Astronomy

Week in images: 18-22 May 2026

Discover our week through the lens

Vaccine misinformation, nurse and doctor shortages and crowded living arrangements may be behind soaring rates of diphtheria in remote Indigenous communities in Australia

Vaccine misinformation, nurse and doctor shortages and crowded living arrangements may be behind soaring rates of diphtheria in remote Indigenous communities in Australia

Smart-panel start-up Span wants to turn spare household electricity into AI computing power. How far it can scale and what effect that would have on the residential grid remain unsettled

Our galaxy and its nearest large companion, Andromeda, may be headed for a collision on a cosmic scale. What happens then?

In an effort to reduce prices at the pump, an EPA wavier allows the sale of fuel with 15 percent ethanol content

How an experiment involving a made-up skin condition exposes the risks of increasingly popular AI medical advice

Venus and Jupiter — the Evening Star and the False Evening Star — draw closer together in the western twilight and point down to Mercury. The waxing Moon shows off its rich telescopic detail.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, May 22 – 31 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Life on the International Space Station may feel distant, but columnist Graham Lawton finds that studying how astronauts experience accelerated ageing could help us fight similar effects on Earth related to sedentary lifestyles, disrupted circadian rhythms and social isolation

Life on the International Space Station may feel distant, but columnist Graham Lawton finds that studying how astronauts experience accelerated ageing could help us fight similar effects on Earth related to sedentary lifestyles, disrupted circadian rhythms and social isolation

Like salsa verde on your favorite burrito, a green

Image: The sandy and rocky terrain of the Sahara desert in central Algeria is featured in these images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

New research suggests that Triton — or a Triton-like object — might have disrupted Neptune's original moon system. Nereid might be the sole survivor.

The post Nereid Could be Neptune’s Only Original Moon appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) instruments aboard ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft and NASA’s Europa Clipper made unique observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in late 2025. SwRI leads the UVS instruments on both spacecraft, simultaneously imaging both hemispheres of the comet and detecting the comet’s ultraviolet emissions.

Chinese-born cryptocurrency investor Chun Wang has become the latest deep-pocketed space enthusiast to set his sights on a trip around Mars. But first, he wants to take a ride around the moon on SpaceX's Starship. And SpaceX is willing to work with him.

This launch, when it comes, will mark the 12th flight test of Starship and the first demonstration of its V3 design. A new attempt could come as soon as Friday

Constructed by ancient Egyptians, the Great Pyramid has survived multiple earthquakes through the ages—now researchers think they know why

These critters were carrying the Sin Nombre variant of hantavirus, which can be spread from rodents to humans but not from one person to another

An out-of-this-world weather report from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals how clouds move across a giant planet hundreds of light-years from Earth

Experts question this study’s design and its recommendations—and point out that you probably get more exercise than you think