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EnglishWhat kind of space and astronomy news does EarthSky cover?
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EarthSky covers spaceflight milestones, solar activity and space weather, exoplanet research, and planetary-science missions, alongside its better-known night-sky viewing guides. Its space coverage is written by named authors and dated, so you can judge how current a story is. If you want to know whether EarthSky is the right source for a specific topic — a rocket launch, a solar storm, or a research finding — the sections below show what it actually publishes.
Spaceflight and launch milestones
EarthSky reports on human and robotic spaceflight, including first-of-their-kind achievements. One example from its Space section is a story headlined "Starship reaches Earth's orbit for 1st time," filed by Will Triggs. The headline style tells you what to expect: a milestone framed as a first, with the vehicle named directly.
For launch coverage, this means EarthSky is useful for the headline event — did the vehicle reach orbit, did the flyby succeed — rather than for minute-by-minute live updates.
Solar activity and space weather
Sun coverage focuses on events that can affect Earth. A representative item is a "Sun news" roundup dated September 29, 2026, describing a huge filament eruption that hurled a coronal mass ejection into space, with part of it possibly reaching Earth on October 2, and noting that G1 (minor) storms and auroras were possible.
That entry shows the pattern clearly:
- What happened — a filament eruption and CME
- When it may arrive — a specific date
- What it could cause — G1 storms and auroras
- Who wrote it — C. Alex Young, Armando Caussade, and Raúl Cortés
If your interest is aurora chasing or geomagnetic conditions, this is the kind of post to watch.
Exoplanets and astronomy research
EarthSky also translates research findings for a general audience. One example covers work by researchers in Ireland who found a new way to decode weather on exoplanets, starting with the planetary-mass object SIMP 0136. The story is credited to Paul Scott Anderson.
The framing is typical: an institution or country, a method, and the object used as the test case. Expect the "what it means" layer rather than the full paper.
Planetary-science missions
Mission updates appear as well. One item notes that the JUICE mission completed a flyby. Coverage at this level is about status — where a spacecraft is and what maneuver it just performed — not engineering telemetry.
Night-sky viewing, the site's other half
Space news sits alongside observing content, and the two are easy to tell apart by section:
| Section | What it covers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Tonight | Visible planets, moon phases, star patterns | A guide to visible planets and the night sky for late September and October |
| Constellations | Individual star patterns | Equuleus the Little Horse on autumn nights |
| Space | Spaceflight, solar activity, missions, research | Starship reaching orbit; the JUICE flyby |
| Sun | Solar events and space weather | The September 29, 2026 CME roundup |
A separate item, "Watch for the daytime moon after sunrise this week," shows the Tonight section's practical style: look west after sunrise to see the moon against a blue sky.
How to judge whether a story fits your need
Because each item carries an author name and a date, you can filter quickly:
- Looking for a launch or mission outcome? Check the Space section and read the headline for the milestone.
- Tracking aurora or geomagnetic storms? Check Sun news for CME arrival dates and storm-level forecasts.
- Want research explained simply? Look for stories naming an institution and a study object.
- Want to observe tonight? Use the Tonight and Constellations sections instead.
EarthSky also offers a daily email update covering science news, photos, and sky alerts, and the site lists Subscribe, Store, and Donate options. The page evidence does not state prices or whether any content sits behind a login, so treat those as unconfirmed until you check the site directly.