Hubble Telescope sees rare supernova explosion as a violent 'pale blue dot'

The Hubble Space Telescope recently captured a snapshot of a rare supernova that sits in the Gemini constellation, about 650 million light-years away from Earth. A newly released Hubble pic shows the galaxy LEDA 22057, where the supernova explosion occurred. The spiral galax…

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Astronauts repair black hole observatory, inspect cosmic ray detector on ISS spacewalk.

An X-ray observatory used to study neutron stars is “back in the black” and a cosmic ray detector is ready for possible future upgrades after two astronauts completed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS). Nick Hague worked to repair the Neutron star Inte…

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100 years ago, Edwin Hubble proved our Milky Way galaxy isn't alone.

If we could go back 101 years, we would encounter a time when scientists still thought the Milky Way was the entirety of our universe. But, if we went back 100 years instead, we would find most scientists agreeing that this isn't true. Somewhere in between, humans reali…

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World's largest telescope gets its protective shell.

The frame of the dome that will house the world's largest telescope has been completed, marking another key milestone in the observatory's construction. The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) — the world's largest visible- a…

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Moon added to list of vulnerable sites by World Monuments Fund.

For the first time, a location beyond Earth has been listed as vulnerable by the World Monuments Fund, an international nonprofit that every two years highlights 25 heritage sites at risk. The Fund included the moon on its 2025 Watch list due to the dawn of a new Space Age a…

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SpaceX’s Starship breaks up mid-flight, forcing airlines to avoid debris.

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft has broken up mid-flight, forcing airlines to divert flights to avoid falling debris. While Elon Musk’s company successfully recreated its prior feat of catching a first-stage booster as it returned to Earth on Thursday, its new-generation uncrew…

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The seventh test flight of SpaceX's Starship had some serious highs and lows.

The company launched its Starship megarocket for the seventh time ever today (Jan. 16), sending the 403.5-foot-tall (123 meters) reusable vehicle aloft from its Starbase site in South Texas at 5:37 p.m. EST (2237 GMT; 4:37 p.m. local time). One of the goals of this ambitious…

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SpaceX launches 2 private lunar landers to the moon.

Two private landers have made it to space and will soon be headed your way! The two lunar landers — Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost, and Resilience, built by the Japanese company ispace — lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early this morning (Jan. 15) from NASA…

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China plans to plant a waving flag on the moon in 2026.

Research work on building China's Chang'e 7 lunar exploration mission includes sending a flag that can flutter in the moon's thin and tenuous atmosphere. "We know that the moon is vacuum with no air, so it is difficult to make a flag flutter by wind like on …

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The Full Wolf Moon 'eats' Mars tonight. Here's how to see it.

Just four days after it passed in front of the Pleiades star cluster, the moon will cross paths with another noteworthy celestial object on Monday evening, Jan. 13, when it will cover the planet Mars, now shining as bright as it will get in this new year of 2025. An opportun…

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SpaceX will launch 2 private lunar landers this week, kicking off busy year for moon missions.

Two private lunar landers are set to launch this week aboard the same rocket, kicking off a busy year of missions to the moon. A six-day window for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching the missions begins early Wednesday morning (Jan. 15), with liftoff scheduled for 1:11 a.m…

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Mercury looks stunning in images from BepiColombo spacecraft's 6th and final flyby.

The BepiColombo spacecraft has made its sixth and final flyby of the closest planet to the sun, Mercury, capturing some incredible images of the tiny world. The photos offer tantalizing hints about some of the mysteries BepiColombo will investigate when it moves into orbit …

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SpaceX launches 21 new Starlink satellites from Florida.

SpaceX launched more of its internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast today (Jan. 8). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 10:27 a.m. EST (1527 GMT) on We…

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How NASA and Sierra Space are preparing for Dream Chaser space plane's 1st flight to ISS.

NASA is considering two ways to get its precious Mars samples back to Earth, but the agency won't pick a winner for another 18 months or so. Analysis of those samples, which are being collected by NASA's Perseverance rover, could reveal a wealth of data about Mars an…

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China plans to build ‘Three Gorges dam in space’ to harness solar power.

A senior Chinese scientist has revealed an ambitious plan to use super heavy rockets to build solar power stations in space, calling it “another Three Gorges Dam project above the Earth”. Space-based solar power stations collect energy from the sun in Earth’s orbit and trans…

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Blue Origin delays 1st New Glenn rocket launch due to rough seas for landing.

A private space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos has postponed the planned launch of its new giant rocket. Blue Origin was counting down toward the launch of its first New Glenn heavy-lift rocket at 1:00 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Friday (Jan. 10), but rough weather in …

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Once-in-a-160000-year comet G3 ATLAS could shine as bright as Venus next week.

The brightest comet in nearly 20 years — comet G3 ATLAS (C/2024) — is expected to reach its peak brilliance later this week into early next week. The only question is: "Will you actually be able to see it?" This celestial paradox belongs to Comet 2024 G3 (ATLAS), wh…

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Blue Origin to launch its 1st New Glenn rocket on Jan. 10.

We now have a launch date for the debut mission of Blue Origin's powerful New Glenn rocket. If all goes according to plan, New Glenn will lift off for the first time on Friday (Jan. 10) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, during a three-hour window tha…

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James Webb Space Telescope spots record-breaking collection of stars in far-flung galaxy.

New year, new milestone: A cosmic quirk of nature has allowed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to capture images of 44 individual stars in a galaxy halfway across the observable universe — this region is so distant that astronomers once deemed identifying individual st…

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How Pluto captured its largest moon Charon with a 10-hour icy 'kiss'

New research suggests that billions of years ago, Pluto may have captured its largest moon, Charon, with a very brief icy "kiss." The theory could explain how the dwarf planet (yeah, we wish Pluto was still a planet, too) could snare a moon that is around half its…

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