The New Horizons spacecraft is humanity's fastest-moving spacecraft and headed to interstellar space. Since its exploration of Pluto 10 years ago and subsequent flyby of Arrokoth in 2019, it's been traversing and studying the Kuiper Belt while looking for other flyby objects. That's not all it's been doing, however. New Horizons also has an extended program of making heliophysics observations. The mission science team has also planned astrophysical studies with the spacecraft's instruments. Those include measuring the intensity of the cosmic optical background and taking images of stars such as Proxima Centauri. As the spacecraft moves, the apparent positions of its stellar navigation targets have changed, but that hasn't bothered New Horizons one bit. It knows exactly where it is thanks to 3D observations of those nearby stars.
Space News & Blog Articles
How Star Clusters Age: The Pleiades, the Hyades, and the Orion Nebula Cluster
The Orion Nebula Cluster, the Pleiades, and the Hyades are all open star clusters located near each other. They're easily located in the night sky. The Pleiades, aka the Seven Sisters, and the Hyades are close together, and the ONC is a little further away below Orion's Belt in the Orion Nebula.
Lunar Regolith is a Surprisingly Good Resource for Supporting a Lunar Station
Sometimes combining technologies is the way to go. That seems to be the case for utilizing lunar regolith for the raw materials needed to support a base anyway. According to a new paper published in Joule by a team of Chinese scientists combined the powers of light and heat is the most effective way to get hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon monoxide out of the lunar soil - and to prove it they tested their system on some actual lunar regolith samples returned by Chang’E-5.
Astronomers Identify an Object that Defies Astrophysics
A team of scientists led by the NSF's Green Bank Observatory (NSF GBO) recently identified an incredibly rare object known as a Long Period Radio Transient (LPT), designated CHIME J1634+44. These objects are similar to Rotating Radio Transients (RRTs), which are sources of short radio pulses believed to be caused by pulsating neutron stars (pulsars). The difference with LPTs is that they have extremely long rotation periods, often lasting between minutes and hours. However, CHIME J1634+44 is the only LPT observed to date that is spinning up, as indicated by its decreasing spin period and unusual polarization.
SpaceX aborts satellite launch 11 seconds before liftoff
SpaceX aborted the planned launch of two of SES' O3b mPOWER communications satellites just before liftoff on Monday evening (July 21). The company will try again tomorrow (July 22).
'Chaos' reigns beneath the ice of Jupiter moon Europa, James Webb Space Telescope reveals
New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are painting a new picture of Jupiter's moon Europa and revealing the hidden chemistry of the icy moon's interior.
Eclipse chasers share insider tips, travel advice and skywatching secrets for the 2026 total solar eclipse
Our expert travel guide to the 2026 total solar eclipse in Greenland, Iceland and Spain is packed with insider tips, travel advice and skywatching secrets from seasoned eclipse chasers.
This new 'CosmoCube' moon orbiter could eavesdrop on whispers from the early universe
U.K. scientists plan to send a small spacecraft to the moon's far side to detect faint radio signals emitted shortly after the Big Bang.
NASA's X-59 'quiet' supersonic jet rolls out for its 1st test drive (video)
NASA recently took its new X-59 "quiet' supersonic jet for a drive during taxi tests, one of the final hurdles between the aircraft and its first flight.
Some Planets Are Bigger Than We Thought
More than 200 planets in the TESS catalogs may be bigger than originally estimated — putting initially Earth-size planets into the super-Earth category.
Live coverage: SpaceX scrubs O3b mPOWER satellites launch, targets backup window on Tuesday
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the planned launch of SES’ ninth and tenth O3b mPOWER satellites. Image: SpaceX
Update July 21, 5:52 p.m. EDT: SpaceX scrubbed the launch, targeting Tuesday, July 22.
These 3 popular skywatching star clusters may be branches of the same family tree
The Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and the Hyades open clusters could represent the different phases of star clusters: baby, adolescent and elderly.
When did our solar system's planets form? Discovery of tiny meteorite may challenge the timeline
Analysis of an ancient meteorite suggests that rocky planets both near and distant from the sun may have formed at the same time, challenging current models of our solar system’s evolution.
'Most impressive!' Darth Vader's screen-used 'Star Wars' lightsaber could fetch $3 million in September auction
Propstore will also trot out this rare relic for a 3-city press tour this August
Astronomers crack 1,000-year-old Betelgeuse mystery with 1st-ever sighting of secret companion (photo, video)
Astronomers have finally imaged the long theorized companion star of Betelgeuse, solving a mystery regarding its dimming that has persisted for millennia.
ESA selects 5 rocket companies for European Launcher Challenge
Germany's Isar and RFA, France's Maiaspace, Spain's PLD Space, and UK-based Orbex have been pre-selected for ESA's €169 million launcher initiative.
Amateur astrophotographer captures trio of breathtaking nebulas from the Central Australian Desert (photos)
"There's some great targets in the southern hemisphere, including the Carina Nebula."
Astronauts collect blood aboard the ISS | Space photo of the day for July 21, 2025
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station collect blood samples as part of a project to study human health in space.
What are these strange swirls around an infant star? 'We may be watching a planet come into existence in real time'
Astronomers have discovered a baby exoplanet "spiral architect" carving complex swirls into a disk of gas and dust around the young star HD 135344B.
Earth will spin faster today to create 2nd-shortest day in history
Our planet has been rotating at its fastest since records began in 1973.
