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 mid-latitudes, with sightings stretching from Germany to the southwestern United States, including New Mexico, during a night of…
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…
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 “planetary nebula” (a misleading name because there are no planets involved) located around 2,000 light-years away. It…
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…
Hubble Telescope sees baby stars hard at work | Space photo of the day for Jan. 16, 2025
January 19, 2026
Stars don’t start out fully formed. Instead, they begin when clouds of diffuse gas and dust clump together, becoming denser than their surroundings. Gravity does the rest, pulling material inward until a collapsing knot becomes a compact, warming core: a protostar…
After a month of no answer, NASA will try hailing its silent MAVEN Mars orbiter today
January 19, 2026
After waiting out a planned two-week communication blackout, NASA is set to listen again for a Mars orbiter that abruptly went silent more than a month ago.
The renewed contact attempt for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or MAVEN, comes after the end of a solar conjunction today (Jan. 16) — a period when the sun sits between Earth and Mars and charged solar particles can…
DJI Neo 2 drone review
January 16, 2026
Just a year after the DJI Neo was released, DJI hasn’t wasted any time in producing a new and seriously improved version, the DJI Neo 2. It’s not often we see a drone model replaced so quickly, but it seems that DJI is keen to dominate the selfie drone market.
What are 'dark' stars? Scientists think they could explain 3 big mysteries in the universe
January 16, 2026
“Dark stars” could help solve three seemingly disconnected mysteries that emerged at cosmic dawn — mysteries recently discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope. The puzzles include the surprising overabundance of supermassive black holes in the early…
Four astronauts are safely back on Earth after the first-ever medical evacuation of the International Space Station.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying NASA’s Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego today (Jan. 15) at 3:41 a.m. EST (0841 GMT; 12:41 a.m. California time), about 10.5…
