Universe Explorer
To see the world with new eyes — Live data from space, curated links and cosmic discoveries. Since 2001.
NASA Picture of the Day
APOD
Nā ʻUhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola
2026-09-04
Nā ʻUhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola, is the Hawaiian name given to this image of a pair of spiral galaxies locked in a mutual gravitational embrace. Some 200 million light-years distant toward the high f…
Space News
NASA
ESA
ESO
UT
- Universe Today The DESI Legacy Imaging Survey Releases the Largest 2-D Map of the Universe 2026-09-04 21:30
- Universe Today The 20th Data Release (DR 20) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is Here! 2026-09-04 18:40
- NASA NASA Hosts Virtual Artemis Webinar for Blind, Low-Vision Community 2026-09-04 16:48
- Universe Today Pulsar Timing Arrays Could Look for Evidence of Dark Matter Stars 2026-09-04 15:14
- NASA Lunar Occultation of Venus 2026-09-04 14:16
- NASA Lunar Occultation of Venus 2026-09-04 14:14
- NASA APOD: 2026 September 4 – Na Uhane Mahoe Huki Pu i ke Ola 2026-09-04 04:05
- Universe Today New Study Expands Search for "Dark Photons," a Leading Dark Matter Candidate 2026-09-03 20:30
- Universe Today Penultimate Lunar Occultations Inbound for Jupiter, Venus and More in September 2026-09-03 19:34
- NASA NASA to Cover Progress 96 Spacecraft Launch, Docking 2026-09-03 17:06
Rocket Launches
LL2-
21h 26minSpectrum | Onward and UpwardTBC
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1d 12hFalcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-24Go
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4d 10hLong March 2D/YZ-3 | Unknown PayloadGo
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4d 17hSoyuz 2.1b | Progress MS-35 (96P)Go
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5d 17hFalcon 9 Block 5 | USSF-153Go
Space Weather
NOAA
AIA 193 A (Corona) (SDO)
Earth (EPIC/DSCOVR) — 2026-09-02
Moon Phase
☾🌗
Last Quarter
48% illuminated
Next Full Moon
26. Sep (22d)
Next New Moon
12. Sep (7d)
Meteor Showers
IMO-
Draconids 33dPeak: 8. Oct 2026 ZHR: ~10 20 km/s21P/Giacobini-Zinner
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Orionids 46dPeak: 21. Oct 2026 ZHR: ~20 66 km/s1P/Halley
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Leonids 73dPeak: 17. Nov 2026 ZHR: ~15 71 km/s55P/Tempel-Tuttle
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Geminids 100dPeak: 14. Dec 2026 ZHR: ~150 35 km/s3200 Phaethon
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Ursids 108dPeak: 22. Dec 2026 ZHR: ~10 33 km/s8P/Tuttle
Near-Earth Asteroids
CNEOSNext 14 days, < 0.1 AU
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2026 RG2026-Sep-05 10:4 1.3 LD 508.305 km 12.4 km/s
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2026 RD2026-Sep-06 18:4 2.7 LD 1.043.493 km 5.9 km/s
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2026 RJ2026-Sep-11 10:4 4.4 LD 1.674.750 km 6.9 km/s
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2024 RV122026-Sep-09 03:0 5.6 LD 2.139.515 km 12.1 km/s
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2010 FX92026-Sep-14 03:5 9.3 LD 3.592.272 km 11.1 km/s
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2026 RF2026-Sep-05 10:1 10.2 LD 3.925.883 km 8.7 km/s
LD = Lunar Distances (384.400 km)
New Papers
arXiv- The influence of standard relativistic effects on Gaia-like astrometric catalogs
- The Impact of Artificial Space Objects on Optical Astronomy as Determined from 32 Million Photometric Observations
- Benchmarking Machine Learning Emulators of Stellar Evolution for Precision Asteroseismology
- Radial velocity detection of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system with SPIRou and NIRPS
- Bridging integrated-light and resolved-star studies of Local Group dwarf spheroidals. A novel use of deep imaging based on amateur telescopes
- Unlocking the QPE Mystery: Star-Disk Collisions in Realistic AGN Disks
Astronomer's Telegrams
ATel- #18030 SVOM/ECLAIRs detection of a possible new outburst onset from the black hole 4U 1630-472
- #18029 Spectroscopic classification of AT 2026aabo as a bright nova in M31
- #18028 NuSTAR detection of shock-powered X-rays from Nova Sagittae 2026 = V488 Sge
- #18027 AT 2026aabo (ZTF26abramlb, ATLAS26kqn): a bright nova candidate in M31
- #18026 Insight-HXMT observations of a soft X-ray flare and a possible QPO-type transition in MAXI J1750-327 / EP260812c (Format Corrected)
- #18025 XMM-Newton detection of a high flux state in the HMXRB IGR J13020-6359
Current Comets
Heavens-Above| Comet | Mag | Constellation | Alt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10P Tempel 2 | 8.0 | Piscis Austrinus | 4.1° |
| 220P McNaught | 9.9 | Cetus | 14.4° |
| 169P NEAT | 11.4 | Leo | -23.3° |
| 88P Howell | 13.8 | Aries | 20.1° |
| C/2024 T5 ATLAS | 14.4 | Lepus | -23.1° |
| C/2024 J3 ATLAS | 14.5 | Lyra | 53.3° |
| 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 | 14.5 | Virgo | -40.1° |
| 260P McNaught | 14.6 | Auriga | 22.6° |
Live Services
Latest Publications (peer-reviewed)
- ApJ SAPPHIRES: A Galaxy Overdensity in the Heart of Cosmic Reionization at z = 8.47 Yoshinobu Fudamoto, Jakob M. Helton, Xiaojing Lin, Fengwu Su
- ApJ A Spectral-model-independent Diagnostic of Phase-resolved Spectral Convergence in Swift J0243.6+6124 Bo-Yan Chen, Peng-Ju Wang, Shu Zhang, Ling-Da Kong, Long Ji,
- ApJ Learning the Universe: The Structure of Dust Attenuation Curves in Galaxy Simulations Laura Sommovigo, Deaglan J. Bartlett, Rachel K. Cochrane, Ma
- ApJ When Galaxies Cross Cold Fronts: Wind Tunnel Simulations of Ram Pressure Stripping Elvis A. Mello-Terencio, Rubens E. G. Machado and Richards P
- ApJ The H II Regions’ Molecular Law of Star Formation Daniela Calzetti, Drew Lapeer, Robert C. Kennicutt, Bruce El
- ApJ From Starburst to Quenching: Physical Properties of Extremely Compact Starbursts at z ∼ 0.1 Can Xu, Mengyuan Xiao, Min Bao, Qiusheng Gu, Longji Bing, Yo
- ApJ Observation of Spontaneous N-bearing PAH Formation Using an Ion Trap: A New Formation Pathway in the Interstellar Medium Siddhartha S. Payra, Pratikkumar Thakkar, Shiv Gupta, Ruth A
- ApJ On the Possibility of a Strong First-order Phase Transition in Neutron Stars Zheng Cao and Lie-Wen Chen
- ApJL Reconnection Jets Detected During the Footpoint Drift of a CME Flux Rope: New Signatures of Ongoing 3D Arcade–Flux Rope Reconnection Renjie Liu, 仁杰 刘, Hechao Chen, 何超 陈, Chun Xia and 莼 夏
- ApJL Leveraging Impact Parameter to Mitigate the Transit Light Source Effect: Early Insights from TRAPPIST-1 Ana Glidden, Alexander I. Shapiro, Sara Seager, Nadiia Kosto
- ApJL Observational Evidence of Vortex-driven Information Transfer in the Solar Atmosphere: Insights from Sunrise iii Suzana S. A. Silva, Ioannis Dakanalis, Kostas Tziotziou, Aza
- ApJL A Detailed MOND Modelling of the Bullet Cluster X. Hernandez
Data from: NASA (APOD, News, CNEOS, SDO), ESA, ESO, NOAA SWPC, Launch Library 2, Universe Today, arXiv.org, ApJ, ApJL, AJ, A&A, MNRAS, Nature Astronomy, SILSO, ATel, COBS, IMO. Updated every 20 minutes.