APOD: 2026 August 17 – A Golden Corona Eclipse

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APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 17 – A… 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. A Golden Corona Eclipse Explanation: This total solar eclipse appeared not only poetically beautiful but scientifically interesting. Usually the solar corona appears white, and to some observers the corona of last week’s total solar eclipse did appear this pearly color.…

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NASA funds spherical ‘Aerobots’ that could explore the caves of Saturn’s moon Titan

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Spherical “Aerobots” may one day swarm the caves of Titan — a moon of Saturn that NASA says is one of the most Earthlike in our solar system. Titan is covered in rivers, lakes and seas of hydrocarbons, like methane and ethane, as well as a strange “karst” terrain including underground sinkholes and caves. No rover could easily traverse this surface, but flying vehicles may have more success. So a new grant, under the early-stage NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, aims to create small, flying vehicles that could explore…

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On this day in space! Aug. 16, 1963: Wingless M2-F1 completes 1st glide flight

NeRD

On Aug. 16, 1963, NASA’s M2-F1 aircraft prototype made its first glide flight. This wingless aircraft kind of looked like a flying bathtub. NASA made it to test a new concept called the lifting body, which was an unpowered glider that provided an alternative way to return piloted spacecraft to Earth. Instead of pummeling out of the sky in a ballistic reentry, the lifting body landed sort of like an airplane. For its first test flight, the M2-F1 was towed 5,200 feet into the air by a C-47 Skytrain and…

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APOD: 2026 August 16 – Milky Way over Yellowstone

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APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 16 – Milky… 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. Milky Way over Yellowstone Explanation: The Milky Way was not created by an evaporating lake. The colorful pool of water, about 10 meters across, is known as Silex Spring and is located in Yellowstone National Park in…

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New record! SpaceX launches 2 Falcon 9 rockets just 38 minutes apart

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SpaceX keeps setting spaceflight records. Elon Musk‘s company launches far more frequently than any other outfit, and it operates the largest satellite constellation ever assembled — the Starlink broadband network, which consists of nearly 11,000 satellites (and counting). On Saturday evening (Aug. 15), SpaceX set another mark, for the shortest time between orbital flights: It launched two Falcon 9 rockets just 38 minutes apart, besting its old mark — set on Aug. 31, 2024 with two Starlink missions — by 27 minutes. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches eight satellites…

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On this day in space! Aug. 15, 1977: Mysterious ‘Wow!’ Signal boosts search for E.T.

NeRD

On Aug. 15, 1977, astronomers using Ohio State University’s Big Ear radio telescope detected the famous “Wow!” signal, which to this day is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that we are not alone in the universe. Astronomer Jerry Ehman was using the telescope to scan a region in the constellation Sagittarius when it detected a weird, 72-second-long radio burst. The signal was too strong to be explained by background noise, and researchers determined that it was very unlikely that this signal came from anything on Earth. Despite their…

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‘Lanterns’: Who’s who in HBO’s Green Lantern show?

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The DC Universe expands further into the cosmos this month with the addition of “Lanterns”. Created by Chris Mundy, Tom King and Damon Lindelof, the superhero show sees the veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan (played by Kyle Chandler) take rookie John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) under his wing. Wider parts of the Green Lantern Corps lore are incorporated in the story too, as the series unpacks what the famous space cops are all about. At the same time, let’s be real here for a second: for anybody who hasn’t kept track…

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APOD: 2026 August 15 – Bright Perseids from Sweden

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APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 15 –… 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. Bright Perseids from Sweden Explanation: Known for its bright and fast meteors, the annual Perseid Meteor Shower comes to planet Earth’s skies from a radiant in the heroic constellation Perseus. The popular northern summer celestial spectacle is created…

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‘Strap yourself in and feel the Gs’: NASA announces ‘Max Power’ aerospace expo

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NASA will hold a two-day aerospace exposition this November, and it may draw a surprising number of “Simpsons” fans. The event, which NASA announced today (Aug. 14), will be held Nov. 7 and Nov. 8 at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Florida’s Space Coast. It’s called “Max Power,” which is also a famous Homer Simpson pseudonym. In the 13th episode of the show’s 10th season, which first aired in February 1999, Homer legally changed his name to Max Power. He wanted to disassociate himself from a bumbling character on the…

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NASA Competition Invites Students to Help Imagine a Future Enabled by Lunar Technologies 

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3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Artist’s rendering depicting lunar surface operations at a future base in the lunar South Pole. NASA NASA is asking U.S.-based collegiate teams to submit bold, original concepts to the 2027 edition of a student challenge focused on aerospace innovation that could help the agency envision a future on the Moon shaped by new technology.  The latest NASA Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition invites student teams to explore new operations paradigms and advance the technologies needed to support sustained operations in the lunar South Pole region.  “This competition…

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