China wants to launch its lunar probe Chang'e 8 in 2028/29. Remarkable for such a developed national lunar research programme: Its large number of international collaborations, mostly with countries from the global south:
Source: https://spacenews.com/china-selects-international-payloads-for-change-8-lunar-south-pole-mission/
China's first lunar mission Chang'e 1 launched in 2007, with many missions and without any setbacks since then.
Gilles nous partage une photo de #m63 nommée la #galaxie du Tournesol
Ce résultat à été obtenu grâce à 85 poses de 300 secondes avec son filtre L-Pro
#astronomy #astronomie #astrophotography #astrophotographie #astrodon #galaxy
As usually in this period, my neighbours have their "cosmological simulation" flowers blossoming in all their glory, my favourite #flowers of course. #astronomy #astrodon #science
Curiosity rover mission updates: three new posts by Lucy Thompson, Susanne Schwenzer, and Scott VanBommel
Sols 4515-4517: Silver Linings https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4515-4517-silver-linings/ Sols 4518-4519: Thumbs up from Mars https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4518-4519-thumbs-up-from-mars/ Sols 4520-4521: Prinzregententorte https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4520-4521-prinzregententorte/
Ein sehr schöner Artikel von @sianderl:
https://www.zeit.de/2025/17/hubble-teleskop-weltraum-kosmos-bilder
Es ist schon Irrsinn, wenn ich darüber nachdenke, wie anders die Welt war, als Hubble gestartet wurde und wo wir heute sind (gleiches gilt auch für die beiden großen Röntgenteleskope XMM-Newton und Chandra).
Einen Artikel zum 35sten Jubiläum von Hubble mit neuen spektakulären Weltraumbilder gibt es hier:
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Hubble_celebrates_35th_year_in_orbit
The Sickle: Pillars of Creation in the Galactic Center by JWST
Full size image & more info: https://flic.kr/p/2qZRbgr
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/j.Roger/AndreaLuck CC BY
MIRI Filters: F770w, F1130w, F1500w
Proposal ID: 3958
PI: Angela Cotera @setiinstitute
Curiosity Looks Downslope From the Sulfate Unit
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia26551-curiosity-looks-downslope-from-the-sulfate-unit/ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26551
zoom app https://zoomhub.net/yzPNN
#Mars Feb. 7, 2025 (Sol 4447) 
NASA’s Dragonfly Passes Critical Design Review
The mission to Saturn’s icy moon Titan will investigate prebiotic chemical processes and complex organic compounds that, on Earth, are the building blocks of life.
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/dragonfly/2025/04/24/nasas-dragonfly-passes-critical-design-review/
Rivers of Titan
Saturn's largest moon is one of the few bodies in the Solar System with active rivers shaping its landscape: rivers of liquid methane. Using images acquired by Cassini and Huygens, a new study shows that they follow the same physical laws as Earth's rivers.
On this day, six years ago, @LIGO Livingston and Virgo detected an unusual gravitational-wave signal.
GW190425 was only the second signal from (most likely) a neutron star merger. Its distance to Earth was significantly larger and the sky position less precisely determined than for the first such signal (GW170817). Therefore, astronomers did not observe any afterglow in the electromagnetic spectrum.
The total mass of the merging objects was unusually high compared to known double neutron stars.
https://www.aei.mpg.de/142401/news-from-the-gravitational-universe
The publication abuout the observed gravitational-wave signal appeared on 6 January 2020:
went to a talk last night by a prominent #astrophysicist (which is why I was remiss in posting) & I can't stop thinking about Kessler Syndrome.
The degree of space debris *already* in orbit of earth 
Guillaume nous partage une #astrophotographie de #ngc3184 une #galaxie dans la constellation de la Grande Ours
Il y a au total 201 poses de 300 secondes sur 3 nuits et un traitement sous #photoshop et #pixinsight
#astronomy #astronomie #astrophotography #astrodon #galaxy
This week's sky at a glance, April 25- May 4. Very useful Sky & Telescope observing guide by Alan MacRobert. #AstroDon #Astronomy #Astro #Space #Astrophotography https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/this-weeks-sky-at-a-glance-april-25-may-4/
Mars and the Beehive. 135mm focal length. 24 April 2025. #AstroDon #Astronomy #Astro #Space #Astrophotography
"This result suggests that in Jupiter-like orbits, most planetary systems may not mirror our solar system," said co-author Youn Kil Jung of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, which operates the KMTNet."
I'm thinking big ol' Jupiter might hold the key as to why the inner Solar System is the way it is and why it's different from most other systems we know of so far.
https://phys.org/news/2025-04-super-earths-common-solar.html
Signs of life on a distant planet? Not so fast, say these astronomers - via Nature
Cosmography archives
1999: Is the Universe Fractal?
A perspectives paper by Vicent J. Martinez for Science Magazine
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.284.5413.445
