For the first time, astronomers witness the dawn of a new solar system.
China's Tianzhou-9 docks with Tiangong space station in just 3 hours.

2024 July 21
King of Wings Hoodoo under the Milky Way
* Image Credit & Copyright: Wayne Pinkston (LightCrafter Photography)
https://waynepinkstonphoto.com/
Explanation:
This rock structure is not only surreal -- it's real. Perhaps the reason it's not more famous is that it is smaller than one might guess: the capstone rock overhangs only a few meters. Even so, the King of Wings outcrop, located in New Mexico, USA, is a fascinating example of an unusual type of rock structure called a hoodoo. Hoodoos may form when a layer of hard rock overlays a layer of eroding softer rock. Figuring out the details of incorporating this hoodoo into a night-sky photoshoot took over a year. Besides waiting for a suitably picturesque night behind a sky with few clouds, the foreground had to be artificially lit just right relative to the natural glow of the background. After much planning and waiting, the final shot, featured here, was taken in May 2016. Mimicking the horizontal bar, the background sky features the band of our Milky Way Galaxy stretching overhead.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240721.html
#space #galaxy #milkyway #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature#NASA
2024 July 5
Mount Etna Milky Way
* Image Credit & Copyright: Gianni Tumino
https://www.facebook.com/giovanni.tumino.58
Explanation:
A glow from the summit of Mount Etna, famous active stratovolcano of planet Earth, stands out along the horizon in this mountain and night skyscape. Bands of diffuse light from congeries of innumerable stars along the Milky Way galaxy stretch across the sky above. In silhouette, the Milky Way's massive dust clouds are clumped along the galactic plane. Also familiar to northern skygazers are bright stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair, the Summer Triangle straddling dark nebulae and luminous star clouds poised over the volcanic peak. The deep combined exposures reveal the light of active star forming regions along the Milky Way, echoing Etna's ruddy hue in the northern hemisphere summer's night.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240705.html
#space #galaxy #milkyway #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature#NASA
2024 May 29
Stairway to the Milky Way
* Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadziński
https://researchinpoland.org/news/polish-astrophotographer-selected-milky-way-photographer-of-the-year-2025/
Explanation:
What happens if you ascend this stairway to the Milky Way? Before answering that, let's understand the beautiful sky you will see. Most eye-catching is the grand arch of the Milky Way Galaxy, the band that is the central disk of our galaxy which is straight but distorted by the wide-angle nature of this composite image. Many stars well in front of the Milk Way will be visible, with the bright white star just below the stellar arch being Altair, and the bright blue star above it being Vega. The air glows green on the left, just above the yellow cloud deck. The featured image was taken last month on Portugal's Madeira Island in the North Atlantic Ocean. Oh, and what happens after you reach the top of these stairs and admire the amazing sky is, quite probably, that you then descend down the stairs on the other side.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240529.html
#space #galaxy #milkyway #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature#NASA
2024 July 21
King of Wings Hoodoo under the Milky Way
* Image Credit & Copyright: Wayne Pinkston (LightCrafter Photography)
https://waynepinkstonphoto.com/
Explanation:
This rock structure is not only surreal -- it's real. Perhaps the reason it's not more famous is that it is smaller than one might guess: the capstone rock overhangs only a few meters. Even so, the King of Wings outcrop, located in New Mexico, USA, is a fascinating example of an unusual type of rock structure called a hoodoo. Hoodoos may form when a layer of hard rock overlays a layer of eroding softer rock. Figuring out the details of incorporating this hoodoo into a night-sky photoshoot took over a year. Besides waiting for a suitably picturesque night behind a sky with few clouds, the foreground had to be artificially lit just right relative to the natural glow of the background. After much planning and waiting, the final shot, featured here, was taken in May 2016. Mimicking the horizontal bar, the background sky features the band of our Milky Way Galaxy stretching overhead.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240721.html
#space #galaxy #milkyway #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature#NASA
2024 July 5
Mount Etna Milky Way
* Image Credit & Copyright: Gianni Tumino
https://www.facebook.com/giovanni.tumino.58
Explanation:
A glow from the summit of Mount Etna, famous active stratovolcano of planet Earth, stands out along the horizon in this mountain and night skyscape. Bands of diffuse light from congeries of innumerable stars along the Milky Way galaxy stretch across the sky above. In silhouette, the Milky Way's massive dust clouds are clumped along the galactic plane. Also familiar to northern skygazers are bright stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair, the Summer Triangle straddling dark nebulae and luminous star clouds poised over the volcanic peak. The deep combined exposures reveal the light of active star forming regions along the Milky Way, echoing Etna's ruddy hue in the northern hemisphere summer's night.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240705.html
#space #galaxy #milkyway #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature#NASA
2024 July 29
Milky Way over Uluru
* Image Credit & Copyright: Max Inwood
https://www.instagram.com/max.nti/
Explanation:
What's happening above Uluru? A United Nations World Heritage Site, Uluru is an extraordinary 350-meter high mountain in central Australia that rises sharply from nearly flat surroundings. Composed of sandstone, Uluru has slowly formed over the past 300 million years as softer rock eroded away. The Uluru region has been a home to humans for over 22,000 years. Recorded last month, the starry sky above Uluru includes the central band of our Milky Way galaxy, complete with complex dark filaments of dust, bright red emission nebulas, and billions of stars.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240729.html
#space #galaxy #milkyway #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy#NASA
2010 August 12
Perseid Prelude
* Credit & Copyright: Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN)
https://twanight.org/profile/tamas-ladanyi/
Explanation:
Each August, as planet Earth swings through dust trailing along the orbit of periodic comet Swift-Tuttle, skygazers can enjoy the Perseid Meteor Shower. The shower should build to its peak now, best seen from later tonight after moonset, until dawn tomorrow morning when Earth moves through the denser part of the wide dust trail. But shower meteors have been spotted for many days, like this bright Perseid streaking through skies near Lake Balaton, Hungary on August 8. In the foreground is the region's Church of St. Andrew ruin, with bright Jupiter dominating the sky to its right. Two galaxies lie in the background of the wide-angle, 3 frame panorama; our own Milky Way's luminous arc, and the faint smudge of the more distant Andromeda Galaxy just above the ruin's leftmost wall. If you watch for Perseid meteors tonight, be sure and check out the early evening sky show too, featuring bright planets and a young crescent Moon near the western horizon after sunset.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100812.html
#space #milkyway #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature#NASA
A #Seattle startup called #Hubble Network (no relation to NASA's Hubble) is unveiling a system that uses low-power #Bluetooth chips and #satellites in low Earth orbit to keep track of devices around the globe. https://www.geekwire.com/2025/hubble-network-launches-satellite-bluetooth-tracking/ #Space #Tech
2024 August 5
Milky Way Over Tunisia
* Image Credit & Copyright: Makrem Larnaout
https://app.astrobin.com/u/Makrem_Larnaout#gallery
Explanation:
That's no moon. On the ground, that's the Lars Homestead in Tunisia. And that's not just any galaxy. That's the central band of our own Milky Way galaxy. Last, that's not just any meteor. It is a bright fireball likely from last year's Perseids meteor shower. The featured image composite combines consecutive exposures taken by the same camera from the same location. This year's Perseids peak during the coming weekend is expected to show the most meteors after the first quarter moon sets, near midnight. To best experience a meteor shower, you should have clear and dark skies, a comfortable seat, and patience.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lars-homestead
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240805.html
#space #milkyway #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature#NASA #starwars
In a case of strange space bedfellows, #SpaceX launched a batch of 24 satellites for #Amazon#ProjectKuiper, a broadband internet network that's aiming to compete with ... SpaceX's #Starlink network. https://www.geekwire.com/2025/spacex-amazon-project-kuiper-satellites/#Space

🚀 Space technology: Lithuania's promising space start-ups • BBC

Messier 16 - Eagle Nebula
is a visually stunning emission nebula, located in the constellation Serpens, about 7,000 light-years from Earth. It includes the famous Pillars of Creation and reaches its annual culmination at astronomical midnight, making it best observed in late June.
Detailed Information: https://astrocamp.eu/en/messier-16-eagle-nebula/
▼ Takahashi FS60CB | Canon EOS M100(a) '23
#astrophotography #nightsky #space #astronomy #telescope #clearsky #photography #nature

🛰️ Major Satellite Suddenly Disappears
「 Dubbed MethaneSAT, the $88 million spacecraft was launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket in March 2024 and was expected to collect data on the potent greenhouse gas for at least five years.
But for the past two weeks, the satellite's operators, the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, have been unable to establish contact 」

🪨 Mysterious Object Headed Into Our Solar System Is Coming From the Center of the Galaxy
「 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object to reach our Sun's domain — hence the "3." The first was 'Oumuamua, spotted in 2017, which became famed for its unusually elongated shape. The second, dubbed Borisov, was a comet that spectacularly began to break apart 」