Though mostly visible near the Arctic Circle, the natural phenomenon dazzled sky-gazers as far south Devon, Hampshire and Kent The northern lights illuminated the skies across the UK on Friday and Saturday evening. Sky-gazers as far south as Devon, Hampshire and Kent were treated to the dazzling natural phenomenon, also known as the aurora borealis. Continue reading...

Intense flash of radio waves is more than 10bn years old and has travelled through ‘approximately 80% of cosmic history’ A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a mysterious flash of energy was released into the universe. Astronomers have now detected that flash – a burst of radio waves which travelled for more than 10bn years before reaching Earth – what they believe to be the most distant fas

Crew hurried to International Space Station eight months ago after astronaut fell ill in space Four astronauts returned to Earth from the International Space Station on Thursday after hurrying there eight months ago to replace an ailing colleague and his crew. SpaceX brought the US, French and Russian crew back with a splashdown in the Pacific off the coast of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

MIT computer scientist led development of software for moon mission and earned Presidential Medal of Freedom Margaret Hamilton, the computer pioneer whose software powered the first moon landing, has died, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced on Wednesday. She was 90. In an era before titles such as software engineer and computer scientist became mainstream, Hamilton, who died

The planet looks like a moderately bright, creamy-white object and is easily visible to the naked eye This week offers an excellent opportunity to track down Saturn. The giant planet, situated about 10 times further from the sun than the Earth, reached opposition on 4 October. In this configuration, Earth is passing almost directly between the planet and the sun. This makes opposition an excellent

Four astronauts pulled up at International Space Station after eight-hour express flight led by Jessica Watkins Four astronauts pulled up at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday after launching on an eight-hour express that set a US speed record, and that created further history with the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit. SpaceX launched commander Jessica Watkins and her crew

Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to lead a crew to orbit, is making her second trip to the space station Four astronauts rocketed into orbit on Thursday on a space station mission that will stretch until spring, among them a Canadian whose wife will give birth while he is away. SpaceX launched commander Jessica Watkins and her crew for Nasa after a three-week delay to fix the capsule’s leaki

Now a $15bn industry, astrology is more mainstream in the US than ever. But its practitioners are still debating: who gets to have authority on the celestial bodies? “The dwarf planets change everything,” said the woman with the smart haircut as she made a mind blown gesture with her fingertips, temples to air. I am at the United Astrology Conference, the largest professional gathering of astrolog

SpaceX's spaceship blasted off from its Starbase launch facility in Texas on 28 September morning, marking its 14th test flight and first attempt to circle the planet before falling back to Earth, despite an engine failure. Continue reading...

Mission goes ahead despite some fears an initial engine failure after the Texas launch would scupper the attempt SpaceX has sent its enormous Starship rocket into Earth’s orbit for the first time on a milestone flight intended to pave the way for future missions to the moon and Mars. The rocket, the largest and most powerful ever built, blasted off from SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility in Texas a

Experiment suggests organisms could live in harsh environment under Enceladus’s icy crust, strengthening possibility moon could support life From the moment scientists spotted plumes of water erupting from Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, it became the most tantalising place in the solar system to search for life beyond Earth. Now the case is even more compelling after researchers found that orga

Series of in-flight problems meant Link, a ‘commercial space robot’, could not salvage the Nasa observatory A spacecraft that was launched in July on a mission to rescue a decaying Nasa space observatory plunged back to Earth on Friday, concluding a failed mission that will be followed by the telescope’s own demise in several weeks’ time. Link, billed as “America’s first commercial space robot”, l

New RAF unit will warn of incoming missile attacks, and support offensive and defensive operations A new military unit dedicated to defending satellites, protecting services people need on Earth and potentially supporting offensive operations is being launched by the UK. The No III Space Effects Squadron will be announced on Wednesday, with the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, warning that Britai

The revelation ‘left experts scratching their heads at exactly what Donald Trump has in his cosmic arsenal’ In Hollywood at least, space weapons are a relatively simple concept. The good guys, from Captain Kirk and his crew in Star Trek , to Luke Skywalker’s rebel alliance in Star Wars, battle intergalactic villains with an array of colorful lasers and particle-beam cannons, then the bad guys get

The astronomical bodies fire off powerful jets in two distinct phases in their feeding cycle, researchers discover Scientists have solved the mystery of when black holes “burp” – when the astronomical bodies launch jets after feeding on stars, blasting material enormous distances in space. Black holes are objects so densely compact that beyond a certain point their gravity is too strong for light

Gen Dan Caine’s comments at Washington summit come after US revealed it has deployed weapons in space US troops need to prepare for combat not only in Earth’s orbit but around the moon, Donald Trump’s top military adviser said on Wednesday, looking ahead to a new frontier in warfare after the US revealed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space. Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the joint

Analysts warn of an acceleration in high-risk arms race with Russia and China in Earth’s orbit The US has deployed weapons in space, the US military has confirmed, in an extraordinary public announcement that analysts warn will accelerate a high-risk arms race with Russia and China in Earth’s orbit. The US secretary of the air force, Troy Meink, said Washington had active “on-orbit” weapons, meani

For decades physicists have been puzzling over the enigma of dark matter. We think it makes up 85% of the matter in the universe, but the mysterious substance cannot be seen or detected, and we know about it mainly through observations of the gravitational effects it has on other things. But now scientists believe they may be a step closer to detecting it. Science editor Ian Sample explains to Mad

For decades physicists have been puzzling over the enigma of dark matter. We think it makes up 85% of the matter in the universe, but the mysterious substance cannot be seen or detected, and we know about it mainly through observations of the gravitational effects it has on other things. But now scientists believe they may be a step closer to detecting it. Science editor Ian Sample explains to Mad

Given the size and age of the universe, it should be full of species with technology far more advanced than our own. So where are they? By Adam Kirsch. Read by James Sobol Kelly Read the text version here Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/longreadpod Adapted from We Want to Believe: How Aliens Went Mainstream and Why It Matters, published by Columbia Global Reports on 25 August. To suppo