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A golden Full Moon in a dark blue sky seen through the branches of a foreground tree.

Observing, The Moon

Have astronomers discovered the first moon outside of our solar system?

$A telescopic photograph of a nearly face-on ringed spiral galaxy with a bright, glowing white-yellow core surrounded by multiple faint concentric blue-white spiral rings extending outward. The field is rich with distant background galaxies of various shapes and sizes scattered across the black sky, and a bright foreground star with prominent blue diffraction spikes is visible in the upper right.$

Science

By any other name: NGC 1269 or NGC 1291?

An artist's illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope floating in space against a starry background with a faint golden-green nebula glow. The boxy, dark-colored spacecraft is shown at an angle, with its sunshield panels extended and its primary mirror aperture visible at the front.

Exoplanets

Could aliens spot Earth with the same planet-hunting techniques we use?

$A detailed telescope image of a star-forming region, showing dramatic pillars and billowing clouds of gas and dust in vivid shades of orange, red, and brown, contrasting with cooler blue nebulosity in the upper left. A tall, dark pillar dominates the center with a bright jet of material streaming from its tip, illuminated by nearby stars. Smaller pillars and sculpted gas structures are visible throughout, and several bright foreground stars with diffraction spikes are scattered across the scene.$

Science

Still going strong: Hubble’s 36th anniversary image

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

Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from September 18 to 25: Autumn begins

Features, Robotic Spaceflight

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

Robotic Spaceflight

U.S. confirms it has weapons in orbit

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This artist’s conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known (central black dot) at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy. Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have uncovered two of these early objects, dating back to about 13 billion years ago. The monstrous black holes are among the most distant known, and appear to be in the very earliest stages of formation, earlier than any observed so far. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Science

Explore the science of space, from the astrophysics of stars to the ultimate fate of the universe.

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Observing

Learn about upcoming observing events such as eclipses, meteor showers, comets, conjunctions, and more.

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This 2016 Curiosity rover selfie shows the vehicle at the “Okoruso” drilling site on Mount Sharp’s Naukluft Plateau. The Martian scene is a mosaic of images taken with the arm-mounted Mars Hands Lens Imager (MAHLI). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

Space Exploration

Human and robotic missions are helping humanity explore our solar system and beyond.

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September 2026

How Artemis 2 brought back Moon joy
Why we need in-orbit refueling to return to the Moon
Artemis’ technology and medicine innovations
How massive star clusters shape their galaxies

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Sky This Week

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Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from September 25 to October 2: Neptune at opposition

Sky This Month

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A pale blue Neptune centered against a dark gray background, showing faint darker banding and a bright wispy cloud feature near its equator.

Observing

September 2026: What’s in the sky this month? Neptune reaches opposition with Saturn nearby, and Venus shines after sunset

Picture of the Day

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A round, cloud-like shell fills the center of the frame, its interior a tangle of glowing orange and red wisps edged by a faint blue-green rim. The surrounding sky is dark and speckled with stars, with soft reddish haze drifting across the background.

A wind-blown crescent

Aloke Palsikar, taken from Pie Town, New Mexico

The Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) is an emission nebula about 5,600 light-years away in Cygnus. Its distinctive shape was formed by fast stellar winds from the Wolf-Rayet star at its center colliding with material the star shed earlier in its life. The astroimager took 3 hours of exposure in Hα and OIII filters with a 12-inch f/4.9 astrograph.