News from Astronomy

Your source for the latest news on planets, stars, galaxies, cosmology, observing events, space missions, and more.

Latest Astronomy News

View All News

Browse by category

This artist’s conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known (central black dot) at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy. Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have uncovered two of these early objects, dating back to about 13 billion years ago. The monstrous black holes are among the most distant known, and appear to be in the very earliest stages of formation, earlier than any observed so far. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Science

Explore the science of space, from the astrophysics of stars to the ultimate fate of the universe.

Explore Topic

Credit: Tim Doucette.

Observing

Learn about upcoming observing events such as eclipses, meteor showers, comets, conjunctions, and more.

Explore Topic

This 2016 Curiosity rover selfie shows the vehicle at the “Okoruso” drilling site on Mount Sharp’s Naukluft Plateau. The Martian scene is a mosaic of images taken with the arm-mounted Mars Hands Lens Imager (MAHLI). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

Space Exploration

Human and robotic missions are helping humanity explore our solar system and beyond.

Explore Topic

September 2023

Subscribe

Sky This Week

View All

Sky This Month

View All

Picture of the Day

See All Photos

Twin tantrum

Kfir Simon, taken from Tivoli Farm, Namibia

Most planetary nebulae have at their centers a white dwarf that has shed its outer layers. But Sh 2–71’s central white dwarf is in a binary system with a companion, from which it is stealing material that can explode from its surface. This interaction is likely what has created the nebula’s chaotic appearance. The object lies roughly 5,200 light-years away in Aquila.