A telescope can be complicated, simple or somewhere in-between. The Celestron 114AZ Dobsonian telescope is a great telescope for beginners, thanks to its easy-to-use Dobsonian design and assistive StarSense smartphone app inegration. We gave the lightweight tripod version, the Celestron LT 114AZ, three stars for its affordability and helpful navigation. Right now, it is at its cheapest price since…
Cheapest it's ever been! This top-rated, scientifically accurate star projector is at the top of my shopping list for October's Prime Day
October 13, 2026
There are plenty of star projectors out there; I should know, I’ve got four sitting on my shelves, including two Astronaut Starry Sky projectors (don’t ask). But what if you want a projector that shows you the real cosmos? That’s where the Pococo Galaxy…
Astronomers detect most distant supermassive black hole-powered blazar ever: a cosmic beacon from the dawn of time
October 13, 2026
Astronomers have discovered the most distant and earliest blazar, comprised of an erupting supermassive black hole aiming its plasma jets directly at Earth.
Blazars occur when supermassive black holes are surrounded by vast amounts of gas and dust that they feed on, in…
Space weather caused a 16-minute train delay in 1848: 'Our research has a hint of a detective story'
September 18, 2026
Detective work by a team of space-weather experts has discovered the truth about a historical event that had been thought to be the first-ever case of technological disruption by geomagnetic activity from the sun, but has now been shown to have taken place seven years later.
From it being too hot or too wet to leaves on the track or cows on the line, there’s a fine tradition of what the…
The battlefield now extends all the way to the moon, U.S. military's highest-ranking officer says
September 18, 2026
The U.S. military must be ready to engage the enemy farther from home than ever before, according to its highest-ranking officer.
“Today’s modern battlefield operates from the seabed to cislunar space,” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of…
The winners of the first-ever Neil Armstrong Space Prize just got their hardware.
Those awardees — the people who developed and mastered the famous landing capability of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket — were announced in April. But they didn’t actually receive the…
Roman Space Telescope starts waking up as NASA powers on instruments for the 1st time
September 17, 2026
As the newest heavy hitter in orbital observatories continues the journey to its final destination, NASA has begun the process of switching the spacecraft on.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on Aug. 30, and is on a three-month long trek to Lagrange point two (L2). L2 is a relatively idle orbital sweet spot almost a million miles from Earth that will allow Roman to remain on the…
The universe's most extreme dead stars can form from vampire white dwarfs — and scientists finally know how
September 17, 2026
When stars the size of our sun die, they leave behind powerful stellar remnants called white dwarfs — and these white dwarfs can transform into even more extreme objects called neutron stars, composed of the densest material in the universe. However, scientists have found…
On this day in space! Sept. 16, 1949: A US launch of a V-2 rocket explodes, killing its monkey passenger Albert III
September 17, 2026
On Sept. 16, 1949, the U.S. launched a V-2 rocket with a monkey named Albert III on board.
Albert III was the third monkey the U.S. attempted to launch to space. He was also the third one to be killed on the job. The U.S. precursor to NASA began launching monkeys into space…
On this day in space! Sept. 15, 1968: Russian tortoises (& other critters) launch around the moon on Zond 5 spacecraft in wild first circumlunar flight
September 16, 2026
On Sept. 15, 1968, the Soviet Union launched the Zond 5 spacecraft on a mission to loop around the moon and return to Earth. There were no cosmonauts aboard, but there were several smaller vertebrates — including the first two tortoises to ever go to space!
Other passengers included wine flies, mealworms, plants and seeds. These were the first animals in deep space and the first to travel…
