Astronomy

Researchers are hoping to trick the immune system into fighting back against the bane of adolescents everywhere

Card dealers create a unique deck with each shuffle, something computers cannot replicate

Week in images: 01-05 September 2025

Discover our week through the lens

Liftoff occurred at 8:32 a.m. EDT on Friday (Sept. 5).

Whether you end up catching a falling star or not, meteor shower vigils offer time with the stars.

The post Why We Look Up: Simply Stargazing appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

A community science project finds that modest reminders to find joy in the day can have benefits that are on par with those of more ambitious well-being interventions

Some black holes get extremely massive. Is there an upper limit to their growth?

With the CDC in disarray and its future uncertain, this episode explores what’s driving the exodus of agency staff and what this means for national health security.

Estonia marked its 10th anniversary in the European Space Agency alongside the plenary session of the European Interparliamentary Space Conference on 4 September.  

Worries include broken windows and impacts to the local environment, tourism and fishing industries.

Saturn nears opposition as the full Moon passes it. Once the Moon goes away, the dark sky offers binocular users the Dumbbell Nebula and the globular M2.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, September 5 – 14 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

L-theanine supplements are touted for stress relief, focus and better sleep. Although the evidence so far is preliminary, studies suggest the compound may have several brain benefits

L-theanine supplements are touted for stress relief, focus and better sleep. Although the evidence so far is preliminary, studies suggest the compound may have several brain benefits

In the cold darkness above Jupiter's poles, where temperatures plummet to hundreds of degrees below zero, something remarkable is happening that challenges our understanding of planetary science. Using data from NASA's Juno spacecraft, researchers have uncovered a completely new type of plasma phenomenon that creates auroras that can only be seen with specialised instruments, revealing that our Solar System's largest planet operates by rules we never knew existed.

What can binary star systems teach astronomers about the formation and evolution of planets orbiting them? This is what a recent study published in Nature hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated past studies that claimed a specific binary star system could host a planet demonstrating a retrograde orbit, meaning it orbits in the opposite direction of the star’s rotation. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand binary and multiple star systems, specifically the formation and evolution of their planets and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.

On Thursday Senators grilled Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., about vaccines and turmoil at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health experts responded to Kennedy’s claims on social media in disbelief and anger

Marsquakes reveal a lumpy, viscous mantle and a large, solid inner core, with profound implications for Mars past, present, and future.

The post Mars Might Have a Surprisingly Large, Solid Core, Marsquakes Reveal appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

A prototype of bifocal eyeglasses uses liquid crystals and electric fields to switch between modes that aid in nearby and distance vision