The Perseid meteor shower peaked last night in spectacular fashion, dazzling stargazers as countless shooting stars blazed overhead mere hours after a total solar eclipse saw the lunar disk hide the sun over Greenland, Iceland and Spain.
Perseid shooting stars appear as Earth enters the debris trail cast off by the icy comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Each year, countless shards of this ancient comet…
When is the next solar eclipse? Mark your calendar for an upcoming 'ring of fire' and the 'eclipse of the century'
August 14, 2026
Yesterday (Aug.12), millions of people enjoyed a total solar eclipse as it swept across parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain, while a partial solar eclipse was visible across much of Europe and northwest Africa.
If all that eclipse excitement has you eager for more, the…
Satellites high above Earth may soon have fewer places to hide.
San Francisco-based company Astranis announced today (Aug. 13) that it’s developing a line of spacecraft called Perceptor, which will keep an eye on satellite activity in geostationary orbit (GEO).
GEO…
Farthest 'black hole star' ever found could help solve the James Webb Space Telescope's little red dot mystery
August 13, 2026
The most distant ‘black hole star’ yet found, existing in the universe less than 660 million years after the Big Bang, has provided a vital clue as to the origin of the mysterious “little red dots” that populate the James Webb Space Telescope’s images of the early universe.
The consensus seems to be that these bizarre objects, which were first discovered in 2022, are…
The Perseid meteor shower, one of the most prolific and impressive meteor showers of the year, peaks tonight!
Widely regarded as one of the best meteor showers of the year, the Perseids can produce up to 100 meteors per hour under ideal viewing conditions and weather…
A total solar eclipse will darken the sky for millions today! Here's what you need to know
August 13, 2026
Today (Aug. 12), millions of people across Greenland, Iceland and Spain will witness a total solar eclipse as the moon completely covers the sun, turning day into night, albeit briefly.
It’s Europe’s first total solar eclipse since 1999, and with a maximum of 2…
On Aug. 11, 1960, part of the Discoverer 13 satellite became the first human-made object to be recovered from Earth’s orbit.
The United States Department of Defense launched the mission as part of the C.I.A.’s Corona spy satellite program. They wanted to see if they could return a satellite’s instrument package to Earth safely and gently enough to retrieve the object intact.
The…
SpaceX wants to put 1 million AI satellites in orbit. What would that do to Earth's climate?
August 12, 2026
Concentrations of dangerous pollutants from rocket launches and satellite reentries in Earth’s upper atmosphere might reach treacherous tipping points if constellations of hundreds of thousands of orbiting data centers get deployed in the next decade, experts…
A spectacular total solar eclipse will coincide with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower on Aug. 12-13. But will you be able to spot shooting stars in the false twilight of totality?
Perseids appear as Earth plows through the stream of debris shed by comet Swift-Tuttle.
Pluto’s atmosphere appears to be freezing out as the dwarf planet moves ever further away from the sun, according to careful observations of Pluto astronomers made as it was seen passing in front of stars in the sky.
Pluto is already cold. Its surface temperature is about –382 degrees Fahrenheit (–230 degrees Celsius), while its upper atmosphere is a little warmer at –333 degrees…
