The long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope is at its position at L2 and is currently being aligned and calibrated, so the view from each of the 18 mirrors combine to form one clear image. The 18 points of light have been combined, forming a single spot of light that now has to be refined and sharpened through further calibration.

How on Earth (err.. Mars?) has it been a full year since NASA’s latest Mars rover landed on the surface of Mars!

The rover launched back on July 30, 2020 on an Atlas V 541 rocket and traveled for over 200 days before landing on the surface of the Red Planet.

Just over a week ago we got our very first look at images the James Webb Space Telescope was taking. The images are still far from the quality of scienfic images expected a few months from now, but now the previously messy array of light points has been organized and aligned according to mirror segment location.

In a Tweet last year, Elon Musk confirmed that Starlink laser-based communication was coming to SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Now we know the Polaris Dawn mission will be the first crew to test out and make use of this additional connectivity option. And as Starlink continues to expand, with plans for Gen2 Starlink satellites launched on Starship being essential for the company, NASA has expressed some concerns about the expanding constellation.

News sites around the world, including us, reported on a Falcon 9 upper stage that was on a collision course with the Moon, with an impact expected on March 4. Except… new evidence (or rather, reobserving old evidence) points to the fact that this rocket stage is not actually the Falcon 9 upper stage from the DSCOVR mission, but instead a rocket stage from the Long March 3C that launched China’s Chang’e 5-T1 mission.

On December 25, 2021, James Webb Space Telescope was launched from the French Guiana towards Lagrange point 2. People have been anxiously awaiting the return of the first image from the next-generation space scope, but now that wait is finally over!

When Bill Gray and a team of observers realized that the SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage that launched the DSCOVR mission is going to crash into the Moon, everyone was talking about it. Now, Unistellar is making it easy for citizen astronomers to catch a glimpse of the rocket with their eVscopes, before it crashes into the Moon on March 4.

Seven years ago, SpaceX launched its first mission out of Earth orbit for NOAA, and since then, its upper stage has stuck around. But, according to a community of observers, it will meet an end crashing into the Moon soon.

An underwater volcano located near the Tonga Islands recently became active. Early this morning, a major eruption took place. Multiple satellites captured it as it happened.

On January 5, 2005, the Palomar Observatory-based team led by Mike Brown discovered a large world, later known as Eris, after systematically scanning for large outer Solar System bodies for several years. Unfortunately for Pluto, this was the beginning of the end for its official planet title.

Currently, more than 35,000 miles away, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is cruising through space on the way to its 1 million mile parking spot above the Earth. It will take the space telescope almost a month to complete orbital insertion. Here’s how you can track its way there.

FINAL UPDATE (1/31): James Webb is now fully deployed and orbiting in L2. The space telescope will spend the next few months commissioning and testing before taking its first photograph. Last week, NASA announced that Webb will point at HD 84406, a sun-like star 241 light-years away, to focus and align its mirrors in preparation for the moment we’ve been waiting for. Don’t hold your breath though, the mirror alignment process is very slow and tedious. We don’t expect James Webbs to take its first shot of the cosmos until around May 2022.

The news that no one wants to hear is a failure in one of the James Webb Space Telescope‘s deployment processes. While there isn’t a rescue plan, you bet NASA has thought about one.

Over the weekend, we finally got to watch the James Webb Space Telescope begin its journey to space. The long-awaited telescope launch was followed by celebrations from both the President and Vice-President.

It’s Christmas week and also a good time to step outside and admire the sky for the peak of the annual Ursid meteor shower, which will grace the sky tonight. Here’s when, where, and everything you need to know.

In a full week of news, NASA is looking at LC-49 for Starship launches, Parker Solar Probe touched the Sun, and more claims of sexual harassment surfaced in the industry. Catch up on last week’s news this Monday below.

‘Oumuamua is on its way out of the solar system but that hasn’t stopped researchers from learning what they can. Some individuals are trying to see if they can make contact with it before it leaves our neighborhood.

Launched on a Delta IV Heavy rocket back in 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now touched the Sun, flying through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona.

In just a few weeks, decades of hard work will start its journey to space and begin paying dividends as NASA‘s James Webb Space Telescope finally becomes operational. Google and NASA partnered up to celebrate the launch.

Over the weekend, we got to witness a planetary gem, a total solar eclipse. Unfortunately, it took place over Antarctica, meaning the vast majority of us couldn’t see it in person, but the best view ended up coming from above.

When most people think of NASA, they might picture the International Space Station, the Apollo Program, or even the Hubble Space Telescope. One oft-overlooked field of study is the space agency’s long history of looking back at our own planet. NASA-conducted climate research serves as the backbone of our current understanding of our changing climate. The space agency’s climate research relies heavily on its fleet of weather satellites, which help researchers develop accurate climate models.

On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris chaired her first meeting of the National Space Council (NSpC) of the new administration. Before this meeting, we were unsure how Biden’s NSpC would work, but it’s clear now it will continue the work President Trump forged – but now also climate change.

Earlier this year, I reviewed the eVscope eQuinox. Now, the smart telescope is $300 cheaper, down to $2,699. It may not be the latest scope from Unistellar, but not much changed between the eQuinox and the eVscope 2, so it may be worth taking this deal. Head below the fold to see if this deal is right for you!

While telescopes may not be the first thing to come to mind when you think of Black Friday savings, if you are interested in astronomy there are plenty of deals to help you get a jump start.

Stay tuned as we update this article throughout the week as more telescope deals come to light.

Late last night SpaceX launched a double asteroid redirection test mission for NASA. The ~1,300 pound spacecraft will slam into Didymos’ moonlet following its 10-month journey.