Orbit

The introduction of 26 thousand new megaconstellation satellites could have a significant effect on ground-based astronomy, according to a new study commissioned by the European Southern Observatory.

NASA has completed a milestone test of the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) sunshield, which will protect the flagship observatory from the Sun’s radiation as it unravels the secrets of the cosmos.

ESA has released a breathtaking mosaic of the Red Planet, stitched together from images taken by the Mars Express spacecraft.

ESA has been forced to reposition its Aeolus satellite to avoid a collision with a member of SpaceX’s Starlink mega constellation.

If it was in our solar system, the orbit of exoplanet HR 5183 b would swing from the asteroid belt to way out beyond Neptune.

India's ambitious Chandrayaan-2 mission, which is comprised of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, has successfully made orbit around the Moon.

Space flight requires quite a lot of single-use machinery, and that gets expensive and wasteful. Now ESA has outlined its reusable Space Rider capsule, which would carry scientific equipment to the edge of space and back several times over.

Hungarian astronomers have spotted two new pseudo-satellites – in the form of clouds of dust – caught in the gravitational tug-of-war between the Earth and the Moon.

With dozens of moons whizzing around Jupiter, it makes sense that a few have slipped under the radar, but the latest discovery is still a surprisingly large haul. Astronomers have announced the detection of 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter, including one particularly reckless “oddball.”

‘Oumuamua is the first interstellar visitor ever detected passing through our Solar System, and while it was originally classed as an asteroid after its discovery, astronomers have now updated the label. ‘Oumuamua, it turns out, is a comet after all, but it’s unlike any other known comet.

An international team of astronomers has discovered an asteroid sharing Jupiter's orbit, that appears to have originated from another solar system. The imaginatively named asteroid 2015 BZ509 could have immigrated to our system at a time when our Sun was still embedded in a colossal star cluster.

Models have long suggested that Earth's orbit shifts from circular to elliptical and back again over hundreds of thousands of years, which plays a part in natural climate swings. Now, scientists have found the first physical evidence for the cycle, and traced it back to before the dinosaurs.