Universe Explorer
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NASA Picture of the Day
APOD
NGC 2170: The Angel Nebula
2026-05-19
Is this a painting or a photograph? In this celestial abstract art composed with a cosmic brush, dusty nebula NGC 2170, also known as the Angel Nebula, shines just above the image center. Reflecting t…
© Jason Marriott
Space News
NASA
ESA
ESO
UT
- ESA Smile launch highlights 2026-05-19 08:00
- ESA Smile lifts off on quest to reveal Earth’s invisible shield against the solar wind 2026-05-19 05:00
- Universe Today TESS Data Reveals 27 New Planet Candidates in Binary Systems 2026-05-19 04:51
- Universe Today Astronomers Find New Circumbinary "Tatooine-like" Planet Candidates 2026-05-19 00:45
- NASA Curiosity Blog, Sols 4893-4899: Drilling at Campo Marte and a Visit From the Psyche Spacecraft 2026-05-19 00:33
- Universe Today A Brief-ish History of SETI. Part V: The First Interstellar Messengers 2026-05-18 23:20
- Universe Today Iron and Ice: Earth's Passage Through the Interstellar Cloud 2026-05-18 20:11
- Universe Today Asteroid 2022 OB5 Spins Too Fast For Current Prospectors Highlighting the Divide Between "Accessible" and "Exploitable" 2026-05-18 17:38
- NASA NASA’s MAVEN Makes 1st Discovery of Atmospheric Effect at Mars 2026-05-18 17:09
- NASA NASA Selects Next Class of Space Health Postdoctoral Fellows 2026-05-18 17:00
Rocket Launches
LL2-
LaunchedVega-C | Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE)Success
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13h 44minFalcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 17-42Go
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1d 20hFalcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 10-31Go
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2d 9hStarship | Flight 12Go
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2d 20hElectron | Viva La StriX (StriX Launch 9)Go
Space Weather
NOAA
AIA 193 A (Corona) (SDO)
Earth (EPIC/DSCOVR) — 2026-05-17
Moon Phase
☾🌑
Waxing Crescent
9.4% illuminated
Next Full Moon
31. May (12d)
Next New Moon
15. Jun (27d)
Meteor Showers
IMO-
Delta Aquariids 71dPeak: 30. Jul 2026 ZHR: ~25 41 km/s96P/Machholz
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Perseids 84dPeak: 12. Aug 2026 ZHR: ~100 59 km/s109P/Swift-Tuttle
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Draconids 141dPeak: 8. Oct 2026 ZHR: ~10 20 km/s21P/Giacobini-Zinner
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Orionids 154dPeak: 21. Oct 2026 ZHR: ~20 66 km/s1P/Halley
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Leonids 181dPeak: 17. Nov 2026 ZHR: ~15 71 km/s55P/Tempel-Tuttle
Near-Earth Asteroids
CNEOSNext 14 days, < 0.1 AU
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2026 KF2026-May-22 01:1 1.7 LD 658.199 km 14.1 km/s
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2026 JE12026-May-22 05:2 2.9 LD 1.117.071 km 4.7 km/s
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2026 KC2026-May-19 07:1 3.5 LD 1.333.766 km 8.4 km/s
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2026 JD42026-May-21 05:3 4.2 LD 1.631.365 km 24.1 km/s
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2026 JM2026-May-23 18:0 5.2 LD 1.991.211 km 7.8 km/s
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2023 KH42026-May-24 12:2 5.5 LD 2.100.726 km 7.9 km/s
LD = Lunar Distances (384.400 km)
New Papers
arXiv- Mosaic: Area-Closed Spherical Surface Mosaics Induced by Cartesian Grids
- Polarization Birefringence and Waveform Systematics in GW231123
- Expected redshift drift for tilted observers
- The limits of feedback from active galactic nuclei
- Halo-driven Origin and Suppression of Over-massive Black Holes and Little Red Dots
- The pair-instability origin of supernova 2023vbw
Astronomer's Telegrams
ATelLoading data...
Current Comets
Heavens-Above| Comet | Mag | Constellation | Alt |
|---|---|---|---|
| C/2025 R3 PANSTARRS | 6.9 | Monoceros | 27.8° |
| 88P Howell | 10.9 | Cetus | 14.2° |
| C/2023 R1 PANSTARRS | 13.6 | Scutum | -40.5° |
| 24P Schaumasse | 14.1 | Virgo | -29.9° |
| 235P LINEAR | 14.4 | Ophiuchus | -48.9° |
| C/2024 J3 ATLAS | 14.4 | Vulpecula | -2.3° |
| 63P Wild | 14.7 | Cancer | 47.9° |
| 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 | 14.9 | Leo | 0.1° |
Live Services
Latest Publications (peer-reviewed)
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- ApJ Multiple Protostellar Outflows from a Single Protostar with a Misaligned Disk Shingo Hirano, Yuri Aikawa and Masahiro N. Machida
- ApJ Reconstructing the Stripping History of the Sagittarius Stream with Neural Networks Jian Zhang, Cuihua Du, Mingji Deng, Zhongcheng Li and Haoyan
- ApJ Analysis of Synthetic O VI Absorption Associated with Galaxy Groups in SIMBA and TNG50 Simulations Tanmay Singh, Sanchayeeta Borthakur, Dylan Nelson, Romeel Da
- ApJ Discovery of Diffuse γ-Ray Emission in the Vicinity of G172.8+1.5: An Old Supernova Remnant with Different Turbulence Properties Yuan Li, Gwenael Giacinti and Siming Liu
- ApJ Spectral Anisotropy at Ion Scales in the Solar Wind Upstream of the Martian Bow Shock Hua Zhang, Xin Wang, Ruihui Yu and Binbin Tang
- ApJ The Supermassive Black Hole in the Nearby Spiral Galaxy M81: A Robust Mass from JWST/NIRSpec Stellar Dynamics Dieu D. Nguyen, Tuan N. Le, Michele Cappellari, Hai N. Ngo,
- ApJ Investigation of White-light Emission in Compact Flares Yongliang Song and 永亮 宋
- ApJL A TeV-based Determination of the Local Extragalactic Background Light and Its Consistency with Galaxy Counts and Direct Measurements J. Baxter, A. Domínguez, J. D. Finke, A. Desai, M. Ajello, A
- ApJL Evidence for Suppression of Metal Pollution in White Dwarfs by Close Substellar Companions Zhangliang Chen, Xin-Yue Zhang, Di-Chang Chen, Kejun Wang, B
- ApJL The Formation of the C-19 Progenitor: A Primordial Cluster Heated by Gas Expulsion Zhen Wang, 震 王, Long Wang, 龙 王, Zhen Yuan, 珍 袁, Jiang Chang
- ApJL JWST Observations of Asteroid 2024 YR4 Rule Out a 2032 Lunar Impact and Demonstrate a New Regime for Planetary Defense Follow-up Julien de Wit, Andrew S. Rivkin, Marco Micheli, Davide Farno
Data from: NASA (APOD, News, CNEOS, SDO), ESA, ESO, NOAA SWPC, Launch Library 2, Universe Today, arXiv.org, ApJ, ApJL, AJ, A&A, MNRAS, Nature Astronomy, SILSO, ATel, COBS, IMO. Updated every 20 minutes.