Astronomy Magazine: Space News, Observing, Planets, Galaxies

Top Stories

A 360-degree panoramic view of the Milky Way galaxy stretching horizontally across the frame as a bright, glowing band of stars and dust. The galactic center is visible near the middle, dense with warm orange and brown dust lanes and bright star clusters. The surrounding sky is deep black, dotted with individual stars and a few faint nebulae and satellite galaxies visible in the lower portion of the image.

Cosmology, Galaxies

Giant supercluster discovered hiding behind the Milky Way

Astrophotography

Astronomy magazine launches 2026 astrophotography contest presented by Celestron

Side-by-side grayscale comparison of the Moon's two hemispheres. The left image shows the familiar near side of the Moon, featuring large dark volcanic plains called maria that give it a distinctive mottled appearance. The right image shows the far side of the Moon, which lacks significant maria and instead appears more uniformly cratered and bright, with prominent crater ray systems radiating outward from impact sites.

Science, Solar System

Why does one side of the Moon have a lot of craters, while the other does not?

A screenshot of the July 2026 issue landing page. The hero image features a bright deep-space scene with a glowing blue core of a nebula, wrapped in thick, textured clouds of amber and brown gas and dust. Sharp white stars fill the outer regions of the frame, with a few brighter stars showing cross-shaped spikes.

How to read the July digital issue of Astronomy magazine

Picture of the Day

A dense, glowing nebula fills the frame, with tangled clouds of gas and dust in red, orange, green, and blue tones. Near the upper center, a bright bluish-white core and surrounding emerald and lime-green wisps stand out, while darker, finger-like dust lanes and jagged edges cut into the glowing regions. The scene is packed with stars of various sizes and colors scattered across the entire image against a darker, starry background.

The eagle’s lair

Emmanuel Delgadillo from Jalisco, Mexico

The Eagle Nebula (M16) is well-known for its dense star-forming pillars of gas and dust — including those in the famed Hubble Space Telescope’s “Fingers of Creation” image. It lies roughly 5,000 light-years away in Serpens, This photographer combined over 14 hours of exposure taken with Hα/OIII and SII/OIII dual-band filters with a 7-inch astrograph at f/2.8 under Bortle 8 skies in April 2026.

In the Sky

A simulated predawn sky looking east on June 10, 2026, one hour before sunrise. A crescent Moon is prominent near the top center, with Saturn appearing as a small dot just below and to the right. The star Diphda is visible in the lower right.

The Sky Today on Wednesday, June 10: The Moon shines with Saturn

What’s Launching This Week

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rises from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, surrounded by a billowing cloud of white exhaust and a bright orange flame at the base. The rocket climbs vertically against a hazy blue-gray sky, flanked by four lightning rod towers. Launch infrastructure, including a yellow crane arm and concrete support structures, is visible at the bottom of the frame.

What’s Launching This Week

SpaceX and Rocket Lab set for liftoff this week

Today in the History of Astronomy

A grid of eight distinct square panels are arranged in two rows of four against a black background. Each panel shows a bright, yellowish-orange core surrounded by thin, glowing blue rings or partial arcs that encircle the central light. Text labels containing long strings of numbers appear at the bottom of each square panel, with a larger informational title section situated underneath the entire grid.

Cosmology, Today in the History of Astronomy

June 9, 1988: First image of an Einstein ring

More News

Four astronauts in bright orange Orion spacesuits pose for an official crew portrait against a muted blue-gray background. Two stand at the back and two sit in front; all hold or rest their hands near their white helmets.

Human Spaceflight

Meet the astronauts flying on Artemis 3

An artist's illustration of the MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars, with the spacecraft positioned in the upper left and the rust-colored Martian surface filling the right side of the frame. The spacecraft features a large circular dish, two pairs of extended solar panels, and a long boom extending toward the planet. A star-scattered deep-space background fills the upper left corner.

NASA fails to reestablish contact, decommissions MAVEN

Telescopes and Equipment

Kickstart summer with these new astronomy products

A 360-degree panoramic view of the Milky Way galaxy stretching horizontally across the frame as a bright, glowing band of stars and dust. The galactic center is visible near the middle, dense with warm orange and brown dust lanes and bright star clusters. The surrounding sky is deep black, dotted with individual stars and a few faint nebulae and satellite galaxies visible in the lower portion of the image.

Cosmology, Galaxies

Giant supercluster discovered hiding behind the Milky Way

Astronomy Newsletter

Get newsletters, updates and special offers via email from Astronomy.com!

Product Recommendations

Visit The Space Store

Popular Explorations