ESCAPADE recently gave us a view of our home world and our large natural satellite, as seen from the spacecrafts’ temporary orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point. Here’s our latest post on the mission and its unique view for @universetoday.com - www.universetoday.com/articles/esc...

ESCAPADE Images Earth and Moon From Its Temporary Home

Sometimes, you have embark on a journey to appreciate home. The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission recently gave us just such a view of our homeworld and our larg...

universetoday.com

Now, Comet 10P is just showing off: app.astrobin.com/i/slrdbm?utm...

Comet 10P/ Tempel2's Brownish-Yellow Dust Tail Brightens, Broadens and Fractures July 24 2026 - AstroBin

37 Cap, The star 37 Cap imaged with Celestron RASA 11", ZWO ASI6200MC Pro, 2h 28m of total integration, by Dan Bartlett on AstroBin.

app.astrobin.com

Space junk up, space junk down. We’ve got a high-interest doubleheader tonight, both centered on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, both involving SpaceX: a pre-dawn launch, and a lunar impact.

What triggered one of the most dramatic changes in Earth’s history? | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... - The Great Oxidation Event is still tough to pin down.

What triggered one of the most dramatic changes in Earth’s history?

New science may explain mysterious gap before oxygen flooded our planet billions of years ago

science.org

One huge camera: petapixel.com/2026/08/02/3... - via @petapixel.bsky.social

3.2-Gigapixel LSST Camera Captures Over Half a Million Galaxies

Galaxies galore!

petapixel.com

Where will you be on Aug 12th? Many an eclipse chaser will make the journey to stand in the Moon’s shadow next week. This unique eclipse sees totality curl around the Earth’s pole, crossing Spain & the western Med. Here’s our post for @universetoday.com www.universetoday.com/articles/int...

Into Totality: Our Guide to the August 12th Total Solar Eclipse

Where will you be on August 12th? Many an eclipse chaser and the ‘eclipse curious’ will make the journey to stand in the Moon’s shadow on that fast-approaching Wednesday date. This unique eclipse sees...

universetoday.com

Topical, as more and more samples head Earthward: www.404media.co/we-need-to-q...

We Need to Quarantine Aliens on the Moon, Scientists Propose

Researchers argue that a lunar biocontainment facility for extraterrestrial samples could prevent “the potential ecological devastation of an invasive extraterrestrial organism.”

404media.co

Looks like there's a NOTAM out indicating that the launch window for the Chang'e-7 lunar south polar landing mission opens at 0000 UTC August 24. Windows of 0000-0400 running through August 31.

Andrew Jones@andrewjonesspace.bsky.social · 3w ago

The Long March 5 rocket to launch the Chang'e-7 lunar south polar landing mission has arrived at Wenchang spaceport. Launch could occur around late August. mp.weixin.qq.com/s/kBXwck7GNe...

Periodic Comet 10P/Tempel reaches perihelion today at 1.418 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun, and passes the Earth tomorrow at 0.414 AU (62 million km) distant. The +9.0 magnitude comet is currently moving about 30’ a day through the southern constellation Piscis Austrinus in the pre-dawn sky.

Asteroid 44 Nysa may be one strange worldlet: skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... - via @skyandtelescope.bsky.social

Astronomers Spot Weird, Three-Lobed Asteroid with a Moon

Asteroid 44 Nysa has the weirdest shape yet seen for an asteroid — the lumpy rock appears to have three different parts to it.

skyandtelescope.org

www.whatsupthespaceplace.com/2026/08/eyes... @astrodave.bsky.social @wtopnews.bsky.social

EYES ON THE SKIES FOR AUGUST 2026

Hey, Space Placers! A BUSY SKY IN AUGUST! Check it out here. Sky Guy in VA

whatsupthespaceplace.com

August 2026 Spaceflight (orbital launches with firm dates in Universal Time)(1 of 3) 4-CASC/Long March-8A/Wenchang/Unk 4-SpaceX/Falcon-9/VSFB/Starlink Group 17-53 4-Chinarocket/Jielong-3/Haiyang/Unk 5-SpaceX/Falcon-9/Cape/Bluebird 11-13 6-MHI/H3-22S/Tanegashima/Michibiki-7...

Astronomy August 2026 2-Mercury greatest elongation (19ºW) 12-Total Solar Eclipse 12-Perseids peak 13-Moon occults Regulus 14-Mercury v M44 (dawn, 13ºW) 15-Venus greatest elongation (46ºE) 15- Mercury 30’ v Jupiter (13ºW) 16-Moon 1.8ºN of Venus 21-Moon occults Antares 28-Partial Lunar Eclipse

Today's DwarfMini solar shot. Lots of small spots.

Yup... will juuuust miss us here in NC. Road trip, for a slight partial?

Tiffany@tiffzny.bsky.social · 6d ago

Huh! Alaska at the top was a big surprise until I went to look at the eclipse path again. Here in NS we’ll get ~30% which I’m pretty pleased with!

Neat. Here's the partial prospects for cities across the U.S. for the August 12th solar eclipse - www.eclipseglasses.com/pages/what-u...

Thought for today’s post, that I’d look back to another era of my life. Before space journalism, I was enlisted for 20+ years in the USAF. One of the last air frames I worked on was the A-10 Warthog, and I recently came across an image that highlights why it’s an amazing aircraft.

100,000 is still a bunch: petapixel.com/2026/07/28/n... via @petapixel.bsky.social

No More Than 100,000 Satellites in the Sky if We Want to Preserve Astronomy

There are currently 1.7 million satellites slated for low-Earth orbit.

petapixel.com

Interesting. I missed that watching the launch recap.

Lavonne 🇺🇦@loveon9.bsky.social · last wk.

Chinese Long March rocket lightning strike 30 seconds after liftoff, July 23, 2026. 🧵 ⚡ 1969 Apollo 12 lunar mission ⚡ 2019 Soyuz launched satellite ⚡ 2026 Long March 🚀 @astrodave.bsky.social

Jupiter, the ‘King of the Planets’ reaches solar conjunction for 2026 today at 12:00UT/8:00 AM EDT, opposite to the Earth at 6.3 AU (586 million miles distant). The gas giant world actually passes 12’ from the limb of the Sun around the same time.

Pretty rockin'... I wonder when the album drops? laughingsquid.com/electric-gui...

Greek Orthodox Priest Plays His Fretless Electric Guitar Like a Heavy Metal Oud

Greek Orthodox priest Father Dionisios Tabakis removed the frets from his 8-string electric guitar and tuned it to play it like an oud.

laughingsquid.com

Done. I finally built a full travel case for the Dwarf Mini smartscope.

Interesting. Periodic Comet 10P/Tempel seems to be sporting not one, but a secondary parallel dust trail, tracing out its orbital path. This is seen in this amazing sequence of images, courtesy of Dan Bartlett: app.astrobin.com/i/gtsh5u?utm...

We're starting to see early predictions for the appearance of the Sun's corona during the August 12th total solar eclipse: eclipse.predsci.com#current-pred...

On July 8, 2026, remotely using 0.51-m iTelescope.Net T11, I observed V2104 Aql (Nova Aql 2026). I am attaching a photo (60 sec with Rc filter) and I measured the magnitude: 10.343 +/- 0.019 Rc 2026-07-08 08:34:22 UT. #astronomy #space #Nova @astrodave.bsky.social

Pluto reaches opposition today for 2026 at 6:00 UT/10:00 AM EDT. The +14th magnitude world spends 2026 loitering in a loop through the zodiacal constellation Capricornus. Pluto is a tough but rewarding target to track down with a large telescope.

A tough capture... and it was done in the daytime: petapixel.com/2026/07/26/p...

Photographer Captures Rare Shot of Venus and the ISS Together in One Frame

It took a whole lot of planning.

petapixel.com

Get set for totality. Spain will enjoy three solar eclipses in less than two year’s time: a total coming right up on August 12, 2026, another on August 2, 2027, and an annular eclipse on January 26, 2028.

Fun fact: a good majority of eclipse glasses are made by a Tennessee-based company: youtu.be/urO5nvRslNg?...

How It’s Made: Safe Solar Eclipse Glasses

YouTube video by Jason Lewin

youtu.be

Good news, at least so far, about the Madrid DSN station. NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens posted on X that there is "no significant structural damage observed to antennas or buildings" based on an initial inspection. x.com/NASASpox/sta...

Bethany Stevens (@NASASpox) on X

On July 25, an initial onsite inspection by the NASA Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC) emergency response team found wildfire damage primarily to pavement and surrounding vegetation, wi...

x.com