Betelguese, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, has been putting on quite a show lately — but not in the way you might expect.

The famous red supergiant in the constellation Orion has been growing noticeably fainter in recent months.

Of the 21 brightest stars in the night sky, Betelgeuse is perhaps the most enigmatic. Its changing brightness poses a puzzle: how do the star's pulsations, dust eruptions, and a possible companion contribute to its fading?

A giant star with a puzzling name

Even the translation of Betelgeuse's name is contentious. For a long time, it was thought to be a corruption of three Arabic words, usually translated as "The Armpit of the Giant." However, other experts in star nomenclature now dispute that interpretation, proposing instead "The Hand of al-Jauzā," with al-Jauzā referring to Orion.

Although classified as a red supergiant, Betelgeuse usually appears more orange than red— golden orange or deep topaz. It is one of the most famous stars in its class. Henry M. Neely (1877-1963), for many years a popular lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium, described its restless behavior in his book A Primer for Stargazers:

"(Betelgeuse) expands and contracts spasmodically, like an old man with his strength almost entirely spent, panting in the asthmatic decrepitude of old age."

The rhythms of a changing star

Betelgeuse naturally expands and contracts like a beating heart. As an aging red supergiant, it has a regular pulsation cycle of roughly 430 days: when it expands, its outer layers cool and it dims; when it contracts, they heat up and it brightens. Among first-magnitude stars — the brightest category of stars in the night sky — it is the only marked variable. Its scale is equally remarkable: located 650 light-years away, Betelgeuse is among the largest and most luminous stars of its class, with a luminosity of about 14,000 suns at maximum and 7,600 suns at minimum. Only a few such objects have been identified in our galaxy.

British astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) first noticed Betelgeuse's variability beginning in 1836. Astronomers describe apparent brightness using magnitude: lower numbers mean brighter stars. In April 2023, Betelgeuse reached magnitude 0.0 — as bright as Vega, the fifth brightest star. At minimum brightness, such as in 1927 and 1941, its magnitude may fall to +1.2, making it appear about three times fainter.

Three threads run through this mystery: Betelgeuse's roughly 430-day pulsation, its much longer recurring dimming cycle, and the exceptional Great Dimming of 2019—2020. Keeping them, separate helps explain why one cause need not account for every change in brightness.

A longer cycle and a possible companion

Alongside its roughly 430-day pulsation, Betelgeuse shows a mysterious 2,100-day (5.75-year) dimming cycle. Known as a "Long Secondary Period," this longer cycle puzzled astronomers for a century. Some suggested that one or more stars might orbit Betelgeuse; others found no evidence for such companions or actively refuted their existence.

At long last, in January 2026, researchers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) located in on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, published the clearest images and direct evidence of a faint companion star orbiting the red supergiant. Formally named Alpha Ori B, Jared Goldberg, an astrophysicist researching the phenomenon, nicknamed the companion star "Betelbuddy," though in deference to the new definition of Betelgeuse's name meaning "the hand of al-Jawzā," the name Siwarha was ultimately chosen for the probable companion star, which means her bracelet in Arabic.

In this explanation, Siwarha orbits deep within Betelgeuse's outer chromosphere, a layer of its atmosphere, circling about every six years. As it moves through gas and dust ejected by the supergiant, its gravity creates a dense wake of gas, with ripples and shockwaves that disrupt stellar winds and mass loss. When the concentrated dust trail passes between Earth and Betelgeuse, it can make the main star appear decidedly dimmer.

Compare Betelgeuse with Aldebaran

Betelgeuse recently experienced another sharp drop in brightness. Since this past August, it has faded from magnitude +0.5 to +0.95 and now appears just a trifle dimmer than the similarly hued orange star Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull. This decline may be another example of the dimming described above, although the brightness change alone does not establish its cause.

Aldebaran can be used as a comparison to Betelgeuse, since they both happen to be in the general vicinity of each other. If you want to make such a determination yourself, keep in mind that Aldebaran currently rises in the east-northeast before 7 p.m. local standard time, followed about 90 minutes later by Betelgeuse, which will emerge from beyond the eastern horizon. By 11:30 p.m., both stars will be well placed for viewing in the east-southeast part of the sky.

Betelgeuse marks Orion's right shoulder. To locate Aldebaran, look for the three bright, evenly spaced stars that form Orion's belt. Draw an imaginary line through the three belt stars and extend it upwards and to the right. Follow that line for about two fists' width at arm's length (roughly 22 degrees) until you hit a sideways, V-shaped cluster of stars known as the Hyades, which forms the face of Taurus. Aldebaran sits right at one end of that V-shape, glowing with a distinct orange-red color as the "angry eye" of the bull charging toward Orion.

View them late tonight; which star appears brighter?

The Great Dimming of 2019—2020

The changes visible now invite comparison with a far more dramatic episode: The Great Dimming Event of 2019—2020.

Between October 2019 and February 2020, Betelgeuse experienced an unprecedented, dramatic plunge in brightness — losing over two-thirds of its luster, falling from magnitude +0.5 to +1.7; the rank of a second magnitude star. It then returned to a more normal brightness, reaching an unusually bright peak of 0.0 by the spring of 2023. While the sudden dimming caused internet and media speculation that Betelgeuse was about to die as a spectacular supernova, infrared structural and chemical models showed no significant change in the star's luminosity; Betelgeuse was still firmly in its helium-burning phase and is expected to live for another 100,000 to perhaps many hundreds of thousands of years before it explodes.

So, what caused The Great Dimming? The mystery was ultimately solved by compiling data from the Hubble Space Telescope and ground observatories.

Apparently, Betelgeuse "sneezed."

A massive bubble of superhot plasma rose from a giant convection cell inside the star and blasted into space. As this ejected gas moved millions of miles away from the star, it cooled rapidly and condensed into solid silicon monoxide dust. This giant stardust cloud acted like a literal screen, blocking a substantial portion of the star's light from our viewpoint. This event was exacerbated because the massive eruption perfectly aligned with the lowest point of the star's 430-day pulsation cycle as well as the orbital interference of the companion star Siwarha.

From the standpoint of producing the absolute maximum possible dimming of Betelgeuse, this cosmic trifecta was the perfect storm!

Untangling the mystery

Betelgeuse has long been known as a variable star, and recent breakthroughs are helping astronomers untangle its erratic behavior. Internal pulsations and massive dust eruptions contribute to its changing brightness, while gravitational interactions with the newly reported, probable companion explain the longer dimming cycle. Together, these mechanisms paint a richer picture of why Orion's giant star fades and brightens.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope, The Old Farmer's Almanac and other publications.

"Star Trek" celebrated its diamond anniversary last month, marking 60 years since it first aired on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. There were a bunch of Trekkie-themed celebrations and news stories over September, including festive documentaries, special screenings, tributes, parade floats, interviews, and even a Galileo shuttle story.

Now, publishers Penguin Random House and Ten Speed Press are releasing "Star Trek: The Original Voyages: A Visual History" on Nov. 10, 2026.

This coffee table book promises unprecedented exploration of the pioneering space fantasy television series and enduring pop culture property that bolstered the space race and ignited sci-fi audiences' imaginations by taking us to strange new worlds and civilizations in the final frontier.

It's a striking 416-page hardback written by Kyle Newman and Jeff Bond, documenting all the classic characters and plotlines that are still inspiring artists, filmmakers, authors, and astronauts around the globe six decades later, and we’ve got our hands on a primo copy to show off.

"When the original 'Star Trek' series burst onto the screen in 1966, few could have anticipated the enduring legacy it would create," states the synopsis.

"Although it lasted just three seasons and 79 episodes, 'Star Trek' left an indelible mark on popular culture, and it soon spawned an animated television series, a blockbuster major motion picture franchise, and for its most dedicated fans, a way of life.

"The story of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew—James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), and Hikaru Sulu (George Takei)—as well as the behind-the-scenes story of its creators, The Great Bird of the Galaxy Gene Roddenberry and his many collaborators, is extraordinary."

Inside this classy collector's edition, which is the first volume of a two-book series gazing back at the complete history of "Star Trek," readers will behold a wealth of archival photos, costumes, storyboards, cast and creators' chats, behind-the-scenes ephemera, props, and filming models.

"Star Trek: The Original Voyages" chronicles not just the iconic TV show but also the short-lived animated series and all six of the big-screen "Star Trek" feature films up to the year 1991.

Above and beyond the dramatic cover emblazoned with reflective lettering, this beefy "Trek" book truly leaps into warp speed, covering all the licensed toys, comic books, convention memorabilia, media parodies, promotional roadshows, trading cards, and vintage magazine covers.

"Star Trek: The Original Voyages: A Visual History" lands on Nov. 10, 2026.

Budget primes can be, surprisingly, excellent choices for photographers shooting all subjects. It’s all too easy to get carried away with the best specs, such as a large maximum aperture and impressive optical design often seen in more expensive options. But affordable lenses like the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 II FE (APO) have the potential to impress and delight in equal measure.

The 35mm f/1.8 is a compact and lightweight lens offering a reasonably fast maximum aperture, making it a prime candidate for astrophotography. It’s also the same size and almost the same weight as the Viltrox AF 55mm f/1.8 FE (APO), another lens that could potentially grace your camera bag.

With a highly attractive price tag of just $399 / £385, and mount options for Nikon Z and Sony FE, many astrophotographers will be wondering if this is a lens worth considering. It features 13 elements in 10 groups, as well as featuring an apochromatic (APO) design for reducing chromatic aberration as much as possible. As much as possible is key here because not all lenses are as successful as the manufacturer claims, although that’s not a comment on the 35mm f/1.8. Read on to discover if this could be one of the best lenses for astrophotography.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 II EVO FE (APO) lens review

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 II EVO FE (APO): Performance

• Sharp images for the price
• Sweet spot at f/8-f/11, not ideal for astro
• Some astigmatism at the edges of the frame

For a budget lens, the 35mm f/1.8 produces great, yet not perfect, image quality. On the plus side, images are nice and sharp, particularly in the centre, even when shooting wide open at f/1.8. At this aperture setting, though, there is some astigmatism at the left edges of the frame. This is where stars appear as crosses. This is a surprise since it’s an APO lens, and, equally surprising, it’s isolated, but it is something you have to consider.

You do have to zoom into the image to see it, so it may not be a dealbreaker. Photos shot at f/1.8 are sharpest in the centre, with some fall-off towards the edges, with the corners exhibiting the least sharpness. There’s also the strongest vignetting at f/1.8. At the time of writing, there’s no Adobe Lightroom lens profile for the lens, but you can manually remove the vignetting and even create a preset of your own.

The vignette disappears as soon as f/4, with a gradual increase in sharpness across the frame between f/2.8 and f/5.6. f/8 and f/11 appear identical in terms of sharpness and occupy the sweet spot, while diffraction is clearly at work when you stop down to f/16. In reality, it’s unlikely you’d shoot beyond f/11 with this lens, even if you were shooting landscapes.

Overall, image quality is impressive despite not being perfect and stopping down to f/2.8 when shooting astro does provide greater clarity across the frame. This is, as you know, at the expense of having to shoot at a slightly higher ISO setting to compensate.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 II EVO FE (APO): Design

• Compact and lightweight
• Manual aperture ring
• Weather sealed

While f/1.8 lenses may not have the speed and light-gathering capabilities of faster f/1.4 and f/1.2 lenses, they’re considerably smaller and lighter. The lens only has a 58mm filter thread, so if you use any night filters, they will be at the less expensive end of the price scale.

For some photographers, the slight speed reduction of f/1.8 is a worthy compromise, and at 3.33 x 4.37 in / 69 x 76 mm with a weight of 12.52 oz / 355 g, the 35mm f/1.8 is beautifully compact and balances well with camera bodies.

Build quality is excellent, and it’s fair to say the lens belies its budget price tag. The metal build alongside the manual aperture ring gives the 35mm f/1.8 a much more premium look and feel.

The aperture ring can also be set to A for in-body aperture adjustments, as well as offering the ability to switch the aperture click on and off. The latter is most popular with videographers. There’s also a customizable Fn button on the side.

The lens is weather-sealed against light rain and dust, with a rubber gasket on the lens mount. The front element also features a water and smudge-resistant coating, which is certainly useful for outdoor photography. Plus, there’s a minimum focusing distance of just 13.4 in / 34 cm, which is useful for daylight photography but of no consequence for astrophotography.

The 35mm f/1.8 is made up of 13 elements in 10 groups, and as previously mentioned, features an APO design, which is intended to eliminate chromatic aberration in high-contrast scenes.

The elements include two extra-low dispersion (ED), three high refractive index (HR) and one ultra aspherical (UA). The UA lens is claimed to be Viltrox’s LAB Series quality, which matches the Viltrox flagship line-up.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 II EVO FE (APO): Functionality

• Smooth manual focus
• Internal focusing
• Stepping motor-powered AF

When it comes to features, prime lenses are always pretty basic, with few features to shout about. The 35mm f/1.8 is certainly no exception, but its build quality and overall design hold up alongside its image quality and reasonably fast maximum aperture. It does, however, have a few points worth mentioning.

One feature that many Viltrox lenses have, including the 35mm f/1.8, is a USB-C Port on the lens mount. This allows you to use a smartphone app or a desktop app to quickly and easily update firmware. This is so much easier than having to download a file to your memory card and installing lens updates via the camera, which is how most native lenses have to be updated.

The manual aperture ring features click and clickless operation via a switch on the side, so you can easily see what aperture you’re using at a glance. The focusing ring is smooth and offers comfortable resistance, making manual focus a breeze. It’s also wide enough to rotate using gloves, although, being a compact lens, it’s narrower than what you’d expect on a larger and faster prime lens.

Autofocus (AF) is reasonably fast and silent, being powered by an stepping motor (STM). The AF performance seemed to improve after the firmware update that was installed via the desktop app before testing fully commenced.

This functionality isn’t, of course, relevant to astrophotography, but it’s still a useful point to mention in case you intend to use the lens with autofocus in the day. Focusing is also internal, so the front element doesn’t rotate during focusing like cheap and cheerful kit lenses.

How we tested the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 II EVO FE (APO)

The Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 FE (APO) was tested with the Sony A7R V, which offers an unforgivingly high resolution. The lens was tested at night with a focus on astrophotography, and in daylight to assess sharpness, distortion and general functionality for an all-round approach to testing.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 II EVO FE (APO): User reviews

Online reviews echo one another, praising the AF 35mm f/1.8 for its sharpness and cost. Users appreciate that while it’s certainly not in the league of Sony’s premium G Master lenses, it represents great value for money. Some reviewers mention great build quality and looking good when paired with their Sony camera.

Should you buy the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 FE (APO)?

Prime lenses can be expensive, especially if you’re looking at those with an f/1.4 or f/1.2 maximum aperture. The Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 FE (APO) is a budget option in the Viltrox line-up, but with decent overall performance alongside impressive image quality for the price, this is a great 35mm lens for those on a budget. It’s also compact and lightweight, which could be useful if you often head out shooting with several lenses in your kit bag.

Just going back to image quality, images are sharp, but when shooting astrophotography at f/1.8, there was some astigmatism at the left edges of the frame. This is where stars appear as crosses. You can only really see this when you zoom in to 100%, but it’s worth bearing in mind if you’re looking for the closest to optical perfection you can find.

When a weather-sealed prime lens with a manual aperture ring costs just $399 / £385, you can’t help but take notice. Build quality is excellent and the lens undoubtedly looks and feels like it would be more expensive than it is.

Considering all of this and the image quality, the lens is fairly priced and is still at the release price, so it could become more affordable in the future. Just like other Viltrox lenses, in the box you get the lens, a lens hood, front and rear lens caps and a soft lens case.

If this lens isn't for you

The Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE is part of Viltrox’s flagship lens series and offers a much faster maximum aperture, as the name suggests. It’s also more expensive, larger and heavier.

If you’d like a wider lens, the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G is a fantastic option offering exceptional image quality alongside a compact build and light weight. A potential must-have for Sony users.

If you’d like to go wider still, the Sigma 14mm f/1.4 DG DN Art is an absolute beast of a lens, offering an ultra-wide light-gathering field of view alongside a fast f/1.4 maximum aperture.

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Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists have found that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was built from tiny grains of ice mixed with dust that are quite different from the solar system’s comets.

These ice grains do, however, bear striking similarities to some icy bodies located at the edge of the solar system, beyond the orbit of Neptune, so-called trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs).

3I/ATLAS was discovered entering the solar system in the summer of 2025. It was only the third object found entering the solar system from farther afield in the Milky Way after 1I/'Oumuamua, seen in 2017, and 2I/Borisov, detected in 2019. This meant the interstellar comet offered a rare chance to glimpse the conditions under which such bodies form in other star systems. Thus, the JWST was quickly on the trail of 3I/ATLAS.

"We designed [JWST] to be ready the moment an active interstellar comet was found and to follow it over time," Martin Cordiner of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the Catholic University of America said in a statement.

Cordiner leads the JWST program to study objects such as 3I/ATLAS, and he is a co-author on a new research paper describing some of the findings.

The unclear origins of 3I/ATLAS

Researchers know that 3I/ATLAS wasn't born in the solar system, but nobody knows around which star 3I/ATLAS formed. What scientists are more sure of is the fact that this interstellar comet was produced within a planet-forming disk of gas and dust around a young star, possibly as long ago as 10 to 12 billion years. That's over twice the age of our solar system. It was then ejected from its home system somehow and left to wander interstellar space before encountering our solar system.

Like the familiar comets in our solar system, 3I/ATLAS is composed of grains of ice less than a micron – a millionth of a meter – in size. When the surface of the comet is warmed by the sun, gas erupts outwards, carrying ice grains into the cloud of ice and dust surrounding the comet, its coma, and its tail, where JWST can detect them.

When viewed spectroscopically, the water-ice in comets native to our solar system creates a strong absorption line in a comet’s spectrum at a wavelength of three microns, as well as less-prominent absorption lines at 1.5 and two microns.

Yet when the JWST’s Near-Infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument viewed 3I/ATLAS three times between August 2025, before its closest approach to the sun, and after closest approach in April 2026, scientists found the 1.5- and two micron absorption lines were missing, though the three-micron line remained strong.

"That combination was a puzzle," research lead author Silvia Protopapa of the South-west Research Institute said. "The strong three-micron band points to water-ice in the coma, but the weak or absent shorter-wavelength bands suggest the ice is not in the form we usually see in solar system comets."

The JWST's muddy 3I/ATLAS findings

Whenever presented with an unusual observational signature such the JWST delievered for 3I/ATLAS researchers turn to modeling to find the physical characteristics that best fit the spectrum.

The modeling suggested to Protopapa’s team that 3I/ATLAS was composed of sub-micron grains of dirty water-ice, rich in dust. In comparison, the grains from the solar system’s indigenous comets are much cleaner, with almost pure water-ice relatively uncontaminated by dust.

"What seems to set [3I/ATLAS’ grains] apart is how much dust is mixed into the ice," said Protopapa. "Those grains hold clues to the conditions where the comet was born."

Comets are made of primordial material found in the planet-forming disk of gas and dust that surrounds a young star, and therefore the composition of comets can provide a window into the conditions in which planets form.

Whereas solar system comets tell us about the birth of Earth, an interstellar comet can tell us about conditions in which planets formed around another star, and how similar or dissimilar those conditions were to the birth of the solar system.

Yet comets are not the only icy remnants that date back to such primordial times. There are various families of bodies in the outer solar system, and 3I/ATLAS’ spectrum bears a resemblance to the spectrum of some medium-sized TNOs that are rich in carbon-dioxide ice and organic compounds (organic meaning containing carbon atoms). Indeed, in a separate 2025 study led by Cordiner, the JWST found 3I/ATLAS to have one of the greatest abundances of carbon dioxide ever seen in a comet.

TNOs are sizable bodies that are located far beyond the orbit of Neptune, The TNOs in question would have formed in a different part of the Sun’s protoplanetary disk than most comets and their composition reflects that.

On the other hand, the results imply that 3I/ATLAS was formed around its star of origin from similar icy material to that which produced some of the TNOs in our solar system, showing that the building blocks of planets around other stars share a common range of properties with the building blocks that formed our solar system. Indeed, 3I/ATLAS could even be a fragment of a TNO-like body that was shattered in a collision.

"At first glance, 3I/ATLAS looks different from the icy comets we know," said Protopapa. "But when we placed it alongside distant icy worlds in our own solar system, it no longer looked out of place.

"This suggests that the icy building block of planets, here and around other stars, may share ice in the form of tiny, micron-scale grains, ranging from relatively pure ice to ice mixed with dust, with 3I/ATLAS toward the dusty end."

What this tells us is that these sub-micron-sized icy grains must form first in planet-forming disks, to then be incorporated into large bodies such as comets and protoplanets.

The team's findings were published on Monday (Oct. 26) in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

On Nov. 2, 2000, the International Space Station welcomed its first long-term residents: NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. The mission was called Expedition 1.

Before this expedition, NASA had launched five, one-week-long Space Shuttle missions to help build the space station and bring up supplies. But this time, the crew would be staying for four and a half months, and they weren't taking the shuttle. Instead, they took a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and this was the first Soyuz to ever dock at the space station.

During their stay at the space station, they unpacked supplies and installed new equipment, including the first solar arrays. They left on the space shuttle Discovery, which brought up the Expedition 2 crew that would take their place.

Why it mattered

As of today, there has been a continuous astronaut presence in space aboard the International Space Station for 26 years. For all of these years, not a day has gone by without someone living in space, orbiting our planet from aboard the space station.

While the ISS was not the first space station, it has been the longest-running space statin by far. This first crew were pioneers, showing how humans could actually live and work aboard this station. This exploratory mission proved that the station could successfully support astronaut crews.

Since this mission 26 years ago, there have been literally hundreds of astronauts from around the world who have flown to and lived aboard the ISS. While NASA has stated that the station might be decommissioned in the coming years, these accomplishments will remain forever in spaceflight history.

Want more space history? Check out our full On This Day In Space Story archive and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube.

This rainbow-hued rocky plain looks like the landscape of an alien world. And, it turns out, it is.

What is it?

In this image, we can see an ancient, rocky hill on Mars. In the Red Planet's Southern Highlands, this alien terrain is chock-full of minerals, which we can see clearly defined in this color-enhanced view of the region.

This image was snapped by the HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has been studying the planet's surface, atmosphere and climate since arriving in Martian orbit in March 2006.

But this isn't exactly what the surface of the planet would look like through our eyes; the image is color-enhanced. Why would scientists take a natural-color image and turn it rainbow? Doing so enhances the slight color differences in these rocks, allowing researchers to pick out the different minerals.

Why is it incredible?

As pointed to above, enhancing colors in scientific images can be an incredibly useful tool for exploration.

For instance, in this image, the blue- and green-toned rocks could be full of minerals like pyroxenes and olivine, according to scientists analyzing the image. And they think that the yellow, orange and red patches may contain minerals formed by past interactions with liquid water.

By exploring the mineral content of rocks like this, researchers can peel back the layers of history within the Martian bedrock. The discovery of certain minerals, for example, can show that water flowed on Mars long ago, pointing to potentially habitable conditions.

So, as we can see, this striking rainbow image isn't just a beautiful landscape; it's also hiding serious clues to Mars' history.

Marvel Studios' existential superhero series "VisionQuest" has arrived on Disney+, and we've already been treated to four intriguing episodes that delve into the complex life of Vision, Paul Bettany's intelligent android and former card-carrying member of The Avengers.

The staggered storyline leading up to this show began with 2021's "WandaVision" and the 2024 follow-up, "Agatha All Along," with Marvel Studios proclaiming "VisionQuest" to be "the final vision of the groundbreaking trilogy." So, for those trying to catch up on current events in this trilogy of MCU shows starring Vision, and to avoid any lingering confusion, let’s take a step back to fill in the gaps.

And now, this isn't as simple as just "watch all the Marvel movies and shows in order," because that is a frankly ridiculous undertaking and entirely too much homework to do before watching a show. We're distilling it down to just what you need to know to understand VisionQuest.

Spoiler warning: It should go without saying, but there are spoilers for previous Marvel movies and shows in this article. You have been warned!

TLDR: Marvel shows and movies you need to watch ahead of VisionQuest

We'll go into some detail on all the connections below, but if you just want a list of the essential Marvel shows and movies to watch before VisionQuest, here it is.

Note that this is just the essentials. There are loads of small references to other movies and shows in the MCU, but they're just nods.

• Avengers: Age of Ultron
• Avengers: Infinity War
• WandaVision
• Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness*
• Agatha All Along

*This one is debatable. It continues Wanda's story from WandaVision, but it's not really essential for understanding the events of VisionQuest.

Both are the true vision. Neither is the true Vision

We kick things off with 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War," where the mighty Thanos murdered Vision by plucking out his golden, forehead-mounted Mind Stone for his Infinity Gauntlet. From that moment forward, Vision was dead, and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) was cast into unfathomable grief and not-so-repressed anger.

From there, we pick up the story in the 2021 Disney+ series "WandaVision." Set weeks after "Avengers: Endgame," this show features two separate versions of Vision.

One was a new synthezoid version, Frankensteined together from the components of the old Vision by S.W.O.R.D., nicknamed White Vision. The other Vision is a supernatural manifestation, brought to life via Wanda Maximoff’s sorcery; he is known as Hex Vision.

So, which of these two Visions appears in "VisionQuest"? That's the fun (and confusing) part, because the answer is both of them. At the end of "WandaVision," Hex Vision restores the lost memories of White Vision, essentially merging two entities into one.

So, the Vision we see in "VisionQuest" is the physical body of White Vision, injected with thoughts and remembrances of the model that was magically resurrected by Wanda. Confused yet? Don't worry, it's going to get weirder.

Voices inside my head

In addition to the two versions of Vision from "WandaVision," numerous other AIs exist within Vision's skull and are all represented by human avatars acting as factions of his ravaged psyche.

Cast your mind all the way back to 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron," and you'll remember that Vision was conceived from a combination of the artificial brain of Ultron, the Mind Stone, and fragments of Tony Stark’s AI butler companion, J.A.R.V.I.S., who was named after the real Jarvis seen in the "Agent Carter" TV series.

J.A.R.V.I.S. appears in "VisionQuest" as his own unique entity, alongside another of Tony Stark's AI helpers, E.D.I.T.H., aka the AI in the smart glasses that Stark left to Peter Parker after his death. She shows up in "Spider-Man: Far From Home," which is a great movie but not an essential viewing if you're preparing for "VisionQuest."

Then let's toss in the fact that papa Ultron (James Spader) is buzzing around in Vision’s cranium, creating what’s been described as more or less an "Age of Ultron" and a "WandaVision" sequel at the same time. As it turns out, Vision did not destroy Ultron at the end of "Age of Ultron"; he copied his code and absorbed him, so now the rabid robot lives on in Vision’s brain.

Like father, like son

The show’s narrative is centered around the complicated relationship between Vision and his son Tommy Maximoff (Ruaridh Mollica). Tommy was created by Wanda's Hex and should have disappeared when it collapsed, but both he and his brother Billy survived through magical shenanigans that are explained in 2024's "Agatha All Along."

Those two Maximoff boys, Tommy and Billy, both vanished from existence at the conclusion of "WandaVision." "Agatha All Along" exposed the truth that their consciousnesses entered the ether before expiring, only to reemerge into the souls of two teenage boys who had just perished, therefore returning them to life. Are you still with us? Good, just checking.

The finale of "Agatha All Along" hinted at the return of the estranged Tommy, and "VisionQuest" dives into that dangling plot point with relish!

Palad-in for a bad time

Every show needs an antagonist, and the voices in Vision's head can't do all the work. "VisionQuest" has introduced a duo of villains for Vision to contend with. Neither of them has shown up in the MCU previously, though, so you don't need to do any research here.

With a massive bounty on his head after breaking free from S.W.O.R.D.'s control, White Vision must contend with a new villainous foe in the form of a mysterious mercenary named Paladin (Todd Stashwick).

This enigmatic Marvel Comics character was created by Jim Shooter and Carmine Infantino and was first seen prowling the pages of "Daredevil #150" back in 1978. He's basically a gun-for-hire in the Marvel universe, often hired to fight alongside or against various heroes depending on the story. We don't know much about his motivations in the show, but we'll learn more as it goes on.

"VisionQuest" also shines a spotlight on the bizarro character of Ultron's "bride," Jocasta, though the MCU version of this character diverges wildly from the comic book inspiration.

It's enough to drive one to madness! Between all the father-son dynamics dancing around the eight scheduled episodes, being hunted down by mercs, and his transcendent search for meaning, Vision and his saga are hopefully headed to a peaceful end.

Created by Terry Matalas ("Star Trek: Picard," "12 Monkeys") and airing two new chapters each Tuesday night on Disney+, VisionQuest is bolstered by a cast that includes Ruaridh Mollica, T'Nia Miller, Lauren Morais, Orla Brady, Diane Morgan, Polly Frame, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Emily Hampshire, and James D’Arcy.

SpaceX is building and operating two satellite networks at the moment, Starlink and Starshield. What’s the difference between the two, and who uses them?

For more than a week in October 2026, Ukrainian drone operators found their high-speed satellite links shut off. Officials in Kyiv said that terminals for SpaceX’s Starshield network stopped working at speeds of above 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) from Oct. 14, hampering efforts to conduct defensive operations and intercept Russian drones. Full connectivity was restored on Oct. 24, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The arguments over who did what continue, but the affair highlighted how little is publicly understood about Starshield — what it is, how it relates to Starlink, and how it is operated.

What is Starlink?

Starlink is SpaceX’s commercial, mass-market satellite internet service. The company says it now has more than 11,000 Starlink broadband and mobile satellites in orbit, operating approximately 342 miles (550 kilometers) above Earth. This follows years of deployment using the company's Falcon 9 rocket..

The network serves consumers, enterprises and government customers across more than 160 countries. It is owned and operated by SpaceX. Anyone from a rural household to an airline can buy a terminal and a service plan.

Governments are also customers, with public agencies using Starlink for a range of purposes including connectivity, disaster response and national security, notably in the case of Ukraine in the wake of the invasion by Russia, which began in February 2022 and is ongoing.

What is Starshield?

Starshield is SpaceX’s network for serving national security customers. The company announced the program in December 2022, stating it would apply Starlink technology and SpaceX's launch capability to government needs, initially in three areas: Earth observation, communications and hosted payloads.

"They are using the same satellite buses," says Bleddyn Bowen, associate professor of astropolitics at Durham University in the U.K. “They look the same, but they have a lot more kit on them that allows them to do more things. They provide similar broadband internet, but with more secure hardware and software and hardened systems.”

The company says it has won multi-billion-dollar, multiyear contracts from the U.S. military in 2026 for Starshield-related services.

Some Starshield satellites may also carry sensors for intelligence and surveillance. But much about Starshield is secretive, with its finances not revealed and launches often classified.

Starshield makeup

Starshield is made up of a range of different assets, including spy satellites, military data satellites, and secure communications for ground users.

The spy satellites are sent into orbit in launches for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), for a "proliferated architecture" of spy satellites, including electro-optical, radar and relay spacecraft. The NRO does not use the Starshield name, but said earlier this year that it had launched more than 200 satellites in recent years, many of which are for its proliferated architecture.

Then there is the Space Data Network Backbone. The U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $2.29 billion fixed-price contract to build the network, previously known as MILNET, using Starshield satellites. It is meant to move data quickly between missile-warning sensors and interceptors as part of the Trump administration's Golden Dome missile defense plan. A prototype is due by the end of 2027. A Space Force official has described MILNET as government-owned and operated by SpaceX as a contractor, under Space Force oversight.

Starshield provides encrypted connectivity for military users through terminals. These can be dedicated Starshield terminals, or Starlink terminals for Starshield services.

Crucially, the networks overlap. "Those Starshield satellites are physically separate from Starlink satellites, but the Starshield satellites can use the Starlink network if they need to," Bowen said. That interoperability is available to U.S. national security users, he added, "but not if you're a commercial user of Starlink."

Use restrictions differ, too. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said that Starlink's terms of service bar its use for offensive drone strikes, while decisions about Starshield use rest with the U.S. government.

Who controls Starshield is a question that entered the public consciousness in the wake of the Ukraine Starshield speed limit affair. The U.S. government is the customer, and also in some cases the owner, but SpaceX builds the satellites, operates the underlying Starlink network on which some Starshield services run and, in some arrangements, operates the Starshield satellites themselves. How this command is divided between the government and SpaceX is unclear.

Bowen compared it to the U.K.’s Skynet military satellite system, in which contractor Babcock operates the satellites. "The actual button punching is done by the contractors, but the military and government are in the room and are calling the shots,” he said.

That question matters, because it determines whether SpaceX can act on its own or only with government oversight and approval.

What’s next?

Starshield appears set to become more central to U.S. military space. The Space Data Network Backbone prototype is expected next year, while NRO launches will continue, according to contracts. With SpaceX now a public company, quarterly reports could provide more insight into the system. For now, however, much remains classified.

Rocket Lab launched its 99th mission to date today (Nov. 2), sending a private Japanese Earth-observing satellite toward orbit.

An Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site today at 11:41 a.m. EST (1641 GMT; 5:41 a.m. on Nov. 3 local New Zealand time).

The mission, which Rocket Lab calls "The Sea God Surveys," is carrying an Earth-observing radar satellite to low Earth orbit (LEO) for the Japanese company iQPS. All went according to plan: The spacecraft was deployed at an altitude of 357 miles (575 kilometers), Rocket Lab announced about 56 minutes after launch.

"The Sea God Surveys" was Rocket Lab's 10th launch to date for iQPS, which is assembling a constellation of three dozen synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites in LEO.

SAR satellites offer advantages over those that view our planet in optical wavelengths. They can peer through cloud cover, for example, and study our planet at night as well as during the day.

Today's launch was the 99th overall for Rocket Lab and the 90th for the two-stage, 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron, which gives small satellites dedicated rides to space. The workhorse vehicle has now flown 17 times this year.

Rocket Lab's other nine launches to date have been conducted by HASTE, a suborbital version of Electron that allows customers to test their tech in the hypersonic flight environment. HASTE (short for "Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron") debuted in June 2023 and generally flies classified payloads.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:55 a.m. ET on Nov. 2 with news of successful launch, then again at 1 p.m. EST with news of successful satellite deployment.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was, unfortunately, not the return many were hoping for when it finally arrived on Nintendo Switch consoles in 2025. After five years in development at Retro Studios, the original makers of the Metroid Prime series, fans were greeted with annoying side characters, a bike for Samus to roam the barren landscape on, and a deeply unsatisfying ending.

It’s a shame, considering how beloved the Metroid Prime series has been since the first title’s 2002 debut for the Nintendo GameCube. Many franchises were jumping from 2D to 3D at the turn of the millennium, and there were plenty of failures — but Metroid wasn’t one of them. The two sequels would enhance how players control Samus with powerful weapons and a multiplayer mode, but the 18-year gap between Metroid Prime 3 and 4 left players expecting something special.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond’s average reception left fans wondering where the series can go next. It’s admittedly strange that Metroid Prime 2 and 3 have yet to debut on Nintendo Switch, either through the Nintendo Online service or as remasters.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake has just dropped for Switch 2, and seeing Nintendo leverage one of the best games of all time for a modern take has given us an idea: let's give the Metroid Prime trilogy the remake treatment, taking inspiration from Capcom’s efforts with Resident Evil.

To Prime and Beyond

From 2002’s Resident Evil remake to the more recent successes with Resident Evil 2 & 4, Capcom has managed to recreate the feeling and survival horror tropes of the originals while modernizing the gameplay.

Whether it's the constant tension of being stalked by a Terminator-like Mr. X in 2019’s Resident Evil 2, or the palpable paranoia you feel exploring in Resident Evil 4 — the skin might be new, but the bones are undeniably "Resi."

Even recently-announced Resident Evil: Veronica — whilst a remake of 1999’s Code: Veronica — looks set to be a brand new take that evokes the feeling of the original game, but brings it into the modern era.

Prime 4 felt like a game out of time. Sure, it looked the part, but it felt decidedly like a GameCube game. So why not take a leaf out of Capcom's book, apply their "recapturing the vibes" mindset for a Metroid Prime Trilogy Remake, using the Prime 4 engine as its foundation.

2023’s Metroid Prime Remastered showed off the venerable title with better textures and widescreen support, but a remake powered by the fourth game’s engine could showcase the opening and Tallon IV in a whole new light.

Similar to 2002’s Resident Evil Remake with the Spencer Mansion, places would feel familiar but fresh, thanks to updated graphics, better sound, and support for HD Rumble 2 that could help the player become more immersed in the game. And of course, you can change a few things to play off people's expectations.

If Nintendo is feeling brave, the reimagining could even begin at the end of Zero Mission, which is set just before Metroid Prime. Controlling Samus with all her abilities, facing off against Mother Brain in an area not seen in 3D, could be a great introduction to old and new players, as well as giving the opportunity to remake an area from a previous title. Then, players could escape to Samus’ ship, with the ability to pilot it to the Orpheron ship, where Prime begins.

The Return of Metroid Prime Multiplayer

A remake (or remakes) would obviously mean a big step-up in graphics and gameplay across all three games, but it could also herald the long-awaited return of its multiplayer mode from Metroid Prime 2, something that Metroid Prime 4: Beyond bizarrely left out.

Up to four players could take part in one of two modes here - Deathmatch and Bounty Mode, which had players compete against one another by collecting coins to win matches. There were four arenas to choose from, with an additional two to unlock when players got far enough in Prime 2’s single-player mode.

It was a fun time, and its absence in Prime 4: Beyond felt like a big miss, especially with the prospect of playing this mode online with others and using the Switch 2 features like Game Chat.

A remake could fix this injustice, and even expand on the concept by offering new multiplayer modes alongside maps based on locations from across the Prime series. You could even add a co-op mode for the campaign, and a horde mode for co-op fans to enjoy online too.

Give Samus the Itchy Tasty Treatment

As it stands in 2026, the Metroid series feels adrift once more. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be lost to the sands of time, a mediocre entry in a series filled with bangers. As the latest Nintendo Direct eagerly showcased Donkey Kong, Zelda, and plenty of third-party releases, Samus was notably absent. Sure, she's just had a game, but it's hard not to be nervous after the drought that Metroid players had to suffer in the 2010s.

Capcom was in a similar lull after 2012’s disappointing Resident Evil 6, a bloated and confusing entry that made players fear the end of the series. But the seventh entry, alongside the Resident Evil 2 Remake in 2019, breathed new life into the franchise, which has proved as tough to kill as any of Umbrella's bioweapons.

Metroid's fate feels equally in the balance right now, and in a world where game studios are closing down and rivals like Microsoft are shrinking their focus to big-hitter franchises, Nintendo could easily let Metroid fall back into obscurity. Refocusing on what makes the series iconic is the key to its success, and modern remakes of the originals might just be what they need to rediscover that Metroid magic.

There are some easy wins out there to keep fans engaged; it’d still be great to see more games appear on the Nintendo Online service, like Metroid Prime 2, and we'd love more 2D entries after the excellent Metroid Dread, but nothing hits like Prime, and Prime isn't hitting right now.

If not, then I fear Samus will be riding her Vi-O-La into the sunset, deep within the barren wasteland of Sol Valley for the foreseeable future.

It came from outer space, exploding high above the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina.

That April 1 event — an incoming meteor, also termed a bolide — was observed by both U.S. space-based military and civil sensors.

Hush-hush U.S. government satellite sensors detected the speedy fireball cutting through our atmosphere. The object's brightness peaked at an altitude of nearly 60 miles (90.5 kilometers) over the South Atlantic.

That dazzling spectacle was also caught by the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration's GOES-E and Europe's Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) Imager-1 satellite. Those two independent spacecraft in geostationary orbit detected the bolide via onboard lightning imagers.

This skyfall show is among a number of recent episodes that spotlight the value of combining multi-sensor data to not only portray fireball dynamics but also to help appreciate human-caused space debris impacts, as well as strengthening planetary defense knowhow.

Catastrophic fragmentation

Take, for instance, another extraterrestrial incident.

In this case, an April 24, 2025 fireball over south-central Alaska yielded one of the most densely recorded "seismoacoustic" datasets ever obtained for a nature-made bolide en route to busting up.

A network of 37 seismic stations, 16 single infrasound sensors, and four infrasound arrays recorded 30 ballistic and multiple fragmentation arrivals. All this was complemented by Doppler weather radar detections of falling meteorites and independent optical video observations.

Now, toss in for good measure yet another encounter.

A roughly 12-foot-wide (3.7 meters) space rock plowed through Earth's atmosphere over northwest Queensland, Australia, on May 20, 2023, accompanied by a raucous round of sonic booms. And U.S. government space-based sensors caught the fall.

Researchers later determined that the object underwent catastrophic fragmentation, producing one of the 20 most energetic events reported by NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) since 1988 and the most energetic seen over Australia. It was equivalent to the explosion of a 7.1-kiloton bomb.

Location, time and estimated energy

"For many fireballs, U.S. Government detections reported through NASA's CNEOS database provide an important starting point by establishing that an event occurred and, in many cases, providing basic parameters such as location, time and estimated energy," explained Elizabeth Silber, a senior research and development physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.

"Civil and scientific observing systems can then add independent measurements that help refine and validate that initial characterization," said Silber.

CNEOS, which is based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, is NASA's center for computing asteroid and comet orbits and their odds of striking Earth. CNEOS computes high-precision orbits for such objects in support of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

Different and complementary information

"The Alaska event is an especially useful example, because it was not reported by U.S. Government sensors in the CNEOS database. In this case, the event was reconstructed almost entirely from civil and scientific observations," Silber told Space.com.

She said that the seismic and infrasound data constrained the trajectory and acoustic energy, the video provided independent optical information, and the weather radar detected material from the fireball falling to Earth.

"So, the real strength is that these systems provide different and complementary information," said Silber. "When a U.S. Government detection is available, civil data can independently validate it and add much more detail. When one is not available, as in this case [for Alaska], the civil networks can still provide a surprisingly complete reconstruction."

Independent view

The Alaska study shows how valuable it is to put together diverse types of observations once an event has occurred, said Silber. Each measurement responds to a different part of the event.

"Seismic and infrasound sensors record the atmospheric shock waves and can constrain the trajectory, fragmentation and energy," she added. "Optical observations provide an independent view of the luminous flight. Doppler weather radar can detect surviving material after it has slowed and entered dark flight."

Bottom line: no single sensor tells you everything.

"Combining independent observations lets us move from simply knowing that an event occurred to determining how the object traveled through the atmosphere, where it fragmented, how much energy it released, and whether material may have survived to the ground," said Silber.

'Hard rain' is gonna fall

Researchers got pretty lucky with the April 1, 2026 event over the South Atlantic, according to NASA's Rob Landis, a planetary defense specialist: Two civilian spacecraft located at different locations in geosynchronous orbit allowed them to conduct a rather unique investigation of this bolide.

"With two civilian resources, we can actually discuss things more openly," Landis, who's now a visiting vehicle integration manager for the International Space Station at NASA's Johnson Space Center, told Space.com.

Lightning-watching instruments not designed for detecting bolides, he said, "afford the science community to discuss these events and these sensors in a forthright, open manner. These lightning imagers give us opportunistic bonus science for those who study the 'hard rain.'"

Landis said that, in his personal view, there's a lot of smaller stuff getting through the atmosphere.

"To the casual observer, these certainly produce wonderful natural fireworks and are mostly harmless," Landis said. But, he stressed, it's important to be able to distinguish between natural events and human-made ones.

"It would be a horrific tragedy if any nation responded to a natural event — if they misinterpret it as a preemptive strike," cautioned Landis.

Real-world tests

So, in the big picture, having collaborative, multiple and independent ways to observe atmospheric entries is of benefit to planetary defense thinkers.

"Planetary defense is not only about finding an object before it reaches Earth," Silber said. "It is also about understanding what happens during atmospheric entry — that is, how the object fragments, where it deposits its energy, how accurately we can reconstruct its trajectory and whether material survives to the ground."

Incoming events provide "real-world tests" of the methods and models used to answer those questions, said Silber.

Harkening back to the recent Alaska fireball fall, Silber said, was particularly valuable because it was unpredicted, yet the dense ground-based network allowed the trajectory and energetics to be reconstructed in considerable detail.

"From a planetary-defense perspective, that kind of redundancy is extremely useful. Space-based observations, seismic and infrasound networks, optical cameras, and weather radar each provide different information, and each has its own limitations," Silber said.

When several observation techniques are available, researchers can cross-check one another and produce a much more complete characterization of an event.

"That improves post-event situational awareness, helps validate physical models and strengthens our ability to interpret future atmospheric entries, whether they involve natural objects or artificial reentries," Silber concluded.

On Nov. 1, 1962, the Soviet Union launched the Mars 1 spacecraft on a mission to fly by the Red Planet.

While it did end up flying by Mars, the mission was not exactly a success. After it separated from the rocket, it deployed its solar panels and started cruising toward Mars.

When mission controllers were checking out the telemetry it transmitted back to Earth, they found out that Mars 1 had sprung a leak in one of the gas valves that controls the spacecraft's orientation. And without a working orientation system, Mars 1 would have a hard time pointing its antennas in the right direction. It lost contact with Earth when it was about halfway to Mars.

Why it mattered

Ever since Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope to the red-tinted star and identified as a planet, Mars has captivated scientists' interests as to its nature. So it was of no surprise that as soon as we gained the ability to send missions into space, that the focus turned to the "fourth rock from the Sun."

As it turned out, though, reaching Mars, let alone entering its orbit or landing on its surface,, was and continues to be difficult.

Mars 1, despite its name, was actually the Soviet Union's fourth attempt at sending a probe to the planet. The first three ended in launch failures. Similar problems faced the United States, as well, but it was NASA's Mariner IV mission that became the first to successfully fly by Mars two years later.

Still, as humanity continues to push forward to the day people land on, explore and live on Mars, the 1962 Soviet mission stands as the first to get close to revealing the first details about the planet.

Want more space history? Check out our full On This Day In Space Story archive and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube.

NASA's Swift space telescope is expected to crash back to Earth in the next few days.

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory will reenter Earth's atmosphere in an uncontrolled fashion, after a robotic rescue mission failed to boost the scope to a higher orbit.

Swift launched to Earth orbit back in November 2004. Over the next two decades, it studied gamma-ray bursts — the most powerful explosions in the universe — and other cosmic objects and events using a trio of telescopes: a Burst Alert Telescope (BAT), an X-Ray Telescope (XRT), and its Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT).

On Oct. 20, NASA reported that Swift's orbit had decayed to 171 miles (275 kilometers) above Earth and that the roughly 3,300-pound (1,500-kilogram) observatory was no longer able to compensate for the effects of the increased drag. It entered safe mode, followed by Swift's operations team at Pennsylvania State University sending a command to the spacecraft that effectively ended its operations ahead of its destructive and fiery nose-dive.

It's unclear at the moment exactly when and where Swift will plunge to Earth. But researchers definitely have their eyes peeled.

A surge of reentries

In physics fashion, for the most part, what goes up must come down — with more space hardware to follow.

Thanks to the growing surge in low Earth orbit constellations and technology refresh cycles, there are 10 times more objects reentering per year than there were just five years ago, said Darren McKnight, a senior technical fellow at LeoLabs, a company that keeps a watchful eye on what's going on above our planet.

"It is unfortunate that Swift was not 'reorbited,' but from a reentry hazard perspective it is a small portion of the stuff coming back in. The rub on this, of course, is that, while many people bemoan the reentry of more objects, I am much more upset about the rapid rate of abandoning massive objects above 400 miles [644 km]," McKnight told Space.com.

Swift will likely disintegrate sufficiently upon reentry to not pose a ground casualty hazard, McKnight said. However, the internal workings of the observatory's X-ray and optical telescope might survive, McKnight said.

Where in the world?

Similar in view is Dean Sladen, a quality manager and aerospace engineer at the U.K. precision-components supplier Accu Components.

"Once Swift falls to about 120 kilometers [75 miles], the end usually comes within a few minutes. The air in front of it heats up so much that the satellite will start to glow. Solar panels and antennas are typically the first to tear off, and at around 78 kilometers [48 miles], roughly eight times the height of a passing airliner, the main body breaks apart. Most of it will melt and vaporize," said Sladen.

While it isn't yet known exactly where any surviving pieces will land, Sladen noted that Swift's orbit only passes over a band within about 21 degrees of the equator.

"That band is mostly ocean, though it also crosses populated parts of Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Latin America," he said.

Surviving leftovers

As for which parts are most likely to survive and reach ocean or ground, Sladen pointed out that most of Swift's body is aluminum, wiring and electronics, which melt away early in the reentry process. What reaches Earth is usually small, dense and heat-resistant, such as titanium, steel and glass.

"The most likely survivors are its six heavy reaction wheels, the spinning flywheels it used to aim itself, along with tougher telescope parts such as lenses and mirrors. Its mask of around 52,000 tiny lead tiles will almost certainly melt. Only a handful of small, scorched fragments are expected to make it down — nothing recognizable as a telescope," Sladen said.

Sladen said that, at the current time, it appears that no detailed risk assessment has been published for Swift's fall.

"However, this does not mean NASA has not done the work," said Sladen.

"NASA's own orbital debris requirements state that the risk of human casualty from surviving debris shall not exceed one in 10,000, so it is highly likely this work has been completed but not published," he told Space.com. "Personally, I believe it should be published, as NASA has done with previous satellites. The risk is almost certainly very small, but it would give people a clear, factual picture rather than guesswork."

Design for demise

Sladen added that there's far more focus on how a satellite's life ends these days than there was in the past.

"Many now carry enough propulsion to steer themselves into a remote stretch of ocean, or are built from materials designed to burn up completely, an approach called 'design for demise.' NASA and the European Space Agency limit the chance of anyone being hurt by a reentry to one in 10,000, and if a satellite can't meet that, it's expected to come down in a controlled way," said Sladen.

So, should people be worried about having a nasty run-in with Swift leftovers?

Sladen doesn't think so. NASA has said that harm to anyone on the ground is unlikely, and LeoLabs also describes the risk as very small. Most of the spacecraft will burn up, and any surviving pieces will most likely fall into the sea, he said.

"The real concern is the long-term trend. With more satellites being launched than ever, the number of uncontrolled reentries is growing, which is why designing satellites to come down safely matters more and more," Sladen concluded.

This is a great month for planet watching, either in the evenings or mornings. During convenient evening hours, the planet of choice is Saturn, visible well up in the southern sky during mid-to-late evening hours. Telescopically, the southern side of its famous ring system is currently tilted about 6½ degrees to our line of sight.

Around the middle of the night, Mars and Jupiter come into view above the east-northeast horizon and just before the break of dawn are in excellent position, soaring high in the southern sky in the vicinity of the Sickle of Leo the Lion. Watch how Mars approaches Jupiter early in the month, passes it on Nov. 16, then spends the rest of the month sailing away to the east.

Meanwhile, in the predawn morning sky, Venus literally vaults into prominence as the month progresses. And from midmonth on through the end of November, Mercury asserts itself, appearing as a very bright "star" to the far lower left of Venus.

In our schedule, remember that when measuring the angular separation between two celestial objects, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees. Here, we present a schedule below which provides some of the best planet viewing times as well directing you as to where to look to see them

Reminder: On Nov. 1 — where applicable — change clocks back one hour from Daylight Saving Time. On this date, the clock hour from 1 to 2:00 a.m. is repeated, thus making this day the longest of the year: 25 hours long. The mnemonic is: "Spring Ahead, Fall Back."

Mercury

Mercury, hidden during inferior conjunction with the sun on Nov. 4, will emerge in the eastern morning sky after the second week of the month to undergo an excellent morning apparition for the Northern Hemisphere. This rocky little world arrives at its greatest western elongation (20 degrees) from the sun on Nov. 20; its most favorable morning apparition of the year for mid-northern observers. From Nov. 16 to Nov. 26 speedy Mercury will rise in the east-southeast before the beginning of astronomical twilight, more than 95 minutes before sunrise.

Venus

Venus is a good reason to be up at the crack of dawn in November; it's a silvery lamp that rises above the east-southeast horizon. Venus was at inferior conjunction on Oct. 24. But the steep angle of the ecliptic at dawn in late autumn helps Venus vault noticeably higher with each passing day for observers at mid-northern latitudes. On Nov. 1, it rises 55 minutes before the sun. But just several days later on Nov. 5, viewers around 40 degrees north latitude can see Venus come up one hour and 25 minutes before the sun and shine 15 degrees above the horizon at sunrise. As November ends, Venus rises nearly 3½ hours before the sun and hangs nearly 35 degrees up at sunrise.

All month Venus brightens impressively and on the penultimate day of the month it will reach the pinnacle of its magnificent brightness, shining at magnitude -4.9, rising almost 3½ hours before the sun. If there's snow on the ground, check for shadows made by Venus's light. Through a telescope, the phase of the planet looks most remarkable early in the month. That's when you may be able to glimpse Venus when it's only a few percent illuminated, a hairline crescent close to an arcminute long; about 1/30 the apparent diameter of the moon. Venus is not alone in the dawn sky.

Its leap takes it up into the proximity of the bluish 1st-magnitude star Spica in Virgo on the morning of Nov. 3. The star will be sitting 2.4 degrees to the upper right of Venus. During this month, Venus seems to perform a dos-à-dos with Spica and at first seems destined to soar up and catch it. Instead, the closest it gets to this star is 1.8 degrees to its upper left early on the morning of Nov. 19.

On the morning of Nov. 7, a striking array of a waning crescent moon, brilliant Venus and Spica awaits early risers low in the east-southeast sky about an hour before sunrise. The trio will be bunched together inside of a circle measuring only about 2½ degrees in diameter.

Mars

Mars, shining at magnitude +0.9, is in Leo in the morning sky and is easily found on the morning of Nov. 2, using the moon as a guide. That day it sits a couple of degrees to the left of the moon. In addition, on that date, Mars is positioned 5 degrees to the upper right of much brighter Jupiter.

Mars has been hiding in the glare of the sun, or in the dead of the early morning hours, for the last year and a quarter. Now it finally rises in the east before midnight. Each night, watch the orange-yellow planet move a little closer to Jupiter. They'll be in conjunction on Nov. 16 (See Jupiter below).

On the morning of Nov. 26, Mars, having brightened to magnitude +0.6, passes 1.7 degrees to the upper left of the first magnitude star Regulus in Leo. The color contrast between the orange-yellow planet and blue-white star is striking, especially in binoculars.

Jupiter

Jupiter is high enough for a steady telescopic view by 3 a.m. But its dusky cloud belts and Red Spot can be seen more clearly when the planet is highest in the southeast soon after dawn breaks.

On Nov. 3, shortly after 1 a.m. local time, look low toward the east-northeast horizon to watch the moon slowly ascend the sky. The 1st magnitude star Regulus will be evident sitting a degree to the moon's left. And sitting about 5 degrees above the moon will be Jupiter, appearing as a brilliant "star" shining with a steady, silvery light.

Mars passes 1.2 degrees to the upper left of Jupiter on Nov. 16; the giant planet outshining the red planet 13-fold. Late on Nov. 29 and into the early hours of Nov. 30, look low toward the east-northeast horizon for a gathering of the waning gibbous moon, with Jupiter, Regulus and Mars. These four celestial bodies cover an expanse of roughly 7 degrees going from right to left. Best views will come around the time of the break of dawn when they'll appear to soar high in the southern sky.

Saturn

Saturn is situated in the northeast corner of the non-zodiacal constellation of Cetus the Whale (or Sea Monster). It crosses the southern meridian around 9:45 p.m. at the beginning of November and about two hours earlier at the month's end. All evening, it is excellently placed for telescopic viewing of its glorious ball and rings. At magnitude +0.6, Saturn is easily the brightest point of light in its section of the heavens. It can also be told from the stars by its steady, yellowish light.

On the evening of Nov. 18, take note of Saturn mimicking a bright "star" shining about 6 degrees below the waxing gibbous moon.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope, The Old Farmer's Almanac and other publications.

Abandoned, possessed, or infested spaceships in sci-fi films, books, and video games are usually not a welcoming place to hang your helmet and kick back inside.

Many are distinctly marked as DO NOT APPROACH zones and equipped with clearly articulated warning messages to keep your distance, but that doesn't ever seem to stop scavengers, space pirates, or evil industrial mega corporations from waving off these dangerous signs to board anyway.

Other creaky craft are apt to contain nasty alien hitchhikers or biological hazards not exactly conducive to a pleasant star-trekking voyage. Whether these nefarious neglected craft have just reappeared from the other side of a black hole or have been lying dormant for eons on a hostile planetoid, visitors are usually infrequent.

So ignore those distress beacons at your own peril and step into this alarming armada of 9 nightmarish sci-fi spaceships before orbits decay.

Happy Halloween!

1. USG ISHIMURA — "DEAD SPACE" (2008)

It's basically a perfectly good interstellar mining vessel owned by the Concordance Extraction Corporation if you forget about the nasty reanimated corpses found lurking on nearly every deadly deck.

The pesky Necromorphs are a resilient crop of creatures and are extremely inhospitable when it comes to having uninvited guests, yet they don't mind if you're staying for dinner.

This plague of hungry zombified corpses is a real drag, unless you happen to have a flaring plasma cutter in your back pocket and your name is Isaac Clarke.

2. THE GRENDEL — "JASON X" (2002)

Things would be much more peaceful aboard the Grendel if a notorious undead slasher named Jason Voorhees wasn't stashed in the cargo bay, but when scientific discovery enters the equation, many questionable choices follow.

The Grendel is a 25th-century medical research vessel on a field trip from hell to an overly polluted Earth, where the frozen Jason is kept at the Crystal Lake Research Facility and shipped back home to Earth 2 for cellular research.

Once thawed, the ship becomes his private killing field with an ample supply of student bodies until the fiery finale when Jason becomes an inhuman meteor in the sky. Next time, take the school bus.

3. RAMA — "RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA" (1973)

This spooky classic novel written by "2001's" legendary author, Arthur C. Clarke, focuses on a massive alien spaceship entering Earth's atmosphere.

The 31-mile-long cylindrical spaceship does not parallel park easily and is quite spacious inside. In fact, it’s primarily hollow at first and likely offers up a fantastic location for some echoey yodeling. As we later learn, Rama aliens are apparently collecting forms of intelligent life from around the galaxy, employing their ginormous Rama spacecraft.

As an ice ring thaws and forms a vast ocean, astronauts explore the ship’s cavernous confines, only to find automated bio-machines and weird metallic towers, curved alloy cliffs, and fantastic geometric city-like structures. The myriad mysteries that unfold are enough to drive sane humans to absolute madness!

4. THE SCOPULI — "LEVIATHAN WAKES" (2011)

Ignore that glistening brown protomolecular goo, and come on in and sit a spell in the Scopuli, a light Martian freighter used by the Outer Planets Alliance for clandestine missions and ransacked by the evil security firm Protogen in an attempt to hijack its alien cargo.

Hailing from James S.A. Corey's first book in "The Expanse Series", the Scopuli was found moored to an asteroid by James Holden and his Canterbury crew. The amber-brown mess discovered inside the rigged ship is not to be trifled with, let alone inhaled, eaten, or touched.

Come to think of it, it’s probably much wiser to get out while you can and move along!

5. THE DERELICT — "ALIEN" (1979)

Anything that looks like an organic hammer-headed horseshoe lying canted in a rocky ravine on a hostile, uncharted planetoid is best to avoid. Especially when its repeating SOS beacon is translated into its true message… a dire warning to keep curious rubberneckers the hell away!

Once its strange, sexually suggestive openings are penetrated by Nostromo crew members, seeing fossilized giants and oceans of squishy egg pods in the cargo hold would make most reasonable people flee in terror.

We're better off leaving this sleeping nightmare in its resting place.

6. CHALLENGE 142 — "IT, THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE" (1956)

One of the inspirations for Ridley Scott's "Alien", this Golden Age goodie brings us aboard the sleek silver rescue rocketship, Challenge 142, and locks us inside after a bloodthirsty reptilian alien from Mars decides to catch a lift back to Earth with its new astronaut friends in the far-flung future of... 1973!

Mute, clawed monsters with insatiable appetites for human flesh are never good travel companions in the confines of a steel spacecraft. A wiser choice would have been to have stayed on Mars and used the Challenge 142 as a stylized red planet potato farm.

7. ICARUS 1 — "SUNSHINE" (2007)

Need a glowing golden suntan? This vessel was launched from Earth to detonate a nuclear payload within the sun's fury to keep its fusion furnace burning and was never heard from again.

A sister rescue vessel, the Icarus 2, was dispatched as a last resort and encountered this long-abandoned ship drifting near the scorching star. Inside the Icarus 1, its over-tanned Captain Pinback has been caught in an addictive ritual of basking in the sun's brilliant embrace and has gone quite insane.

Back out quietly and toss him a nice bottle of aloe vera lotion.

8. THE EVENT HORIZON — "EVENT HORIZON" (1997)

Lawrence Fishburne's Captain Miller thinks this place is a tomb! Well, that's not a very polite way to describe what I think is one of the most ominous spaceships ever seen on screen.

The fact that this foreboding vessel, designed after the cathedral of Notre Dame, has appeared in Neptune's orbit following its disappearance after entering a black hole should be enough to keep the crew of the Lewis and Clark from steering anywhere close. Nothing good can be happening on that doomed craft considering the seven-year absence.

One second after discovering that the craft punctured a route straight to Hades and returned with some extra baggage, I'd be running for the exit hatch! The welcome mat is out, but there's no need to knock on this airlock.

9. THE SHENANDOAH — "CREATURE" (1985)

Basically an "Alien" ripoff, this low-budget cult sci-fi flick has its following, but only from those midnight runs to the video store in the '80s to grab the tape with the craziest-looking alien on the cover.

The Shenandoah is a prospecting explorer sent by a ruthless corporation to claim an alien archaeological site on Saturn's moon, Titan. Assorted chaos ensues when a rival West German spaceship is discovered at the dig site, only for our protagonists to find the crew slaughtered.

The carnivorous monster that creeps onto the Shenandoah suffers from little monster syndrome, but its bite is impressive. Best to have never touched the metallic pods in the subterranean cave and just skipped this homicidal mission entirely.

On Episode 234 of This Week In Space, Tariq Malik and Mike Wall are joined by Than Putzig of the Planetary Science Institute about a NASA-backed payload bound for the Marius Hills Pit on the moon.

In our ongoing quest to develop a moon base, could we possibly utilize the area beneath the surface of the moon in order to make the moon habitable? Could Marius Hills Pit, a roughly 50-meter-wide opening that may lead into a lunar lava tube, become the Moon's first living habitat for humans?

Putzig explains how geophysical instruments on a rover could detect hidden voids beneath the surface and measure the size of these lava tubes. We also ask Than how these lava tubes form, what a follow-up robotic explorer could reveal, and how this research fits alongside NASA’s Artemis plans for a south polar moon base. Join us!

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Space news of the week

• China's secretive space plane caught on camera in incredible new photo released by US military
• Watch Virgin Galactic's new 'Delta-class' space plane take to the skies for the 1st time
• Patrick Stewart, renowned actor and ‘Star Trek’s’ Captain Picard, dies at 86
• 'Star Trek' legend and sci-fi luminary Walter Koenig dies at 90
• NASA's hunting for a secret underground cave on the moon
• Journey Across The Moon - Stunning Images From The SELENE Lunar Orbiter
• LPI - Marius Hills
• NASA Adds New Science Investigations for Moon Base

Model Falcon 9!

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

On October 31, 2015, an asteroid shaped like a human skull flew by Earth. It arrived with excellent timing on Halloween, which made the already-creepy asteroid even creepier.

During its closest approach, the creepy asteroid was about 300,000 miles from Earth, or 1.3 times the average distance between Earth and the moon. So, it didn't pose a threat to our planet. It was discovered by astronomers at Hawaii's Pan-STARRS observatory only three weeks before the flyby, and it was given the official designation "2015 TB145." But no one knew what it looked like until the day before Halloween, when the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico captured the first radar images.

NASA called the asteroid the "Great Pumpkin," while others called it the "Halloween Asteroid."

Why it mattered

Be afraid, be very afraid... Okay, not really, but there is reason to be concerned about near-Earth objects and the time in which they are detected.

"According to the catalog of near-Earth objects (NEOs) kept by the Minor Planet Center, this is the closest currently known approach by an object this large until asteroid 1999 AN10, at about 2,600 feet (800 meters) in size, approaches at about 1 lunar distance (238,000 miles from Earth) in August 2027," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reported in 2015.

NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program, sometimes called “Spaceguard,” works to catalog these type of objects and predicts some of their paths if they could be potentially threats to our planet. While there are no known credible impact threats to date, it doesn't mean the "Great Pumpkin," or rather a great impactor, isn't real.

As for 2015 TB145, it did return to Earth's vicinity in 2018, but at a much more distant pass of about 24 million miles (38 million kilometers), "or about a quarter the distance between Earth and the sun," according to JPL.

Want more space history? Check out our full On This Day In Space Story archive and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube.

The moon dives towards the glowing heart of the constellation Leo for a spectacular rendezvous with Mars and Jupiter overnight on Nov. 1-2, as the glittering stars of the Beehive Cluster shine nearby. Here's what you need to know.

Look to the eastern horizon an hour after midnight to see the 45%-lit waning moon shining less than 5 degrees from the red light of Mars — roughly the width of your three middle fingers held at arm's length to the night sky.

Jupiter's bright light will gleam just below the red planet, with the bright star Regulus lining up beyond to form a dazzling procession leading back to the horizon. The stars of the Beehive Cluster (M44) can be found twinkling 10 degrees from the unlit side of the lunar disk around this time, in the middle of the constellation Cancer.

Stargazers in Australia, Indonesia and a host of other island nations and territories will see the moon pass directly in front of Jupiter, hiding its light in an event known as an occultation starting at 3:45 p.m. EST (2045 GMT) on Nov. 2 , according to In-The-Sky.org. However, the exact visibility and timings depend on location.

The cosmic pile-up serves as a spectacular reminder of the scale and diversity of targets on display in the night sky. After all, the moon appears largest from our Earthly perspective, but in reality it's less than half the diameter of Mars.

Jupiter, meanwhile, is over 20 times wider than the red planet, while mighty Regulus is up to four times larger than the sun, andcould easily fit all the planets of the solar system in its vast expanse.

By moonrise on the night of Nov. 3, the lunar crescent will have leapt past Jupiter and Mars, to appear just 1 degree from the blue-white light of Regulus for viewers in the U.S. Meanwhile, viewers in several South American countries including Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia will see the moon occult Regulus beginning at 6:59 EST (1024 GMT) on Nov. 3. The exact timings for a selection of South American countries can be found below, courtesy of In-The-Sky.org.

Want to get a closer look at the moon and planets of the solar system? Then be sure to check out our picks of the best telescopes and binoculars for exploring the night sky, including the Celestron NexStar 8SE, which we rank as the best motorized telescope out there.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Something spooky is stirring in the shadows of the infamous star Betelgeuse, a cosmic poltergeist that is disrupting the atmosphere of the red supergiant.

New radio observations have shown Betelgeuse's smaller stellar companion, Siwarha (not Betelguese Betelguese, unfortunately), cutting through the supergiant's extended atmosphere and leaving a wake in its path, like a jet boat slicing through a lake.

Because the name of this red supergiant star located about 650 light-years away from Earth, marking the shoulder of constellation Orion, is Betelgeuse, which means "the hand of al-Jawza" in Arabic, the companion was named Siwarha, meaning "her bracelet."

"This companion is orbiting so close to the star that it actually passes through its extended atmosphere," Lynn Matthews, the principal research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Haystack Observatory who led the new observations, said in a statement.

Astronomers turn cosmic ghost hunters

Using data collected from 2021 to 2026 using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, Matthews and colleagues found that Betelgeuse's atmosphere stretches into an egg shape when the companion star is farthest away and rounds out when the companion passes in front of or behind it.

The same data also showed that Betelgeuse itself has largely recovered from the "Great Dimming" that made headlines in 2020. This recovery comes after the red supergiant "sneezed" in 2020, dramatically ejecting tons of gas and dust and fading to its dimmest in more than a century.

Among the long-standing mysteries of Betelgeuse, scientists have puzzled over a brightening and dimming cycle that lasts roughly 2,100 days. Recent studies pointed to a low-mass companion orbiting deep inside the star's atmosphere, and its existence was confirmed in early 2026.

Though Siwarha itself is too faint to detect directly at radio wavelengths, its influence shows up in the star's shape, the new study found. To confirm the effect, the researchers say, they will need to observe more of the companion's orbit, especially at radio frequencies that have so far been sparsely sampled.

The Next Generation Very Large Array, a planned telescope, should make this kind of monitoring far more routine, according to the team. With sharper vision, researchers could see how red supergiants like Betelgeuse shed their material as they near the end of their lives, and how a close companion might affect that process by tugging on that ejected matter.

This research is described in a paper published in The Astronomical Journal.

There could be more than just ghosts and ghouls lurking in the skies this Halloween! From Saturn's spectacular rings to shooting stars and even a space station flyover, the night sky has a few treats of its own in store for U.S. skywatchers on Oct. 31.

Based on the latest national forecast, skies will be mainly clear on Saturday evening over most of New York State, northeast Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and New England as well as a swath of the southern and central Great Plains, central Rockies, a portion of the Pacific Northwest and central and south Florida, as costumed kids arrive at the door looking for candy or some other Halloween treat.

Temperatures will be mostly in the chilly 40s across the Northeast US, upper 50s and 60s for the nation's midsection, warm 70s to near 80 for the southern US, including Florida and the Gulf Coast, and 40s for much of the western US. Unfortunately, a storm moving across the nation's heartland may spell rainy skies for parts of Iowa and Nebraska, south to the Gulf Coast.

For those blessed with a generally fair evening, there will be views of mid-autumn stars and constellations plus a bright planet shining prominently in the early evening sky. If you plan to accompany children around your neighborhood, you might want to enlighten them by pointing out some of those objects that will be visible in the sky. Better yet, if you have a telescope, give your visitors a treat of a different kind: Give them a close-up view of some of those celestial sights.

At the top of the viewing list: The lord of the rings

At around 7 p.m. local time, tell your young audience to make a clenched fist with their hands and then hold them out at arm's length. Now, tell them to go "two fists" up from the east-southeast horizon and they will see a bright star, shining with a yellow-white hue. Now, direct your telescope toward that "star" and when you gaze through the eyepiece, you will not be looking at a star at all . . . but a planet!

Saturn.

This sixth planet out from the sun, just might be the most beautiful of all. Its rings are still readily evident, although currently they appear somewhat edge-on with the south face tilted only about 6 and a half degrees to our line of sight. A telescope magnifying 30-power will bring them out; they appear to bisect the ball of the planet. While this is far from their appearance compared to other years, the view should still look impressive to those who have never seen the ringed planet for themselves.

And watch out for fireballs!

Because they are active over Halloween, the Taurid meteor shower is sometimes called the "Halloween Fireballs." The bits of debris that make up the Taurids are a little larger than average, so they can result in brighter meteors and even fireballs, or exploding meteors (called bolides), that streak across the sky and leave incandescent trains in their wake. While they are most active during the second week of November, a few forerunners can show up on Halloween night, darting from out of the east-northeast part of the sky. So, if you or your young visitors see something resembling a flare from a Roman candle sweeping majestically across the evening sky, it may very well be a Taurid meteor.

And for those in the Northeast U.S., a space station!

Not the International Space Station, but the Tianhe-1 core module, the first module to launch of the Tiangong space station. It was launched into orbit on 29 April 2021, as the first launch of the final phase of the Tiangong program, part of the China Manned Space Program (Project 921). On Halloween evening, Tianhe-1 will be following a track from Chicago to New York at an altitude of 240 miles (385 km) and should be readily visible to the naked eye across the Northeast US within a few minutes of 7 p.m. EDT, wherever skies are reasonably clear.

The Tiangong Space Station should appear to resemble a very bright star moving across the sky on a general west-to-east course. For places near and along the flight path, the Space Station will appear to pass almost directly overhead. For those situated south of the track, Tiangong will reach its highest point above the northern horizon; those situated north of the track will see the station peak high in the south.

If you see it, tell your young viewers that three astronauts are currently living and working aboard the Tiangong Space Station, of which the Tianhe core module serves as the main living quarters. If you would like specific details on when and where to see the Space Station from your hometown, check out Heavens-Above, a non-profit website and mobile application that tracks satellites, the International Space Station (ISS), comets, and astronomical events in real time.

Another website that provides live information, including an orbit map on Tianhe-1, is NY2O.com. Check its menu list on the right side of the page and look for the blue box: "10-Day Predictions for CSS (Tianhe-1)."

Helpful hints for young telescope viewers

In the September 2019 issue of The Astronomical League Magazine "Reflector," author Richard W. Schmude Jr., offered some tips for those who plan to do public outreach for astronomy on Halloween:

"Firstly, children sometimes grab or touch the eyepiece, so use an inexpensive one. I gently warn children not to touch the telescope. In my area, parents have learned to tell their children not to touch the telescope. In some cases, a child will grab the eyepiece, causing the telescope to shift. For this reason, a Dobsonian telescope with a good finderscope is a good choice for Halloween outreach. A small stool or booster ladder may help very small viewers. Sometimes, parents hold their children up to look through the eyepiece. One may also place a monitor-connected video camera in the telescope and people can easily see the object on a screen." "Finally," adds Mr. Schmude, "I have my bag of goodies next to my telescope so that the children get two treats!"

Whatever your weather, Happy Halloween from all of us at Space.com!

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope, The Old Farmer's Almanac and other publications.

SpaceX celebrated Halloween with an early-morning launch from California.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base today (Oct. 31) at 12:04 a.m. EDT (0404 GMT; 9:04 p.m. on Oct. 30 local time), sending 27 of the company's Starlink internet satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO).

The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth as planned, touching down about 8.5 minutes after launch on the SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You," which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

It was the 18th flight for this particular booster, which is designated B1093. The record for a SpaceX first stage is 37, set this past August by the booster B1067.

The Falcon 9's upper stage did its job as well today, deploying the 27 Starlink satellites into LEO about 62 minutes after launch. They're joining more than 11,000 spacecraft in the Starlink megaconstellation, which is by far the largest satellite network ever assembled.

Today's launch was the 118th Falcon 9 flight of 2026 so far. More than 70% of these missions have been devoted to building out the Starlink network.

SpaceX has also launched its Falcon Heavy and Starship rockets three times apiece this year. Falcon Heavy is an operational vehicle, but Starship remains in the test-flight phase. The company is currently gearing up for another Starship launch, which is expected to take place sometime in November.

As we all begin to absorb the bitter news of Patrick Stewart's death at the age of 86, a flood of personal tributes are pouring in, reflecting this global treasure's wonderful life lived with a dignity and bravado that few mortals possess.

We’re getting just a hint of what Patrick Stewart meant to those who worked with him or knew him throughout his stellar career. Whether on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, on TV as the dashing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and in Hollywood spectacles like 1984's "Dune," four "Star Trek" feature films, and the many "X-Men" movies in which he portrayed Professor Charles Xavier, Stewart was always the consummate professional. His final screen performance arrives on Dec. 18 with "Avengers: Doomsday" where he’ll present his Charles Xavier character once more.

"Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end," Ian McKellen wrote on Instagram of his "X-Men" co-star and friend. "You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and, in my case, love."

William Shatner, a fellow Enterprise captain, offered his profound sense of loss on Stewart's passing. The legends shared the screen in 1994's "Star Trek: Generations."

"What a heartbreaking week it has been. Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor," Shatner posted on Facebook. "From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did. Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him. I was filled with affection and admiration for him and his work. My heart goes out to Sunny and his family. He will be deeply missed."

Akiva Goldsman, co-creator of Paramount+'s "Star Trek: Picard" and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," delivered a sorrowful message in the aftermath of Stewart's death

"Patrick was not only a true lion of the profession, he was the rarest of alchemists, one who could literally turn the written word into flesh and blood," Goldsman wrote. "Patrick was kind, strong, fiercely intelligent, collaborative, vulnerable and wise. His Captain Jean-Luc Picard permanently expanded the universe of 'Star Trek' without measure. He will be deeply missed by this one fan and by so many more."

Stewart's "Star Trek: The Next Generation" family shared their grief and offered up poignant words to try to describe what effect he had on their lives and profession.

"There's no one on this planet that I have acted with or directed more often than my late great friend Patrick Stewart," revealed actor and director Jonathan Frakes, who co-starred for over 35 years with Stewart as Commander Will Riker, in a touching statement. "He will be with me forever. May he rest in Peace."

Finally, Marina Sirtis posted a teary-eyed video in which she explained how much of an impact Stewart had on her life during their time together on "The Next Generation" series and films, in which she portrayed Counselor Deanna Troi beside him.

"Patrick, I loved you with all my heart," she said on Instagram. "I know you're up there now, reunited with all those that you've loved. But to say that you'll be missed down here is probably the understatement of the century. It was an honor to work with Patrick. It was more than an honor; it was the privilege of my life to work with him."

Our time on our "space mission" underwater was coming to an end, and I felt like what I imagine an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) must feel before returning to Earth. On one hand, you are excited to return to your home and loved ones, as well as to fresh food and normal hygiene. On the other, you know you will miss your crew and the incredible experience of being in space.

While my SEA STAR crew and I had not left Earth during our mission, we were separated from the surface of our home planet for five days. All we saw was a green alien water world surrounding us. We did this to live and work like astronauts on the ISS. Instead of dealing with the challenges of space that astronauts face, we problem-solved sometimes equally difficult issues that divers have to manage when performing research in sea water.

Our "wet ISS" was the Jules' Undersea Lab, which is located near Key Largo, Florida, at 22 feet (7 meters) underwater. By the end of our mission, we had all officially become aquanauts. An aquanaut is an undersea explorer who remains underwater for more than 24 hours, without returning to the surface, in a state known as saturation.

In this sense, saturation refers to the physiological condition achieved by a person who breathes underwater long enough for the body's tissues to absorb the maximum possible amount of inert gas (like nitrogen), for a specific depth and pressure. The term aquanaut derives from the Latin word "aqua" (water) and the Greek "nautes" (sailor).

There were a lot of things I wasn't going to miss about being an aquanaut. They included the constant loud noises our life support systems made to keep us alive underwater, as well as bathroom plumbing issues and some health concerns linked to living under pressure. We also had to be very careful when performing our "spacewalks" (scuba dives), due to the low visibility of the environment around us.

Nonetheless, I experienced a sort of "underview effect" during this mission. Most astronauts report experiencing an "overview effect" after seeing our whole planet from space, which usually makes them value our unique planet even more. I felt a similar thing when I saw the sun's rays come through the water. I couldn't reach them, but I enjoyed them from afar. My everyday life felt so close, yet so far away. It gave me both a feeling of longing and more determination to take even more care of our home world than before.

I'm grateful that we were able to perform all of the different scientific projects we planned for our mission. As the Commander of the crew, I usually have my work cut out for me managing the crew and overseeing their research projects, as had been the case for most of the 40 simulated space missions that I led previously. Fortunately, this time my crew was made up of experienced analog astronauts and divers, so the mission was mostly smooth sailing.

The research we chose for this mission was relevant for long-duration space missions. Since we can only send a small number of astronauts to the ISS with a limited number of research activities to perform, underwater stations provide us with a valuable way to conduct analog, or simulated, space missions instead. We also performed some environmental conservation work using a type of underwater vacuum device to help protect the nature around the Jules' Undersea Lab.

My scientific project was focused on studying whether our cognitive abilities and reaction times changed under pressure. This study is part of my collaboration with the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ostrava and City Hospital Ostrava in the Czech Republic. The whole crew definitely felt like their response times to these tests were slower during the mission than before it.

We were also interested in seeing how microgreens seeds were affected by the changes in pressure. Our Health & Safety Officer, Dr. Brandy Nunez, grew some of our kale and super salad mix before we started our mission, while other seeds started their growth journey underwater. All seeds were transferred to our underwater station using two varied pressure settings (gradual and sudden pressure release during their descent). After we harvested them, we could see that the latter types of seeds did indeed experience some barotrauma (damage caused by the sudden increase in air pressure).

Executive Officer Paul Bakken's work was related to managing the internal pressure of logistical transfer containers when they are exposed to significant environmental changes in pressure. The fourth crewmember, Mission Specialist Jenn Pint, worked with Interstellar Performance Labs to develop a taxonomy for analyzing environmental and crew interaction factors during simulated space missions.

On top of these projects, we also performed neutral buoyancy experiments during our underwater spacewalks, as well as the testing of environmental sensors developed by high school and university students in Slovakia. The sensors provided important supplemental information to the cognitive study about our simulated space habitat's living conditions.

Just like astronauts on the ISS, we dedicated some of our time to outreach and educational work, too. In our case, we called Cosmic Region, a simulated space station in Slovakia, and gave the team there a tour of our underwater habitat. My crewmembers kindly went into the water at that time and performed a spacewalk to show what our work during the mission was like.

As I put on my "spacesuit" (scuba diving gear) one last time, I breathed the stuffy undersea air once more and then dove out to return to "Earth." My crewmembers and I then took a long detour around the lagoon around us to help our bodies adjust to lower pressures. Even though we were only 22 feet underwater, there was still a small risk of decompression-related problems that aquanauts can face after living under saturation for some time. The final step was to breach the surface at long last. That's when we all enjoyed breathing fresh air again and feeling the sun on our faces, though the temperature in Florida made us quickly hide away from it again 😉.

You can follow Dr. Michaela Musilova at her website and on social media: @astro_michaela (Instagram, TikTok and Threads), @Dr. Michaela Musilova (Facebook) and @astro-michaela.bsky.social (Bluesky).

India bolstered its homegrown satellite-navigation system today (Oct. 30).

A GSLV Mark II rocket launched the nation's NVS-03 satellite from Satish Dhawan Space Centre today at 2:21 p.m. EDT (1821 GMT and 11:51 p.m. India Standard Time).

Everything went well: The rocket deployed NVS-03 into geostationary transfer orbit as planned, officials with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on X about 30 minutes after liftoff.

NVS-03 is the third next-gen satellite that India has launched for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), its version of the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS).

NavIC operates on a smaller scale than its American counterpart, however. It's "a regional navigation satellite system designed to provide accurate Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) service to users in India as well as the region extending about 1,500 km [930 miles] beyond the Indian landmass, which is its primary service area," ISRO officials wrote in the NVS-03 launch brochure.

The Indian constellation currently consists of three fully functioning satellites, and it requires four to provide PNT services. So today's launch was a big deal — and a lot of eyes will be watching NVS-03's commissioning and checkout phase.

Today's launch was the 14th to date for the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) Mark II, a three-stage rocket that stands 170 feet (52 meters) tall. Twelve of those 14 liftoffs have been successful.

The GSLV Mark II debuted in 2010, the same year its predecessor retired. That previous launchers, the Mark I, flew a total of six times, with two failures.

NVS-03 was the fourth Indian launch of 2026 and the third operated by ISRO. The fourth was mounted by Skyroot Aerospace, which in July became the first Indian company ever to successfully reach orbit.

In space, no one can hear you scream... not unlike in the empty theater screens that aging horror franchises play to when the lustre has gone and their final installments limp to the public. It is perhaps little wonder that some horror franchises go to space to die... or take long breaks, at least.

In celebration of Halloween, we're running down some horror franchises that made the journey to the final frontier, resulting in films that range from the sublime and outrageously campy fun to just pure awful.

Absent from the list are space horror movies that have space baked into their natural fabric. So no Event Horizon, no Alien, and no Critters 4 (they were aliens, so they just went back to space; that doesn't count).

1. Jason X (2001)

2001 was a really weird time for the Friday the 13th franchise. New Line had acquired the series in the wake of the terrible box office returns and critical panning of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Known as "the house that Freddy built," New Line's plan was clear: pit Voorhees vs. Kruger in a battle of horror icons for the ages.

However, the studio had to keep Jason in the public eye to ensure the eventual crossover lived up to expectations. The first move in that effort, 1993's Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, was an odd start. The movie apparently kills Voorhees, with his iconic hockey mask seized by the equally iconic bladed glove of Freddy Krueger at the end of the film and dragged into the dirt.

Fun bit of trivia: the hand wearing the glove isn't that of Freddy actor Robert Englund but belongs to Kane Hodder, arguably the best Jason Voorhees, meaning Hodder played both Jason and Freddy!

Still, the crossover has stalled in the preproduction process by 2001, as a script couldn't be agreed upon. New Line wanted a new Friday film but in a different environment than the typical Crystal Lake setting. After rejecting a winter-themed movie that would see Voorhees killing cross-country skiers in a snow-covered Camp Crystal Lake, New Line decided to put Jason on ice in a different way, cryogenically freezing Pamela Voorhees' baby boy and sending him to space in Jason X, the tenth movie in the series.

Jason X would see the Crystal Lake Killer slaughter David Croenberg, get his ass kicked by a feisty robot, and double up on his iconic sleeping bag kill from Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (one of my favorites, massively underrated), all on the way to getting a major upgrade from some very unhelpful nanobots to become Uber Jason.

Jason X has a mixed reputation and isn't regarded as one of the better entries in the series, but the movie has a load of positives going for it.

The kills are super inventive, the nitrogen head smash being arguably one of the best in a series known for over-the-top brutality; Kane Hodder is great during his final shift as Jason, and there are a load of laughs. Jason X isn't as tongue-in-cheek as one of the following movies on this list, but it is definitely self-aware and so much better for it.

In honor of arguably the best of these space-relocated horror movies, we'll rate this and the following movies in Uber Jasons out of five. For campy space-based horror featuring a character that is a fish out of water, Jason X is near perfect.

4.8 Uber Jasons out of 5. Hail to the king, baby.

2. Amityville in Space (2022)

Alien is often referred to as "a haunted house movie in space." The elements are all there: isolation, a hidden, poorly understood danger lurking in the shadows, victims picked off one by one. Of course, that is figurative, but Amityville in Space shows why filmmakers should never make things too literal.

Amityville in Space is bad. Not so bad that it is good. So bad, it is bad.

Your opinion on Amityville as a franchise likely depends on your tolerance for utter hogwash. The first movie, The Amityville Horror, released in 1979, is an effective, often quite creepy horror. Since then, the loose Amityville Horror franchise spans nine core Amityville movies and between 50 and 90 low-budget independent additions to the franchise.

Amityville in Space is definitely at the cheapest end of the low-budget spectrum, and as the name suggests, it takes 112 Ocean Avenue further than ever before, to the year 3015 and the edge of a distant black hole.

Literally, the only thing worth watching in Amityville in Space is the hilarious opening that sees a failed exorcism attempt cause the Amityville house to literally blast off the surface of Earth like a rocket.d

Unfortunately, Amityville in Space isn't a corny "so-bad it's good" movie. It's just frustratingly bad. Perhaps disappearing into a black hole is the fate Amityville deserved all along, though with the name being in the public domain, Amityville movies will just keep coming. At least I didn't have to watch Amityville Death Toilet (yes, that really exists).

0 Uber Jasons out of 5. Avoid like a demonic pig called Jodie

3. Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)

Leprechaun 4 sees the franchise that launched the career of Jennifer Aniston blast its titular antagonist into space. The Leprechaun, played by the unparalleled Warwick Davis, makes the voyage to the final frontier with tongue planted firmly in cheek, and the results are bloody glorious.

The film sees the Leprechaun's attempts to woo a space princess rudely interrupted by space marines and the minor inconvenience of being blown apart by a grenade.

The Leprechaun then exacts his revenge on the spacecraft of the marines, an impressively realized set for a straight-to-video horror movie in the mid-90s.

If you want some camp horror fun on Halloween, the sight of the Leprechaun emerging fully formed from the pants of a space marine is probably going to be unbeatable.

Fans of British sitcoms will be equally delighted by the appearance of Guy Siner ('Allo 'Allo's Lt. Hubert Gruber) as Dr. Mittenhand. While the rest of the cast play the ludicrousness of a leprechaun rampaging through a spaceship offing space marines relatively straight, Davis and Siner don't just chew the scenery; they suck it in like thespian black holes.

As Mittenhand says: "Thank you, Harold, I do the jokes!"

Of course, there is plenty of ropey CGI, as is standard for a 90s genre movie, but there is a wonderful practical creature at the movie's conclusion that pays tribute to David Cronemburg's The Fly. Less Brundle-Fly, more Mitten-Spider. Plus a death that is pure Looney Tunes and a Kaiju-sized leprechaun. Take that, Uber Jason.

4.5 Uber Jasons out of 5. Thank your Lucky Charms

4. Hellraiser 4: Bloodline (1996)

Another horror franchise heading to space for its fourth installment, and this one also came out in 1996. Hellraiser 4: Bloodline marks a real downturn in the fortunes of Hellraiser, being the last in the series to receive a theatrical release and the last to benefit from input from creator and horror maestro Clive Barker.

The film has a portmanteau style beginning in 2127, as Dr. Paul Merchant attempts to solve the mystery of the Lament Configuration, then flashing back to its creation by Merchant's ancestor Phillip LeMarchand in France in 1796. The movie then jumps to 1996, when the Lament Configuration has inspired a skyscraper built by another of Merchant's ancestors.

This second section also sees the franchise's figurehead Pinhead, played by Doug Bradley, come into conflict with the demonic Angelique. A conflict that is carried into 2127.

Arguably, the CGI in Hellraiser: Bloodline is no better or worse than that of Leprechaun 4; the problem is the latter isn't taking itself seriously, but the former really is.

You can't really expect a "fun" Hellraiser movie; that has never been their vibe, and they are better for the serious tone. But it means a poorly realized move to space really doesn't work.

Arguably, the biggest crime of Hellraiser 4: Bloodline is that it's a bit dull. The in-depth investigation of the Lament Configuration is only going to appeal to hardcore Hellraiser fans who will probably just end up wishing they'd watched Barker's original 1987 magnum opus movie instead.

And it was all downhill for Hellraiser after this. The franchise became the poster boy for straight-to-video horror, with some later installments developed from scripts that initially had nothing to do with Hellraiser at all. A real insult to a franchise that felt fresh, daring, and even dangerous at its outset.

Pinhead probably wished he'd stayed in space.

2 Uber Jasons out of 5. You'll need your eyes pinned back to finish it

5. Dracula 3000 (2004)

When you have been around since 1897, it is pretty hard to keep your routine fresh. By 2004, Dracula had pretty much exhausted gothic horror; a relocation to a modern setting hadn't saved Christopher Lee's Dracula in the 1970s and had arguably resulted in the worst entries in the Hammer series.

Where else to take the Count in a new millennium but into space? That's the approach taken by Dracula 3000, which doesn't connect to any other Dracula cinema outings but features character names and locales that pay homage to Stoker's original novel.

The primary protagonist is Captain Abraham Van Helsing, played by Casper Van Dien, fresh from battling space bugs in Starship Troopers. Dracula — here bizarrely called Count Orlok in an unnecessary nod to Nosferatu — is found on the abandoned ship Demeter by Mother III salvage crew member Mina Harker. Unfortunately, the connections to the source material and the infinitely better Nosferatu are present in name alone. The gothic goodness is gone.

However, something strange happened to me as I was watching Dracula 3000. I found myself enjoying it. Dracula 3000 is... fun?

The acting is more wooden than a stake, the dialog is cringy, the characters are so 2D that it is a wonder Drac could draw any blood at all, and the effects are poor. But there is so much here I found myself wanting to show my friends.

Vampire Coolio is a show-stealer; Dracula looks like he has wandered in from a neighboring studio, swanning around a sci-fi setting in full Victorian cape and collar garb. The Demeter hails from the planet Transyvannia, known to be populated by vampires. Drac had no issue procuring oak coffins for his thrall in space. It's all wonderfully silly, and I loved it.

Dracula 3000 isn't as fun as Leprechaun 4, but it definitely isn't boring like Hellraiser 4: Bloodline, and it isn't whatever the heck Amityville is Space is.

3.5 Uber Jasons out of 5. Livin' in a vampire's paradise.

For my money, Leprechaun 4, Dracula 3000, and Jason X would make a cool triple-header of space-horrors for Halloween night. But only 'cause we didn't get the following franchise entry....

Dishonorable mention: Howling IV: Werewolves on the Moon (1988)

OK. Don't Google it. This isn't the Mandela effect at work. The Howling franchise never went to space.

The Howling IV was released in 1988 under the tagline "The Original Nightmare," and though in modern parlance that would indicate a prequel to Joe Dante's 1981 classic, this film is actually a far inferior remake of that first entry in the series.

What a missed opportunity! Though the trope of a fourth film in a franchise going to space, or returning to space in the case of Critters 4, wouldn't be firmly established until 1996, The Howling could have set the ball rolling with its fourth installment.

After all, few horror franchises had suffered the drops in quality seen between the first Howling, a stone-cold classic, and Howling III: The Marsupials (they aren't even werewolves, guys!), with the awful Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf between the two.

The Howling was dying like a werewolf with a silver bullet in its guts already by the fourth film; so an early move to space would have been justified. Come on, at least give us werewolves on the moon!

The franchise would limp on for another four films after the Original Nightmare, including a lame duck reboot in 2011, never answering the question: what would happen to a werewolf on the moon? Is the moon always full on the moon, or is it never full because the werewolf can't see it?

Fans would forgive this missed opportunity. OK, maybe just me.

1,000 Uber Jasons out of Five. It's werewolves on the moon, people. C'mon!

Happy Halloween!

In the winter of 1946, two men from very different walks of life walked into California's Mojave Desert together, where one of them became convinced an extraordinary experiment they had been conducting had finally succeeded.

One of the men was pioneering rocket scientist Jack Parsons, a self-taught chemist who helped establish what would become NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and whose innovations in rocket propulsion would help lay the groundwork for the Space Race that would erupt in the years that followed. His unlikely companion was none other than L. Ron Hubbard, then a science fiction writer who had yet to compose the writings that would form the underpinnings of the Church of Scientology that he later established.

Despite Parsons' work with rockets and his companion Hubbard's fictional writings about them, their work together in the early months of 1946 had nothing to do with rocket propulsion, spacecraft, or other technological innovations that would eventually carry humans to space. Instead, Parsons and Hubbard were engaged in an elaborate series of occult ceremonies at the time, whereby they intended to summon an elemental feminine goddess known as "Babalon" (not to be confused with Babylon) to help them bring an otherworldly entity into physical existence.

Their efforts, known today as the "Babalon Working," represent one of the most unusual affairs in American history, with tangential connections to the history of space exploration.

Given its strangeness, the episode has garnered attention from several scholars and historians over the decades, who have sought to understand a series of events at the intersection of science and the occult involving one of the most unconventional innovators behind modern rocket propulsion.

Rockets and magic

Parsons, born in 1914, would become a key figure in the early development of American rocket technologies by the 1930s and 1940s in California, ultimately helping establish what would become the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). His contributions included the historic experiments at Pasadena's Arroyo Seco on Halloween Day in 1936, which NASA now recognizes as the foundational experiments that launched JPL.

Very much in contrast with his scientific aptitudes, Parsons also cultivated an interest in ceremonial magic during this period. By the early 1940s, he had immersed himself within the California chapter of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), the organization associated with the infamous British occultist Aleister Crowley and his religious philosophy known as Thelema. In 1943, Parsons became the new leader of the organization's Agape Lodge, which subsequently began operating out of his Pasadena residence on South Orange Grove Avenue.

Parsons' occult interests became particularly focused on the evocation of supernatural entities during this period, which the young rocket scientist seemed to genuinely believe could be manifested in the physical world through ritual practices. Ultimately, this led him to undertake an ambitious — and utterly bizarre — series of ceremonies aimed at conjuring what was supposedly one of Thelema's most powerful supernatural entities.

The Babalon Working

Parsons first became acquainted with L. Ron Hubbard in the summer of 1945, and shortly after meeting, Hubbard became a resident of the scientist's Pasadena home.

While Hubbard had no formal training in the occult arts, Parsons felt he demonstrated the kinds of aptitudes that would make him a promising partner for a serious ceremonial magic undertaking. Thus, in the first days of January 1946, the pair embarked on a series of rituals, which Parsons documented in a manuscript that later became known as The Book of Babalon.

"In the introduction to this text [Parsons] explained that the underlying philosophy for the Babalon Working is that the present age is under the influence of a violent force," noted University of Gothenburg scholar Henrik Bogdan in a 2016 article published in the journal Numen. "The invocation of Babalon was thus, according to Parsons, an attempt to prevent the world from being destroyed."

Specifically, Parsons believed the force of Babalon could be manifested in a specific woman. "In this sense, the Babalon Working was not only an exercise in ritual magic, but a deliberate attempt to bring a divine feminine force into human form," Bogdan notes. With this goal in mind, during the first two weeks of January 1946, the pair worked to invoke this divine feminine figure, associated with liberation and spiritual transformation according to Crowley's Thelemic system.

High strangeness in the Mojave Desert

On January 18, 1946, Parsons and Hubbard traveled into the Mojave Desert, where, according to Parsons' later writings, a change in atmosphere involving their ritual work suddenly became apparent. Now believing their operation had been a success, Parsons declared their work completed, and the two returned to Pasadena.

Soon afterward, Parsons reported to Hubbard that his elemental mistress had seemingly manifested with the sudden appearance at his home of a blue-eyed, red-haired artist named Marjorie Elizabeth Cameron. A former member of the U.S. Navy's WAVES program, Cameron had been invited to Parsons' residence by a colleague who, like Hubbard, was also lodging there at the time. Upon seeing her, Parsons became convinced this was the elemental lover he and Hubbard had worked to conjure, thereby confirming that the Babalon Working had produced its intended result.

Soon, Parsons and Cameron began a relationship, and borrowing ideas from Crowley's 1929 novel Moonchild, Parsons now believed that his romance with Cameron could facilitate the incarnation of a supernatural force through the literal conception of a child using ritual sex magic. The result, Parsons believed, could help to bring about a transformative new dawn in humanity's spiritual development.

This phase of the Babalon Working mainly involved magic rituals and Enochian incantations performed by Parsons and Cameron, with Hubbard present and assisting (in addition to having proposed Rachmaninoff's "Isle of the Dead" as an eerie sonic backdrop for the occasion). For Parsons, the ultimate goal had been to conceive a "magical child" that would become the newborn Thelemic messiah.

Aftermath

Following completion of the rituals in late February 1946, Cameron left on a trip to New York, and Parsons returned to the Mojave Desert where he completed a short treatise entitled Liber 49, believing it to be a "channeled" fourth and final portion of The Book of the Law, Crowley's foundational Thelemic text.

Upon returning from New York, Cameron even claimed to have observed an unusual aerial object—something akin to what later became known as "flying saucers" in the summer of the following year—which she believed to represent the "war engine" referenced in Crowley's work.

Crowley, however, was considerably less enthusiastic about all this. Upon learning what Parsons, Hubbard, and Cameron had been involved with, the famed British occultist confided to a colleague in an April 1946 correspondence that "Apparently he [Parsons] or Ron or somebody is producing a Moonchild. I get fairly frantic when I contemplate the idiocy of these louts."

Ultimately, a growing divide between Crowley and Parsons would cost the rocket scientist his leadership of the Agape Lodge, prompting his departure from Crowley's OTO before the end of 1946. His relationship with Hubbard similarly dissolved due to Parsons' worsening financial situation. Nevertheless, Parsons soldiered on, marrying Cameron in October 1946 and continuing his efforts to usher in a new spiritual age.

On June 17, 1952, Parsons' unusual life ended prematurely when an explosion occurred in his home laboratory, resulting in fatal injuries. He was only 37 years old. Questions still surround the circumstances of his death; while it was ruled an accident, there have been allegations that it was suicide or even a murder.

The strange legacy of Jack Parsons

During his short life, Parsons still managed to make significant contributions to the science of rocket propulsion, securing a place in the history of American space exploration — albeit one that is often overshadowed by the interest historians and scholars have taken in his occult activities.

Nonetheless, Parsons remains a key figure responsible for helping lay the early foundations for what would become America's space program. Although decades before NASA would begin sending its spacecraft in pursuit of answers to cosmic mysteries, one of its early technological pioneers had been seeking answers to such cosmic questions in a very different way: by exploring the boundary between our physical world and the supernatural realms beyond.

Bibliography

Anthony Testa, The Key of the Abyss: Jack Parsons, the Babalon Working and the Black Pilgrimage Decoded (2006), p. 128.

"Babalon Working." Occult Wiki. Accessed Oct. 29, 2026.

Bogdan, Henrik. "The Babalon Working 1946: L. Ron Hubbard, John Whiteside Parsons, and the Practice of Enochian Magic." Numen, Vol. 63, No. 1, 2016, pp. 12–32.

Carter, John. Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons. New edition. Feral House, 2004.

Josephson Storm, Jason Ānanda. "Sex, Magic, & Rockets or the Implications of the Babalon Working for Theories of Belief and Rationality." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, Vol. 37, 2025, pp. 323–335.

Riggins, Marleigh. "Shocktober: Babalon Working." LAist, Oct. 26, 2004.

I used to make a basic mistake with meteor showers — I treated the zenith hourly rate (ZHR) like a timetable. If a shower were advertised at 20 meteors per hour, I'd go outside expecting something roughly every three minutes. After 10 quiet minutes, I'd start wondering what I was doing wrong. After half an hour, I'd start to doubt the whole idea of meteor showers.

The Northern and Southern Taurids cured me of all that. Two linked meteor showers that peak around Nov. 4-5 and Nov. 11-12 this year, they each manage only about five meteors per hour under ideal conditions. In reality, you may see fewer. You may spend a long time seeing none. So what's the point?

I've come to regard their paucity of "shooting stars" as a feature, not a flaw, for the Taurids have taught me to stop counting meteors and instead just observe the sky. I go outside for Taurus, the Pleiades, Auriga, and whatever else happens to be visible. If a Taurid crosses the sky, excellent. If not, the evening hasn't failed. The reason is that they are also known for occasionally producing very bright meteors, or fireballs — although "occasionally" is important. Don't go outside expecting a procession of them.

What's happening and when to look

The Taurids hit Earth's atmosphere at about 18 miles (29 kilometers) per second. That's relatively slow for a meteor shower. It's one reason Taurids can be more memorable than meteors from faster showers.

For observers across much of the Northern Hemisphere, Taurus rises in the east during the evening and becomes increasingly well placed as the night progresses. Later evening into the overnight hours is therefore the best time to watch.

I love looking at the night sky around Taurus, but you really don't need to stare at it if you're looking for Taurids. The radiant is indeed within Taurus (close to the Pleiades), but meteors can appear anywhere in the sky. Look roughly east or southeast, then watch as much sky as possible for an hour or so.

This year the moon helps out. The new moon falls on Nov. 9, leaving only a young waxing crescent around the shower's peak. It sets during the evening, giving us properly dark skies later on.

How and when I'm watching it

My Taurid observing strategy involves doing little direct meteor observing. I'll likely head outside once Taurus is reasonably high in the eastern sky, probably sometime in the later evening, and give myself other things to look at. The Pleiades are an obvious target — it's exciting to have this little open cluster back in the evening sky. So are the Hyades open cluster and bright orangey Aldebaran, also in Taurus. I'll probably set my smart telescope on the Pleiades and leave it alone to build up a long integration while I spend as much time as I can taking in the whole sky. Meteors are a naked-eye event and demand your attention — the second you avert your gaze from the night sky, a "shooting star" will appear. All stargazers know that!

I won't travel for hours to find perfect darkness. A darker location will reveal fainter meteors, for sure, but the Taurids' occasional bright members can be seen from less-than-perfect skies. A backyard is fine for this one — make travel plans only for August's Perseids and December's Geminids (moon phases allowing).

Nor will I keep score. Meteor rates are statistical descriptions, not promises. Five per hour does not mean one meteor every 12 minutes. You could see two close together and then nothing at all for hours. We're all so used to being told exactly what to expect, but the night sky doesn't work like that — you need to be open to whatever it throws at you (or not). Once you stop expecting the sky to do what you want, meteor showers become more enjoyable.

Stargazer's corner: Oct. 31-Nov. 5, 2026

The moon is moving out of the early evening sky this week, which is exactly what stargazers wait for at this time of year. It reaches third quarter around Nov. 1, rising later at night and leaving the evening dark. That gives us a useful 10-night window for observing before moonlight becomes an issue.

I'm planning to use it for the Andromeda galaxy. From a genuinely dark location, M31 can be spotted with the naked eye as a faint patch. From brighter suburban skies, binoculars make life much easier. The beginner mistake is expecting anything resembling the photographs. Through binoculars, I'm looking for a subtle misty glow, not spiral arms. If you want a more impressive view, get yourself a smart telescope — they do a wonderful job on M31.

There's another practical change this weekend. Daylight saving time ends across most of the U.S. and Canada on Nov. 1. The stars haven't changed their schedule, of course, but getting outside under a dark sky after dinner — and even before — suddenly becomes much easier.

Constellation of the week: Taurus

Although you don't need to stare at Taurus, the Bull, to see Taurids, it's an obvious target this week. It's climbing into the eastern sky during the evening. Bright orange star Aldebaran — a red giant 67 light-years from the solar system (and the most luminous star within 100 light-years) — marks the bull's eye. It appears to sit within a V-shape of stars that forms the bull's face. This is the Hyades, the closest open cluster of stars to the solar system at just 150 light-years.

My latest stargazing obsession

The origin story of both Taurid meteor showers is genuinely awe-inspiring. They're associated with debris left in the inner solar system by Comet 2P/Encke, which orbits the sun once every 3.25 years (1,200 days) — the shortest orbital period of any known comet in the solar system, according to NASA. The second comet ever discovered, Encke, was discovered in 1786 and spans about 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) in diameter. It last reached perihelion — its closest point to the sun — on Oct. 22, 2023, and is due to do so again on Feb. 10, 2027, but Earth encounters debris associated with the comet every year.

The picture is more complicated than a single comet trail. The Southern and Northern Taurids are part of the broader Taurid Meteoroid Complex, a vast swarm of interplanetary dust, rocks, comets and asteroids thought to be related to Encke. It's thought that it originates from a much larger object that fragmented as it got close to the sun, perhaps just 5,000 to 6,000 years ago or as much as 20,000 years ago. Fears that huge, mile-wide "planet killer" asteroids may still reside in the Taurid Meteoroid Complex appear to have been ruled out. Phew.

Each fall, Earth passes through different parts of this sprawling stream, producing two overlapping meteor showers — and, occasionally, the larger fragments responsible for the Taurids' famous fireballs.

This has been a pretty rough week for "Star Trek" royalty on this 60th anniversary year with the deaths of both Walter Koenig, "Star Trek's" Lt. Pavel Chekov on Sunday, Oct. 25 and Patrick Stewart, the storied sci-fi property's Captain Jean Luc-Picard on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

With the passing of Walter Koenig at the age of 90 this past week, franchise luminaries of all degrees are coming out with heartfelt condolences, kind words of remembrance, and tearful reflections.

William Shatner, 95, and George Takei, 89, represent the final remaining members of the U.S.S. Enterprise's core crew from "Star Trek: The Original Series" and they both took to social media to express their deep sorrow over losing one of their fellow travelers in the final frontier.

"I am deeply saddened to learn of Walter Koenig’s passing," Shatner posted on Instagram.

"Although we did not know each other well away from the set, we shared the later seasons of the original 'Star Trek' series and the six films that followed. What I observed, and what so many fans have expressed over the years, was a man who genuinely loved the 'Star Trek' community.

"At conventions, Walter was rarely content to remain behind a signing table. He preferred to be among the people who had kept 'Star Trek' alive for so many decades. That kind of genuine connection is rare, and it will be remembered by everyone who came into contact with him.

"My condolences to his family, his friends, and the countless fans whose lives he touched."

George Takei, who portrayed Lt. Hikaru Sulu and co-starred with Koenig on two seasons of "The Original Series" from 1967-69, as well as six subsequent "Star Trek" feature films, offered similar thoughts in memoriam.

"My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today," Takei shared on his Instagram page.

"Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man. Just last month, on Sept. 14, he turned 90, on the same day Brad and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. I will always treasure that he and I shared that date.

"Walter was more than Chekov. He was a writer, a teacher, a thoughtful man, and a loyal friend. To the fans who loved him for so many years, thank you. He loved you too.

"Rest well, my dear friend. Keep navigating a steady course."

On October 30, 1964, NASA's Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, or LLRV, took to the skies for the first time.

The LLRV was a bizarre, four-legged flying contraption commonly known as the "Flying Bedstead." NASA used it to simulate moon landings and liftoffs on Earth to prepare for Apollo 11, the first crewed lunar landing.

The first person to give it a whirl was the X-15 pilot Joe Walker. During this test flight, he reached an altitude of about 10 feet, and he hovered there for about a minute. He did this two more times that same day. In all, he completed more than 30 test flights with the LLRV.

These test flights took place at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. That facility has since been renamed the Armstrong Flight Research Center after Neil Armstrong, who also piloted — and famously crashed — the "Flying Bedstead" before he went to the moon.

Why it mattered

Over 60 years ago this LLRV test flight was a critical step toward landing humans on the moon for the first time, a historic moment that both served an important political purpose while also showcasing the result of monumental scientific and technical progress.

While images from this test flight might look like the team are having a bit of fun out in the desert, and perhaps they were, it was also deadly serious. The astronauts who signed onto these crewed missions were doing something that had never been attempted. They were putting their lives on the line for this progress, and this testing was a major piece in reassuring them and NASA that lunar landing could be accomplished, and safely.

Today, as we return humans to the moon with NASA's Artemis program, we see parallels between testing done over 60 years ago and testing today. Right now, SpaceX and Blue Origin are testing their lunar landers for crewed lunar landings in the near-future. While we have now been to the moon and have safely and successfully landed humans before, these tests remain critical for the safety and success of the missions.

Want more space history? Check out our full On This Day In Space Story archive and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube.

This "cat's head" would work perfectly in a witch's cauldron, glowing red "eyes" and all.

Just in time for Halloween, we have new, ghostly views of the Cat's Eye Nebula haunting the outer reaches of the cosmos.

What is it?

This nebula earned its name from its distinctive "cat's head" shape, which you can see on the left-hand side of these two images snapped by both the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. In these new images, you can even see the cat's glowing red "eye," which experts suggest could be a young star trapped in the nebula's dusty clutches.

Found about 7,500 light-years away from Earth, this star-forming region can be found within the larger Carina Nebula.

As the stars in the Carina Nebula continue to form, grow and evolve over time, the Nebula itself will change and eventually, this "cat's head" won't look much like a cat anymore. But for now, we can enjoy this vision of a domestic cat somehow depicted in this colossal tour of gas and dust.

Why is it incredible?

As a special Halloween treat, we have not one, but three new images of the cosmic cat's head.

In the snapshot captured by Hubble, we can see the nebula in visible light. This view shows the nebula as a brown pillar of dust embedded in a hazy, almost rainbow field of dust and gas. These colors are captured through Hubble's filters that can see the light coming from oxygen, hydrogen and sulfur and the light scattered by nebula dust.

JWST also took a look at this cat's head, observing the nebula in near- and mid-infrared wavelengths.

By looking at the same objects in space through different wavelengths and with different instruments and telescopes, we can uncover completely new and different details about these far-off celestial objects.

Virgin Galactic's first "Delta-class" space plane just made its maiden voyage.

The next-gen suborbital vehicle, named Apeiron (Greek for "Boundless"), lifted off for the first time ever on Thursday (Oct. 28). Flying beneath the wings of its carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, Apeiron traveled from Virgin's manufacturing site in Mesa, Arizona, to its launch site, Spaceport America in New Mexico.

"Seeing the ship fly beneath Eve to Spaceport America was a moment years in the making," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement on Thursday. "To our team and our astronaut community: your Spaceship has arrived."

Apeiron will undergo a series of checks and tests at Spaceport America, leading up to a planned start of commercial service in the spring of 2027.

During those customer flights, Eve will carry Apeiron to an altitude of about 45,000 feet (13,700 meters), then drop the space plane. Apeiron will fire up its onboard rocket motor, which will carry the six-passenger, two-pilot vehicle to suborbital space.

Passengers will experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get to see the curve of Earth against the blackness of space before coming down for a runway landing back at Spaceport America.

Virgin Galactic has done this before, with its VSS Unity space plane. Unity flew seven commercial suborbital missions during its operational life, which ran from June 2023 to June 2024.

Apeiron and other Delta-class planes are built for a much heavier workload, according to Virgin Galactic.

"Designed to fly twice per week with a vehicle lifetime of more than 500 missions, each Spaceship in the next-generation fleet is built to support the economics of a scaled commercial operation, with increased flight cadence and a cost profile unprecedented in the industry," company representatives wrote in the same statement.

And there will indeed be a fleet, if all goes to plan. The second Delta ship is under construction, for example, and is expected to enter service in mid-2027, according to Virgin Galactic.

Apeiron and its Delta-class siblings will need to fly a lot to deal with Virgin Galactic's backlog: Nearly 700 ticket-holders are currently waiting to fly, according to the company. And demand remains high; the latest batch of seats, which were priced at $750,000 apiece, sold out. Virgin plans to sell the next tranche of tickets for $850,000 each, LATTE Luxury News reported.

When Apeiron gets up and running, it will be the only game in town for suborbital space tourists.

Virgin Galactic once shared the skies with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, which flew paying customers to the final frontier on its New Shepard vehicle. New Shepard conducted 14 crewed suborbital flights between July 2021 and January 2026 but is currently grounded while the company focuses on helping NASA land Artemis astronauts on the moon.

China's secretive space plane is making a series of passes over the United States in the coming days and you could spot it with your own eyes!

The mysterious spacecraft, Shenlong, is currently orbiting Earth on its fourth mission. Although we don't know what it's up to, China's space agency has said it is testing technologies that "will pave the way for more convenient and affordable round-trip methods for the peaceful use of space in the future."

Under favorable conditions, Shenlong is bright enough to spot with the naked eye, according to Spaceweather.com. But you'll need to set your alarm early, as some of the best viewing opportunities are in the predawn sky.

When and where to see China's space plane

According to satellite-tracking website Heavens-Above, skywatchers across the U.S. have several opportunities to spot Shenlong between Oct. 30 and early November, weather permitting.

Here are some of the most promising high-altitude passes for four major U.S. cities. All times are local, with the end of daylight saving time on Nov. 1 taken into account. Times are approximate and may change. Maximum elevation refers to the spacecraft's highest angle above the horizon, with 90° being directly overhead.

If clouds get in the way (or you forget to set your alarm), don't worry! There are several other opportunities over the coming days.

How can I see Shenlong from where I live?

These predictions are specific to each city, so your exact viewing times will depend on your viewing location.

To find out when Shenlong will pass over your location, head to Heavens-Above, enter your location (in the top right corner of the page), then on the homepage look for "satellite database" under the satellites subheader. And search for "PRC TEST SPACECRAFT 4".

Select "visible only" to see upcoming passes and click on a date to bring up a detailed sky chart showing the spacecraft's predicted path across the sky, including where to look and when.

What will China's space plane look like?

To the naked eye, Shenlong will look like a small, steadily moving point of light, similar to a satellite gliding across the sky.

Its brightness can vary significantly. Veteran satellite observer Paul Maley spotted Shenlong from Paarl, South Africa, in February 2026, estimating its brightness at between magnitude +2.5 and +3.5 at its brightest, according to Spaceweather.com.

Maley reported that the spacecraft was easily visible to the naked eye under dark, moonless skies, but noted that it could also become much fainter, potentially dropping to magnitude +6.

To give yourself the best chance of spotting Shenlong for yourself, head somewhere dark, away from city lights.

What is Shenlong?

Shenlong is a reusable spacecraft that launches aboard a rocket before eventually returning to Earth for a runway landing, much like the U.S. military's X-37B space plane.

China has revealed relatively little about its activities, although the spacecraft has been observed interacting with other objects in orbit. Just days ago, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency released a remarkable new photograph of Shenlong, offering a rare glimpse into this mysterious spacecraft.

Earth would be terrifying if we celebrated Halloween every 11 hours, a possibility on a super-Earth investigated by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). That is, if this extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, wasn't so hellishly hot that no life could survive on its surface.

The exoplanet in question is the rocky lava planet TOI-561 b, located around 280 light-years away, which was discovered by NASA's exoplanet-hunting spacecraft TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) in 2020. The planet is located so close to its star, TOI-561, that not only does it complete an orbit every 11 hours, but its surface temperatures reach in excess of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,800 degrees Celsius).

That is so hot that astronomers once believed that TOI-561 b couldn't possibly possess an atmosphere. With 37 hours of JWST observations covering nearly four full orbits of TOI-561, scientists have now found this horrific planet is buried in a reflective layer of vaporized silicate mineral clouds, the same family of compounds that make up quartz and sand.

"We measured how the planet's brightness and heat changed throughout its orbit," team member Lisa Dang of the University of Waterloo said in a statement. "This technique, known as a phase curve, revealed that the planet reflects a significant amount of light from its star, and that heat is being redistributed around the planet instead of only on the sunlit side. Together, these point to the presence of an atmosphere."

The hemispheres of lava super-Earth are day and night

The proximity of TOI-561 b to its star has another consequence. The planet is tidally locked, meaning it doesn't turn like Earth. Thus, TOI-561 b has one blisteringly hot "dayside" permanently facing its star, and a cooler "nightside" facing out into space in perpetuity.

Dang and colleagues investigated the fact that the bare rock of the dayside seemed to be cooler than should be expected. They theorized that missing heat could be carried around to the night side or the heat may be reflected away before TOI-561 b can absorb it.

By using the JWST to observe full orbits of TOI-561 b, the team was able to observe the planet's nightside for the first time. They found it isn't warm enough to account for all the heat missing from the dayside.

That means TOI-561 b must reflect roughly three-quarters of the starlight that hits it. That is comparable to the most reflective planet in the solar system, Venus, which reflects around 75% of incident sunlight compared to the 30% reflected by Earth.

The team determined that this high reflectivity is the result of clouds of silicate minerals, including silicon dioxide and magnesium silicate, forming on the planet's dayside and acting like sunscreen. These clouds could also help TOI-561 b hang on to an atmosphere.

Of course, the team can't yet be sure what this atmosphere is composed of. It could be a dense carbon dioxide fog like that seen on Venus, or it could be a blanket of sulfur dioxide like that of the most volcanic body in the solar system, Jupiter's moon Io. That would be the case if, like on Io, volcanic activity is replenishing the atmosphere of TOI-561 b.

"The next big question we will seek to answer is whether TOI-561 b's atmosphere resembles Venus or an extreme version of Io," Dang said. "Observing the planet at longer wavelengths with JWST could give us insights and help explain how a planet this hot has held on to an atmosphere for billions of years."

The team's research was published in The Astronomical Journal.

Less than a week after the fates took Walter Koenig from our galaxy, another "Star Trek" legend has left us: Sir Patrick Stewart has died at the age of 86.

According to his spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak, the beloved Shakespearean actor passed away on Wednesday (Oct. 28) at his Los Angeles home after a short struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.

"He has been held in the warm embrace of family and friends, surrounded by live music, prayer, tears, laughter and the kind of profound emotion that only he could inspire after a lifetime of devotion to us all," Bush Novak shared. "We will forever cherish the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace."

The first time I ever saw Patrick Stewart was in director John Boorman’s masterful 1981 King Arthur film, "Excalibur." As a young teenager, I was immediately captivated by his commanding presence and charisma portraying King Leodegrance of Cameliard — Queen Guinevere’s noble father and a cunning warrior.

In 1984, he entered the sci-fi realm in David Lynch's grand and ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert's "Dune," in which he played Paul Atreides' good friend and mentor, War Master Gurney Halleck.

Stewart was later cast as the U.S.S. Enterprise’s Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation. He entranced millions of viewers in this role, traveling the final frontier with his gallant crew and redefining the brave and compassionate traits of a Federation starship commander. His adventurous journey on that popular show, a spinoff of "Star Trek: The Original Series," ran from 1987 to 1994, encompassing 178 episodes across seven seasons confronting Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans and The Borg.

When the series ended, Stewart continued on in the Enterprise's center seat by starring in four "Star Trek" feature films: 1994’s "Star Trek: Generations," 1996’s "Star Trek: First Contact," 1998’s "Star Trek: Insurrection," and 2002’s "Star Trek: Nemesis." Stewart also reprised the role of Jean-Luc Picard in three seasons of Paramount+’s "Star Trek: Picard," which ran from 2020 to 2023.

Stewart's prodigious talent was on further display in the hit adaptations of Marvel’s "The X-Men." He played the powerful, wheelchair-bound telepath Professor Charles Xavier in 2000’s "X-Men," 2003’s "X2: X-Men United," 2006’s "X-Men: The Last Stand," 2014’s "X-Men: Days of Future Past," and 2017’s "Logan."

Stewart, and Xavier, were prominently featured in those films. The actor and character also appeared in 2009’s "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and 2013’s "The Wolverine," and will do so again in "Avengers: Doomsday," which will be released around Christmastime this year.

Aside from the two "Star Trek" and "The X-Men" franchise roles, Stewart had a flourishing career that spanned radio, stage and screen and was always a stellar attraction at any comic-con or other fan event around the world. Another of his many memorable projects was the compelling one-man stage show in which he played all the characters in Charles Dickens' novella "A Christmas Carol," captured on a two-disc CD set that I listen to each holiday season.

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, Sir Patrick Stewart leaves behind a remarkable legacy that brought a rare gravitas and humanity to every performance he was ever involved in, and his passing leaves fans, friends and loved ones with heavy hearts. Here’s to a wonderful life well-lived!

On Oct. 29, 1991, the Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid Gaspra on its way to Jupiter. Gaspra was the first asteroid to ever be visited by a spacecraft.

Gaspra orbits near the inner edge of the asteroid belt. The Galileo spacecraft had been travelling through the asteroid belt for about two months before it reached Gaspra. Galileo was 990 miles (1,593 kilometers) away from Gaspra when it whizzed by, and it was travelling at a relative speed of about 5 miles (8 km) per second.

The spacecraft took several photos of the asteroid and used an instrument called the Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer to study its chemical composition and other physical properties. Galileo determined that Gaspra has an irregular and elongated shape measuring about 12 miles long and 7 miles wide. The images revealed that Gaspra was also covered in craters. Because Galileo was too far away for Gaspra's gravity to affect it, the spacecraft was not able to determine the asteroid's mass.

Why it mattered

The Galileo spacecraft's flyby of Gaspra was a pitstop near the midpoint of its 6-year journey to Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. NASA launched Galileo toward Jupiter in October 1989, with the probe swinging by Venus and Earth in 1990 before its encounter with Gaspra.

The Gaspra flyby was the first asteroid flyby in history, with Galileo approaching to just under 1,000 miles (1,601 kilometers) while flying at a whopping 18,000 mph. Galileo's photos of Gaspra "revealed a cratered, complex, irregular body about 20 by 12 by 11 kilometers (12.4 by 7.4 by 6.8 miles), with a thin covering of dust and rubble," NASA wrote in an overview.

"The picture we get of Gaspra is one of something that has suffered a lot during its history," the UPI press service quoted Joseph Veverka, a Galileo imaging team member, as saying at the time. "We suspect that this is the survivor of a series of catastrophic collisions in the past."

Galileo would go on to fly by Earth a second time in 1992, then swing close by the asteroid Ida in 1993 before finally arriving at Jupiter in 1995. Along the way, the probe was in the right place at the right time to watch as the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke into pieces and crashed into Jupiter in July 1994.

Since Galileo's historic first asteroid flyby, NASA and other space agencies have gone on to land on asteroids (like NEAR on asteroid Eros), collect samples of asteroids and return them to Earth (like NASA's OSIRIS-REx and Japan's Hayabusa probes), and have even intentionally crashed probes into asteroids (like NASA's DART asteroid impact mission) to test planetary protection techniques.

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The leader of NASA's first mission around the moon in half a century is the last to announce what's next for him after retiring from active astronaut duty.

All four astronauts of the Artemis II mission, which flew around the moon in April, have hung up their spacesuits and moved on to greener pastures. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), managed by Caltech, announced yesterday that former NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman will step into the role of Caltech associate vice president and deputy director of JPL, beginning Nov. 30.

"Reid has spent his career at the edge of what is possible, and he has the technical judgment, operational experience, and leadership to help push that edge farther," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a JPL press release.

Wiseman announced his transition to "astronaut emeritus" alongside Artemis II pilot Victor Glover in September. Glover, subsequently, accepted a full-time role as executive advisor to the president of his alma mater, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly).

Artemis II mission specialists, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen, also made the decision to step away from their spaceflight careers. Hansen announced his career change in July, and has since entered into reservist duty with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Koch, more recently, was appointed as NASA's acting deputy chief engineer, effective Nov. 1.

The quartet launched aboard NASA's Orion capsule on April 1, and completed a 10-day flight around the far side of the moon and back. Their mission took them further from Earth than any crewed spaceflight in history, and captured the attention of millions, who were captivated by the astronauts' incredible views and their ability to demonstrate the best traits of humanity, even while being the four people farthest from it.

The mission served as a stepping stone in NASA's Artemis program which aims to return astronauts to the surface of the moon and eventually establish a permanent base there. NASA is targeting mid-2027 for Artemis III as a flight test with Orion and the two Artemis lunar lander spacecraft (SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon). If everything goes according to plan, that mission will pave the way for Artemis IV, and the program's first crewed lunar landing in 2028.

A Baltimore native, Wiseman is a retired U.S. Navy captain who served as an aviator and test pilot before joining NASA's astronaut corps in 2009. He launched to space for the first time on the on the Soyuz TMA-13M mission to the International Space Station (ISS). He spent 165 days in orbit serving as part of ISS Expeditions 40 and 41, and completed two spacewalks totaling nearly 13 hours.

Before his selection for Artemis II, Wiseman worked as NASA's chief astronaut, overseeing crew readiness, astronaut assignments and flight safety from Dec. 2020 - Nov. 2022.

As JPL's new deputy director, Wiseman will serve under Director Dave Gallagher, helping oversee "strategic leadership, stewardship, and continuous improvement of laboratory operations," according to the JPL release.

JPL is a federally funded research and development center specializing in robotic space exploration. The lab is responsible for some of NASA's most recognizable planetary missions, including the Perseverance and Curiosity Mars rovers, Europa Clipper and the Voyager probes. JPL also operates NASA's Deep Space Network, which provides continuous communications with spacecraft throughout the solar system.

"I've explored the furthest reaches of what a human can explore at NASA — and there were truly no words in the English vocabulary to describe seeing the sun disappear behind the moon from deep space," Wiseman said.

"But that experience was really the jumping off point to go do the impossible things that Caltech and JPL dream, dare together, and do for NASA and the nation.”

Two astronauts successfully installed and deployed the second-to-last upgraded solar array for the International Space Station (ISS) during the 100th U.S. spacewalk from the orbiting outpost.

Anil Menon of NASA and Joshua Kutryk of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), both ISS Expedition 75 crewmates, completed the 7-hour-and-11-minute extravehicular activity (EVA) at 3:08 p.m. EDT (1908 GMT) on Thursday (Oct. 29). The spacewalk began and ended inside the U.S. Quest airlock, with both astronauts wearing NASA's extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuits.

It was the first spacewalk by a Canadian astronaut since April 2019, when David Saint-Jacques ventured into the void with NASA's Anne McClain.

Once outside, Menon and Kutryk worked on unbolting the ISS roll-out solar array (iROSA) from a temporary stowage platform. The 10-by-2-by-4-foot (3-by-0.6-by-1.2-meter) rolled-up assembly was delivered to the space station inside the unpressurized trunk of SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule earlier this month, on the company's 35th ISS resupply mission for NASA.

Menon then secured himself at the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm and carried the 750-pound (340-kilogram) iROSA to the space station's port side, where he and Kutryk next installed it on the 2A electrical power channel. Kutryk made his way to the worksite along the station's backbone truss.

Using bolts to mount the IROSA in place and connecting its electrical cables to tie it into the station's power system (during a night pass, out of safety concerns), the array was ready to be extended. No motor was needed to deploy the iROSA to its 63-foot (19-m) length. The potential energy held by the assembly's rolled-up carbon composite booms was enough to fully unroll the panel.

"And we see the iROSA deploying now," reported Mission Control four hours and 23 minutes into the spacewalk.

About 12 minutes later, the array had fully extended, draping over about half of the larger but less capable legacy panel on the P4 truss. The station's eight original arrays are showing degraded power output as they have exceeded their 15-year design life. The iROSAs, when used in tandem with their older counterparts, have increased the station's power supply by 20% to 30%.

The additional power is needed to support ongoing and planned station operations, including its safe and controlled deorbit, which is currently scheduled for 2030.

Having worked ahead of their schedule, Menon and Kutryk removed some of the beams holding the final iROSA in place on its temporary platform and rotated two launch locks that were used in its delivery on Dragon.

Thursday's EVA was the 100th U.S. outing from the space station without a now-retired space shuttle docked to the complex. Overall, it was the 285th spacewalk in support of ISS assembly, maintenance and upgrades, including 66 EVAs out of the Russian segment of the station and 119 by visiting shuttle crews.

The first U.S. spacewalk outside of the Quest airlock was made by Expedition 4 crewmates Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch on Feb. 20, 2002. The 5-hour-and-47-minute EVA mostly tested Quest's systems and completed "housekeeping chores."

"Being outside, I can say it is always sunny in space," said Menon at the conclusion of Thursday's EVA. "I find it incredible what we have been able to do to provide new solar arrays to the space station. In fact, we have been ... doing complex operations like this for over 26 years."

"This is USOS [United States Operating Segment] EVA 100, which is an incredible milestone. I think it really signifies how much we have done," he said.

This was Menon's fourth spacewalk and Kutryk's first. Menon has now logged 26 hours and 31 minutes working in the vacuum of space during his current stay on the space station.

Kutryk is the fifth Canadian astronaut to conduct an EVA. He and Menon are scheduled for another EVA on Nov. 5, when they are expected to install the eighth and final iROSA, completing the five-year process to upgrade the station's power supply.

Peacock's "Crystal Lake" takes the story of the Voorhees family back to the beginning.

It's a full-circle moment revisiting Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini), who's the real star of 1980's "Friday the 13th" and the catalyst for all the murder and mayhem. While it's a welcome shake-up to the timeline of the horror franchise, nothing tops the originality of the slasher-in-space spectacle known as "Jason X".

It was 2001, and the "Friday the 13th" franchise had hit a bit of a snag. Audiences had seen Jason Voorhees go everywhere from Crystal Lake to Manhattan and Hell, but where else could this hockey-masked killer go? Screenwriter Todd Farmer had the answer: space.

"Jason X" says the quiet part out loud: Jason (Kane Hodder) can't die. In this movie, we find Jason being held at the Crystal Lake Research Facility in 2010. The head of the facility, Rowan LaFontaine (Lexa Doig), wants to put him in a cryogenic chamber, but the government has other plans for him.

Things go as well as can be expected, with Jason freeing himself and slaughtering military men like they're pancakes at a buffet. Fortunately, Rowan manages to lure Jason into a cryogenic chamber as he stabs her, leaving them both frozen in time.

Fast forward to 2455, when a group of space explorers — led by Professor Brandon Lowe (Jonathan Potts) — discover the research facility and the frozen bodies. They bring Rowan and Jason on board their ship, the Grendel.

While they believe Jason to be dead, they're able to revive Rowan using nanotechnology. As it so happens, Jason isn't dead at all (what a shocker); he was just catching up on some sleep and dreaming about stuffing teens in sleeping bags and whacking them against each other. He rises from his slumber and goes on a killing spree in the spaceship.

It's not the slasher-in-space concept alone that elevates this flick (it's pretty much a running joke that every horror franchise ends up in space eventually). No, it's the brave (and honestly wild) turns that Jason X takes towards the end.

They turn the movie's android KM-14 (played by Lisa Ryder of "Andromeda" fame) into a Rambo-esque action hero in the third act, whereby she annihilates Jason with a combination of hokey martial arts moves and ridiculously overpowered weapons.

Sadly, KM-14 makes a critical mistake: she obliterates the silent but violent killer near the medical station where the nanites reside. Not only does Jason get rebuilt bigger and stronger than before, but he's also now a cyborg with a brand-new metal mask and armor.

Needless to say, "Jason X" fully commits to every eccentric idea and bonkers premise. From the "Kung Pow"-before-"Kung Pow" face-off between KM-14 and Jason to the totally ludicrous and gory kills that border on implausible, this is the "Friday the 13th" movie that you'd dream up after eating too much cheese at midnight.

Most importantly, though, it's never afraid to embrace the shlock and humor that's evidently part of its DNA. "Jason X" is a B-movie through and through, and it waters its roots to grow wilder rather than hide or trim them down.

For instance, when Condor (Steve Lucescu) fights against Jason, he throws a bunch of stiff attacks at Crystal Lake's most famous citizen. However, Jason simply pushes him into a giant drill that's conveniently placed there (where are the health and safety regulations on the Grendel?!).

That isn't even the best part here, because when Elijah Brodski (Peter Mensah) asks the others about Condor's status, he gets met with the sensational line, "He's screwed." How this movie didn't get an Oscar nomination for best screenplay is still a mystery…

It would also be remiss to not mention the greatest kill in "Jason X" — and maybe the "Friday the 13th" franchise as a whole — as Jason freezes Adrienne's (Kristi Angus) head in liquid nitrogen then shatters it against the counter. It's a scene so iconic that even the "MythBusters" became fascinated with this idea and had to try it themselves, though without actual human heads being used, of course.

What "Jason X" represents is a different time in Hollywood, when studios and filmmakers weren't afraid to take outlandish risks with their franchises. Think about it: What else was there left for "Friday the 13th" to do? Let Jason murder more teens who cross his path?

Instead of just repeating the same formula over and over again, these filmmakers decided to think outside of the box and venture into an unexpected direction. Whether you like it or not, you have to appreciate the commitment to trying something new and reinventing the franchise.

When all is said and done, "Crystal Lake" will be remembered as a more cerebral examination of the Voorhees family, but "Jason X" might be seen as the pinnacle of creativity in the series that's never going to be reached again. It's so goofy and silly, but the concept of taking an unkillable killer, chucking him into space, and making him a cyborg deserves a standing ovation.

We're once again left wondering: Why aren't we making horror movies like this anymore?

Want to relive the madness of "Jason X" for Halloween? You can catch it on Philo, and you can watch the new Jason/Friday the 13th prequel "Crystal Lake" on Peacock.

U.S. President Donald Trump just met another NASA Artemis crew.

The astronauts of NASA's Artemis III mission visited the Oval Office on Thursday (Oct. 28) and posed for a few photos with the president.

Their visit came nearly six months to the day after that of the Artemis II crew, who stopped by the White House on April 29, 19 days after the end of their historic flight around the moon.

The Artemis III astronauts are NASA's Randy Bresnik (commander), Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio (mission specialists) and the European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano (pilot). All four — plus backup crewmate Bob Hines of NASA, and agency chief Jared Isaacman — made the White House trip.

"It was a great day at the White House with President Trump and the talented crew of Artemis III," Isaacman wrote via X on Thursday.

Artemis III will launch to low Earth orbit in the summer of 2027, if all goes according to plan. The roughly two-week-long mission will aim to dock NASA's Orion capsule with SpaceX's Starship vehicle and/or Blue Origin's Blue Moon.

NASA selected Starship and Blue Moon to be the crewed lunar landers for the Artemis program, so Artemis III will provide valuable practice: On moon-landing missions, astronauts will launch aboard Orion and then meet up with either Starship or Blue Moon, which will carry them to the lunar surface and back up again.

That's slated to happen for the first time on Artemis IV, which NASA plans to launch in 2028.

We don't yet know which private lander(s) will launch on Artemis III; NASA would like to fly both of them, but it's unclear if both will be ready when the time comes.

That uncertainty applies to Artemis IV as well. We'll have to wait a bit before we know which spacecraft will have the honor of putting astronauts down on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972.

"Sometimes dead is better." Who can forget the immortal words of Jud Crandall, delivered by the incomparable Fred Gwynne in the 1989 film adaptation of Stephen King's Pet Sematary? Turns out Crandall could have been talking about somewhere just as otherworldly as the cursed Chumash burial ground at the heart of one of King's most terrifying works of fiction.

That's because astronomers have discovered two husks of two zombie planets shuffling through the gory remains of what was once their planetary neighbors around a long-deceased star, or white dwarf. The shattered planets were revealed by a clear gap in the debris around the white dwarf J1328−1450, located around 1,600 light-years away from Earth. One of the remnants is estimated to be no larger than the size of the average solar system asteroid, while the other is estimated to be between the size of the moon and the dwarf planet Pluto.

If this wasn't creepy enough, this haunting planetary system could be a grisly warning about the future of our own solar system after the inevitable death of the sun.

White dwarfs like the one at the heart of this system are formed when stars around the same mass as the sun run out of hydrogen in their cores. This means they can no longer fuse hydrogen into helium, the nuclear fusion process that provides the outward push that supports a star against the inward push of its own gravity.

As a result, the stars' cores collapse while the outer layers, where nuclear fusion is still proceeding, puff out. This so-called red giant phase can see stars increase their radius by many 100s of times. When it happens to the sun in around 5 billion years, our star will expand to consume the inner planets, including Earth.

The red giant phase ends when the outer layers disperse along with the wreckage of consumed planets, leaving a smoldering stellar core, now a white dwarf, surrounded by the disk-shaped remains of its outer layers and cannibalized planetary children. But this may not be the final death of all the planets that once orbited the now-dead star.

"We have known for some time that planets may survive beyond the transformation of their central star, but this is the first example of a complex system with a double debris disc and potentially two surviving planetesimals," research leader Nicola Gentille Fusillo, an astronomer at the Università degli Studi di Trieste, Italy, said in a statement.

Violent stellar death can't kill these two planetary Jason Voorhees

This system differs from others seen because of the large gap between the remarkably stable inner and outer rings. All previously known debris discs around white dwarfs have been surrounded by single, flat, rotating disks, not a double structure like this.

"The system is a rare glimpse of the violent, chaotic process by which a planetary system meets its end, and it hints that dead stars can have disc structures far more complex than previously realized," team member Gentle Fusillo of the Astronomical Observatory of Trieste said.

The team thinks that this unique double structure is evidence of planets that weren't completely vaporized during this white dwarf's red giant phase.

That means just like the residents and campers of Crystal Lake couldn't finish off Pamela Voorhees' baby boy, even an expanding star couldn't finish these two planets.

The team's observations, made with the Very Large Telescope (VLT), revealed the presence of calcium, oxygen, magnesium, and iron in the disk around the white dwarf. This indicates the destroyed planets had a composition similar to the rocky planets of the inner solar system.

The researchers also found evidence of a diversity of composition in the destroyed planets. The chemistry of the outer rings deviated from that of the inner rings, indicating that at least two of the consumed planets had very different compositions.

"The system therefore offers a remarkable glimpse of what the future of planetary systems, including systems like our own, might look like," Lagos-Vilches explained.

The team's research was published on Monday (Oct. 26) in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Halloween is almost upon us! To celebrate we've pulled together a series of short "skywatching horror stories" perfect for getting you in the mood for the spooky season.

Granted, stargazing may not be the most hazardous of past times. But you'd be surprised how often things can go wrong. The best laid plans can be shattered by the unforeseen, unexpected phenomena can leave you scared witless, or mother nature itself can step in to remind us how little control we have over the environment around us.

Many of the stories serve as a cautionary tale, while others are simply..unfortunate. Be sure to share your stories of skywatching "horror stories" in the comments below for a chance to feature in next year's Halloween coverage!

An unexplained light show over France

And how better to kick off our Halloween skywatching tales than with a retelling of the strange event that terrified my entire family during a trip to France, two decades ago.

We had rented a house in the Charente, with few neighbors and no city lights. It was a stargazer's paradise, so each night we would sit outside as dusk's light faded to twilight.

One night, we stood transfixed as an electrical storm conjured sheet lightning in the distance, when without warning a shining ball of light burst into being on the near horizon. We watched, unsettled as the yellow-red light gently descended behind a row of oaks before passing over the nearby field.

My mom fled inside, convinced that we'd seen a UFO, while my dad and brothers stood and watched as the light silently flitted between the trees before disappearing from sight around five minutes after it had appeared.

We were alone in the darkness, trying to make sense of what we'd seen when a rustle in the bushes had us borderline sprinting inside, all pretences of bravery gone and images of alien greys in our heads.

It was almost certainly a boar.

Our best guess is that we saw some kind of rare electrical phenomenon that night, like ball lightning, which has been reported over 10,000 times throughout recorded history but is still very poorly understood.

My mom maintains that we narrowly avoided being abducted.

Total(ity) disaster

Our next entry comes from Space.com's Skywatching Editor Daisy Dobrijevic, who traveled all the way from the U.K. to the U.S. in the hope of seeing her first total solar eclipse, only to have totality ruined by a series of extremely unfortunate events!

"My first-ever total solar eclipse experience in Rochester, New York, on April 8, 2024, was memorable for all the wrong reasons, Dobrijovic explained. "I was attending the Rochester Museum & Science Center's ROC the Eclipse Festival, where thick clouds had completely obscured the sun. But even without seeing the eclipse itself, totality was extraordinary.

An ominous darkness raced across the sky, while rusty-red hues illuminated the clouds, creating an almost apocalyptic scene. The clouds looked as though they'd been lifted straight from a Renaissance painting. The atmosphere was electric as thousands of excited spectators watched daylight disappear. We couldn't see the eclipse, but we could certainly feel it.

Then, about 30 seconds into totality, disaster struck. We were standing in the museum's car park when the security floodlights suddenly flickered on, automatically triggered by the darkness. The harsh artificial lighting completely shattered the otherworldly atmosphere, robbing us of our chance to experience totality's eerie darkness.

Thousands of spectators erupted into boos, shouting, 'Turn off the lights!' After traveling thousands of miles for my first total solar eclipse, I'd been thwarted first by clouds, then by a car park's security lights. Talk about adding insult to injury!"

The winds of misfortune

Astrophotographer Dan Bartlett experienced a very different skywatching horror story after preparing his telescopes for a night of astrophotography at his home in the Eastern Sierra Mountains.

Nature had other plans. A security camera captured the sickening moment that an unexpected and sustained deluge of 77-mile-per-hour winds toppled Bartlett's Celestron Rowe-AckermannAstrograph 11-inch and 8-inch telescopes, mounts, accessories and all.

"A telescope owner's worst nightmare…Equal to dropping a prized eyepiece or telescope on a cement/concrete ground," Bartlett remonstrated with Space.com.

"When you first see the two scopes lying side by side, no longer upright, your reaction is to stand there and stare. Quick action of prevention is well past its timeliness. Eventually you start to pick things up and assess the damage."

"One might [put] me at fault for not taking down the scopes prior, and rightly so, however the scopes have survived sustained winds of 60+ mph winds over and over before," continued Bartlett. "You develop a level of complacency and no weather forecast in the days of the event predicted winds as high as was recorded.

Damage done? Severe. At least the dented tube of the RASA 11 has continued to win NASA APOD after APOD since the event. Oh, I now use sandbags on a heavier mount."

Bartlett continues to capture spectacular images of the night sky to this day.

An uncomfortably close look at Leo

High winds may be a potent adversary for the humble stargazer, but you know what else can complicate things? Literal mountain Lions, which is what American Meteor Society shooting star expert Robert Lunsford came face to face with on a stargazing outing to the western slope of Mt. Laguna, California.

"I was viewing alone in the local mountains many years ago," Lunsford recounted to Space.com. "Back then I often heard what I thought were juvenile mountain lions screeching in the dark. They were never too close until one night I shone my flashlight upon a full-grown cat about fifty yards away."

"The adrenalin was flowing big time as I kept that light on it. Luckily, it decided it wanted no part of me and headed back down the hill. Ever since then when viewing alone I sit in the bed of my truck to offer a little more sense of security."

Lunsford's cautionary tale serves as a potent reminder that you should always tell a friend or family member when you head somewhere remote for a spot of stargazing. And that you should probably do a little research on the local flora and fauna before making the trip!

Eyes on the stars foot in the ants

Royal Observatory Greenwich astronomer Gideon Bendavid-Walker had a run in with nature at a very different scale while leading a stargazing tour through the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in the South Australian outback, under some of the darkest skies on Earth.

"I was running a tour from the sparsely used 1980's Dodwell Observatory as our main telescope was out for maintenance," Bendavid-Walker shared with Space.com. "It was going beautifully. I was out in the dark with my laser pointer, guiding a rapt group around the southern sky, when I felt a nip at my ankle. Then another.

Then rather a lot…

I quickly discovered that I was standing on a meat ant nest. By day they're easy to spot: a little circle of gravelly sand with a hole in the middle. At night, they're invisible, and meat ants do not take kindly to their nests being stood on."

For those of us unfamiliar with the Australian Outback, meat ants are known for being aggressive towards any they deem an intruder, have a nasty bite and are named for their habit of stripping the flesh from dead animals.

"Mid-constellation, I abandoned the cosmos and began hopping, slapping and yelling into the night. My startled guests rallied heroically, flooding the scene with torchlight (a cardinal sin for dark-adapted eyes, but quickly forgiven) and helping me evict the invaders.

The tour continued peacefully.

My dignity stayed behind with the ants."

The moral of the story — try to look down before looking up, it may save your ankles.

A relative disaster

There's a long and storied tradition of nature having its fun with astronomers, as proven by Arthur S. Eddington's complication-filled trip to West Africa, as told by Louise Devoy, Senior Curator at Royal Observatory Greenwich.

"What a nightmare....Cambridge astronomer Arthur S. Eddington watched anxiously as the skies over Principe, West Africa, clouded over with thunderous storms," Devon explained to Space.com. "As a Quaker Christian, he'd narrowly avoided jail for avoiding military service during the First World War, thanks to the intervention of Frank Dyson, the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich.

Dyson knew that Eddington was the best person to use the imminent total solar eclipse as a test of Einstein's 1915 theory of general relativity. Eddington and his colleague Edwin T. Cottingham had travelled thousands of miles to secure the best view but their plans were thwarted by every eclipse chaser's nightmare: thunderstorms, pesky mosquitoes and mischievous monkeys from the surrounding jungle who enjoyed tampering with the instruments.

Eddington and his colleague Cottingham only managed to secure one decent photograph through thin cloud. Thankfully, their Greenwich colleagues Charles Davidson and Andrew Crommelin at Sobral, northern Brazil, had better luck and their photographs confirmed Einstein's prediction."

A fall on Gold Hill

Our final tale of stargazing misfortune comes from award-winning landscape astrophotographer Josh Dury, who found himself in a race against time to stage a recreation of a famous scene from television history, with a Milky Way twist.

"One that comes to mind was the image I captured, titled: "Boy on Bike". The purpose of the image was to re-enact the classic scene from Ridley Scott's 1973 Hovis Advert through the lens of Astrophotography. I was hoping an assistant could model with the bike but plans collapsed, so I decided to do it myself.

Earlier that day, I had collected the bike from a local seller and purchased bread to resemble Hovis loaves. Driving to location in a 4x4 — bike in trailer, I dressed in outfit and progressed to Gold Hill.

Arriving before 2 a.m., there were bright LED lights still on. I had to wait until every single one turned off but one. I had to somehow get the bike into position on the steep hill, obtain focus and prepare the other elements — including a lamp and arranging the bread basket.

With the Milky Way moving into place, I really did not have much time. Setting up a star tracker and a prop set at the same time was a significant challenge.

Then, the epic finale. The weight of the lamp outbalanced the bike and collapsed with the most almighty thud (wheels still spinning). I could see lights in the street turning on!! I was mortified."

If these horror stories haven't totally put you off and you're interested in starting out on your own stargazing journey then be sure to read our expert tips for newcomers to the night sky, along with our picks of the best telescopes and binoculars for exploring the post-sunset realm.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

Stars shine in the vast aluminum dish of the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST) in this photograph captured by astronomer and astrophotographer José Rodrigues during a recent visit to the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile.

What is it?

Rodrigues' image captures "airglow" infusing the night sky over La Silla with a soft orange glow, which is created as sunlight interacts with molecules in the upper atmosphere, according to the University of Lancaster.

The subtle phenomenon can be seen reflected in the 15-meter (49-foot) primary dish of the SEST telescope along with the myriad stars of the Southern Hemisphere, as the dome of the ESO's 3.6-meter telescope looms in the background.

Why is it incredible?

"Despite knowing about its 15-meter diameter beforehand, I was amazed by its size," Rodrigues noted in the ESO image release. The SEST first opened its great eye to the universe in 1987, at which time it was the only large telescope in the Southern Hemisphere tasked with collecting submillimeter wavelengths of light that exist beyond the visible light spectrum.

These specific wavelengths of light are emitted by wandering comets and colossal clouds of cold molecular dust and gas threaded throughout the Milky Way and beyond. SEST's observations improved our knowledge of ancient galaxies, star formation and so much more, with its perch 2,375 meters (7,792 feet) above sea level granting it a near unrivalled view of the heavens above.

The SEST telescope was decommissioned in 2003, though its work was continued by the more capable Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA).

With its working days over, the SEST telescope now stands as a quiet mirror reflecting the stars of the Southern Hemisphere night sky, seemingly pondering mysteries of the universe that it once tried to solve

SpaceX just checked another big box on the path to its 15th Starship test flight, which promises to be pretty epic.

The company conducted static-fire tests with Starship's Ship upper stage on Monday (Oct. 26) and Tuesday (Oct. 27), igniting its Raptor engines while the vehicle, known as Ship 42, remained anchored to the ground.

"Ship 42 static fires complete. The Starship preparing for Flight 15 performed a full duration, six-engine static fire, and fired a single Raptor engine to simulate a deorbit burn," SpaceX said in a Wednesday (Oct. 28) X post that shared video of the tests.

The Ship 42 tests come on the heels of a successful 33-engine static fire with Booster 22, the Starship Super Heavy first stage that will conduct Flight 15. Everything therefore appears to remain on track for Flight 15, which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said is targeted for sometime in November.

All Starship launches are worth watching, but this one should be particularly exciting. Musk said last week that SpaceX will try to catch both Ship and Super Heavy during Flight 15, provided the company can get regulatory approval to do so.

These catches are performed by the "chopstick" arms of the launch tower at Starbase, SpaceX's Starship launch and manufacturing hub in South Texas. The company has snagged Super Heavy on three Starship test flights to date but has not yet attempted a Ship capture.

Double chopstick catches will be the norm on operational Starship launches, if all goes to plan. This recovery strategy will reduce the time needed to get Super Heavy and Ship ready for reflight, significantly boosting launch cadences, according to SpaceX. (Starship is designed to be fully reusable, unlike SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, whose upper stages are expendable.)

SpaceX is already riding a historic success with Starship: The megarocket reached orbit for the first time ever on Flight 14, which took place on Sept. 28.

And Ship deployed 26 of the company's next-gen Starlink V3 satellites during that flight, starting the assembly of a new broadband constellation that Musk has said will eventually consist of 100,000 spacecraft.

Starlink V3 missions will therefore make up a significant percentage of Starship launches for the foreseeable future. But SpaceX also plans to use the megarocket to build an even bigger constellation in Earth orbit — Starmind, which could harbor one million of the company's AI data center satellites.

Newly released photographs of the sun captured during the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse reveal the sun's outer atmosphere in unprecedented detail.

The images, released by researchers working as part of the Solar Wind Sherpas project coordinated by the University of Hawaii, also show rare structures in the solar wind known as smoke rings. Named for their resemblance to the circles blown by smokers, these vortices were first identified in solar eclipse photographs captured in 2008. The researchers had long struggled to explain the processes behind their formation. They now know the rings are a result of the temperature differences in the coronal plasma and spread along the sun's magnetic lines deep into interplanetary space.

"This year, we have managed to capture those smoke rings really well," Miloslav Druckmüller, a professor of mathematics at the Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic, who leads the image processing efforts for the Solar Wind Sherpas Team, said in a statement. "They are beautifully twisted vortices and there are very many of them in the corona."

The images, taken from the Pico Trigaza mountain in Spain, also reveal a giant coronal hole — an opening in the sun's magnetic field lines — through which solar wind can escape more readily at very high speeds of up to 500 miles per second (800 kilometers per second).

Coronal holes are cooler regions in the sun's atmosphere that appear darker in extreme ultraviolet and X-ray images taken by probes in space. They form in regions where the sun's magnetic field lines extend outward into space rather than looping back to the surface, allowing high-speed solar wind to escape. These structures can persist for weeks or even months.

Solar eclipse photography provides a unique vista into the processes taking place in the sun's upper atmosphere, the corona, which remain hidden even to cutting-edge space-based observatories.

Space probes and astronomical telescopes on Earth rely on instruments known as coronagraphs to view the corona. As the corona is a million times dimmer than the sun's surface, researchers need to obscure the visible solar disk with an occulter to view it. This occulter, located inside the telescope, has to cover a larger area than just the solar disk itself to protect the images from the effects of diffraction.

During a total solar eclipse, the moon naturally blocks the sun's bright disk, allowing scientists to capture exceptionally detailed views of the inner corona that are difficult to obtain with conventional coronographs.

The U.S. Air Force is opening up about the SpaceX Starfall cargo capsule it flew on a recent rideshare mission to orbit — and showing off what the capsule carried.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) completed a point-to-point rocket cargo delivery test using the secretive uncrewed reentry vehicle, confirming on social media its recovery of the package in the Pacific Ocean. "With support from SpaceX, the AFRL agile cargo pods were recovered after splashdown," the AFRL wrote in an X post on Oct. 26.

The Starfall capsule launched on a Falcon 9 rocket as a part of SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 mission, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Oct. 20. Starfall carried a number of AFRL-developed cargo pods designed to transport military equipment through space and back to Earth. The successful recovery of the pods marks a big step forward in the Air Force's effort to examine the viability of point-to-point (P2D) rocket cargo missions.

"This was a critical achievement to demonstrate the potential of Rocket Cargo delivery for point-to-point rapid global mobility for the Future Force," said AFRL Technology Transition Office director Adam Remaly in a press release on Oct. 20.

Photos included in the AFRL social media post show military personnel unpacking a recovered cargo pod for inspection. Each pod contained sensors to monitor temperature conditions through launch, reentry and splashdown, as well as to measure the shock and vibration forces exerted on its cargo.

For its first Starfall mission, AFRL packed its cargo pods with representative items like medical equipment, food ration packs and other military kit that might be helpful for surviving an emergency somewhere that's tough to reach via conventional transportation. To that end, AFRL said it also conducted a fit check of a UNI-PAC III life raft inside Starfall, which could potentially be included in future tests.

"Researchers paid special attention to the electronics equipment and survival gear, including a SATCOM-enabled tracker, batteries, a reverse osmosis desalinator, survival gear and emergency medical equipment," AFRL said in its release.

SpaceX's disk-shaped Starfall capsule made a quiet debut on a Falcon 9 launch in June, and the company has remained relatively quiet about the vehicle to date. Most of what we do know comes from a Federal Aviation Administration environmental assessment published earlier this year.

The hockey-puck-looking vehicle measures approximately 10.2 feet (3.1 meters) across and can return up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of cargo from orbit, according to that report. And it sports a carbon fiber heat shield and compressed gas thrusters for attitude control during reentry, as well as a parachute system for precision landings.

AFRL will assess the data recovered from the Oct. 20 mission to contribute to its broader Rocket Cargo initiative, which the Air Force hopes can evolve to the transportation of tens of tons of cargo per launch. That would exceed Starfall's mass capacity, but Starfall isn't the only vehicle the military has considered for its Rocket Cargo program.

SpaceX's much larger Starship rocket, which is still under development, was a likely candidate for tests at Johnston Atoll, a remote Pacific bird sanctuary where the Air Force proposed building a pair of landing pads for cargo delivery tests. However, those plans were suspended in July 2025 amid environmental concerns, and the status of the search for an alternative site is unclear.

On Oct. 28, 1971, the United Kingdom launched its first satellite. The satellite was named Prospero, but it was also known as the X-3.

This wasn't Britain's first satellite, but it was the first and only one the British space program launched with one of its own rockets. The first six British satellites all launched from the United States on NASA rockets. Prospero launched on a carrier rocket called the Black Arrow.

The Prospero mission was the fourth and final flight of a Black Arrow rocket. Prospero was designed to study how the environment in space affects communications satellites. It tested things solar cells and telemetry systems, and even had a micrometeoroid detector that would determine small particles in space posed a threat to the spacecraft.

The mission lifted off from the Woomera Range Complex in Australia. While the launch was a success, the rocket's final stage bumped into the satellite after it separated, and the collision broke one of Prospero's four radio antennas. But the satellite still worked, and it remained operational until 1973.

Why it mattered

The launch of Prospero is etched in the history books of British spaceflight. To this date, it remains the first and last British satellite ever launched on a native rocket built in the United Kingdom.

The 66-kilogram satellite launched on a three-stage Black Arrow R-3 rocket and flew in an elliptical orbit that ranged between 522 km to 1,300 km above the Earth. The rocket itself was based on the smaller Black Knight research rocket and stood nearly 13 meters tall. While the launch was successful, the Black Arrow program, which had seen two failures and two successes, was ultimately canceled.

The Prospero satellite, meanwhile, operated in orbit for two years, with regular communications ending in 1973, though it was contacted at least once each year through 1996, according to the BBC.

The satellite remains in orbit today, its legacy such that at least one company - the Scotland-based space startup Skyrora, has announced plans to retrieve Prospero in orbit and deorbit in Earth's atmosphere.

That Skyrora plan, announced in 2021, would use the company's space tug to rendezvous with the defunct Prospero, latch onto it and pull it from space. The company aims to launch its Skyrora XL rocket out of a Saxavord Spaceport in Scotland.

"By recovering Prospero, we are not only coming together as a space nation and taking responsibility for what we have launched into orbit, but also confirming our commitment to the sustainable use of outer space," Volodymyr Levykin, Skyrora founder and CEO, said at the time.

Want more space history? Check out our full On This Day In Space Story archive and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube.

Living underwater was surprisingly peaceful. It was in many ways exactly what I imagine living on Mars would be like one day. There were no humans around us, except for my three SEA STAR crewmembers and me. Apart from the human noises we made, we couldn't hear anything other than the life support systems keeping us alive submerged 22 feet (7 meters) below the surface.

We were living in these extreme conditions to study the challenges astronauts may face on long-duration space missions. Since performing research in space is still rare and expensive, there are numerous facilities around the world that focus on recreating space-like conditions on Earth. One of those stations is the Jules' Undersea Lab, where the SEA STAR simulated space mission took place.

This underwater habitat was called "La Chalupa" when it was built in the 1970s. Its purpose was to allow divers to live and perform research as aquanauts — people who spend more than 24 hours underwater in a so-called state of saturation. Today, the Jules' Undersea Lab is located near Key Largo, in Florida. However, it was originally designed to be mobile — inside a barge 20 feet wide and 60 feet long (6 to 18 meters).

The aquanauts could choose an ideal site for their research expeditions underwater and then have the facility be submerged. They did that by flooding most of its inside space, turning it from a boat to a submarine. Once their work was done, they could remove the water and move "La Chalupa" to another location.

Unfortunately, the funding to keep this facility running ran out over time, and it was moved one last time to its current home. Since then, the now Jules' Undersea Lab served as the research station for tens of different aquanaut missions, including a NASA 30-day project and two missions that set world records for the longest time living underwater (73 and 100 days).

On the inside, the underwater station is made up of a galley with a kitchen and dining/work area. Next to it there is a basic toilet, shower and the "moon pool," which is the equivalent of a door to get inside the habitat. The final area is the bedroom with two bunk beds, which can be split in the middle to create two bedrooms and provide additional privacy. Three windows throughout the habitat provide its dwellers with a view of a mostly green outside world.

To start our SEA STAR simulated space mission, we waved goodbye to our Mission Control team on "Earth" and dove down to enter the Jules' Undersea Lab through the "moon pool" at 25 feet (7.6 m) underwater. After that, we did not return to the surface again until five days later. We lived and worked the whole time underwater, performing our space-related research and "spacewalks" (a.k.a. exploration dives in scuba gear).

We were able to survive all this time in such a challenging environment thanks to a number of important life support systems keeping us alive. The communications and umbilical support cables (providing air, fresh water and power) for the habitat were originally supplied by NASA. All the piping and fittings are inside the submerged barge, protected from the air-sea interface and from encrusting marine creatures. There was also a direct line to Mission Control "on Earth" to help us in case of any emergencies.

Our schedule kept us busy all day every day to simulate what astronauts experience on the International Space Station (ISS). All four of us on the SEA STAR crew had research projects that we were responsible for, as well as daily tasks. These tasks involved cooking, medical checkups, cognitive tests, maintenance work and taking care of unexpected issues. As the Commander of the crew, I also made sure everyone was on top of their work and addressed any problems that came up.

We performed "spacewalks" in between all those other activities. They were pretty physically exhausting, which meant that we did not do additional exercise during the mission. I have been the Commander of 40 simulated space missions, and normally we exercise for at least an hour or two during each mission, just like astronauts on the ISS. Nonetheless, the pressure in the Jules' Undersea Lab was approximately twice as high as it was on the surface at sea level. This caused the crew to experience additional stress to their bodies, which is why no further exercise was required.

Even though our hands were full with activities during the mission, none of us felt particularly stressed out. Whether it was because of the effects of the pressurized conditions or thanks to good planning, we actually enjoyed our time living underwater. One of the nice surprises of the mission was that the food wasn't too bad, either. We were allowed to use a small crock pot, which meant we could eat soups, stews and overnight oats. Small joys like that boosted our spirits immensely.

Having said all that, the Jules' Undersea Lab did also make the isolation from our lives on Earth feel very realistic. While we didn't have a view of Earth like the astronauts on the ISS, our very green view of a completely different world outside our windows gave us an impression of living on another planet. It was the alien nature of our lifestyle 22 feet underwater and all the challenges that came with it that made this mission feel Mars-like. Our daily schedule grounded us, the extreme environment around us kept us on our toes and our scientific exploration helped us reach new frontiers.

You can follow Dr. Michaela Musilova at her website and on social media: @astro_michaela (Instagram, TikTok and Threads), @Dr. Michaela Musilova (Facebook) and @astro-michaela.bsky.social (Bluesky).

The next International Space Station (ISS) spacewalk will have more maple-leaf flavor than usual, as a Canadian astronaut will become the first to go outside the orbiting complex in seven years.

Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, who's also a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, will help the ISS boost its power supply during his first-ever spacewalk on Thursday (Oct. 29). Kutryk will be joined by NASA astronaut Anil Menon, who has done three spacewalks already and also serves as a colonel with the U.S. Space Force.

The duo are scheduled to venture outside the orbiting lab at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), kicking off a spacewalk that will last roughly 6 hours and 45 minutes. You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA, beginning at 6:30 a.m. EDT (1030 GMT).

It will be the first of two extravehicular activities (EVAs) for Menon and Kutryk, with the second expected to occur no sooner than Nov. 5. During the two spacewalks, the astronauts will deploy the seventh and eighth International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSAs).

iROSAs lie on top of the existing, decades-old arrays on ISS, which are naturally degrading with age. The first iROSA rolled out in 2021. Once all eight are installed and running, the station will see its power supply rise from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts — a boost of roughly 30%.

A Canadian capcom, too

The capcom (capsule communicator) for both spacewalks will be CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons. She has experience in this role already, serving as a capcom on NASA's Artemis II mission around the moon this past April. And she'll serve as lead capcom for Artemis III, which will test crewed lunar landers in Earth orbit next summer, if all goes to plan.

Also helping Kutryk and Menon will be Canadian space technology, specifically Canadarm2 — the ISS robotic arm tasked for spacewalk support, among other maintenance duties.

"It's been busy preparing for the upcoming spacewalks," Menon said about Canadarm2 in a Saturday (Oct. 24) X post. Ground controllers recently moved the arm over to the "trunk" or storage area of a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, which brought the two iROSA arrays up earlier this month.Canadarm2 picked up the IROSAs and moved them to a transporter for the astronauts. "It even loosened bolts for us before the spacewalks … I'm grateful for the help," Menon added.

During the Oct. 29 spacewalk, Canadarm2 will do even more. Kutryk and Menon will slide an array off its transport rail and then have Menon get onto a Canadarm2 platform, to put the array into his hands. From inside the ISS, NASA astronauts Luke Delaney and Jessica Watkins will carefully move Canadarm2 to put Menon and the array at the ISS port-installation site, supporting the 2A electrical-power channel.

Each array is about 10 feet (3 meters) long when folded up and weighs 750 pounds (340 kilograms) here on Earth, according to Garrett Hehn, NASA's spacewalk flight director. The agency therefore knows the iROSAs are "a lot to handle," he said during a press conference on Oct. 20 that previewed the two upcoming spacewalks.

As such, NASA looked at how previous iROSA spacewalks were performed and created a new "elegant series of maneuvers, where we've tried to rotate around the actual center of mass of the arrays, rather than the crew member," Hehn added. "It was a lesson learned from previous EVAs, of how we thought we could make it a little less tiring on Anil."

Kutryk will move over to the installation location, hand-over-hand, to join Menon. There, the two will place the IROSA onto the older solar array, using a "mod kit" placed on a previous spacewalk. "We've got a series of bolts to structurally attach it [the IROSA] and release, in order for this folded-up configuration to fold open, and basically go from about 10 feet long to around 20 feet [6 m] long," Hehn explained.

"These arrays," he added, "I kind of think of them like a snap bracelet … They basically have a series of magnets up the side, where they deploy with enough energy that it just continues rolling out steadily. That process will take about 10 minutes on the day of the EVA."

Following that, the astronauts need to access power cables at a time when that area of the ISS is not in sunlight; the station will be (as always) moving through its orbit, circling the Earth every 90 minutes, so timing will be important.

"We can't have any sun on the arrays, whenever we're handling those hot cables," Hehn said. "Basically, we'll use a jumper to bring together both the legacy arrays' power, and this new rollout solar arrays' power, in order to have a pretty substantial gain to our power-generation capability."

The Nov. 5 EVA will essentially have the astronauts do the same installation procedure with another array, this time heading to the starboard side of the space station. The last IROSA installation, however, will take place a little farther from the station, beyond Canadarm2's reach. So the astronauts will do a "leapfrog" to get out there.

After Menon, the array and Canadarm2 are brought to the installation location, Hehn said, Kutryk — moving to the same location by himself, hand over hand — will go into another platform installed on the station truss, and take the IROSA from Menon's hands. As Kutryk waits in place, Menon will exit the robotics platform, move it from the Canadarm2 to another spot on the space station's truss, and then get back on to the platform to hold the IROSA securely for installation for the 3B electrical-power channel.

"This is the way that we close that final distance that the robotic arm is unable to do on its own," Hehn said.

Canadian robots, support teams — and new funding

The CSA's last spacewalk was during the agency's previous mission seven years ago, which involved astronaut David Saint-Jacques. On April 8, 2019, Saint-Jacques successfully fought difficult equipment during a busy excursion alongside NASA astronaut Anne McClain.

CSA has a 2.3% contribution to ISS, usually working out to a flight every five or six years. However, Kutryk's slot was delayed two years, from 2024 to 2026, because he was originally assigned to fly up on Boeing's Starliner capsule, which needs more flight testing following numerous issues that cropped up during its crewed demonstration flight in 2024.

Kutryk, who launched Oct. 1 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon with three other astronauts, has generated a lot of political and industry excitement in Canada. His mission marks a rare pair of CSA astronaut launches in a single year, as Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen just launched in April. (The last time this happened was in 2009, when Robert Thirsk was doing a long-duration station excursion and Julie Payette visited during a two-week space shuttle mission.)

Canadian astronaut missions are unusual, even when including private missions — or non-CSA government astronauts, like now-retired NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel, who has dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship. Canada is therefore using the new CSA mission as a catalyst. In recent weeks, Canada announced several government and industry commitments to keep the momentum going even after Kutryk returns next spring.

For example, Canada just announced its first bipartisan space caucus, named Hansen a space advisor to the prime minister, pledged to soon give CSA its first space strategy since 2019, and promised, if at all possible, to announce a mission assignment for Gibbons within the next year. (The latter may depend on factors such as NASA's availability for missions, as Canada does not launch astronauts on its own.)

On the industry side, Canada's defense department last week promised the launch company NordSpace $20 million CDN ($14 million USD) for a 10-year launch pad access agreement at the company's young spaceport in the province Newfoundland and Labrador; additional mission costs will be paid when those are ordered. Canada also recently promised $200 million CDN ($140 million USD) to Maritime Launch Services over 10 years, committing to a launch pad at the company's emerging spaceport in Nova Scotia.

Virgin Galactic has officially unveiled the first space plane in its next-gen "Delta" line, and announced the results of the worldwide vote to choose its name.

Spaceship Apeiron will be the first Delta-class vehicle, Virgin Galactic revealed on Wednesday (Oct. 28). Apeiron (pronounced "A'-per-on," according to the announcement) takes its name from the ancient Greek word meaning "boundless," and was selected through a public poll that drew votes from thousands of people across 83 countries and six continents.

The reveal comes on the same day that the space plane is scheduled to be flown from its manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona, to Spaceport America in New Mexico, where the vehicle will undergo final preparations before beginning flight tests.

Apeiron was one of four finalist names that Virgin Galactic narrowed down from a list of 276 employee-submitted suggestions. After the public weighed in, Apeiron came out on top over Horizon, Explorer and Ascend.

“Apeiron, the Boundless, captures the ambition of human spaceflight and the possibilities it opens for humanity," Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Golglazier said in a company statement. "The extraordinary response to the public vote made choosing this name even more meaningful."

The shiny new space plane will be attached to Virgin Galactic's VMS Eve carrier aircraft for its journey to Spaceport America, where engineers will complete work on its avionics software ahead of Apeiron's first flight tests and eventual operational missions.

The new Delta-class vehicle replaces Virgin's earlier space plane model, VSS Unity, which flew seven suborbital missions during its operational lifetime between the summers of 2023 and 2024. The company suspended VSS Unity flights to focus efforts on Apeiron's development, and now hopes to begin flying customers again in mid-2027.

Once they're in regular operation, Virgin plans to fly each of its Delta-class vehicles as many as eight times a month. A second Delta-class space plane is already under construction and is expected to join Apeiron at Spaceport America around the same time that Virgin restarts flying passengers, about 675 of whom are still waiting in line with tickets for a seat on one of the company's suborbital jaunts, according to the company's Q2 2026 SEC filing.

Now, more than 100 of those future space travelers are beginning their initial preparations for flight, with more ticketholders expected to follow once Virgin brings the second Delta-class vehicle into service. When the company began selling seats aboard its space plane in 2014, when VSS Unity was still under construction, tickets were priced around $200,000. Today, that price has jumped to $850,000 per seat, according to a report by Latte.

Like its predecessor, Apeiron and future Delta-class vehicles are designed for short, suborbital spaceflights, and are not capable of reaching orbit around Earth. They fly above the internationally recognized boundary of space, the 100-kilometer-high (62 miles) Karman line, and provide those onboard with several minutes of weightlessness and great views of the planet below.

Virgin Galactic plans to share further details about its upcoming flight tests during its November earnings call.

Virgin is one of two American companies that have flown paying customers to suborbital space and back. The other, Blue Origin, suspended its flights earlier this year to focus on helping land NASA astronauts on the moon.

A U.S. military intelligence agency has released an incredible new photograph of China's secretive space plane, showing it docked to another spacecraft in orbit.

The photograph was taken in 2024 by Vantor's WorldView 3 satellite, from a distance of 56 miles (90 kilometers). Ground-based observers have previously photographed Shenlong in orbit, but this new photo from Vantor, taken from space, reveals new details about the mysterious spacecraft in stunning clarity, with a resolution of 4.5 centimeters (1.8 inches) per pixel. The image was included in a new report released by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessing the scope and breadth of adversary threats in space.

In the image, the robotic Shenlong space plane can be seen docked to another satellite that has its solar panels deployed. It's not yet known which satellite that may have been. Shenlong's payload bay doors can also be seen in the photograph, in an open position.

Those payload doors may offer clues about what Shenlong is doing on its fourth mission, which launched in February 2026. China's space agency has stated only that Shenlong helps test technologies that "will pave the way for more convenient and affordable round-trip methods for the peaceful use of space in the future."

But observers have seen Shenlong release other objects while in orbit, such as in June 2026, when American space intelligence company LeoLabs reported that itdetected a new object in the vicinity of the space plane.

"Following additional observations across our global network and analysis via LeoLabs Delta, we have independently cataloged this object and assessed with high confidence that it was released from the Chinese space plane," LeoLabs stated at the time. "This activity is consistent with sub-satellite deployments conducted by the space plane in previous missions."

A similar event happened during Shenlong's third mission, which ended in 2024. On its second mission in 2023, the space plane also released an object and may have conducted what are known as proximity and rendezvous operations, in which two spacecraft maneuver close to one another.

It may have been that the spacecraft was releasing unnecessary hardware before landing, however. Like all things military space, few details have been released to the public about Shenlong's operations.

The United States, similarly, operates a secretive robotic space plane, the Boeing-built X-37B, and rarely releases concrete details about its capabilities or its missions. In February 2025, the U.S. Space Force released its first photo of the X-37B in space, offering a rare glimpse at the space plane in operation. The photo appeared to show it in a high Earth orbit with what appear to be its payload bay doors open.

In 2023, Space Force released its first official painting, depicting an X-37B-like space plane in orbit above Earth, intercepting another satellite.

With China and the United States currently jockeying for the lead in what many observers have called a new Space Race, rare glimpses like these images may be a way of militaries and intelligence agencies of teasing capabilities without fully revealing them to the public.