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Rocket Lab launching an Electron rocket from the U.S.

Rocket Lab aces its first launch from U.S. soil

Rocket Lab has completed its maiden mission from its new launch site in the U.S., sending its trusty Electron rocket skyward with a payload of three satellites.
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft being placed atop the Super Heavy rocket.

SpaceX takes big step toward first flight of most powerful rocket

SpaceX has performed a key test with its next-generation Super Heavy rocket, which will soon become the most powerful space vehicle ever to fly.
Key West from the ISS.

Astronaut’s stunning image of Key West looks like a painting

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata has been showing off his photography skills, sharing some stunning Earth shots taken from space on Sunday.
A satellite image of Antarctica.

Satellite images of penguin poop lead scientists to ‘exciting discovery’

Satellite images showing bird poop recently led scientists to make what they said was an exciting discovery in Antarctica.
The European Space Agency's Juice spacecraft will explore Jupiter's icy moons.

Juice spacecraft heading to spaceport ahead of mission to study Jupiter’s moons

Out solar system will soon be getting a new explorer, as a mission to study the moons of Jupiter readies for launch.
An artist's concept of the Geotail spacecraft.

30-year-old mission to study the magnetosphere comes to a close

A 30-year-old NASA-JAXA mission has come to an end with the closing of operations on the Geotail satellite.
A host of astronomical objects throng this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Background galaxies ranging from stately spirals to fuzzy ellipticals are strewn across the image, and bright foreground stars much closer to home are also present, surrounded by diffraction spikes. In the centre of the image, the vague shape of the small galaxy UGC 7983 appears as a hazy cloud of light. UGC 7983 is around 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo, and is a dwarf irregular galaxy — a type thought to be similar to the very earliest galaxies in the Universe.

There’s an asteroid surprise in this week’s Hubble image

This week's Hubble image shows the small but intriguing galaxy UGC 7983, thought to be similar to some of the earliest galaxies that existed in the universe.
The planet Venus.

How to watch the conjunction of Venus and Saturn online today

There's a close conjunction of Venus and Saturn in the sky tonight, which you can watch online from the warmth of your home.
Ingenuity sits on a slightly inclined surface with about 6-degree tilt at the center of the frame, just north of the southern ridge of “Séíitah” geologic unit. The Perseverance rover’s Mastcam-Z instrument took this image on Dec. 1, 2021, when the rotorcraft was about 970 feet (295 meters) away.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity marks 40 flights and is still going strong

The Mars helicopter Ingenuity has made its third flight of the year, which also marks its 40th flight since it landed in the Jezero crater.
Astronomers have released a gargantuan survey of the galactic plane of the Milky Way. The new dataset contains a staggering 3.32 billion celestial objects — arguably the largest such catalog so far. The data for this unprecedented survey were taken with the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera at the NSF’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NOIRLab.

Browse through 3B celestial objects in Milky Way survey

A new survey of the Milky Way has been released containing more than 3 billion objects, making it one of the largest astronomical catalogs ever produced.
Spacewalkers (from left) Koichi Wakata and Nicole Mann are pictured installing hardware on the space station preparing the orbiting lab for its next roll-out solar array.

First spacewalk of the year sees astronauts dealing with a sticky foothold

Two astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday performed the first spacewalk of the year, working to upgrade the ISS power system.
A startling analysis from Globe at Night — a citizen science program run by NSF’s NOIRLab — concludes that stars are disappearing from human sight at an astonishing rate. The study finds that, to human eyes, artificial lighting has dulled the night sky more rapidly than indicated by satellite measurements. The study showcases the unique contributions that citizen scientists can make in essential fields of research. This graphic illustrates how the greater the amount of light pollution, and therefore skyglow, the fewer the stars that are visible. The numeric scale is similar to the one used by Globe at Night participants. 

Light pollution is cutting off views of the night sky for many

The problem of light pollution could be even worse than we thought, as what is visible to the human eye is even less than satellite measurements indicate.
see lucy spacecraft slingshot past earth fly by

Still no joy for Lucy’s stuck solar array, NASA is giving up for now

NASA will not be making any further attempts to fix the solar array of its Lucy spacecraft, at least for now - but the mission should still work as planned.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching from Florida.

This must be the most beautiful image ever of a rocket launch

SpaceX photos of its latest launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday are something really rather special.
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy heading to space.

Watch SpaceX footage of Falcon Heavy from launch to landing

SpaceX has shared a cool video of its recent Falcon Heavy mission, tracking it with a single camera and compressing its flight into just 120 seconds.
Don Pettit aboard the space station.

Enjoy these amazing space images by NASA’s oldest active astronaut

NASA astronaut Don Pettit hasn't been to space for a decade, but he continues to share some of the amazing images that he captured during his missions.
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy heading to space.

Watch key moments of SpaceX triple-booster Falcon Heavy launch

Watch the highlights of SpaceX's launch of its triple-booster Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday evening.
A photo of Expedition 68 Flight Engineer and NASA spacewalker Josh Cassada on Dec. 22, 2022, preparing a roll-out solar array for its deployment on the International Space Station's Port-4 truss segment as the orbiting lab flew 264 miles above the Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa.

How to watch two astronauts perform their first spacewalk on Friday

This Friday two astronauts from the International Space Station will perform a spacewalk to install new hardware to the station's exterior. Here's how to watch.
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the galaxy LEDA 48062 in the constellation Perseus. LEDA 48062 is the faint, sparse, amorphous galaxy on the right side of the image, and it is accompanied by a more sharply defined neighbor on the left – the large, disk-like lenticular galaxy UGC 8603. A smattering of more distant galaxies litter the background while a handful of foreground stars shine brightly throughout the image.

Hubble snaps an image of a galaxy in our cosmic backyard

An image from Hubble shows one of our galactic neighbors, collected as part of a project called Every Known Nearby Galaxy.
Image showing the disruption of astronomical observations caused by a previous Starlink launch

SpaceX reaches agreement with astronomers to limit Starlink interference

This week, National Science Foundation announced it had reached an agreement with SpaceX to limit the effects of its Starlink satellites on astronomy.
Members of the public can help astronomers observe and study the night sky through NASA’s Universe of Learning Exoplanet Watch program.

NASA is asking for your help to study exoplanets

NASA is asking for the public's help in learning more about exoplanets in a citizen science program called Exoplanet Watch.
Illustration of a planet on a black background. The planet is large and rocky. Roughly two-thirds of the planet is lit, while the rest is in shadow.

How James Webb peers into the atmospheres of far-off exoplanets

The James Webb Space Telescope recently detected its first exoplanet, but its real promise is in studying exoplanet atmospheres.
The Falcon Heavy is seen at Launch Complex 39A in Florida.

How to watch the classified SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch tomorrow

Tomorrow will see the fifth launch of SpaceX's heavy-lift vehicle, the Falcon Heavy, performing a classified launch for the US military.
Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to look deep into the heart of the pair of merging galaxies known as UGC 4211 discovered two black holes growing side by side, just 750 light-years apart. This artist’s conception shows the late-stage galaxy merger and its two central black holes. The binary black holes are the closest together ever observed in multiple wavelengths.

These supermassive black holes are cozying up close together

Two supermassive black holes have been spotted nestled close together in the heart of merging galaxy UGC4211.
This illustration shows NASA’s Lunar Flashlight carrying out a trajectory correction maneuver with the Moon and Earth in the background. Powered by the small satellite’s four thrusters, the maneuver is needed to reach lunar orbit.

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight mission hindered by thruster issue

NASA's Lunar Flashlight spacecraft, a briefcase-sized satellite on its way to the moon, is experiencing difficulties with its thrusters.
NGC 346, shown here in this image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a dynamic star cluster that lies within a nebula 200,000 light years away. Webb reveals the presence of many more building blocks than previously expected, not only for stars, but also planets, in the form of clouds packed with dust and hydrogen. 

James Webb captures stunning image of star formation in nearby galaxy

A stunning new image from James Webb is also leading astronomers to rethink their theories about how stars and planets could have formed in the early universe.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter.

Mars helicopter keeps on flying as it approaches second anniversary

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has been on Mars for almost two years and the high-tech contraption is still in good enough shape to get airborne.
SpaceX's Super Heavy and Starship.

SpaceX making final preparations for first flight of brand new rocket

It’s been a long time coming, but the first orbital test of SpaceX’s mighty Super Heavy rocket and Starship spacecraft looks to be just weeks away.
Russia's Soyuz spacecraft leaking coolant at the space station.

Russia reveals plan to rescue three space station crewmates

Russian space agency Roscosmos has unveiled a plan for bringing home three crewmembers after their Soyuz capsule suffered damage at the space station.
The Polaris Dawn crew.

SpaceX preps Polaris Dawn mission featuring first commercial spacewalk

SpaceX is making final preparations for its all-civilian Polaris Dawn mission, which is expected to involve the first spacewalk by non-professional astronauts.
NASA's ERBS satellite.

Large NASA satellite falls back to Earth after decades in orbit

After 38 years orbiting Earth, a large NASA satellite has fallen safely back to Earth, with most of if believed to have burned up during its descent.
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft being placed atop the Super Heavy rocket.

SpaceX stacks mighty Super Heavy rocket as it eyes February test launch

SpaceX has shared a video showing its next-generation spaceflight vehicle being stacked on the launchpad ahead of its first test flight.
Virgin Orbit rocket

Virgin Orbit’s first U.K. rocket flight ends in failure

Virgin Orbit’s attempt to become the first spaceflight company to launch an orbital rocket from Western Europe has ended in failure.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Watch a SpaceX rocket hurtle to orbit and back in 90 seconds

SpaceX has released a video featuring a rocket’s-eye view of a recent orbital mission, all the way from launch to landing.