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Latest by G. Torbet

LEDA 1313424, aptly nicknamed the Bullseye, is two and a half times the size of our Milky Way and has nine rings — six more than any other known galaxy. High-resolution imagery from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope confirmed eight rings, and data from the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii confirmed a ninth. Hubble and Keck also confirmed which galaxy dove through the Bullseye, creating these rings: the blue dwarf galaxy that sits to its immediate center-left.

Hubble spots a cosmic bullseye: a galaxy with nine rings

The Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a stunning and unusual galaxy with nine rings around it.
SpaceX launches a Starlink mission in 2020.

Record-breaking five rockets to launch in 24 hours today

Today could see a new record for the highest number of rocket launches in a 24-hour period.
The Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than Spring 2025. From left to right: Tibor Kapu of Hungary, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland.

Axiom-4 crew includes first Indian space agency astronaut to travel to ISS

An upcoming private space mission will carry the first national astronauts from India, Hungary, and Poland to visit the International Space Station.
This artist’s concept shows NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid’s surface.

Building blocks of life identified in sample collected from asteroid Bennu

A sample collected from asteroid Bennu shows that our solar system was teeming with the potential for life.
Artist's impression of an asteroid. This image is not intended to reflect the characteristics of any specific known asteroid.

Asteroid with a 1% chance of hitting Earth in 2032 spotted by astronomers

Named 2024 YR4, the asteroid is estimated to be between 40 m and 100 m wide and is projected to come close to Earth in December 2032.
Astronaut Suni Williams is pictured during a six-hour spacewalk for science and maintenance on the International Space Station on Jan. 16, 2025.

How to watch this week’s spacewalk from the International Space Station

Two NASA astronauts are performing a spacewalk from the ISS on Thursday - here's how to watch.
Rendering of the Blue Ghost on the moon's surface.

See the Blue Ghost spacecraft’s first view of the moon

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost mission has captured its first view of the moon.
iss-olympics

How astronauts stay fit and healthy in space

NASA explains some of the experiments being performed on the International Space Station into human health and performance.
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a dusty yet sparkling scene from one of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy situated about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa.

Hubble snaps another gorgeous image of the Tarantula Nebula

A new image from Hubble shows a beautiful patch of the famous Tarantula Nebula.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander captures the Blue Marble while in Earth orbit approximately 6,700 km above the planet on January 23, 2025.

See the incredible view of our planet captured by the Blue Ghost spacecraft

The Blue Ghost lunar mission has captured a gorgeous image of Earth as it ramps up its journey toward the moon.
Rendering of the Blue Ghost on the moon's surface.

See a stunning view of a eclipse in space captured by the Blue Ghost mission

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost mission to the moon has captured stunning video of the Earth eclipsing the sun, as seen from space.
This artist’s visualisation of WASP-127b, a giant gas planet located about 520 light-years from Earth, shows its newly discovered supersonic jet winds that move around the planet’s equator. With a speed of 9 km per second (33 000 km/h), this is the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured in the Universe.

Wild supersonic winds whip around this extreme exoplanet

Astronomers have observed a wild exoplanet with winds reaching incredible speeds of up to 20,000 mph.
SpaceX

SpaceX makes incredible booster catch but loses rocket on seventh Starship test flight

SpaceX's seventh Starship test flight was full of drama and surprises.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Suni Williams work on the exterior of the ISS on January 16, 2025.

Two NASA astronauts are currently outside the ISS, repairing an X-ray telescope

Two NASA astronauts are currently hard at work in space, patching up an instrument called NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer).
SpaceX's Super Heavy booster on the launchpad ahead of the Starship's seventh test flight.

SpaceX won’t be launching its big Starship test flight today after all

SpaceX fans will have to wait a little longer to see the mighty Starship in action once again.
Creating a golden streak in the night sky, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission One lander soars upward after liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 15, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. The Blue Ghost lander will carry 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the lunar surface to further understand the Moon and help prepare for future human missions.

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost mission launches to the moon

A spacecraft carrying NASA instruments has launched on its journey to the moon.
This is one of a series of images taken by the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission on 8 January 2025 as the spacecraft sped by for its sixth and final gravity assist manoeuvre at the planet. Flying over Mercury's north pole gave the spacecraft's monitoring camera 1 (M-CAM 1) a unique opportunity to peer down into the shadowy polar craters. M-CAM 1 took this long-exposure photograph of Mercury's north pole at 07:07 CET, when the spacecraft was about 787 km from the planet’s surface. The spacecraft’s closest approach of 295 km took place on the planet's night side at 06:59 CET.

See the amazing images of Mercury captured by the BepiColombo mission

The BepiColombo mission recently made its sixth flyby of Mercury, snapping some images along the way.
Rendering of the Blue Ghost on the moon's surface.

How to watch Firefly launch its Blue Ghost mission to the moon on Tuesday night

Firefly Aerospace will launch its first mission to the moon this week. Here's how to watch.
An illustration of NASA's Sample Return Lander shows it tossing a rocket in the air like a toy from the surface of Mars.

NASA has two ideas for how to get samples back from Mars

NASA's Mars Sample Return mission is only in development and has already struggled. Now, the agency has laid out two paths forward.
india docking satellites screenshot 2025 01 08 155546

Watch India attempt a rare space feat for the first time tonight

India's space agency is attempting a rare feat tonight: docking two satellites in orbit.
NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet conduct a spacewalk to complete work on the International Space Station on June 25, 2021.

NASA spacewalks are back! Two spacewalks this month after long break

Following a spacesuit leak in June last year, NASA suspended its spacewalks from the International Space Station. Now, they're back.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission One lander, seen here, will carry 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the Moon’s near side when it launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.

Firefly Aerospace to launch its first mission to the moon next week

Another private company will attempt a landing on the moon. It's set to launch next week.
nasa skywatching tips january 2025 screenshot

There’s still time to catch the stunning Quadrantids meteor shower

If you're hoping to catch the first meteor shower of the year, you have time until January 12.
The Polaris Dawn crew during a full dress rehearsal.

Can private spaceflight benefit more than just a lucky few?

A program is collecting data from commercial space missions to help determine the effects of space flight on human health.
Frosty scene at the south pole of Mars

Celebrating a white Christmas — martian style

The Mars Express spacecraft has snapped an image of icy and snowy hillsides on Mars.
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and the Starliner spacecraft.

Boeing Starliner astronauts will stay in space a little while longer

Two astronauts who traveled to space on the troubled Boeing Starliner spacecraft will have their stay extended a little longer.
Rendering of Tiangong Space Station

Chinese astronauts perform record-breaking 9-hour spacewalk

Two Chinese astronauts have performed the longest-ever single spacewalk, from the Tiangong space station.
This image depicts star cluster NGC 602 in vibrant and festive colors. The cluster includes a giant dust cloud ring, shown in greens, yellows, blues, and oranges. The green hues and feathery edges of the ring cloud create the appearance of a wreath made of evergreen boughs. Hints of red representing X-rays provide shading, highlighting layers within the wreath-like ring cloud.

NASA telescopes capture a cosmic wreath for the holidays

Two NASA telescopes have worked together to capture a stunning view of a star cluster.
This illustration shows NASA's InSight spacecraft with its instruments deployed on the Martian surface.

NASA orbiter captures one last image of retired InSight lander on Mars

An image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows one last view of the now-retired InSight lander mission.
Twelve million light-years away lies the galactic masterpiece Messier 83, also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy. Its swirling spiral arms display a high rate of star formation and host six detected supernovae. This image was captured with the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera, mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab.

See the majestic Southern Pinwheel Galaxy in this Dark Energy Camera image

The striking Southern Pinwheel Galaxy is one of the brightest barred spiral galaxies in the sky.
Artist concept of the proposed BHEX network.

Group wants to launch a telescope to study black holes from space

The next phase in imaging black holes is to study them from space.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, right, stands near the apex of a sand ripple in an image taken by Perseverance on Feb. 24, 2024, about five weeks after the rotorcraft’s final flight. Part of one of Ingenuity’s rotor blades lies on the surface about 49 feet (15 meters) west of helicopter (at left in image).

NASA learns how the Ingenuity helicopter ended up crashing on Mars

The Ingenuity helicopter flew on Mars for an incredible 72 flights. Now, NASA has shared findings of why the mission came to an end.
Artist's concept depicts new research that has expanded our understanding of exoplanet WASP-69 b's "tail."

Astronomers spot strange exoplanet with a tail 350,000 miles long

The recently spotted exoplanet WASP-69 b has a long tail of gas, like a comet.
This is a montage of NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope views of our solar system's four giant outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, each shown in enhanced color. The images were taken over nearly 10 years, from 2014 to 2024.

Feast your eyes on 10 years of Hubble images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

The Hubble Space Telescope has been imaging the outer planets of our solar system for a decade, learning about their strange weather conditions.