SpaceX's Starship rocket stands fully stacked on its launch mount at Boca Chica, Texas, with the towering mechazilla catch arm structure rising alongside it on the left. Thick white clouds of venting propellant or water vapor billow around the base and drift to the left, while a blue sky with scattered white clouds fills the background. A second launch structure is visible in the far left of the frame.

Space Exploration

FAA grounds SpaceX Starship after V3 debut

SpaceX's Starship rocket climbs away from its launch site shortly after liftoff, its white booster stage trailing a bright pink and white flame plume downward toward a coastal wetlands landscape below. A large billowing cloud of yellow-white exhaust smoke rises to the left of the vehicle, while winding waterways, sandy shores, and patches of green vegetation stretch across the terrain beneath a pale blue sky.

Space Exploration

What Starship Flight 12 means for SpaceX’s IPO

This Week in Astronomy

Come full circle with the Ring Nebula

A size comparison illustration showing Earth and the Moon side by side against a black background. Earth appears on the left, showing the Americas, swirling cloud cover, and blue oceans, while the gray, crater-marked Moon is shown to the right at roughly one-quarter of Earth's diameter, accurately reflecting their relative sizes.

How is the Moon 1% of Earth’s mass, but its gravity is 17% of Earth’s?