Want to know when each planet will be at its best or when you can catch eye-catching planetary pairings in 2026?
This guide breaks down the major planetary events of the year, from conjunctions to oppositions to close planet-star encounters.
Related: Night sky tonight live blog
Mercury
Mercury, the smallest of the planets visible to the naked eye, appears as an evening star in the western…
Are image-stabilized binoculars good for stargazing?
January 2, 2026
Binoculars are an amazing tool for stargazing, and they are especially useful for beginners, as they often don’t need as much astronomy knowledge as you would need for operating a telescope. They do require a steady hand, though, for detailed views, and this can be a…
The race to mine the moon is on – and it urgently needs some clear international rules
January 1, 2026
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
The vision of mining space for resources is no longer science fiction. The moon’s proximity to Earth and the…
Surprise, surprise: SpaceX shattered its single-year launch record again in 2025.
Elon Musk’s company has now set a new mark six years in a row, and the numbers are getting pretty silly. The record has risen from 25 orbital liftoffs in 2020 to 31 (2021) to 61 (2022) to 96 (2023) to 134 (2024) and, now, to a whopping 165. And that’s not including five non-orbital Starship test flights…
Tear your eyes away from fireworks this New Year’s Eve (Dec. 31) to witness a magnificent natural light show, complete with twinkling constellations and star clusters, the steady light of planets and the awe-inspiring sight of the waxing gibbous moon shining in the…
Does physics say that free will doesn't exist?
December 31, 2025
You are currently making a conscious, willful decision to read this article. But physics says every action has a cause. So did you really make this decision as freely as you thought?
One of the bedrock philosophical concepts under all of physics is something called causal…
A bevy of supermoons, a dramatic total solar eclipse and a “blood moon” total lunar eclipse are some of the highlights of the coming lunar year, which will also include plenty of beautiful close conjunctions of the crescent moon and planets.
Here are some dates for this year’s moon-gazing diary.
Most of these events are perfect for naked-eye viewing, but our guides to the best…
Fujifilm GFX 100S II review
December 31, 2025
The Fujifilm GFX 100S II is the company’s answer to a portable version of the GFX 100 II, their medium-format flagship. It lacks the full hybrid capability of the GFX 100 II, which features massive 8K video capability and extended video recording connectivity. Both of the…
The 12 biggest space stories of 2025 — according to you
December 30, 2025
It has been a whirlwind year for space science, to say the least.
The Trump administration only entered office at the beginning of this year, but has already shaken up the world of academic research and the structure of major science organizations such as NASA and the…
Dark matter may be made of pieces of giant, exotic objects — and astronomers think they know how to look for them
December 30, 2025
Exotic, dark astrophysical objects may be hiding in interstellar space, and a new proposal outlines how to find them: stare really, really hard.
We don’t know what dark matter is, even though we strongly suspect it exists. We see circumstantial evidence for it everywhere, from the rotation rates of galaxies to the growth of the largest structures in the cosmos. For decades, cosmologists have…
