Astronomy

In this passage from the opening of Circular Motion, the latest read for the New Scientist Book Club, our protagonist boards a vessel which can circle the world in a matter of hours – with dangerous consequences for the Earth’s rotation

Data from ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission can be used to estimate how much carbon is stored in forests – and a study has improved our understanding of how reliable this proxy is and how long-term datasets from SMOS can help us to monitor this valuable resource.

The waxing gibbous Moon of August haunts the low south. Venus and Jupiter are drawing toward a spectacular conjunction in early dawn.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, August 1 – 10 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Globular star cluster

Image: Webb takes a fresh look at a classic deep field

Image: A supernova-rich spiral

When people were randomised to receive either a placebo or Ozempic, they became biologically younger with the latter drug

When people were randomised to receive either a placebo or Ozempic, they became biologically younger with the latter drug

After an 8.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula, early tsunami warning systems kicked in and helped millions of people safely evacuate

After an 8.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula, early tsunami warning systems kicked in and helped millions of people safely evacuate

A new version of the famous double-slit experiment showed that it's impossible to measure light as both a wave and a particle at the same time, thanks to quantum physics' uncertainty principle.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a pill-sized device for treating rheumatoid arthritis, marking the first time the therapy has been approved for an autoimmune condition

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a pill-sized device for treating rheumatoid arthritis, marking the first time the therapy has been approved for an autoimmune condition

Complex organic molecules that could be the precursors to the building blocks of life as we know it have been discovered in a disk of gas and dust swirling around an infant star.

Find out “what’s up” in the August sky. We’ll track down four planets before dawn; have some fun with New Moons; peek at some Perseids; and gaze at the center of our galaxy. So load up on the bug juice, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.

The post August Podcast: Planets Dance at Dawn appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

A NASA photographer captured the sunrise on July 31, 2025, ahead of NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 launch attempt. The Crew-11 mission will send NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9.

The discovery that brain ageing may be driven by jammed-up protein factories could lead to better ways to help us stay sharp as we get older

The discovery that brain ageing may be driven by jammed-up protein factories could lead to better ways to help us stay sharp as we get older

The recoded bacterium uses only 57 of the 64 possible genetic codes, freeing up seven to be used for different purposes