"Beyond the limit": one million satellites and mirrors in space pose grave threat to the night sky
A new European Southern Observatory (ESO) study has found that current proposals to launch over 1.
Weekly digests · 29 Jun – 5 Jul 2026
Week 27, 2026
21 stories that week, most of them about crewed spaceflight, galaxies & cosmology, telescopes & instruments.
The week's biggest
Supporting εpsilon from Earth
Every space mission has two crews: one in space and one on Earth. While ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot carries out experiments and…
3D-printed metal: unlocking crew autonomy
Image: When it comes to the future of human exploration, 3D printers hold the key to crew autonomy in areas ranging from…
Timelapse: four P160C boosters for Ariane 6 – from integration to launch
Video: 00:04:24 A core stage, an upper stage and four of the most powerful boosters ever produced in Europe.
A Wandering Supermassive Black Hole Eating a Star
Astrobites reports on the first case of a supermassive black hole discovered away from its galaxy’s center, exposed when it tore apart…
A New Catalog of Stellar Rotation Periods for Over a Million Stars
A recent study has leveraged TESS's full-sky coverage to build a catalog of stellar rotation periods for over a million stars.
Frames from that week
FS Tau (Webb NIRCam image)
ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA ·
Starry Chandelier Cluster
NASA ·
NASA Astronaut Chris Williams Preps for Spacewalk
NASA ·
Everything else
15:00 UTC
Webb studies how a planet survived death of its star
An international team of astronomers have used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to watch the Jupiter-sized exoplanet…
ESA/Webb
Instruments
Instruments
15:00 UTC
Action! NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Begins Capturing the Greatest Cosmic Movie Ever Made
The wait is over: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S.
NOIRLab
Cosmology
Cosmology
13:00 UTC
3D-printed metal
Video: 00:01:28 This video was published by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot on social media with the following caption…
ESA Exploration
Crewed
Crewed
07:00 UTC
The space under
Five explorers from three space agencies have successfully completed ESA’s CAVES training course in Italy.
ESA Exploration
Crewed
Crewed
16:00 UTC
Probing the Origin of the Kilonova Candidate GRB 230307A: Analysis of Host Galaxy and Offset
Clecio R. Bom et al 2026 ApJL 1001 L37 The combination of data and binary neutron star merger…
AAS Nova
Stars
Stars
14:30 UTC
The most spectacular aurora of the εpsilon mission (so far!)
Video: 00:01:17 This timelapse was published on social media by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot with the following caption…
ESA Exploration
Crewed
Crewed
02:54 UTC
Two More Thoughts on Little Red Dots
What's behind the population of compact, reddish objects spotted by JWST? Two recent research articles have explored theories…
AAS Nova
Black Holes
Black Holes
08:28 UTC
Artist's view of Space Transportation's major programmes from 2026 onwards – vertical
Image: Artist's view of Space Transportation's major programmes from 2026 onwards – vertical
ESA Space Transportation
Launch
Launch
16:00 UTC
Excavating the Ruins: An Ancient z = 2.675 Galaxy Which Formed in the First 500 Myr
Ian McConachie et al 2026 ApJ 1002 74 Analysis of JWST and Hubble Space Telescope observations of the…
AAS Nova
Cosmology
Cosmology
16:00 UTC
Radar-Derived Compositional Diversity of the Youngest Martian Volcanics: An Exploratory Study
Gareth A. Morgan and Bruce A. Campbell 2026 Planet. Sci. J. 7 99 Using the SHAllow RADar split-chirp…
AAS Nova
Solar System
Solar System
10:15 UTC
Call for interest: MTG-I2 launch media programme at Europe’s Spaceport
Press Release N° 33–2026 Media representatives are invited to express their interest in attending the media programme for…
ESA Earth Observation
Launch
Launch
15:00 UTC
Vera C Rubin Observatory kicks off 10-year quest to map the cosmos
The 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time will take a picture of the southern night sky every…
Physics World
Cosmology
Cosmology
16:00 UTC
UGC 2369S: A Kiloparsec-Scale Triple Merger Candidate Identified in a Nearby Luminous Infrared Galaxy
Yuanze Ding et al 2026 ApJ 1002 130 Researchers present the first high-resolution multi-wavelength observations of a triple-nucleus…
AAS Nova
Cosmology
Cosmology
10:00 UTC
‘Amaze, amaze, amaze’: in Project Hail Mary, science and friendship save the day
Andrew Glester and Tushna Commissariat delve into the science and story of Project Hail Mary
Physics World
Crewed
Crewed
14:30 UTC
An ocean of stars
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has kicked off an epic mission to map the Universe, including potentially dangerous…
The Planetary Society
Cosmology
Cosmology