NASA's PACE satellite measures leaf pigments across the planet every day or two, and scientists are asking the public for ground photos to check what it sees.
SpaceAndSky news desk · 6 min read
Space businessPlanet's sharper satellite is now in orbit
Coming up in the sky
- 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
- NOV24Full Moon: Beaver MoonRises at sunset and stays up all night
Trending
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,…
When is the next solar eclipse? Dates and viewing regions
The 2026 total eclipse has passed; the next is an annular eclipse on Feb.…
Planets4 bright planetsSaturn most of the nightMercury after sunsetMars before dawnJupiter before dawnWhere to look ›MoonFull Moon100% lit, waningRise and set times ›Northern lightsQuietKp 2 now, up to 2.3 in the next 24 hours.Your chance tonight ›Space stationNext passChoose your city to see when the ISS passes over you.Live map ›
- Comet 3I/ATLAS explained: Discovery, orbit, composition and its exit from the solar system
- Balloon telescope finds hair-thin magnetic threads above the quiet Sun
- How to watch a rocket launch in Florida: Viewing spots, tickets and timing
Next launches
Starlink Group 15-16Falcon 9 Block 5 · SpaceX- Starlink Group 15-18Falcon 9 Block 5 · SpaceX
IRNSS-1LGSLV Mk. II · Indian Space Research Organization
Latest News
Artemis II: The crew, the flight around the Moon and what comes next for Artemis
Artemis II sent four astronauts around the Moon and back in April 2026; Artemis III now tests landers in Earth orbit, and Artemis IV…
Swift ends science after 21 years, with 2,000 gamma-ray bursts logged
NASA's Swift observatory made its final observation on Oct. 20 as atmospheric drag pulled it too low to point steadily. It is…
Starship will wait in Earth orbit for Orion; Blue Moon takes a polar route
NASA, SpaceX and Blue Origin have redesigned how their crewed landers reach the Moon and meet Orion, so that astronauts can land…
Artemis III will park in Earth orbit and dock with two commercial Moon landers
NASA says Artemis III will launch in 2027 with four astronauts on a 14-day Earth-orbit mission to dock Orion with test versions…
A marsquake from 2021 shows Mars’s giant canyon is still slipping
Imperial College London researchers traced a 2021 marsquake detected by NASA's InSight to a deep fault beneath Valles Marineris, the largest canyon…
NASA now plans the first Artemis Moon landing on Artemis IV, in 2028
At Kennedy Space Center, NASA leaders said Artemis III will fly four astronauts in low Earth orbit in 2027, and Artemis IV…
Featured
A-Carinid meteors flare again, with naked-eye rates near 10 an hour
CAMS observers report that the A-Carinid meteor shower, absent in most years, was active on Oct.…
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…
Europe’s Moon drill, built to cut a metre down, passes a deployment test
ESA's Prospect drill, due to search for water ice near the lunar South Pole in 2027,…
Curiosity spots the first twilight clouds of a new Martian autumn
As Mars year 39 begins, Curiosity's cameras caught the first high, wispy twilight clouds of autumn…
Mars facts: How far away it is, how cold it gets, its weather and the search for life
Mars is a cold, dry, dusty world half Earth's width, between 54.6 and 401.4 million km…
Hubble images a dust-lined galaxy, one of 111 done in a 260-galaxy survey
NASA's Hubble photographed the edge-on spiral NGC 1827, 37 million light-years away, as part of a…
Leaving Earth soon
Full launch schedule ›- OCT27SpaceXStarlink Group 15-16Falcon 9 · Communications04:45 UTC
- OCT30SpaceXStarlink Group 15-18Falcon 9 · Communications04:02 UTC
- OCT30Indian Space Research OrganizationIRNSS-1LGSLV Mk. II · Navigationaround 17:00 UTCOne to watch
- OCTTBDChina Aerospace Science and Technology CorporationFlight 2Long March 12A · Test FlightDate not finalOne to watch
Times in your time zone. Launch times change often; the schedule refreshes every few minutes.
Rocket Launches
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
- 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
Missions
Dragonfly flew its Titan landing in software, using every sensor it will carry
- Two astronauts will add a roll-out solar array to the station on Oct. 29
- ESA’s AI marked 3,192 craters in one patch of Moon, trained by gamers
- ispace wins JAXA study for a solar tower to power the Moon’s south pole
Universe
Webb finds thousands of newborn stars wrapped in smoky clouds of the Large Magellanic Cloud
- ELT mirror passes the halfway mark: 931 segments, nearly 500 already in Chile
- Treble Clef radio shape traced to a black hole outburst and a cluster collision
- ALMA finds rings and gaps in compact planet-forming disks
Top categories
Guides
How to see it, when it happens, what it means
NASA Jupiter photos: The best Juno images and what they reveal about the giant planet
NASA's Juno spacecraft has photographed Jupiter from closer than any camera before it, and its images show deep…
James Webb Space Telescope images: Where to find them and what they have shown
NASA's image gallery holds every public Webb picture, free to download; here is how the images are made,…
Rocket launch from Vandenberg: Where to watch, how to check times and what to expect
Vandenberg launches can be seen from public roads, beaches and hills near Lompoc; the base, SpaceX and a…
Asteroid 99942 Apophis: How close it passes on April 13, 2029, and how to see it
On April 13, 2029, the asteroid Apophis passes about 32,000 km above Earth, closer than many satellites, and…
The universe doesn’t stand still
Latest discoveries & stories
Virginia will plan its power grid with NASA’s weather and sunlight data
A new Space Act Agreement gives Virginia Energy direct access to NASA's solar, weather and future-risk datasets for grid resilience…
3I/ATLAS carries methane with 13 times more heavy hydrogen than any comet we have measured
Webb spectra of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS show methane with 3.18% heavy hydrogen, higher than any methane measured in the Solar…
A mid-infrared telescope sees a flare’s magnetic field drop by about 200 gauss
Chinese astronomers used a mid-infrared solar telescope to measure the field under an X1.5 flare. It weakened during the flare,…
Moon phase today: How the lunar cycle works, with full Moon dates for 2026 and 2027
The Moon cycles through eight phases every 29.5 days; here is how to read tonight's phase, why the Moon looks…
This El Niño tracks 1997’s giant event, and NASA says it may grow bigger
A 35-year run of NASA sea-level satellites shows October 2026 looking much like October 1997, one of the strongest El…
A lost rover, no GPS and a lunar night coming: ESA opens a navigation contest
From 1 November 2026, anyone can try to teach a virtual lunar rover to find its position from a panoramic…
Fires have released a record 32 megatons of carbon in Papua New Guinea
NASA's Earth Observatory reports record fire emissions in Papua New Guinea and the third-highest ever on the Indonesian side, as…
Which planets have rings? Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune compared
Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune all have rings, but only Saturn's are bright enough to see in a small telescope;…