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September 2025: What’s in the sky this month? Saturn and Neptune reach opposition, as Jupiter and Venus greet the dawn

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 31, 1913: Birth of Bernard Lovell

Human Spaceflight, Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 30, 1984: Space Shuttle Discovery launches

Astronomy for beginners, Observing, Upcoming Events

Aug. 29, 1990: Hubble sees Supernova 1987A clearly

Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from August 29 to September 5: Saturn’s time to shine

Telescopes and Equipment

Make summer last with these new astronomy products

Cosmology

Scientists seek to discover what came before the Big Bang

Deep-Sky Objects, Observing

Michael’s Miscellany: Observe the Wild Duck Cluster

Science

Watch as the Roman Space Telescope unfurls its solar panels and visor in successful test

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 28, 1993: An asteroid harbors a surprise

Astrophotography

Tips for imaging during a Full Moon

Space Exploration

SpaceX Starship Flight 10 viewed as roaring success

Solar System

A new theory explains how Jupiter’s core formed

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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.

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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 2025

Five modern revolutions in planetary science
A beginner’s guide to remote imaging
Simple long-term imaging projects
Why you can’t trust your eyes

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Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from August 29 to September 5: Saturn’s time to shine

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Observing

September 2025: What’s in the sky this month? Saturn and Neptune reach opposition, as Jupiter and Venus greet the dawn

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Cirrus around Barnard’s Galaxy

Chris Schur, taken form Happy Jack, Arizona

While the Andromeda Galaxy is the closest major galaxy to the Milky Way, the irregular dwarf galaxy NGC 6822 — also known as Barnard’s Galaxy — is our nearest galactic neighbor, lying just outside our galaxy’s gravitational influence at a distance of 1.6 million light-years. It can be tough to observe, however, as it lies in Sagittarius, in the plane of the Milky Way. This image captured over two hours with an 11-inch Celestron RASA scope shows Barnard’s Galaxy obscured by bright galactic cirrus — wisps of cold dust in our own galaxy.