During its 61st close flyby of Jupiter on May 12, 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this color-enhanced view of the giant planet’s northern hemisphere.
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The brainchild of George Ellery Hale, the 200-inch Hale Telescope was dedicated June 3, 1948, at Palomar Observatory in California. In promoting and fundraising for the project, Hale had a firm science agenda for the scope, but also wrote more fancifully of “the lure of the uncharted seas of space”; though he died in 1938,Continue reading “June 3, 1948: Hale Telescope dedicated”
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Astronauts Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) and Jack Hathaway of NASA, both Expedition 74 flight engineers, look out a window in the cupola.
Read MoreNew observatories and spacecraft missions are probing environments in our solar system that could potentially host life but have long remained hidden. Icy moons like Saturn’s Enceladus and Jupiter’s Europa likely contain oceans beneath frozen outer shells. But a layer of ice prohibits space probes from sampling them directly. Exploring these icy moons is almost forensic: Their surfaces keep aContinue reading “Scientists used a method from ecology to identify whether icy moons could hold conditions for life”
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This image of Westerlund 2 features Chandra X-ray Observatory data (pink) and James Webb infrared data (red, orange, green, cyan, and blue).
Read MoreOccasionally I see references in Astronomy to the speed of something as “supersonic.” I’m having trouble reconciling this term with velocities typically found among astronomical objects. Wouldn’t “relativistic” be closer to the truth? Anything close to sonic speeds in Earth’s atmosphere wouldn’t cover much distance in outer space. Peter IanchiouTucson, Arizona One would certainly thinkContinue reading “What does the term ‘supersonic’ mean in astronomy?”
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Read MoreIn the 1960s, two organizations were formed for cooperation around a European presence in space: the European Space Research Organization, which focused on scientific research, and the European Launcher Development Organization, which concentrated on engineering launch systems. By the end of the decade, however, dissatisfaction was growing with this split structure, and in 1968, theContinue reading “May 31, 1975: ESA begins operations”
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This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the faint glow of the dwarf irregular galaxy ESO 490-017.
Read MoreHarry Clement Stubbs – perhaps better known by his penname, Hal Clement – was born near Boston on May 30, 1922. Stubbs earned a B.S. in astronomy from Harvard University in 1943, followed by master’s degrees in chemistry and education. After military service in the Army Air Corps in World War II, he began workContinue reading “May 30, 1922: The birth of Harry Clement Stubbs”
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Read MoreAs winter’s brilliant stars slip toward the western horizon and the constellations of spring climb higher, Northern Hemisphere observers discover a quieter but richly rewarding sky. Spring is celebrated for its galaxies, yet our own Milky Way offers an equally compelling bounty of open and globular clusters. From youthful, loosely packed groups that still sparkleContinue reading “Observe spring’s star clusters”
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NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft flies above NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, during testing focused on lower-speed and altitude flight conditions in support of NASA’s Quesst mission. NASA continues to include two-flight days in its envelope expansion as teams work to better understand how the aircraft responds throughout its operating range.
Read MoreIn ancient times, a total solar eclipse might have ended a war over territory between the Lydians, inhabitants of modern Turkey, and the Medes, who lived in what is now Iran. The two peoples had been fighting for over five years, but that ended on May 28, 585 B.C.E. Greek historian Herodotus wrote about theContinue reading “May 28, 585 B.C.E.: A war-ending eclipse”
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Katherine Rauscher, of Michigan Technological University, prepares her team’s prototype lunar robot for its turn during the finals for NASA’s 2026 Lunabotics Challenge competition on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, inside the Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Forty-seven teams from around the U.S. designed and built remote-controlled robots capable of traversing challenging lunar terrain while constructing regolith-based berm under conditions similar to those the agency will face as it returns to the lunar surface through Artemis.
Read MoreThe phenomenon of a Full Moon arises when our planet, Earth, is precisely sandwiched between the Sun and the Moon. This alignment ensures the entire side of the Moon that faces us gleams under sunlight. Thanks to the Moon’s orbit around Earth, the angle of sunlight hitting the lunar surface and being reflected back toContinue reading “2026 Full Moon calendar: When to see the Full Moon and phases”
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Chennai, on India’s southern coast along the Bay of Bengal and with a metropolitan population of about 8.7 million, shines with white LED streetlights in this photograph taken at approximately 9:13 p.m. local time on May 2, 2026, from the International Space Station.
Read MoreLooking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. May 25: Three planets after sunset Tonight, let’s compare the appearance of the Moon to that of a week ago to see the effects of lunar libration, the “nodding” motion caused by the tilt of the Moon’s orbit around Earth. High inContinue reading “The Sky Today on Tuesday, May 26: Enter Endymion”
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Read MoreLooking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. May 24: Egeria slides on by After reaching superior conjunction midmonth, Mercury is increasing in visibility and should be easily identifiable now in the evening sky. Just half an hour after sunset, step outside to see if you can spot the solar system’sContinue reading “The Sky Today on Monday, May 25: Three planets after sunset”
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Read MoreLooking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. May 23: View Vallis Alpes Moving through vast Virgo, 11th-magnitude asteroid 13 Egeria is passing near some stationary background stars tonight, offering an excellent chance to chart its motion over the course of a few hours. You can begin looking for theContinue reading “The Sky Today on Sunday, May 24: Egeria slides on by”
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NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, capturing images as it came within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This is an enhanced-color view of the large double-ring crater Huygens and the surrounding heavily cratered southern highlands.
Read MoreLooking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. May 22: Busy moons around Jupiter The Moon passes 0.08° south of Regulus at 3 A.M. EDT. A few hours later, First Quarter Moon occurs at 7:11 A.M. EDT. First Quarter Moon offers some great targets for lunar observers. Plus, the greatContinue reading “The Sky Today on Saturday, May 23: View Vallis Alpes”
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Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column. May 21: Check in on Saturn and Mars Tonight we’re focused on Jupiter, as two of its Galilean moons cross the planet’ disk this evening. East Coast observers can zoom in on the gas giant shortly after sunset to see Io aloneContinue reading “The Sky Today on Friday, May 22: Busy moons around Jupiter”
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This NASA Hubble Space Telescope images reveals the lenticular galaxy, NGC 1266. This enigmatic post-starburst galaxy has a bright center and a face that hints at spiral structure, yet it holds no discernable spiral arms.
Read MoreFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 20, 2026 On May 15, Astronomy magazine announced the 2026 Astronomy Magazine Astrophotography Contest, presented by Celestron. Submissions open May 15, 2026, and close at the end of June 22, 2026 (EDT). Winners and shortlisted images will be published in the December 2026 issue of Astronomy, the world’s best-selling astronomy magazine.Continue reading “Astronomy magazine launches 2026 astrophotography contest presented by Celestron”
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The Moon and Venus, center, are seen in conjunction above the Washington Monument, Monday, May 18, 2026, as viewed from the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington.
Read MoreArnaud Malleval M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy, lies about 12 million light-years away in Ursa Major. It is a classic example of a starburst galaxy — one producing newborn stars at a prodigious rate. Their explosive deaths drive filaments of hydrogen gas above and below its disk, forming the reddish filaments in HαContinue reading “Bursting with stars”
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Read MoreMission Highlight: SMILE The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) are targeting tonight, Monday, May 18, at 11:52 p.m. EST for the launch of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The mission was originally set to flyContinue reading “SMILE to give Earth’s magnetosphere its first X-ray”
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This latest Picture of the Month from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features Messier 77 (M77), a barred spiral galaxy famous and appreciated among astronomers for its combination of relative proximity and spectacular features to study. It is located 45 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus (The Whale).
Read MoreOn May 17, 1882, an eclipse trekked across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Many scientists gathered in Egypt to witness it even though it was a fairly short-duration event, with maximum totality at only 1 minute 50 seconds and totality in Egypt at only 70 seconds. J. Norman Lockyer, one of two astronomers whoContinue reading “May 17, 1882: Comet Tewfik is spotted during an eclipse”
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Read MoreNicknamed the “Mother of Hubble,” Nancy Grace Roman spent years pushing for the use of the newest technology to better understand the universe. Roman was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 16, 1925. She was always interested in looking up at the stars and spearheaded an astronomy club at 11 years old. Despite being dissuadedContinue reading “May 16, 1925: The birth of Nancy Grace Roman”
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this view of a rock nicknamed “Atacama” on May 6, 2026, the 4,877th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The rock had gotten stuck to the drill on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm on April 25.
Read MoreThere comes a point in many astrophotographers’ lives when we realize that our standard DSLR just isn’t going to cut it anymore, and there’s just one reason why. There’s a noticeable lack of red in astroimages, and the stock UV/IR filter over the sensor is the culprit. To better mimic the human eye, these filtersContinue reading “Modifying your DSLR for astrophotography”
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You’re allowed to play with your food when you’re on the International Space Station! To celebrate a delivery of fresh food, NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway (bottom left), Jessica Meir (middle left), and Chris Williams (bottom right), and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot (top right) pose for a group photo.
Read MoreFollowing the roaring success of NASA’s Artemis 2 mission, the space agency is devising plans for a final test flight before attempting to land the first humans on the Moon in decades, as soon as 2028. Whereas Artemis 2 sent four astronauts slingshotting around the Moon and back — and farther from Earth than any human hasContinue reading “NASA shares new details on Artemis 3 pre-lunar landing mission”
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“Rise,” the Artemis II zero gravity indicator, is seen sitting on the dais as the Artemis II astronauts speak with congressional staff, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Washington.
Read MoreHumanity has spent eons looking up at the stars and wondering whether we’re alone, or if there are others like us out there in the vast unknown. Our curiosity has only increased as we have become a technological civilization capable of scanning the heavens for potential signs or signals from other civilizations, called technosignatures. ButContinue reading “Should we keep looking for ET?”
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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location the science team calls “Lac de Charmes.”
Read MoreJohn Vermette, taken from Starfront Observatory, Texas Lying 1,000 light-years away, NGC 1333 is the most active star-forming region in the Perseus molecular complex, producing newborn stars that carve cavities in the surrounding dust. The imager collected 8 hours of exposure with a one-shot color camera and a 4-inch f/5 refractor.
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NASA astronaut Jessica Meir poses with an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit during an official portrait session at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Read MoreWinter hibernation is officially over. Spring has arrived. Warmer nights make this a great time to pull out your binoculars and enjoy everything the season offers. So, here are 10 great targets to get you started tonight. And because springtime for Northern Hemisphere amateur astronomers means it’s also galaxy season, half the objects I’ve chosenContinue reading “10 great spring binocular sights”
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Read MoreBorn May 10, 1900, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was also the first person to discover that stars are primarily made up of hydrogen and helium — a finding that took years to be acknowledged by the scientific community. Born in Wendover, England, Payne-Gaposchkin was an active student. She attended Cambridge University with an interest in science butContinue reading “May 10, 1900: The birth of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin”
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America’s first human spaceflight begins as the Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) space vehicle, with astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. aboard, launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida on May 5, 1961.
Read MoreOn May 9, 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched Hayabusa, its mission to asteroid 25143 Itokawa. The journey was a demonstration of new technology engineered for returning samples from asteroids: ion engines, autonomous navigation, an asteroid sampler, and a reentry capsule. After a gravity assist from Earth, Hayabusa arrived at Itokawa in SeptemberContinue reading “May 9, 2003: Hayabusa launches”
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This celestial image captured from a window on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station highlights the Milky Way rising above Earth’s atmospheric glow.
Read MoreWe already knew interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS came from somewhere far beyond our solar system. Now scientists have more information on how alien that somewhere really is — a corner of the universe colder than, less irradiated than, and chemically distinct from the conditions that shaped our home. A study published April 23 in Nature AstronomyContinue reading “3I/ATLAS came from a strange, cold world”
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Vaonis Vespera II — X Edition VaonisMontpellier, France The Vespera II — X Edition is a version of Vaonis’ f/5 imaging system that has a limited run of 150 units; it features a clear shell that shows off its internal components. It uses a Sony IMX 585, an 8.3-megapixel color sensor. Its field of viewContinue reading “May we present this month’s new astronomy products”
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A newly discovered object may be a key to unlocking the true nature of a mysterious class of sources that astronomers have found in the early universe in recent years.
Read MoreDutch astronomer Willem de Sitter, born May 6, 1872, studied mathematics and physics at the University of Groningen, developing an interest in astronomy there and furthering it with work at Cape Observatory in South Africa. In 1908, he was appointed professor of astronomy at Leiden University, becoming the director of the Leiden Observatory in 1919.Continue reading “May 6, 1872: The birth of Willem de Sitter”
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