Astronomy observing tips and guides
A low-number periodic comet is stalking our fair planet this summer, and putting on its best show of several generations. Weâre talking about Comet 10P/Tempel. The comet is currently loitering in the early dawn sky, presenting a good target for large binoculars or a small telescope. But act fast, as the comet is taking the plunge southward in August, post-perihelion.
Scientists have painted the most detailed portrait yet of the planetary system orbiting Barnardâs Star. Unfortunately, the picture is not encouraging, as all four planets appear to be "extremely uninhabitable."
The Submillimeter Array's (SMA) new semi-automated alert system demonstrates how the radio interferometer quickly responds to discoveries from space-based telescopes.
Astrophysicists working tirelessly to tackle the growing impact of satellite constellations have pioneered a new ultra-black coating as one possible way to mitigate the problem.
Combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory with advanced image-processing techniques to produce the sharpest X-ray view yet of the relativistic jet from M87's supermassive black hole.
An international team involving over ten institutions, with a strong participation from ESO and INAF, has characterised TOI-201 c, the transiting brown dwarf with the longest period for which mass has been measured. The study, published today in Nature, reveals a compact, coplanar system in which the presence of a massive, eccentric object redefines the stability boundaries for the inner planets
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features a galaxy cluster, called CL0016+1609 or MACS J0018.5+1626, that is very bright at X-ray wavelengths and is one of the most extensively studied clusters at X-ray and radio wavelengths. The X-ray observations of this cluster revealed that it is two clusters merging along our line of sight.
Researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory have confirmed that two long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) originated from the collapse of neutron stars into black holes.
NASAâs Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESAâs XMM-Newton may have found a supernova remnant near the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. If confirmed as a supernova remnant, the ejected material is moving at about two million miles per hour and is about 1,700 years old.
Found in 2013, Pink Planet was too faint to study with ground-based telescopes. In new study, scientists used JWST and advanced processing methods to obtain its spectrum for the first time. Observations provided some of the first direct evidence for salt clouds in a cold object atmosphere. Pink Planet could be a giant planet or brown dwarf, so astronomers refer to it as a âplanetary-mass companionâ.
When someone asks me what originally got me interested in space exploration, my answer is always the same - the Hubble Deep Field. That image, taken in 1995, came out when I was in middle school, and had an everlasting impact on my sense of place in the universe. Itâs since been improved upon by various other images, and even last week the Hubble team released yet another jaw-dropping image of the galaxy cluster MACS0329-0211 which recaptures some of the magic of that original image, and still provides the same sense of scale that never seems to truly fade once you come to terms with it. While the original Hubble Deep Field was a blind experiment to see what lay in a seemingly empty patch of sky, this new image comes from the targeted Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) program, focusing on the dynamics of a specific massive galaxy cluster.
If youâre like us, youâve been following the close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in the June dusk sky. Next week, the Moon enters the evening scene, and actually occults (passes in front of) the planet Venus in what promises to be one of the top skywatching events for 2026.
Unfortunately thereâs more bad news to report on the clear skies front. A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv from researchers at NASAâs Ames Research Center, reports that 73.3% of images the agencyâs new SPHEREx space telescope collected between May and September of last year were contaminated by at least one artificial satellite trail. And itâs only going to get worse from here.
We witnessed a surprise outburst late last week, from a lesser known periodic comet. Posts flashed across message boards late last week, alerting comet watchers to a dramatic change in brightness for periodic comet 220P McNaught. Though it wasnât on our list for bright comets to watch for in 2026, Comet 220P is now in range of binoculars or a small telescope, low to the east at dawn as it heads towards perihelion this coming weekend.
Itâs a familiar annual question, that weâre already hearing as we enter into June. âWhat are those two bright objects in the west?â Theyâre none other than the two brightest planets in the sky, Jupiter and Venus. Keep an eye on the dusk sky over the next week, and youâll see the two worlds getting ever closer to each other in the west. Though this happens every year or so, an evening conjunction assures that lots of the general public will see one of the best planetary pairings of 2026.
The prototype ngVLA antenna tested its systems by observing and tracking the Crab Nebula, also known as Taurus A (3C144), the remnant of an exploded star.
Thereâs nothing like a random celestial coincidence, turned good internet meme. In this case, the chance event is this weekendâs Full Moon, which also happens to be the second Full Moon of May, and is also the most distant and visually smallest Full Moon of the year.
An international team led by Associate Professor Kimihiko Nakajima of Kanazawa University has captured a rare look at the early universe. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the power of gravitational lensing, the team achieved a definitive characterization of LAP1-B, an ultra-faint galaxy from 13 billion years ago.
Our Sun is a loner. It lacks a stellar companion hurtling through interstellar space with it. But weâve known for a long time thatâs actually relatively rare - most stars have at least one gravitationally bound partner. Understanding how exactly those stars are related to each other is critical for observational campaigns - especially for those of exoplanets. So a new paper from researchers at the University of Madrid that categorizes almost every star within ten light years into companion categories is a welcome addition to the literature on the subject, and could be used to inform the next round of planet habitable planet hunting satellites.
The Southwest Research Institute-led Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) instruments aboard ESAâs Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft and NASAâs 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 cometâs ultraviolet emissions.
Universe Today