Space & Physics

Space & PhysicsJanuary 1, 2026

You Need to See the First Fiery Meteor Shower of 2026

The new year has arrived, and the Quadrantid meteor shower is coming in hot. Here’s how to see this often-spectacular shower at its peak

Claire Cameron

The cluster appears here as a large collection of brilliant white lights, each a distinct galaxy. A neon purple cloud stretches across the cluster’s crowded core. Many of the hundred-plus galaxies in the cluster are in two clumps of galaxies towards the top and bottom of center. Some are encircled by a faint glowing haze, while a few foreground stars gleam with diffraction spikes. Some of the smaller galaxies are tinted blue, orange, or red, and some appear more oblong than round, suggesting spiral shapes viewed edge-on. The neon purple cloud sits at the heart of the image, surrounding the most densely-packed part of the cluster. This cloud, which spreads vertically across the cluster, is multimillion-degree gas observed by Chandra. The two clumps of observable galaxies, and the spread of superheated gas, reveal that the Champagne Cluster is in fact two clusters in the process of colliding.

AstronomyDecember 31, 2025

Cheers! Ring in the New Year with Glittering ‘Champagne Cluster’ Image

A galaxy cluster discovered on New Year’s Eve in 2020 shines in a new image from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Meghan Bartels

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Mid-infrared data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (in white, gray, and red) and X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (in blue) come together in this photo of colliding spiral galaxies released on Dec. 1, 2025. The pair grazed one another millions of years ago; billions of years in the future, they will merge into a single galaxy.

Space & PhysicsDecember 31, 2025

Colliding Spiral Galaxies Captured in Sparkling Detail

Astronomers combined data from NASA’s JWST and Chandra X-ray Observatory to create a stunning new image of two merging spiral galaxies

Claire Cameron

Society & PolicyDecember 30, 2025

NASA’s New Chief Just Put a Fresh Twist on the Texas Space Shuttle Saga

NASA’s new boss Jared Isaacman hinted that he could break with Texas lawmakers’ push to move iconic space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Houston

Claire Cameron

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket inside high bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building

Space ExplorationDecember 30, 2025

Here’s What to Get Excited about in Space in 2026

From crewed lunar voyages to flight tests of fully reusable rockets and launches of new orbital telescopes studying the outer limits of the cosmos, 2026 should be a banner year for space science and exploration

Lee Billings

A photo of Russia’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module (MLM) on the International Space Station.

Space ExplorationDecember 29, 2025

Russia Quietly Changed Its Space Station Plans. Here’s What That Means

The proposed Russian Orbital Station will stick to a familiar path instead of an ambitious polar orbit

Ilya Ferapontov

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket passes through clouds after launching from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base carrying a classified satellite for the NRO

Space & PhysicsDecember 26, 2025

If SpaceX Goes Public in 2026, What Does That Mean for Space Exploration?

SpaceX is mulling an IPO in 2026. Here’s how that could affect its work with NASA and the push to put humans on Mars

Ramin Skibba

An illustration of galaxies bursting from a glowing portal in warped spacetime.

The UniverseDecember 26, 2025

What’s the most distant galaxy? And why does it matter?

Record-breaking objects can tell us about the most powerful events in the cosmos—sometimes

Phil Plait

An image of space made by the Euclid telescope shows a bright barred spiral galaxy with two sweeping arms glowing in shades of blue and white against a deep black background dotted with stars. Its core is luminous. Its spiral arms curve gracefully outward to the left and down to the right, resembling a cosmic garland draped across the scene. A smaller, faint and round galaxy appears to the left of the barred spiral galaxy.

AstronomyDecember 24, 2025

Dark Matter Telescope Captures a Sparkling Galaxy Merger

The Euclid Space Telescope is decking the halls with boughs of starlight

Meghan Bartels

This composite Hubble Space Telescope image shows the debris ring and dust clouds cs1 and cs2 around the star Fomalhaut.

Space & PhysicsDecember 23, 2025

Spectacular Cosmic Collision Captured in New Hubble Image

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured asteroids crashing into one another in a nearby planetary system around a star some 25 light-years away

Claire Cameron

A comet with an elaborate tail dives toward the bottom center of the image, with astronomical observatories in the foreground.

AstronomyDecember 22, 2025

Behold the 10 Most Stunning Space Images of 2025

From an interstellar comet to breathtaking auroras and from brand-new rockets to iconic space telescopes, here are some of our favorite images from the cosmos in 2025

Meghan Bartels

A single meteor streaks across a starry sky behind the silhouette of a peak.

AstronomyDecember 20, 2025

Catch the Last Meteor Shower of 2025—Right in Time for the Winter Solstice

Sky watchers may be tempted out this weekend, when an underappreciated meteor shower will coincide with a new moon and the longest night of year for the Northern Hemisphere

Meghan Bartels

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