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Features, Robotic Spaceflight

Why we need in-orbit refueling to return to the Moon

A promotional graphic on a dark blue starfield background. On the left in gold and white text: "Starmus VIII, The Search for Truth," "First Time in Spain, Artemis II Astronauts," the names Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen, and "October 2026, Tenerife, Canary Islands." On the right, three astronauts in orange spacesuits with helmets removed stand close together, smiling toward the camera, with a NASA patch and name tag visible on the center suit. A row of small sponsor and institutional logos runs along the bottom.

Science

Artemis 2 crew lands at Starmus VII — 15 years after Armstrong, Aldrin, and Leonov launched its lengacy

Features, Science

How Roman will unlock the universe

$A detailed telescopic photograph of a face-on barred spiral galaxy, showing tightly wound blue spiral arms laced with pink star-forming regions surrounding a soft, glowing golden core. Several distant background galaxies are visible scattered across the black field, and a bright foreground star with diffraction spikes is visible to the left.$

Galaxies

Why do bars form in some spiral galaxies, but not in others?

Picture of the Day

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A vast sky fades from deep blue-black at the top to a warm orange glow near the horizon. Low in the sky, a small bright ring of light glows amber, like a thin crescent with a soft halo around it. Below, a dark, flat landscape stretches to the horizon, dotted with scattered pinpoints of town lights.

Diamond in the sky

Dave Doctor from Las Cruces, New Mexico

The diamond ring at third contact during the Aug. 12, 2026, total solar eclipse hangs over Alcañiz, Spain, as the Moon’s shadow floods the left side of the frame in darkness. Totality there lasted about 1 minute 36 seconds, with the Sun just 5° above the horizon. The photographer shot it with a Canon mirrorless camera and a 14mm lens at f/2.8.

In the Sky

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A sky chart showing the southern sky on September 17, 2026, one hour after sunset. The crescent Moon glows brightly near the upper center, with Antares labeled as a reddish-orange point just to its right. The sky transitions from deep brown-black above to a warm amber-brown twilight glow near the dark horizon silhouette.

Observing

The Sky Today on Thursday, September 17: The Moon and the Scorpion

What’s Launching This Week

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What’s Launching This Week

Europe launches two Earth-observation satellites amidst a busy week for China

Today in the History of Astronomy

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A black-and-white photograph shows a crescent moon-like body positioned on the right side of the frame against a solid black space background. Strong side lighting illuminates its heavily cratered grey surface, featuring a prominent, large circular crater with a bright raised rim near the center edge. The left half of the spherical body vanishes completely into deep shadow, creating high visual contrast.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Sept. 17, 1789: William Herschel discovers Mimas

More News

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$A photograph of the autumnal equinox sunrise over a hazy rural landscape in Spain, showing the Sun as a large, heavily distorted red-orange disc flattened by atmospheric refraction just above the treeline. A silhouetted tree line, distant mountains, and what appears to be a castle or fortress on a hilltop are visible through the haze. Pink-tinted clouds and a gray-blue sky fill the upper portion of the frame, and a flat golden field stretches across the foreground.$

Sky This Week, The Sky This Week