NASA says the eight roll-out solar arrays will raise the station's power by more than 160 kW, and the final pair arrived on Dragon on Oct. 15.
SpaceAndSky news desk · 4 min read
Look upThe A-Carinid meteors are flaring again
Coming up in the sky
- OCT21-22Orionid meteor showerPeak night, 10-20 an hour under dark skies
- OCT26Full Moon: Hunter's MoonRises at sunset and stays up all night
- NOV13Planet paradeMercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter before dawn, until Dec 4
- NOV16Mars and Jupiter meetAbout 1 degree apart in the morning sky
- NOV16-17Leonid meteor showerPeak night
- NOV20Mercury’s best morning viewFarthest from the Sun in our sky (20°): look before sunrise
Planets4 bright planetsSaturn most of the nightMercury after sunsetMars before dawnJupiter before dawnWhere to look ›MoonFirst Quarter52% lit, waxingRise and set times ›Northern lightsQuietKp 1.3 now, up to 4.7 in the next 24 hours.Your chance tonight ›Space stationNext passChoose your city to see when the ISS passes over you.Live map ›
- Perseverance passes 28.10 miles on Mars, beating Opportunity’s record in a third of the time
- Japan sets Mars moons mission launch for Oct. 19 UTC, with a Phobos sample due home in 2031
- Eight AI computing satellites ride Zhuque-2E in a 10-satellite launch
Latest News
Meteor shower tonight: every major peak from October 2026 to August 2027
The Orionids peak October 21-22, 2026, and the Geminids follow December 13-14. Peak nights through August 2027, with moon conditions and how to watch.
Northern lights forecast: how to read NOAA’s aurora maps, Kp and when to look
NOAA's 30-minute aurora map, the Kp index and a clear, dark sky decide whether you can see the northern lights tonight. This…
ELT mirror passes the halfway mark: 931 segments, nearly 500 already in Chile
ESO says the last segment of the ELT's main mirror has entered production in France, while nearly 500 of the 931 segments…
Treble Clef radio shape traced to a black hole outburst and a cluster collision
A radio formation shaped like a musical symbol sits in two merging galaxy clusters behind the Milky Way, and a black hole…
Featured
Marshall legend Stephen Cash returns as center director after a decade away
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has picked a veteran propulsion and safety engineer who left the agency…
Tiny asteroid 2025 UK9 to pass closer than the Moon on Oct. 31
NASA/JPL lists the small asteroid 2025 UK9 passing 314,648 km from Earth on Oct. 31. Sentry…
Starbase could host up to 456 Starship launches a year, FAA review says
The FAA has opened scoping for an environmental impact statement covering up to 456 Starship-Super Heavy…
Satellite night lights show Isaias darkening Pensacola, and the glow back within days
NASA's Black Marble HD imagery shows lights dropping sharply around Pensacola and U.S. Route 98 after…
Leaving Earth soon
Full launch schedule ›- OCT19SpaceXBandwagon 5Falcon 9 · Dedicated Rideshare10:30 UTC
- OCT19Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesMartian Moons eXplorationH3-24 · Planetary Science19:41 UTCOne to watch
- OCT20SpaceXStarlink Group 15-15Falcon 9 · Communications22:14 UTC
- OCT21Galactic EnergyCeres-1S launchCeres-1Saround 03:00 UTC
Times in your time zone. Launch times change often; the schedule refreshes every few minutes.
Rocket Launches
Nine launches this week, led by Japan’s H3 sending MMX toward Mars’ moon Phobos
- Gilmour Space finds oxidizer pump faults behind Eris rocket’s 14-second flight
- SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites: a new milestone in reusable rocket technology
Missions
Dragon’s 6,300 pounds of cargo opens a science rush on the space station
- Artemis II’s heat shield lost far less material than on Artemis I: 9 spots versus 103
- Phobos sample return: NASA’s 15% share and the Mars moon mission launching Oct. 19
- ISS at 25: how MIT-trained astronauts and engineers helped build and use the station
Universe
Hubble images a dust-lined galaxy, one of 111 done in a 260-galaxy survey
- Seven superclouds near the Sun: the 2026 A&A paper and its follow-up
- Claim of a 26.7-billion-year-old universe stays outside the mainstream
- Webb’s earliest galaxies: MoM-z14 holds the record at 280 million years
Top categories
Guides
How to see it, when it happens, what it means
Saturn’s moons: how many are there, and which are most interesting?
NASA lists 293 confirmed moons for Saturn. Titan and Enceladus stand out, thanks to Cassini and Huygens.
Mars rovers today: where Perseverance and Curiosity are and their latest pictures
Two NASA rovers still work on Mars: Perseverance, which just broke Opportunity's driving record, and Curiosity, drilling on…
When is the next solar eclipse? Dates and viewing regions
The 2026 total eclipse has passed; the next is an annular eclipse on Feb. 6, 2027, and the…
SpaceX stock: yes, SPCX trades on Nasdaq, and here is what the filings say
SpaceX has been public since June 12, 2026, under the Nasdaq ticker SPCX; this guide separates what its…
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Europe’s Moon drill, built to cut a metre down, passes a deployment test
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Dark comets: a tail for 1998 SH2 and a Hayabusa2 visit due in 2031
In July 2026 NASA reported a weak tail on near-Earth object 1998 SH2, a dark comet, while Hayabusa2 is scheduled…
3I/ATLAS has left the inner solar system: what Hubble, Webb and SPHEREx found
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Venus eruption found in old Magellan radar images as new missions near
Radar images from NASA's Magellan show a Maat Mons vent that changed in 1991, the first direct evidence of a…
Planet-forming disks hold water, and ALMA data link it to Earth’s water
ALMA has found at least 3.7 Earth oceans of water vapor in the HL Tauri disk and at least 1,200…
Life aboard the International Space Station in 2026: crew, routine and a 2030 end date
Eleven people were aboard the International Space Station when Crew-13 arrived on Oct. 1, 2026, and NASA's own figures show…
Perseverance passes Opportunity’s driving record as Curiosity tops 1 km of climb
Perseverance passed Opportunity's off-world driving record on Oct. 11, 2026, and Curiosity reached 1 kilometer of elevation gain on Mount…