Astronomy Magazine: Space News, Observing, Planets, Galaxies

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A portion of the video that highlights the areas of Sif Mons and Niobe Planitia on Venus, where ongoing lava flows have been detected. Credit: IRSPS - Università d'Annunzio.

Robotic Spaceflight, Science, Solar System

Venus likely has active volcanoes, flowing streams of lava

$Around a star in our Milky Way galaxy, astronomers have discovered an extremely low-density planet that is as light as cotton candy. The new planet, named WASP-193b, appears to dwarf Jupiter in size, yet it is a fraction of its density. Credit: K. Ivanov/MIT.$

Exoplanets, Science

‘This planet should not be there.’ Second lightest exoplanet known to date surprises astronomers

Noctilucent clouds, or NLC, appear in the sky during the summer months in stunning displays. Credit: Stuart Atkinson

Observing, Upcoming events

How to see noctilucent clouds, a dazzling sight in summer skies

This breathtaking image features Messier 78 (the central and brightest region), a vibrant nursery of star formation enveloped in a shroud of interstellar dust. Credit: ESA.

Cosmology, Robotic Spaceflight, Science

Euclid’s new portraits of the dark universe are filled with detail, and wonder

Picture of the Day

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The wandering messenger

Tunç Tezel from Bursa, Turkey

Mercury’s rapid motion through the night sky is captured in this composite, capturing the nearest planet to the Sun over Bursa, Turkey, at dawn from Sept. 14 to Oct. 6, 2023. (Click for the full-resolution image and a clearer view.) Mercury’s motion is from left to right, getting higher in the sky and brighter as its phase waxes. It peaked in the sky Sept. 23, 2023, at greatest elongation. The imager used a Canon DSLR to take ½-second exposures at ISO 400 through a 50mm lens at f/3.2.