October’s full Harvest Moon looms large over the eastern horizon at sunset tonight! Here’s what you need to know before the first supermoon of 2025 rises to dominate the night sky with a magnificent display of moonlight.
The full moon phase will occur at 11:48 p.m. EDT on Oct. 6 (0348 GMT Oct. 7), when the lunar disk will appear fully-lit opposite the sun in Earth’s sky, shining…
The exoplanet revolution at 30: 1st alien world was found around a sun-like star three decades ago
October 7, 2025
Thirty years ago, on Oct. 6, 1995, the very first exoplanet to be discovered around a sun-like star was revealed. Called 51 Pegasi b, it was a world like nothing we had ever seen before: a gas giant planet similar to Jupiter, but so close to its star that its year lasts just…
Europe teams with Japan on asteroid mission, beefs up space cooperation with South Korea
October 6, 2025
SYDNEY — Europe is deepening cooperation with South Korea and Japan as it looks to expand its international cooperation activities on Earth and in space.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) signed a memorandum of understanding…
Northern lights may get stronger within the next 2 years as the sun enters a turbulent decline with a 'last gasp' finale
October 6, 2025
We may have passed the peak of solar maximum, but that doesn’t mean the aurora season is winding down. In fact, the years after solar maximum can be some of the most exciting for skywatchers.
Space weather physicist Tamitha Skov describes one potential late-cycle outburst as the sun’s “last gasp”, a dramatic finale that could trigger powerful geomagnetic storms and…
'The metal detector has gone off': Perseverance rover's find is a shiny new clue in the search for life on Mars
October 6, 2025
Mars hasn’t given us proof of life, but it has handed scientists a new kind of mystery.
On the western edge of Jezero Crater, NASA’s Perseverance rover has been exploring Neretva Vallis, a river-carved valley that once fed a vast Martian lake. There, in an…
Northern lights may be visible in these 12 US states tonight
October 3, 2025
Aurora watchers: don’t pack up your cameras just yet, as the northern lights may return for one last dazzling display tonight (Oct. 2) before conditions quiet down again over the weekend.
Over the past few nights, geomagnetic activity has repeatedly exceeded…
Scientists have identified a lone planet with a ferocious appetite. Located in the Chamaeleon constellation roughly 620 light-years away, the rogue planet, named Cha 1107-7626, exists in the vast emptiness of space, far from the warmth of any star.
Rogue planets like this one are cosmic drifters — worlds that roam the galaxy untethered, unlike the familiar planets bound to a solar system. Most…
Saturn's moon Enceladus is shooting out organic molecules that could help create life
October 3, 2025
Complex organic molecules that form part of the chain of chemical reactions that can result in life’s building blocks have been found in the watery geysers of Enceladus, almost twenty years after the plumes were first sampled by NASA’s Cassini…
European version of SpaceX's Starship? ESA signs deal for reusable upper stage demonstrator
October 2, 2025
SYDNEY — The European Space Agency and Avio will work together to develop a reusable rocket upper stage as the agency looks to transform its space launch capabilities.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and Avio signed a two-year contract worth 40 million euros (about $47…
NASA may have discovered a biosignature on Mars, but could China be in position to get crucial samples back to Earth first to make a definitive analysis?
NASA’s Perseverance team announced on Sept. 10 that it had found possible biosignatures in pieces of a Mars rock dubbed “Cheyava Falls” in Jezero Crater. But this is not conclusive. In order to determine if the intriguing…
