Astronomy discoveries — telescopes, deep sky objects, and the science of observing the universe.
APOD: 29 October 2026 – The Horns of Venus
Venus displays a crescent phase when positioned almost directly between the Sun and Earth, as shown in this image captured by Thierry Legault. This al…
Meteors don't just burn up. What really happens is far more violent
Scientists have identified seven distinct phases that describe how meteorites transform as they plunge through Earth's atmosphere, according to resear…
APOD: 2026 October 27 – Noctilucent Clouds over Sweden
# Noctilucent Clouds Frame the Upper Atmosphere in Rare Swedish Display Noctilucent clouds captured the sky over Sweden in October 2026, offering obs…
A-81 Reaches South Georgia
NASA satellites tracked the colossal Antarctic iceberg A-81 as it completed a rapid transit across the Weddell Sea, only to encounter an abrupt slowdo…
Record breaker! Astronomers spot powerful cosmic explosion that lasted 27 days
Astronomers have detected an extraordinarily long gamma-ray burst, a violent cosmic explosion that persisted for 27 days, shattering conventional unde…
Glowing 'cauldron' of new stars | Space photo of the day for Oct. 26, 2026
The James Webb Space Telescope has imaged a luminous star-forming cauldron 161,000 light-years distant, nestled within one of the Milky Way's satellit…
2026 October 26 – M42: The Great Nebula in Orion
# The Great Nebula in Orion Remains One of the Universe's Most Luminous Stellar Nurseries Messier 42 (M42), the Great Nebula in Orion, stands as one …
On this day in space! Oct. 25, 1671: Astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, Saturn's 'yin-yang' moon
Giovanni Cassini's discovery of Iapetus on October 25, 1671 marked a watershed moment in planetary astronomy. Working from the Paris Observatory with …
APOD: 2026 October 23 – Andromeda in Southern Spring
The Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for October 23, 2026 captures Andromeda galaxy as observed from Mullion, New South Wales, Australia during the…
El Niño Then and Now
# El Niño Then and Now: What 35 Years of Satellite Data Reveals NASA scientists deployed satellite altimetry to measure ocean surface heights with un…
APOD: 2026 October 25 – Dark Matter in a Simulated Universe
# Dark Matter Visualization Offers New Window Into Universe's Hidden Architecture NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day series has featured a simulated…
APOD: 2026 October 24 – Rosetta’s Selfie
The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft captured a self-portrait that has become iconic in planetary exploration, showcasing the probe against …
APOD: 2026 October 14 – Mars and the Beehive Under an Aurora
Mars appeared near the Beehive cluster beneath an auroral curtain in the night sky above Lansjärv, Sweden, according to NASA's Astronomy Picture of th…
Wandering Black Holes May Hold Clues to the Evolution of the Universe
Wandering black holes that traversed the universe for billions of years may have left observable imprints that reveal clues about cosmic evolution, ac…
APOD: 2026 October 1 – Harvest Moon with Erupting Mount Etna
# Harvest Moon Frames Sicily's Most Active Volcano in Rare Celestial Convergence NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day captured a dramatic convergence …
Help Overlap Zoo Reveal Cosmic Dust
# Gravitational Lensing Through Galaxy Overlap Reveals Dust Hidden Across the Cosmos Two galaxies aligning perfectly from Earth's vantage point creat…
First Direct Image of Protoplanet Swirling Surrounding Gas
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile have captured the first direct image of a protoplanet actively accr…
Coldest Lava Exoplanet Found to Hold an Atmosphere
Astronomers have detected an atmosphere surrounding one of the coldest known lava exoplanets, a discovery that expands understanding of which ultra-ho…
Catch a Rare Lunar Occultation Jupiter Plus Saturn at Opposition in Early October
# Jupiter Disappears Behind the Moon in October's Best Skywatching Event October brings two planetary showstoppers that reward patient observers with…
The Rate of Starbirth is Crashing in the "Modern" Universe
The universe is running out of steam. Starbirth rates have plummeted over the past 4.5 billion years, and astronomers now confront a puzzle that rewri…
Measuring the Distance Between Quasar Pairs Just Got Easier
Astronomers have developed a new technique for measuring the distance between paired quasars, a breakthrough from University of Alberta researchers th…
A New Test Looks For A Subtle Twist In Ancient Light
Astronomers have detected a subtle rotation in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background, a finding that challenges the cosmological standar…
APOD: 2026 September 30 – Arp 78: Peculiar Galaxy in Aries
# Arp 78 Reveals the Violent Dance of Colliding Galaxies Arp 78, a peculiar galaxy located in the constellation Aries, stands as a cosmic wreckage si…
Strange giant planet TOI-1355 b set to vanish from view in 2033
Astronomers have identified an extraordinary exoplanet system that will fundamentally alter how they observe one of the universe's most enigmatic obje…
Older Alien Worlds Might Still Be Stuck in the Slime Age
Earth's biosphere took roughly four billion years to evolve from single-celled organisms to complex multicellular life. That timeline, astronomers now…
APOD: 2026 September 29 – Sh2-188: The Shrimp Nebula
# Sh2-188: The Shrimp Nebula Reveals Hidden Star Formation in Infrared Light NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day featured Sh2-188, a faint emission n…
Fire Cloud with a Pileus on Top
A pileus cloud formation swept across the skies above a Montana wildfire, offering scientists an uncommon glimpse into the atmospheric dynamics that p…
October’s Night Sky Notes: Spooky Stargazing
Algol, the famous eclipsing binary star in Perseus, offers naked-eye observers a dramatic celestial performance each autumn. Known colloquially as the…
Direct neutral gas found in galaxies 700M yrs post-Big Bang
# Early Galaxies Held Neutral Gas Just 700 Million Years After Big Bang Astronomers have detected neutral hydrogen gas in four galaxies that existed …
Diving into an Out-of-sync Galaxy
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured detailed images of NGC 4698, a spiral galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, revealing a structure far more complex than…
When It Comes To Burping Jets, Supermassive Black Holes and Stellar-Mass Black Holes Have The Same Table Manners
Black holes across a vast range of sizes produce jets in fundamentally the same way, according to new research comparing the behavior of stellar-mass …
Astronomers Couldn't Explain This Ancient Star's Chemistry. A Lab Experiment Just Did.
Astrophysicists have long puzzled over anomalous strontium abundances in ancient stars, unable to reconcile observations with existing nuclear reactio…
Astronomers thought JWST might find signs of life. Now they have a new plan.
# Astronomers Refocus Strategy for Detecting Biosignatures with the James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope arrived in orbit with a…
Dark matter may come in multiple forms, new model suggests
Astronomers confront a persistent puzzle in observing dark matter across the cosmos, and a new theoretical framework proposes that the solution lies n…
APOD: 2026 September 27 – Andromeda Before and After Photoshop
The Astronomy Picture of the Day series has released a comparison image of the Andromeda Galaxy showing how digital post-processing transforms astrono…
JWST Finds Dynamic Structural Evolution in Chariklo’s Rings
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected dynamic structural changes in the ring system orbiting Chariklo, a small icy body classified as a Centaur …
Astonishing, unprecedented, explosive
# Week in Space Brings Stunning Imagery, New Safety Concerns, and Explosive Events Space exploration this week delivered breakthrough imagery, regula…
Solstices, equinoxes, and seasons
# How Earth's Tilted Axis Shapes Our Seasons and Celestial Milestones Earth's 23.5-degree axial tilt orchestrates the planet's seasonal dance and pro…
Euclid opens a new window on the first billion years of cosmic history
The Euclid space telescope has begun unveiling how the universe assembled its earliest supermassive black holes within the first billion years after t…
Caught in the act: the wind that could kill a galaxy
# Caught in the Act: The Wind That Could Kill a Galaxy Astronomers have captured direct evidence of a galactic wind powerful enough to shut down star…
APOD: 2026 September 26 – Mirrored Meteor and Milky Way
# Mirrored Meteor and Milky Way Captures Earth's Place in the Cosmos NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) featured a striking celestial photogr…
Astronomers Find a Sub-Neptune Orbiting Completely Backward Around a Red Dwarf
Astronomers have discovered the first exoplanet confirmed to orbit backward around its parent star, overturning a fundamental assumption about planeta…
An ocean of stars
# An Ocean of Stars: Rubin Observatory Launches Revolutionary Universe Survey The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has begun operations on what may…
Hubble Spots Chaotic Secret in Galaxy
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed turbulent dynamics hidden beneath the calm exterior of spiral galaxy NGC 4698, located roughly 50 million l…
SKA May Detect Magnetic Fields on Distant Exoplanets
The Square Kilometre Array, one of the most powerful radio observatories ever built, will soon gain the capability to detect magnetic fields surroundi…
APOD: 2026 September 25 – Globular Star Cluster Omega Centauri
# Omega Centauri Reveals Its Ancient Structure in New NASA Image NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day has featured Omega Centauri, one of the most rem…
JUICE Mission to Swing by Earth on September 28
The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft will perform a critical gravity assist maneuver at Earth on September 28, us…
Astronomers Directly Image the Youngest Exoplanet Ever
Astronomers have directly imaged the youngest exoplanet ever discovered, a world still forming around the star Elias 2-24 and estimated to be less tha…
US-India Satellite Captures Time-lapse Video of Volcanic Eruption
# US-India Satellite Captures Time-lapse Video of Volcanic Eruption The RISAT-1A satellite, a collaboration between the United States and India, capt…
APOD: 2026 September 24 – The Ghosts of Five Supernovas
# The Ghostly Remnants of Five Supernovas Reveal the Violent Deaths of Ancient Stars NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day featured an image capturing …
NASA Selects Far-Infrared Telescope as First in New Mission Class
NASA selected PRIMA, the PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics, as the first mission in a new class of astrophysics spacecraft called Probe Expl…
Strange Galaxies in the Early Universe Were Shaped by Weird Stars
# Strange Galaxies in the Early Universe Were Shaped by Weird Stars The James Webb Space Telescope and other modern observatories have revealed somet…
Following Neptune Through Opposition 2026
Neptune reaches opposition in late September 2026, positioning the ice giant for optimal viewing from Earth. The planet will rise as the Sun sets, cli…
Boom Year for Desert Blooms
# Western Australia's Desert Floor Erupts in Wildflower Blooms After Winter Rains NASA satellites have captured a striking transformation across West…
Say hello to our little friends
# Japan and China's Asteroid Missions Achieve Historic Close Encounters Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft and China's Tianwen-2 orbiter have achieved unpr…
NASA’s Chandra Finds Unusual Objects in Pinwheel Galaxy
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected an unusual class of objects within the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101, that challenge existing models of stellar …
3I/ATLAS Has An Extreme Taste For Heavy Water
Astronomers have detected an unusual abundance of heavy water in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, revealing a chemical signature that differs markedly…
Portraits of the red planet
# Portraits of the Red Planet: How Viking 1 and Psyche Show Us Mars Mars reveals itself in layers. The Viking 1 lander, which touched down on the Mar…
Embracing the Equinox
# Equinoxes Shaped Our Understanding of the Cosmos Equinoxes represent one of humanity's oldest astronomical observations, predating telescopes and s…
A Rare, Distant Clump of Early Galaxies Reveals Ancient Cosmic Secrets
Astronomers using the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo in Chile have identified a proto-supercluster of galaxies existing le…
Solar Orbiter Catches the Sun’s Missing High-Speed Vibrations
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft has directly observed high-speed transverse waves rippling across the Sun's polar regions. These waves, traveling at spee…
Astronomers Uncover "Hypersoft" X-ray Sources
A team of astronomers has identified a new class of X-ray sources that operate at lower energies than previously recognized categories of bright X-ray…
APOD: 2026 September 21 – Cocoon Nebula Wide Field
# Wide-Field Image of the Cocoon Nebula Reveals Stellar Birth Region in Unprecedented Detail NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day featured a wide-fiel…
The Sun Is Physically Capable of Producing a "Superflare" According To A New Study
A new study from the Max Planck Institute challenges the long-held assumption that our Sun cannot produce superflares, upending decades of scientific …