A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 PA flew past Earth at a distance of 0.15 LD / 0.00039 AU (58 343 km / 36 252 miles) on August 1, 2020. This is the 49th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year. 2020 PA was first...
August 03, 2020
The Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) attached to Mars Express captured a mysteriously long, thin cloud over the 20 km (12 miles) high Arsia Mons volcano on July 17 and 19, 2020. According to ESA, the cloud is a recurrent feature made up of water ice and is influenced...
July 31, 2020
This stunning meteor overflew the south of Spain at about 00:31 UTC on July 29, 2020 (02:31 local time), and was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, which is being conducted by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN). The meteoroid hit the...
July 29, 2020
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 OY4 will flyby Earth at 0.11 LD / 0.00028 AU (41 887 km / 26 027 miles) at 00:13 UTC on July 28, 2020. This is the 48th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year. It is also the...
July 27, 2020
NASA's Juno Jupiter probe has captured the first images of the north pole of Ganymede-- the largest moon in the solar system and the only moon with its own magnetic field. During a close flyby of Jupiter in December 2019, Juno mapped the north polar regions of...
July 26, 2020
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced its new mission -- Comet Interceptor -- is expected to launch in 2028. The mission aims to investigate a "pristine" comet or other interstellar object that is only just starting its journey into the inner Solar...
July 26, 2020
A green fireball streaked across New South Wales, Australia, at around 07:36 UTC (17:36 LT) on July 13, 2020. The American Meteor Society (AMS) received four reports about the event. Many watchers were stunned by the view as the meteor came down during a...
July 22, 2020
A new study suggests that the Moon is much younger than what was previously thought-- about 85 million years younger. Lunar rock samples collected on the Apollo missions are not old enough to confirm the normally accepted 4.51 billion-year for the Moon's age,...
July 19, 2020
The Red Square Nebula, located in the area of the sky occupied by MWC 922 in the Serpens constellation, is one of the most symmetrical celestial objects ever discovered. In 2019, scientists discovered that MWC 922 at the nebula's center emits a powerful jet. The...
July 19, 2020
A bright fireball streaked across the night sky over central Florida at around 00:56 UTC on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 39 reports about the meteor, including from witnesses as far north as DeLand and as far south as Naples....
July 16, 2020
A new Sun-observing mission led by ESA and NASA -- Solar Orbiter -- has returned its first images of the Sun, revealing previously unknown omnipresent miniature solar flares, dubbed 'campfires.' The campfires shown in the image below were captured by the...
July 16, 2020
A fireball that exploded over Tokyo, Japan, on July 1, 2020, has been identified as a meteor after two meteorites were recovered in the prefecture of Chiba, the National Museum of Nature and Science announced on July 13, 2020. The fragments, which landed on a...
July 15, 2020
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) has survived its close encounter with the Sun and is currently observable from the northern hemisphere with the naked eye. To receive this celestial gift, get up before dawn, look to the NNE and see it before the Sun takes over, or wait a...
July 08, 2020
The impact of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission-- which aims to nudge the orbit of its target for planetary defense purposes-- may produce the first meteor shower from human activities in space, according to research published in The...
July 08, 2020
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is set to make its closest approach to Earth on July 23, 2020, when it will pass at a distance of 0.69 AU. Some experienced observers under clear skies have already reported spotting the comet with the naked eye. The comet was discovered on...
July 07, 2020
Astronomers have discovered the absence of a massive unstable star in the Kinman Dwarf galaxy using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). One explanation offered is the end of a luminous blue variable (LBV) eruption of a surviving star, with a mild drop in...
July 04, 2020
Satellite technology has drastically changed how we forecast hurricanes as it has allowed us to track the storm's location, movement, and intensity, from formation to dissipation. On September 8, 1900, a powerful hurricane hit Galveston, Texas, which resulted in...
July 04, 2020