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 (Jan. 21), and you can watch the action live.
Isar Aerospace plans to launch its Spectrum rocket from Andøya Spaceport in…
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…
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 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…
