Light pollution is the astronomer’s biggest enemy, especially if you’re gazing into deep space. And while some of the best telescopes can make a difference, there’s no way to eliminate it. That’s why, if you want to observe the cosmos without obstruction, you need to seek out darker skies, get a smart telescope or combine the two. You don’t have to book a flight to a dark sky reserve; just traveling away from suburbia can be enough. That’s where portable telescopes come in. Set one up in a field, for…
Read MoreScientists discover ‘chemical starter kit’ for life in planetary birthplaces
Methanol, coming as part of the ‘chemical starter kit’ around young stars, has produced some unexpected surprises that could ultimately reveal some of the conditions in which planets and potentially life form around protostars. The methanol discoveries were made by astronomers using ALMA (the Atacama Large millimeter/submillimeter Array) in the Atacama Desert in Chile, as part of a project called COMPASS (the Complex Organic Molecules in Protostars with ALMA Spectral Surveys). “Our work provides insight into the complex chemistry of young star systems and is ultimately an important piece of…
Read MoreAPOD: 2026 October 15 – The Milky Way over Manhattan
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 October 15 – The… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. The Milky Way over Manhattan Explanation: The city lights outshine the stars in the City That Never Sleeps. Who would have thought that the Milky Way could be visible in this sky? This image was taken with…
Read MoreFires Arrive in the Amazon Rainforest
Earth Observatory Science Earth Observatory Fires Arrive in the Amazon… Earth Earth Observatory Image of the Day EO Explorer Topics All Topics Atmosphere Land Heat & Radiation Life on Earth Human Dimensions Natural Events Oceans Remote Sensing Technology Snow & Ice Water More Content Collections Global Maps World of Change Articles Earth Matters Blog Blue Marble: Next Generation EO Kids Mission: Biomes About About Us Subscribe 🛜 RSS Contact Us Search Unlike a tornado or thunderstorm that can deliver destruction in minutes, El Niño exerts its influence over many…
Read MoreNASA to Host News Conference Previewing US Spacewalks 100, 101
NASA astronaut Anil Menon conducts a spacewalk on Aug. 6, 2026, to prepare the International Space Station for future upgrades to its power system. Credit: NASA NASA will preview two upcoming spacewalks to complete solar array installation and power augmentation of the International Space Station during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 20, from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA will stream the event through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online: https://www.nasa.gov/live NASA participants in the news conference include: Gaurang Patel, operations integration…
Read MoreNASA Astronauts to Answer Questions from Florida Students
NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins assists NASA astronaut Luke Delaney as he practices suiting up in a spacesuit in an International Space Station airlock simulator on May 5, 2026, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center Space Vehicle Mockup Facility in Houston. Credit: NASA Editor’s Note: This article was updated Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, to reflect a change to the event start time. Students in Florida will hear from NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney as they answer prerecorded STEM questions while aboard the International Space Station. The Earth-to-space call will begin…
Read MoreNASA’s SpaceX CRS-35 Launch Jellyfish
The exhaust plumes of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft are seen illuminated by sunlight against the predawn sky during the launch of NASA’s SpaceX CRS-35 mission, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, as seen from Cocoa Beach, Florida. The light makes the plumes look like a jellyfish in the sky.
Read MoreThe 1st SpaceX Starship to survive a launch to space just came home to its launch site
Nearly three months after surviving its launch to space and a tumultuous trial at sea, the first Starship spacecraft to survive its ocean splashdown has returned to Starbase. SpaceX shared new photos and video of Ship 40, the Starship upper stage that launched on the developing vehicle’s 13th flight test, as it completed the final stretch of its journey back to the company’s South Texas facility. Now, the towering spacecraft is upright inside Starbase’s Megabay hangar alongside a trio of its successor spacecraft, themselves bound for space, but not before…
Read MoreFour years ago, NASA punched an asteroid. Europe’s Hera probe arrives this month to inspect the wreckage
NASA’s DART mission made a cosmic mess four years ago — and now a new spacecraft is ready to scout out exactly what the first-of-its-kind collision accomplished. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft slammed into a small space rock called Dimorphos on Sept. 26, 2022, in humanity’s first test of planetary defense. That’s the field dedicated to protecting Earth from the possibility of a calamitous asteroid impact, and DART mimicked how humans could change the orbit of a threatening space rock, taking it off its collision course. The mission…
Read MoreScientists discover that some of the universe’s biggest explosions may have never happened at all
Now you see them, now you don’t. Scientists have discovered that some of the universe’s most powerful explosions, hypernovas, may not happen at all. These explosions, known as hypernovas, were first proposed to explain unusual stars in the halo of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and in a neighboring dwarf galaxy. It was suggested that these stars could only form from the debris of an explosion 10 times more powerful than the ‘average’ supernovas. The team behind these new findings suggests that ordinary supernovas could actually account for these stars…
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