24 March 2023
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Latest News
  • [ 23 March 2023 ] A simpler, more mundane explanation for ‘Oumuamua’s strange behaviour News
  • [ 22 March 2023 ] Japanese Hakuto-R moon lander slips into lunar orbit News
  • [ 21 March 2023 ] Analysis of Magellan data shows apparent volcanic activity on Venus News
  • [ 23 February 2023 ] Webb images M92, one of the Milky Way’s oldest globular clusters News
  • [ 20 February 2023 ] The Eskimo: observe one of winter’s best planetary nebulae News
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News

India seeks to join exclusive company with ambitious moon mission

14 July 2019 Stephen Clark

India’s ambitious $142 million Chandrayaan 2 moon mission, comprising a orbiter, lander and rover, is set for liftoff Sunday to begin a nearly two-month transit culminating in a touchdown near the lunar south pole in September.

News

Ariane 5 launches two satellites on 7-year voyage to Mercury

21 October 2018 William Harwood

A powerful European Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana late Friday and boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system, a voyage requiring seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun’s gravitational clutches to slip into orbit around hellish Mercury.

News

All-sky surveyor launched from Cape Canaveral on the hunt for exoplanets

19 April 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, built to find planets around other stars that are close enough for detailed follow-ups by future telescopes, launched Wednesday into a unique high-altitude orbit on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.

News

Chinese astronomy satellite placed into orbit by Long March rocket

16 June 2017 Stephen Clark

China’s first X-ray astronomy satellite launched Thursday on a mission to survey the Milky Way galaxy for black holes and pulsars, the remnants left behind after a star burns up its nuclear fuel.

News

OSIRIS-REx probe launched to asteroid in compelling search for the origins of life

9 September 2016 Justin Ray

Like reaching back in time to examine the conditions that existed in the ancient solar system, NASA has launched a robotic probe to visit Asteroid Bennu and return an unspoiled sample of the primitive body that may hold the seeds of life.

News

Live coverage: The launch of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission

8 September 2016 Justin Ray

Beginning a 4.4-billion-mile trek to retrieve a sample from Asteroid Bennu for return to Earth, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft blasted off atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 12:05 a.m. BST (2305 GMT).

Picture This

Voyager 2 launched today in 1977

20 August 2016 Astronomy Now

On this day in 1977, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, the first Voyager spacecraft to launch, departed on a journey that would take it to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and beyond.

News

Black hole observatory launched from Japan

17 February 2016 Stephen Clark

Japan launched a pioneering observatory with X-ray vision Wednesday to peer into the mysterious, light-starved neighbourhoods around black holes and study the genesis of galaxies and other cosmic mega-structures billions of light-years from Earth.

Picture This

Atlas rocket puts on a spectacular pre-dawn sky show

3 September 2015 Astronomy Now

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket soared into the sunlight after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, creating a spectacular sky show.

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News Headlines

  • A simpler, more mundane explanation for ‘Oumuamua’s strange behaviour
    23 March 2023
  • Japanese Hakuto-R moon lander slips into lunar orbit
    22 March 2023
  • Analysis of Magellan data shows apparent volcanic activity on Venus
    21 March 2023
  • Webb images M92, one of the Milky Way’s oldest globular clusters
    23 February 2023
  • The Eskimo: observe one of winter’s best planetary nebulae
    20 February 2023
  • Home
  • The Magazine
    • About
    • Current Issue
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      • March last issue
      • April last issue
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  • AstroFest 2023
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    • UK Sky Chart
    • Almanac
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    • DSLR Calc
  • Reviews
    • Equipment
    • Book Reviews
  • Spaceflight Now
  • Shop
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    • Ask Astronomy Now
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