Astronomy news

The latest astronomy and space news, including updates from the professional observatories and spacecraft exploring the cosmos.

Artists illustration of Betelgeuse exploding Credit: European Southern Observatory/L. Calçada

Betelgeuse brightens by 50 percent – will it go supernova?

Solar Eclipse in Wyoming by Luigi Fiorentino, Casper, Wyoming, US. Equipment: TS 72mm APO, Canon 650D, telextender Canon 1.4 Mark III.

How to see the total solar eclipse on 8 April 2024

Chart showing the locations of Mars, Venus and the Beehive Cluster in June 2023. Credit: Pete Lawrence

See Mars, Venus and the Beehive Cluster together in the evening sky this month

A series of 4 images captured using data from Webb, Chandra, Hubble and Spitzer. Clockwise from top left: star cluster NGC 346, barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672, the Eagle Nebula and spiral galaxy M74. Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/SAO, XMM: ESA/XMM-Newton; IR: JWST: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI, Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Optical: Hubble: NASA/ESA/STScI, ESO. Image Processing: L. Frattare, J. Major, and K. Arcand.

NASA releases 4 spectacular new images from Chandra and Webb Telescope

A view of galaxy M101 with SN2023ixf, captured by Jane Clark from Risca, Wales, 21 May 2023. Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MC camera, Celestron 11-inch SCT, CGX mount, f/6.3 focal reducer. Software: SharpCap 4.0, Siril 1.0.6, PixInsight, Gimp.

SN 2023ixf Amateur astrophotographers capture bright supernova in galaxy M101

The six unexpectedly huge galaxies overturn all predictions. Follow-up studies should reveal if the six bodies really are galaxies and whether they’re as theory-shatteringly huge as they seem. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/I. Labbe (Swinburne University of Technology)/Image processing: G. Brammer (Niels Bohr Institute’s Cosmic Dawn Center at the University of Copenhagen)

What the Webb Telescope’s ‘Universe breaker’ galaxies can tell us about the early cosmos

The first sample tube deposited on Mars by Perseverance rover, 21 December 2022. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

How Perseverance rover’s Mars samples could discover life beyond Earth

Hubble Space Telescope image of the Butterfly Nebula. Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)

Hubble images show Butterfly Nebula puffing ‘like a fire-breathing dragon’

Illustration showing the explosion of a white dwarf during a Type Ia supernova. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astronomers discover origin of unique supernova used to measure distance in the Universe

Lunar occultation Jupiter 17 May 2023

Astrophotography guides

How to photograph (and see) this week’s lunar occultation of Jupiter

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The massive GRB pulse on 9 October 2022 (ringed) was so bright it effectively blinded many observatories. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/A. Levan (Radboud University) Image Processing: Gladys Kober

Flash of space radiation that swept across Earth is brightest on record

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover image of a hill named 'Pinestand' showing tall sedimentary layers could have been formed by a deep, powerful river. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

NASA Perseverance rover may have found signs of a powerful ancient river on Mars

The 8 November 2022 lunar eclipse captured by Anupam Naskar from Kolkata, India. Equipment: Nikon D 7500 camera, Sigma 150-500 mm lens. 6 frames taken in shutter speed 1/50 to 1/125 sec & f 6.3 with ISO 160 to 1250

How to see the 28 October partial lunar eclipse

M35. Credit: Manfred Wasshuber.

See Venus next to beautiful star cluster M35 this week