Enigmatic Mercury Will Remain A Puzzle Until Someone Sends A Lander
Despite the upcoming Bepi Colombo visit to Mercury, we need a lander mission to fully understand our solar system’s innermost planet.
APOD: 2026 October 17 – 3D 67P
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 October 17… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a…
‘It really does change you’: SpaceX Crew-12 commander wishes we could all see our fragile Earth from space
The astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission to the International Space Station wish that we could all see Earth as they just did. An orbital view reveals the immense beauty of…
NASA Names Stephen Cash Marshall Space Flight Center Director
Photo of Stephen Cash NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has named Stephen Cash director of the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, effective Monday, Oct. 19. Cash, a veteran…
When not to watch a meteor shower — why I’m not staying up for the Orionids
I used to think being interested in the night sky meant I had to try every meteor shower. If a calendar said “peak,” I interpreted that as an instruction. I’d…
In the Search for Exoplanets, Some Failures Are A Success
Astronomers used decades of archival data and new radial velocity measurements to search for exoplanets around a neaby binary star, 70 Oph AB. They didn’t find any, which can seem…
Scientists find ‘gemstones’ in atmosphere of bizarre, scorching-hot ‘marshmallow’ exoplanet
Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have unraveled some of the atmospheric secrets of a bizarre, blisteringly hot world that has the consistency of marshmallow. The…
How to see the Orionid meteor shower 2026 peak this week — and when to look
If you love watching meteors, 2026 has given you plenty to enjoy. This summer, the annual Perseid meteor shower peaked on the day of a new moon — and a…
SpaceX thrusters just made a Tesla Roadster ‘fly’ (and Elon Musk’s car is still out there in space)
Well, that was a memorable debut. Tesla unveiled its highly anticipated new Roadster last night (Oct. 16) with a spectacular stunt, using SpaceX thrusters to make the vehicle “fly.” “This…
Artemis II Heat Shield After Splashdown
US Navy Shortly after NASA’s Artemis II mission splashed down on April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield. In the months after,…