Astronomy

Sure, the Moon will be a problem. But clouds are worse. Don't miss one of the best meteor showers of the year.

The post Moon or Not, the Perseid Meteor Shower Is On! appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Experts say the painful infection, spread to people from mosquitoes, can get to many countries if it finds the right hosts

What was the Universe like before the first stars formed? Dark, obviously. But there must have been some level of activity in the gas clouds that preceded the first stars. New research shows that these primordial clouds were turbulent, clumpy, and supersonic.

A carbon dioxide removal company in Canada is experimenting with ways to treat mining waste to capture and store more CO2

A carbon dioxide removal company in Canada is experimenting with ways to treat mining waste to capture and store more CO2

Why is this nebula so complex?

Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, left, NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi are seen inside the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft aboard the SpaceX recovery ship SHANNON shortly after having landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, Calif., Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov returned after 147 days in space as part of Expedition 73 aboard the International Space Station.

The Perseids are the best annual meteor shower, but this year’s show will be dimmed by a bright gibbous moon

Companies are experimenting with deep-sea tech to produce cheaper fresh water

Explore the words of science past from Scientific American

Video: 00:01:45

Experience the preparation of the MetOp-SG-A1 satellite, hosting Copernicus Sentinel-5, scheduled for liftoff on an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 13 August 2025 at 02:37 CEST (12 August 21:37 Kourou time). This timelapse video captures key stages from the encapsulation within the Ariane 6 fairing to the installation in the launch tower.

MetOp-SG-A1 is the first in a series of three successive pairs of satellites. The mission as a whole not only ensures the continued delivery of global observations from polar orbit for weather forecasting and climate analysis for more than 20 years, but also offers enhanced accuracy and resolution compared to the original MetOp mission – along with new measurement capabilities to expand its scientific reach.

This new weather satellite also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission to deliver daily global data on air pollutants and atmospheric trace gases as well as aerosols and ultraviolet radiation.

New research suggests the first stars weren't the behemoths we expected them to be — which might explain why we haven't seen them yet.

The post Were the Very First Stars Really That Massive? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

An artificial intelligence breakthrough uses reinforcement learning to tackle the Andrews-Curtis conjecture, solving long-standing counterexamples and hinting at tools for forecasting stock crashes, diseases and climate disasters

New research is revealing how disease-smelling dogs can excel

From planets roaming space to major shifts in health funding, catch up with this week’s news roundup.

Set an alarm and take a peek east in early dawn to follow Venus and Jupiter through their spectacular conjunction this week.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, August 8 – 17 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Direct images from the James Webb Space Telescope show what could be a Saturn-mass planet around Alpha Centauri.

The post Alpha Centauri Might Have a Planet, Webb Telescope Finds appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Even today, the names of women in astronomy are not as well known as they should be.

The post Honoring the Women of Astronomy appeared first on Sky & Telescope.