The first emergency operation in the history of China’s human spaceflight program came to an end on Monday (Jan. 19) when an uncrewed Shenzhou 20 capsule parachuted into the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The spacecraft had spent 270 days in orbit, docked for nine months to the country’s Tiangong space station.
And that wasn’t the…
US Space Force awards 1st-of-its-kind $52 million contract to deorbit its satellites
January 22, 2026
Starfish Space will make history next year, if all goes according to plan.
The Washington-based company just scored a $52.5 million contract to deorbit satellites for the U.S. Space Force, the first deal ever signed for such end-of-life disposal services for a constellation…
Update for 11 a.m. EST on Jan. 21: Isar Aerospace has canceled the planned Jan. 21 launch attempt of its Spectrum rocket due to an issue with a pressurization valve. A new target date has not yet been announced.
A German company will attempt to make spaceflight history today…
James Webb Space Telescope discovers young galaxies age rapidly: 'It's like seeing 2-year-old children act like teenagers'
January 21, 2026
Astronomers have obtained their most detailed look yet at young galaxies in the early universe using the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The conclusion? These cosmic adolescents grew up incredibly fast.
The team behind this research observed 18 galaxies located around 12.5 billion light-years away over a range of wavelengths of…
Comet Wierzchos buzzes the sun later today: But can you see it?
January 21, 2026
Solar system comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) makes its closest approach to the sun today (Jan. 20) during an event known as perihelion, when it will pass a little over half the Earth-sun distance from our parent star, causing it to brighten significantly.
Comet Wierzchos makes…
We were expecting a show and boy did it deliver.
Skywatchers around the world were treated to stunning auroras that surged far beyond their usual polar limits, lighting up mid-latitude skies during a severe G4 geomagnetic storm.
Northern lights were reported across…
This is the sharpest view ever seen of a black hole's dusty disk
January 20, 2026
The James Webb Space Telescope has delivered its clearest view yet of a supermassive black hole’s immediate surroundings, NASA announced Tuesday (Jan. 13).
The snapshots show that the intense infrared glow in active galaxies comes not from powerful outflows, as long assumed, but from a dense disk of gas and dust feeding the black hole, NASA said in a statement.
The findings come from James…
Full-halo CME from the X1.9 flare. The three bright specks of light (left to right) are Venus, Mercury and Mars. (Image credit: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center)
The sun sure has woken up this week, unleashing a powerful X-class solar flare on Jan. 18 that hurled a…
Astronomers discover an enormous iron bar in the famous Ring Nebula: 'We definitely need to know more'
January 20, 2026
Sometimes, even the most familiar astronomical objects can hold surprises for researchers. Take the well-known Ring Nebula, which astronomers have now discovered harbors a mysterious “bar” of iron atoms.
Also known as Messier 57 (M57), the Ring Nebula is a…
Jupiter has more oxygen than the sun, new simulations reveal
January 19, 2026
Deep beneath Jupiter’s stormy skies lies a crucial clue to how all the planets in our solar system formed.
In a new study, scientists used advanced computer models to peer beneath Jupiter’s dense swirling cloud tops and tackle a question that has lingered for decades: How much oxygen does the gas giant actually contain? The study suggests that Jupiter holds about one and a half times…
