Remarkable backyard footage captures giant solar prominence and streams of coronal rain flowing along the sun’s magnetic field lines. Continue ReadingAstrophotographer captures colossal ‘Godzilla’ plasma cloud stalking the edge of the sun (video)
A computer rendering of the configuration of the International Space Station as of May 17, 2026. Six spaceships are parked at the space station including the SpaceX CRS-34 Dragon, the SpaceX Crew-12 Dragon, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL, the Soyuz MS-28 crew ship, and the Progress 94 and 95 resupply ships. Graphic: NASA Previously unannounced repair work to stop new leaks onboard the International Space Station temporarily caused NASA to send all four members of the Continue ReadingNASA crew briefly shelters inside Dragon capsule as Russia addresses new space station leaks
It may seem like we are on the verge of discovering alien life. In 2025, a press release stated that we have the “strongest hints yet” of extraterrestrial life on the exoplanet K2-18b. And when talking about a collected sample from a rock named “Cheyava Falls” on Mars, NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said this was the “closest we have ever come” to discovering life on the red planet.
ISS astronauts briefly sheltered aboard an attached SpaceX Dragon capsule today (June 5) while cosmonauts tried to fix a persistent leak on the Russian side of the orbiting lab. Continue ReadingAstronauts on International Space Station take shelter in SpaceX Dragon as cosmonauts try to fix air leak
Last week’s explosion of a New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida, was clearly a setback for Blue Origin and NASA, but it was a learning experience for safety officials looking to open up the spaceport to hundreds more launches per year. The launch base on Florida’s Space Coast is gearing up for a flurry of new arrivals. SpaceX is building multiple launch pads for its super-heavy Starship rocket, which will operate within a few miles of launch pads operated by SpaceX rivals Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance. Two other companies, Stoke Space and Relativity Space, are also developing Continue ReadingSafety officials finally have a good idea of what a big rocket explosion can do
Welcome to Edition 8.44 of the Rocket Report! The news this week is decidedly weighted in favor of heavy-lift rockets, largely due to the fallout from last Thursday’s explosion of Blue Origin’s New Glenn on its launch pad in Florida. Blue Origin aims to resume launches at the badly damaged launch facility by the end of the year, but there’s good reason to be skeptical of this timeline. With New Glenn grounded, will Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos approach Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch his Blue Moon lander to the lunar south pole? It sure sounds like NASA is pushing Continue ReadingRocket Report: Blue Origin explosion still making headlines; Impulse raises money
Three planets, two stars and one moon create a spectacular June sky show. Continue ReadingVenus, Jupiter and Mercury headline a stunning planet parade through June. Here’s when to see it
In the canals, wetlands and marshes of the Florida Everglades, the spectacled caiman has quietly expanded its foothold, threatening an already-vulnerable ecosystem. A new University of Florida study published in Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science synthesizes more than 70 years of research on the invasive species native to Central and South America that has firmly established itself across the most vulnerable part of the Sunshine State—the Florida Everglades.
Searing across the night sky, a meteor puts on a spectacular show above Arizona’s Kitt Peak National Observatory. Continue ReadingMeteor streaks across the sky above big observatory | Space photo of the day for June 5, 2026
SpaceX will sell its shares for $135 apiece during its IPO, yielding a valuation of $1.77 trillion. Continue Reading$1.77 trillion! SpaceX is about to become the 7th-most valuable American company
On June 5, 1819, British mathematician and astronomer John C. Adams was born in Cornwall. The first to predict the existence of Neptune, he wrote in his journal on July 3, 1841: “Formed a design in the beginning of this week of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities in theContinue reading “June 5, 1819: The birth of John C. Adams” The post June 5, 1819: The birth of John C. Continue ReadingJune 5, 1819: The birth of John C. Adams
In May and June of most years, NASA satellites typically begin to detect large numbers of wildland fires throughout the Top End and Arnhem Land regions of Australia’s Northern Territory. On some days, especially in the afternoon, the blazes can resemble sizable wildfires in satellite imagery, spreading widely and producing expansive smoke plumes.
As California’s population boomed—from 10 million in 1950 to over 40 million today—the number of people living in fire-prone areas multiplied. Over the decades, millions of new homes and commercial buildings sprang up to accommodate the needs of the state’s growing population, and many of those structures stand in areas prone to wildfires.
Night shining noctilucent clouds could brighten the sky before dawn and after sunset from tonight! Continue ReadingOne of the sky’s rarest phenomena is back: How to see rare night-shining clouds this summer
The James Webb Space Telescope observed a large amount of methane around 3I/ATLAS, revealing just how different it is from comets from our solar system. Continue ReadingInterstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is blasting out a bunch of methane. Here’s why that’s weird
Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. June 4: Jupiter passes south of Pollux Now that the Red Planet is rising roughly an hour before the Sun, let’s check in on Mars in the predawn sky. The nearby world now has time to climb well above the horizon, leadingContinue reading “The Sky Today on Friday, June 5: Check in on Mars” The post The Sky Today on Friday, June Continue ReadingThe Sky Today on Friday, June 5: Check in on Mars
Friday, June 5Standing some 50° high in the south by 10 P.M. local daylight time, M5 is a fabulous globular cluster well within the reach of any instrument, from binoculars to telescopes. It is even visible to some observers without optical aid at all on a clear, dark night, so if your southern horizon isContinue reading “The Sky This Week from June 5 to 12: Jupiter and Venus meet” The post The Sky This Week Continue ReadingThe Sky This Week from June 5 to 12: Jupiter and Venus meet
NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this color-enhanced view of Jupiter’s northern hemisphere during its 61st close flyby of the giant planet on May 12, 2024.
Astronomers have developed a technique that allows them to detect cloud cycles on distant exoplanets. Using data from the James Webb Sapce Telescope (JWST), the astronomers found that mornings and evenings on the gas giant WASP-94A b have extremely different weather patterns: mornings are riddled with sand clouds, while the skies are clear in the early evenings. By isolating the clouds, researchers can more accurately measure a planet’s atmosphere and provide a clearer picture of the planet’s composition. WASP-94A b, for example, has much less oxygen and carbon than astronomers perviously calculated, making its atmosphere much more like Jupiter than they had originally thought.
Gravitational waves are tiny ripples in spacetime. Their first direct detection in 2015 marked a revolutionary moment in astronomy. Today, we have a thorough understanding of signals that travel far from their sources through quiet, nearly empty space, such as those emitted when black holes merge. In this case, the wave can be considered a minor disturbance on a silent background. The distinction between “background” and “wave” is clear, and the quantity measured by the detector—a tiny stretching and squeezing—is clearly determined.
