The eye of Hurricane Melissa – strongest Atlantic hurricane of 2025 – on October 28, 2025. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite captured this image while looking down from space – from 500 miles (750 km) high – shortly before Melissa hit the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica. On July 8, 2026, Colorado State University revised its forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season. It said that a strengthening El Niño means even lower chances of tropical storms than its already low forecast from earlier this year. Image via Copernicus Sentinel-2.
An update to the Atlantic hurricane season forecast
On July 3, 2026, the World Meteorological Organization provided an update on how El Niño is developing. It said that from July through September we can expect a rapid development into a strong El Niño event. This means higher temperatures over much of the globe, including for the waters of the Gulf and Atlantic. So on July 8, 2026, Colorado State University provided an updated Atlantic hurricane forecast for this season. It has revised the number of tropical storms down from an already low forecast.
Both NOAA and Colorado State University (CSU) release a forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season each year. This year, both organizations called for a below-average year for tropical storms in the Atlantic basin. Back on April 9, the CSU forecast called for 13 named storms, including 2 major hurricanes. And now, as of July 8, CSU predicts 9 named storms and just 1 major hurricane.
Even though a strengthening El Niño means a less-likely chance for an active hurricane season in the Atlantic, CSU said:
Coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them.
As always, be aware and be prepared.
The original Atlantic hurricane season forecast for 2026
Originally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its official forecast for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season on May 21, 2026. And it predicted a below-average hurricane season, specifically, 8-14 total named storms (this includes both tropical storms and hurricanes), 3-6 hurricanes and 1-3 major hurricanes. NOAA has not yet made any changes to its 2026 forecast.
Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30. With one month down, the Atlantic has only seen one named storm in 2026. Tropical Storm Arthur impacted the Texas coast in mid-June.
What are the categories of hurricanes? Well, major hurricanes are those that reach categories 3, 4 or 5.
Category 5: 157 mph or higher sustained winds (251+ km/h)
Why does El Niño mean fewer hurricanes?
El Niño conditions happen when warmer-than-average water pools in the eastern Pacific near equatorial South America. Normally, cold, nutrient-rich water rises from the deep ocean in this area. But El Niño blocks the upwelling of this cold water. So it disrupts marine life and local fisheries. And its effects cascade into Earth’s atmosphere, creating conditions like rainfall and temperature shifts in some parts of the world … and affecting wind shear.
It’s El Niño’s wind shear effects that have a major impact on hurricanes. Wind shear is the change in speed and direction of the wind. Specifically for hurricanes, what matters is the condition of wind shear at 5,000 to 35,000 feet (1,500 m to 10,700 m) above the ground.
In the Atlantic, El Niño can create strong wind shear, so strong it can rip apart storms or prohibit them from forming in the first place. El Niño often brings a downstream trough of flowing winds over the Caribbean Sea and western tropical Atlantic. It’s this trough that brings the wind shear that can disrupt hurricane formation or growth. Plus, El Niño can bring sinking air to the region, which is a sign of an area of high pressure. And hurricanes are, essentially, huge organized low-pressure systems.
While El Niño hinders the formation of strong hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean, it helps hurricane formation in the Pacific. El Niño creates a ridge over parts of the Pacific, which favors conditions such as weaker upper-level winds and less vertical wind shear.
In conditions such as these, hurricanes can grow without obstruction.
View larger. | This map shows the typical influence of El Niño on Pacific and Atlantic seasonal hurricane activity. Image via NOAA/ Climate.gov.
Keep up-to-date with tropical conditions
To stay up-to-date on the tropics, visit NOAA’s National Hurricane Center page. You can toggle between Atlantic, Pacific and Central Pacific, as well as 2-day and 7-day forecasts.
Bottom line: On July 8, 2026, Colorado State University, one of the two organizations that make Atlantic hurricane season forecasts, revised their forecast down for fewer storms in 2026.
The eye of Hurricane Melissa – strongest Atlantic hurricane of 2025 – on October 28, 2025. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite captured this image while looking down from space – from 500 miles (750 km) high – shortly before Melissa hit the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica. On July 8, 2026, Colorado State University revised its forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season. It said that a strengthening El Niño means even lower chances of tropical storms than its already low forecast from earlier this year. Image via Copernicus Sentinel-2.
An update to the Atlantic hurricane season forecast
On July 3, 2026, the World Meteorological Organization provided an update on how El Niño is developing. It said that from July through September we can expect a rapid development into a strong El Niño event. This means higher temperatures over much of the globe, including for the waters of the Gulf and Atlantic. So on July 8, 2026, Colorado State University provided an updated Atlantic hurricane forecast for this season. It has revised the number of tropical storms down from an already low forecast.
Both NOAA and Colorado State University (CSU) release a forecast for the Atlantic hurricane season each year. This year, both organizations called for a below-average year for tropical storms in the Atlantic basin. Back on April 9, the CSU forecast called for 13 named storms, including 2 major hurricanes. And now, as of July 8, CSU predicts 9 named storms and just 1 major hurricane.
Even though a strengthening El Niño means a less-likely chance for an active hurricane season in the Atlantic, CSU said:
Coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them.
As always, be aware and be prepared.
The original Atlantic hurricane season forecast for 2026
Originally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its official forecast for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season on May 21, 2026. And it predicted a below-average hurricane season, specifically, 8-14 total named storms (this includes both tropical storms and hurricanes), 3-6 hurricanes and 1-3 major hurricanes. NOAA has not yet made any changes to its 2026 forecast.
Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30. With one month down, the Atlantic has only seen one named storm in 2026. Tropical Storm Arthur impacted the Texas coast in mid-June.
What are the categories of hurricanes? Well, major hurricanes are those that reach categories 3, 4 or 5.
Category 5: 157 mph or higher sustained winds (251+ km/h)
Why does El Niño mean fewer hurricanes?
El Niño conditions happen when warmer-than-average water pools in the eastern Pacific near equatorial South America. Normally, cold, nutrient-rich water rises from the deep ocean in this area. But El Niño blocks the upwelling of this cold water. So it disrupts marine life and local fisheries. And its effects cascade into Earth’s atmosphere, creating conditions like rainfall and temperature shifts in some parts of the world … and affecting wind shear.
It’s El Niño’s wind shear effects that have a major impact on hurricanes. Wind shear is the change in speed and direction of the wind. Specifically for hurricanes, what matters is the condition of wind shear at 5,000 to 35,000 feet (1,500 m to 10,700 m) above the ground.
In the Atlantic, El Niño can create strong wind shear, so strong it can rip apart storms or prohibit them from forming in the first place. El Niño often brings a downstream trough of flowing winds over the Caribbean Sea and western tropical Atlantic. It’s this trough that brings the wind shear that can disrupt hurricane formation or growth. Plus, El Niño can bring sinking air to the region, which is a sign of an area of high pressure. And hurricanes are, essentially, huge organized low-pressure systems.
While El Niño hinders the formation of strong hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean, it helps hurricane formation in the Pacific. El Niño creates a ridge over parts of the Pacific, which favors conditions such as weaker upper-level winds and less vertical wind shear.
In conditions such as these, hurricanes can grow without obstruction.
View larger. | This map shows the typical influence of El Niño on Pacific and Atlantic seasonal hurricane activity. Image via NOAA/ Climate.gov.
Keep up-to-date with tropical conditions
To stay up-to-date on the tropics, visit NOAA’s National Hurricane Center page. You can toggle between Atlantic, Pacific and Central Pacific, as well as 2-day and 7-day forecasts.
Bottom line: On July 8, 2026, Colorado State University, one of the two organizations that make Atlantic hurricane season forecasts, revised their forecast down for fewer storms in 2026.
View larger. | Artist’s concept of Gaia23bra b, a super-Jupiter exoplanet that is 40,000 light-years away. Astronomers discovered it thanks to the warping of the fabric of the universe. Find out how warped spacetime can reveal new worlds below. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ University of New Mexico.
Gaia23bra b is a super-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting an orange dwarf star. It orbits farther out from its star than most exoplanets found so far.
NASA’s TESS space telescope discovered it because the planet’s gravity bent and magnified the light of a more distant background star.
Gaia23bra b is one of only about 5% of exoplanets found by microlensing so far. But astronomers expect to find many more.
Astronomers discover most exoplanets when they pass in front of their stars. Sometimes they discover one when they see a star wobbling slightly due to the planet’s gravity. But researchers at the University of New Mexico have just found a new exoplanet another way: by its warping of spacetime.
When a star passes in front of another star from our perspective, its gravity can magnify and intensify the more distant star’s light. This is called gravitational microlensing, and it’s not uncommon. But when the now-retired Gaia space telescope recorded one such event in 2023, something was different. The change in the star’s brightness wasn’t smooth. It suggested a smaller object was orbiting the nearer star.
Researchers then found that NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) had also recorded the event. And TESS’ more in-depth data was able to confirm that this light signature was caused by a planet orbiting the star. The planet – a super-Jupiter now known as Gaia23bra b, 40,000 light-years away – had warped the fabric of the universe enough with its gravity that it perceptibly magnified a distant star’s light.
The researchers said on July 1, 2026, that this is the first time TESS has discovered a new exoplanet using this gravitational microlensing technique.
When TESS launched, no one expected it to ever be capable of finding this kind of planet.
The researchers published the peer-reviewed details of the new discovery in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on July 1, 2026.
Microlensing reveals a distant world
Astronomers discover most exoplanets when they pass in front of their star (transit method) or when their gravity tugs on their star (radial velocity method). About 3/4 of TESS’ planets have been found using the transit method. But the discovery of Gaia23bra b was different. Astronomers detected it during a gravitational microlensing event.
When Gaia and TESS observed the star system, the star-planet combination magnified a background star. The mass of the foreground star and its planet bent spacetime and acted as a “lens,” magnifying the background star’s light as the two systems briefly aligned in the sky.
Lead author Mallory Harris at the University of New Mexico also noted:
Gaia’s observations were too sparse to pick up on the planet. TESS happened to be monitoring the same area of the sky during the event, and its denser time coverage showed extra features in the light curve caused by a planet.
Why microlensing?
The astronomers used the microlensing method in this case because the method is especially effective with planets that orbit farther out from their stars, as Gaia23bra b does.
Most exoplanets discovered so far have been close to their stars, because that makes them easier to detect. To date, microlensing has found less than 5% of known exoplanets. But those discoveries are important, because they reveal planets farther from their stars. That includes planets more like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Microlensing is also the only method that can routinely find Earth-mass planets at earthlike distances from their stars.
As Harris explained:
The main advantage of microlensing lies in the kinds of planets it is sensitive to. Planets that orbit very close to their host stars effectively blend with the star’s mass and do not produce a distinct microlensing signal. With microlensing, we can find smaller planets with greater orbital distances, including worlds in the habitable zone of their star and even farther away.
Animation depicting gravitational microlensing. When one star appears to pass nearly in front of another, the light rays of the background star become bent due to the warped spacetime around the foreground star. This star acts like a virtual magnifying glass, amplifying the brightness of the background source star. If the nearer star has a planetary system, then those planets can also act as lenses. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ CI Lab/ University of New Mexico.
Microlensing isn’t the only tool we need
Dragomir added:
Transits and microlensing are very complementary because they each reveal a category of planet the other may not be able to detect. And they offer different details. Transits give us the size of a planet, and in concert with other methods, we can determine its mass and density. Microlensing gives us masses and orbital distances for planets we’d otherwise never see.
Making the most of a brief opportunity
Gaia and TESS were lucky to detect the exoplanet when they did. Microlensing events only happen once and then they’re gone. They don’t repeat. Harris said:
I like to joke that we’ll probably find the first Earth analog with microlensing, and then wave at it as it goes by because we’ll never see it again.
Finding planets through microlensing is therefore a relatively rare occurrence. But scientists think they will find more. Dragomir said:
The discovery implies that there are probably other microlensing planets hiding in TESS’ data that we hadn’t previously thought to look for.
Harris added:
TESS has been observing the sky for nearly eight years and has repeatedly monitored regions along the Galactic Plane, where this system is located. Despite this extensive coverage, Gaia23bra b represents the first definitive microlensing planet discovered using TESS data.
Mallory Harris at the University of New Mexico led the new study about the new exoplanet revealed by gravitational microlensing. Image via University of New Mexico.
Space telescope team effort
Gaia23bra b is also one of the few microlensing exoplanets found using space-based data (Gaia and TESS). And Gaia and TESS did so in different ways. Gaia’s observations were long-term, while TESS’ were every 200 seconds for nearly 60 days. Those faster observations from TESS allowed astronomers to detect subtle features in the microlensing light curve that might otherwise be missed.
Harris said:
Microlensing is currently the only method capable of detecting Earth-mass planets at Earth-like orbital distances, so demonstrating that these techniques work in real datasets is particularly valuable for future searches for potentially habitable worlds.
The upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be able to search for more of these microlensing planets. It is scheduled to launch this summer. As Harris noted:
Gaia23bra b is also one of only a very small number of microlensing planets discovered using space-based data, making it an important case study for the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Roman is expected to find up to 1,000 microlensing planets and 100,000 transiting planets. It’s currently scheduled to launch as early as August 30, 2026.
Artist’s illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch this summer. Roman is expected to find up to 1,000 microlensing planets and 100,000 transiting planets. Image via NASA.
Bottom line: The Gaia and TESS space telescopes have discovered a Jupiter-like world – Gaia23bra b – by studying warped spacetime.
View larger. | Artist’s concept of Gaia23bra b, a super-Jupiter exoplanet that is 40,000 light-years away. Astronomers discovered it thanks to the warping of the fabric of the universe. Find out how warped spacetime can reveal new worlds below. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ University of New Mexico.
Gaia23bra b is a super-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting an orange dwarf star. It orbits farther out from its star than most exoplanets found so far.
NASA’s TESS space telescope discovered it because the planet’s gravity bent and magnified the light of a more distant background star.
Gaia23bra b is one of only about 5% of exoplanets found by microlensing so far. But astronomers expect to find many more.
Astronomers discover most exoplanets when they pass in front of their stars. Sometimes they discover one when they see a star wobbling slightly due to the planet’s gravity. But researchers at the University of New Mexico have just found a new exoplanet another way: by its warping of spacetime.
When a star passes in front of another star from our perspective, its gravity can magnify and intensify the more distant star’s light. This is called gravitational microlensing, and it’s not uncommon. But when the now-retired Gaia space telescope recorded one such event in 2023, something was different. The change in the star’s brightness wasn’t smooth. It suggested a smaller object was orbiting the nearer star.
Researchers then found that NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) had also recorded the event. And TESS’ more in-depth data was able to confirm that this light signature was caused by a planet orbiting the star. The planet – a super-Jupiter now known as Gaia23bra b, 40,000 light-years away – had warped the fabric of the universe enough with its gravity that it perceptibly magnified a distant star’s light.
The researchers said on July 1, 2026, that this is the first time TESS has discovered a new exoplanet using this gravitational microlensing technique.
When TESS launched, no one expected it to ever be capable of finding this kind of planet.
The researchers published the peer-reviewed details of the new discovery in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on July 1, 2026.
Microlensing reveals a distant world
Astronomers discover most exoplanets when they pass in front of their star (transit method) or when their gravity tugs on their star (radial velocity method). About 3/4 of TESS’ planets have been found using the transit method. But the discovery of Gaia23bra b was different. Astronomers detected it during a gravitational microlensing event.
When Gaia and TESS observed the star system, the star-planet combination magnified a background star. The mass of the foreground star and its planet bent spacetime and acted as a “lens,” magnifying the background star’s light as the two systems briefly aligned in the sky.
Lead author Mallory Harris at the University of New Mexico also noted:
Gaia’s observations were too sparse to pick up on the planet. TESS happened to be monitoring the same area of the sky during the event, and its denser time coverage showed extra features in the light curve caused by a planet.
Why microlensing?
The astronomers used the microlensing method in this case because the method is especially effective with planets that orbit farther out from their stars, as Gaia23bra b does.
Most exoplanets discovered so far have been close to their stars, because that makes them easier to detect. To date, microlensing has found less than 5% of known exoplanets. But those discoveries are important, because they reveal planets farther from their stars. That includes planets more like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Microlensing is also the only method that can routinely find Earth-mass planets at earthlike distances from their stars.
As Harris explained:
The main advantage of microlensing lies in the kinds of planets it is sensitive to. Planets that orbit very close to their host stars effectively blend with the star’s mass and do not produce a distinct microlensing signal. With microlensing, we can find smaller planets with greater orbital distances, including worlds in the habitable zone of their star and even farther away.
Animation depicting gravitational microlensing. When one star appears to pass nearly in front of another, the light rays of the background star become bent due to the warped spacetime around the foreground star. This star acts like a virtual magnifying glass, amplifying the brightness of the background source star. If the nearer star has a planetary system, then those planets can also act as lenses. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ CI Lab/ University of New Mexico.
Microlensing isn’t the only tool we need
Dragomir added:
Transits and microlensing are very complementary because they each reveal a category of planet the other may not be able to detect. And they offer different details. Transits give us the size of a planet, and in concert with other methods, we can determine its mass and density. Microlensing gives us masses and orbital distances for planets we’d otherwise never see.
Making the most of a brief opportunity
Gaia and TESS were lucky to detect the exoplanet when they did. Microlensing events only happen once and then they’re gone. They don’t repeat. Harris said:
I like to joke that we’ll probably find the first Earth analog with microlensing, and then wave at it as it goes by because we’ll never see it again.
Finding planets through microlensing is therefore a relatively rare occurrence. But scientists think they will find more. Dragomir said:
The discovery implies that there are probably other microlensing planets hiding in TESS’ data that we hadn’t previously thought to look for.
Harris added:
TESS has been observing the sky for nearly eight years and has repeatedly monitored regions along the Galactic Plane, where this system is located. Despite this extensive coverage, Gaia23bra b represents the first definitive microlensing planet discovered using TESS data.
Mallory Harris at the University of New Mexico led the new study about the new exoplanet revealed by gravitational microlensing. Image via University of New Mexico.
Space telescope team effort
Gaia23bra b is also one of the few microlensing exoplanets found using space-based data (Gaia and TESS). And Gaia and TESS did so in different ways. Gaia’s observations were long-term, while TESS’ were every 200 seconds for nearly 60 days. Those faster observations from TESS allowed astronomers to detect subtle features in the microlensing light curve that might otherwise be missed.
Harris said:
Microlensing is currently the only method capable of detecting Earth-mass planets at Earth-like orbital distances, so demonstrating that these techniques work in real datasets is particularly valuable for future searches for potentially habitable worlds.
The upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be able to search for more of these microlensing planets. It is scheduled to launch this summer. As Harris noted:
Gaia23bra b is also one of only a very small number of microlensing planets discovered using space-based data, making it an important case study for the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Roman is expected to find up to 1,000 microlensing planets and 100,000 transiting planets. It’s currently scheduled to launch as early as August 30, 2026.
Artist’s illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch this summer. Roman is expected to find up to 1,000 microlensing planets and 100,000 transiting planets. Image via NASA.
Bottom line: The Gaia and TESS space telescopes have discovered a Jupiter-like world – Gaia23bra b – by studying warped spacetime.
Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, with its brightest star Alphecca. Read more about the Northern Crown below. Image via Fred Espenak/ AstroPixels. Used with permission.
On June, July and August evenings, look for the constellation Corona Borealis, also known as the Northern Crown. It’s a faint constellation, but a dark sky will reveal a distinctive C shape of stars in the night sky.
In the middle of the C is a white jewel of a star. This star, the brightest light in the Northern Crown, is called Alphecca or Gemma.
To see this famous C-shaped pattern of stars from the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll be looking high overhead during the evening hours in the northern summer. And from the Southern Hemisphere, the constellation is low in the northern sky during the southern winter.
Look for Corona Borealis between 2 bright stars
The Crown is located roughly along a line between two bright stars. The first is the orange star Arcturus in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman. The second is beautiful, blue-white Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp.
Arcturus has already passed its highest point in the evening at this time of year. It is slowly descending to the west. However, Vega is still high in the east in July and overhead in August evenings from the Northern Hemisphere. With dark skies, you’ll notice the orange color of Arcturus and Vega’s bright blue-white tinge.
Corona Borealis is between these two stars. But, remember, a dark sky is best for seeing this faint starry semicircle.
From southern latitudes, Corona Borealis never climbs high into the sky. But it is still visible during winter evenings in the northern sky. From Twizel, New Zealand (44 degrees south latitude), the constellation reaches only about 18 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian (the invisible line in the sky from north to south), while from Auckland it reaches around 28 degrees, and from Sydney, Australia, about 34 degrees.
Despite its low altitude, the Northern Crown remains an intriguing constellation, recognized by southern stargazers for its distinctive shape. The familiar C-shaped pattern appears rotated compared with the view from the Northern Hemisphere, placing its brightest star, Alphecca, high in the arc and making it especially prominent.
It is best seen on clear July evenings when it reaches its greatest altitude in the sky. Look for Arcturus, the 4th-brightest star in the night sky, and find the crown to its east. Because the constellation remains low, a clear, unobstructed northern horizon is essential for seeing its fainter stars.
Gem of the Northern Crown
The brightest star in Corona Borealis is Gemma at magnitude 2.21. The meaning of this Latin star name might be obvious; this star is the gem of the Northern Crown.
But, as is the case with many stars, this star has more than one name. It’s also called Alphecca. This second name is from an Arabic phrase meaning the bright one of the dish. So you can see that, throughout history, stargazers have identified Corona Borealis with a common shape: a dish, a disk, or a crown.
By the way, Gemma, aka Alphecca, is an eclipsing binary system. It consists of a smaller sunlike star that passes in front of a brighter star every 17.4 days, as seen from our earthly vantage point. It is 75 light-years away.
The second brightest star, Beta Coronae Borealis, has the name of Nusakan. It shines at magnitude 3.65. Nukasan and Alphecca are a little less than 3 degrees apart. Nukasan lies 114 light-years away.
The other stars that make up the curved shape of Corona Borealis are all 3rd and 4th magnitude. Theta lies on the other side of Nukasan, and Gamma and Delta lie on the other side of Alphecca. Also, Gamma is a double star, but the two are very close and require high magnification and steady skies to see.
Want to see the Blaze Star go nova? X marks the spot! Astronomers say an impending nova will give the constellation of the Northern Crown an additional star that will rival its brightest star. Image via Chris Harvey/ Stellarium. Used with permission.
Watch out for the Blaze Star
The Blaze Star is also in the constellation Corona Borealis. It was supposed to go nova last year. That is, to undergo an eruption that makes it many times brighter in our sky. Well, we’re still waiting. But when it finally does erupt, it’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime show.
The eagerly awaited Blaze Star nova is a real opportunity for keen night sky observers to witness a “new star” in the sky … but only for a few days before it fades away again.
Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, with its brightest star Alphecca. Read more about the Northern Crown below. Image via Fred Espenak/ AstroPixels. Used with permission.
On June, July and August evenings, look for the constellation Corona Borealis, also known as the Northern Crown. It’s a faint constellation, but a dark sky will reveal a distinctive C shape of stars in the night sky.
In the middle of the C is a white jewel of a star. This star, the brightest light in the Northern Crown, is called Alphecca or Gemma.
To see this famous C-shaped pattern of stars from the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll be looking high overhead during the evening hours in the northern summer. And from the Southern Hemisphere, the constellation is low in the northern sky during the southern winter.
Look for Corona Borealis between 2 bright stars
The Crown is located roughly along a line between two bright stars. The first is the orange star Arcturus in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman. The second is beautiful, blue-white Vega in the constellation Lyra the Harp.
Arcturus has already passed its highest point in the evening at this time of year. It is slowly descending to the west. However, Vega is still high in the east in July and overhead in August evenings from the Northern Hemisphere. With dark skies, you’ll notice the orange color of Arcturus and Vega’s bright blue-white tinge.
Corona Borealis is between these two stars. But, remember, a dark sky is best for seeing this faint starry semicircle.
From southern latitudes, Corona Borealis never climbs high into the sky. But it is still visible during winter evenings in the northern sky. From Twizel, New Zealand (44 degrees south latitude), the constellation reaches only about 18 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian (the invisible line in the sky from north to south), while from Auckland it reaches around 28 degrees, and from Sydney, Australia, about 34 degrees.
Despite its low altitude, the Northern Crown remains an intriguing constellation, recognized by southern stargazers for its distinctive shape. The familiar C-shaped pattern appears rotated compared with the view from the Northern Hemisphere, placing its brightest star, Alphecca, high in the arc and making it especially prominent.
It is best seen on clear July evenings when it reaches its greatest altitude in the sky. Look for Arcturus, the 4th-brightest star in the night sky, and find the crown to its east. Because the constellation remains low, a clear, unobstructed northern horizon is essential for seeing its fainter stars.
Gem of the Northern Crown
The brightest star in Corona Borealis is Gemma at magnitude 2.21. The meaning of this Latin star name might be obvious; this star is the gem of the Northern Crown.
But, as is the case with many stars, this star has more than one name. It’s also called Alphecca. This second name is from an Arabic phrase meaning the bright one of the dish. So you can see that, throughout history, stargazers have identified Corona Borealis with a common shape: a dish, a disk, or a crown.
By the way, Gemma, aka Alphecca, is an eclipsing binary system. It consists of a smaller sunlike star that passes in front of a brighter star every 17.4 days, as seen from our earthly vantage point. It is 75 light-years away.
The second brightest star, Beta Coronae Borealis, has the name of Nusakan. It shines at magnitude 3.65. Nukasan and Alphecca are a little less than 3 degrees apart. Nukasan lies 114 light-years away.
The other stars that make up the curved shape of Corona Borealis are all 3rd and 4th magnitude. Theta lies on the other side of Nukasan, and Gamma and Delta lie on the other side of Alphecca. Also, Gamma is a double star, but the two are very close and require high magnification and steady skies to see.
Want to see the Blaze Star go nova? X marks the spot! Astronomers say an impending nova will give the constellation of the Northern Crown an additional star that will rival its brightest star. Image via Chris Harvey/ Stellarium. Used with permission.
Watch out for the Blaze Star
The Blaze Star is also in the constellation Corona Borealis. It was supposed to go nova last year. That is, to undergo an eruption that makes it many times brighter in our sky. Well, we’re still waiting. But when it finally does erupt, it’ll be a once-in-a-lifetime show.
The eagerly awaited Blaze Star nova is a real opportunity for keen night sky observers to witness a “new star” in the sky … but only for a few days before it fades away again.
Asteroid Apophis was briefly considered the most dangerous known asteroid. Now we know it won’t hit Earth in 2029, but its close flyby on April 13, 2029, will be one of the most remarkable astronomical events in recorded history. Those on the night side of Earth will be able to watch it streak past with the eye alone! If you’ve heard the scare stories about Apophis, let this conversation with planetary astronomer Richard Binzel separate myth from reality. Watch on July 8 at noon CDT (17:00 UTC) here or on YouTube.
Three years from tomorrow – on Friday, April 13, 2029 – a relatively large and extremely infamous asteroid named 99942 Apophis will zoom past Earth. It’ll be bright enough to see without optical aid. Many astronomers will study it. But Apophis will not strike us in 2029. For a time, initial observations suggested that if Apophis passed through a region of space only half a mile wide (about 800 meters) – dubbed a “keyhole” by astronomers – at the 2029 pass, then it might strike us exactly seven years later, on April 13, 2036. But, by 2006, that idea was disproven.
Apophis is exciting! But it’s not frightening. Here’s the updated story on this amazing asteroid.
Orbit of asteroid Apophis (pink) in contrast to the orbit of Earth (blue), from the years 2028 to 2030. The yellow dot represents the sun. Apophis takes 323.6 days to orbit the sun. Earth takes 365.3 days. Thus this asteroid is a fairly frequent visitor to our region of space. Image via Phoenix7777/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Location, location, location
Apophis is a space rock about 1,100 feet (340 meters) across. Calculations in recent years have proven the asteroid will safely glide past Earth in both 2029 and 2036. In 2029, Apophis should pass at a nominal distance of 19,662 miles (31,643 km) from the Earth’s surface. That’s in contrast to the moon’s average distance of about 238,000 miles (384,000 km). And it’s closer than many Earth-orbiting satellites. As the asteroid encounters Earth’s gravitational field in 2029, one result could be asteroid-quakes on Apophis. This passage will also change the orbit of Apophis slightly.
Not everyone will be able to see Apophis in 2029. If you are in Australia, southern Asia, southern Europe, or Africa, you will have a front-row seat to see this asteroid when it is at its brightest. As the asteroid moves farther from the Earth and dims, it becomes visible in eastern South America. As evening falls along the east coast of North America, the asteroid will be a telescopic object located in a part of the sky about 15 degrees north of the Pleiades. An ephemeris for the asteroid is here.
Discovery of Apophis
Astronomers at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tuscon, Arizona, discovered Apophis on the evening of June 19, 2004. The team of Dave Tholen, Fabrizio Bernardi, and the late Roy Tucker were searching for asteroids low in the western sky. They were specifically looking for objects in the direction of the sun. The asteroid they found was originally designated 2004 MN4. It was 57 degrees from the sun, unusually close for an asteroid.
But astronomers quickly recognized this asteroid was different from most. It orbits the sun in less than one Earth year (Apophis takes 323.6 days to orbit the sun. Earth takes 365.3 days). And Apophis gets nearly as close to the sun as the planet Venus, then heads out to just beyond Earth’s orbit. Its orbit defines Apophis as what astronomers call an Aten-class asteroid.
During its orbit, Apophis can pass very close to the Earth. This fact quickly caught the attention of astronomers worldwide. By December 2004, they had enough data to make a rough calculation of the future orbit of the asteroid. And they found it had a 2.7% chance of hitting the Earth in April 2029, on Friday the 13th. That same month, Apophis moved to the top of the list of potentially hazardous asteroids.
You can imagine the media frenzy that resulted.
Probability of collision reduced by precision
It took several more years of studying this asteroid to learn it would not strike Earth in 2029. The fact is, an asteroid’s orbital path can be changed slightly, every time it passes near another astronomical object. And the Yarkovsky effect – a minor push on the asteroid caused by sunlight – can change its orbit.
Both are known effects. But astronomers can determine the extent of these effects only after careful measurement of an asteroid’s positions over the course of years.
And observing this asteroid year after year isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Some years, the asteroid isn’t observable because it appears too close to the sun, as seen from the Earth. So astronomers imaged Apophis extensively whenever it was visible. And, by 2006, they were able to determine that Apophis won’t hit the Earth in 2029.
Whew, we dodged that one!
What about 2036?
But what about the next close approach in 2036? That possibility was eliminated in 2013.
In early March of 2013, all eyes turned toward Apophis as the asteroid made a relatively close sweep (though not nearly as close as in 2029) to our planet on March 6. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex tracked the asteroid for about two weeks around the closest approach. Researchers at the Green Bank Telescope took observations, coordinating with Goldstone because the use of these two telescopes together allows the data to be sharper. The coordination between the two telescopes meant that Goldstone was transmitting data while Green Bank was receiving, performing what is known as a bistatic experiment that doubled the strength of the received signal. Marina Brozovic of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained:
Apophis made a [close approach in 2013] with Earth, it was still nearly 10.6 million miles (17 million km) away. Even so, we were able to acquire incredibly precise information about its distance to an accuracy of about 490 feet (150 meters).
Later calculations let NASA scientists announce on March 26, 2021, that Earth is safe from an impact with the relatively large asteroid for at least the next 100 years. Radar observations taken at NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California and the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia have officially ruled out an impact in 2068, the only year out of the next 100 that previously showed a slight risk. Earlier observations had ruled out impacts during the upcoming 2029 and 2036 flybys.
A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years.
Apophis is no longer listed as a risk
This new analysis means that Apophis is no longer on the Sentry Impact Risk Table, which is a list of objects that pass so close by Earth that astronomers have not yet been able to rule out a possible strike.
This campaign not only helped us rule out any impact risk, but it also set us up for a wonderful science opportunity in 2029.
These images show asteroid Apophis during 3 days of its flyby on March 8, 9 and 10, 2021. Radio antennas at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Complex in California and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia worked together to acquire these images. The asteroid was 10.6 million miles (17 million km) away, and each pixel has a resolution of 127 feet (39 meters). Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ NSF/ AUI/ GBO.
The images seen above are the product of the collaboration. Brozovic went on to describe the excellent quality achieved through the collaboration, which she called:
… a remarkable resolution, considering the asteroid was 10.6 million miles (17 million km) away, or about 44 times the Earth-moon distance. If we had binoculars as powerful as this radar, we would be able to sit in Los Angeles and read a dinner menu at a restaurant in New York.
More images from 2021
The image, taken by the Virtual Telescope Project in Europe, shows Apophis as a distant bright dot against a backdrop of stars.The photo was taken using a telescope mounted on a robotic arm. The astronomers used a single 300-second exposure shot to capture the image, seen below pic.twitter.com/6y5dIU7d7Y
The Virtual Telescope Project, based in Rome, Italy, captured asteroid (99942) Apophis on March 2, 2021. The asteroid shows as a dot – while the stars around it show as streaks – because the telescope was tracking the asteroid’s motion. It is moving through space with respect to Earth at 2.894 miles/sec (4.658 km/sec). Image via Virtual Telescope.
Astronomers also studied asteroid Apophis using NASA’s NEOWISE infrared space telescope in April 2021. This is the same telescope that discovered 2020’s favorite comet, Comet NEOWISE. They found the asteroid is about 1181 feet (360 meters) across and reflects about 30% to 50% of the light that strikes it. They also suspect the asteroid is “significantly elongated.” The NEOWISE report is here.
A gentle effect that pushes a rock
Astronomers in Hawaii studied how Yarkovsky acceleration, or pushes due to sunlight, would change Apophis’ orbit. In some instances, acceleration – a change in an object’s speed and direction through space – can help avoid a collision. Studies of Yarkovsky acceleration as related to asteroid Apophis suggest this is the case for this asteroid.
Astronomer Dave Tholen and colleagues suggest that Apophis is drifting more than 500 feet (about 152 meters) per year from its expected position in its orbit. These observations aren’t easy to obtain and analyze. Factors such as the asteroid’s distance at the time of observation, its composition, its shape, and its surface features all affect the outcome.
This animation shows the distance between the Apophis asteroid and Earth at the time of the asteroid’s closest approach in 2029. The blue dots are manmade satellites orbiting our planet, and the pink represents the International Space Station. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.As a result of the extremely close approach of April 2029, it is expected that perturbations caused by Earth’s gravity will change Apophis’ orbit from the Aten to the Apollo class. Image via NASA/ Marco Polo/ Wikimedia Commons.
Apophis between now and then
Apophis is now in a part of the sky that is not observable from Earth. It will remain so until we see it again in 2029.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx was a historic space mission which brought the first samples from asteroid Bennu back to Earth. The spacecraft remains in good condition and still has a quarter of its fuel left. So NASA has redirected the craft to a new destination. It’s now on its way to Apophis. After a long journey, the craft will reach Apophis in April 2029, just as the asteroid is sweeping past Earth.
And NASA has given the mission a new name. It’s now called OSIRIS-APEX, short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer.
Bottom line: In just three years, asteroid Apophis will zoom safely past Earth. This much-anticipated event is a must-see! Here’s how.
Asteroid Apophis was briefly considered the most dangerous known asteroid. Now we know it won’t hit Earth in 2029, but its close flyby on April 13, 2029, will be one of the most remarkable astronomical events in recorded history. Those on the night side of Earth will be able to watch it streak past with the eye alone! If you’ve heard the scare stories about Apophis, let this conversation with planetary astronomer Richard Binzel separate myth from reality. Watch on July 8 at noon CDT (17:00 UTC) here or on YouTube.
Three years from tomorrow – on Friday, April 13, 2029 – a relatively large and extremely infamous asteroid named 99942 Apophis will zoom past Earth. It’ll be bright enough to see without optical aid. Many astronomers will study it. But Apophis will not strike us in 2029. For a time, initial observations suggested that if Apophis passed through a region of space only half a mile wide (about 800 meters) – dubbed a “keyhole” by astronomers – at the 2029 pass, then it might strike us exactly seven years later, on April 13, 2036. But, by 2006, that idea was disproven.
Apophis is exciting! But it’s not frightening. Here’s the updated story on this amazing asteroid.
Orbit of asteroid Apophis (pink) in contrast to the orbit of Earth (blue), from the years 2028 to 2030. The yellow dot represents the sun. Apophis takes 323.6 days to orbit the sun. Earth takes 365.3 days. Thus this asteroid is a fairly frequent visitor to our region of space. Image via Phoenix7777/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Location, location, location
Apophis is a space rock about 1,100 feet (340 meters) across. Calculations in recent years have proven the asteroid will safely glide past Earth in both 2029 and 2036. In 2029, Apophis should pass at a nominal distance of 19,662 miles (31,643 km) from the Earth’s surface. That’s in contrast to the moon’s average distance of about 238,000 miles (384,000 km). And it’s closer than many Earth-orbiting satellites. As the asteroid encounters Earth’s gravitational field in 2029, one result could be asteroid-quakes on Apophis. This passage will also change the orbit of Apophis slightly.
Not everyone will be able to see Apophis in 2029. If you are in Australia, southern Asia, southern Europe, or Africa, you will have a front-row seat to see this asteroid when it is at its brightest. As the asteroid moves farther from the Earth and dims, it becomes visible in eastern South America. As evening falls along the east coast of North America, the asteroid will be a telescopic object located in a part of the sky about 15 degrees north of the Pleiades. An ephemeris for the asteroid is here.
Discovery of Apophis
Astronomers at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tuscon, Arizona, discovered Apophis on the evening of June 19, 2004. The team of Dave Tholen, Fabrizio Bernardi, and the late Roy Tucker were searching for asteroids low in the western sky. They were specifically looking for objects in the direction of the sun. The asteroid they found was originally designated 2004 MN4. It was 57 degrees from the sun, unusually close for an asteroid.
But astronomers quickly recognized this asteroid was different from most. It orbits the sun in less than one Earth year (Apophis takes 323.6 days to orbit the sun. Earth takes 365.3 days). And Apophis gets nearly as close to the sun as the planet Venus, then heads out to just beyond Earth’s orbit. Its orbit defines Apophis as what astronomers call an Aten-class asteroid.
During its orbit, Apophis can pass very close to the Earth. This fact quickly caught the attention of astronomers worldwide. By December 2004, they had enough data to make a rough calculation of the future orbit of the asteroid. And they found it had a 2.7% chance of hitting the Earth in April 2029, on Friday the 13th. That same month, Apophis moved to the top of the list of potentially hazardous asteroids.
You can imagine the media frenzy that resulted.
Probability of collision reduced by precision
It took several more years of studying this asteroid to learn it would not strike Earth in 2029. The fact is, an asteroid’s orbital path can be changed slightly, every time it passes near another astronomical object. And the Yarkovsky effect – a minor push on the asteroid caused by sunlight – can change its orbit.
Both are known effects. But astronomers can determine the extent of these effects only after careful measurement of an asteroid’s positions over the course of years.
And observing this asteroid year after year isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Some years, the asteroid isn’t observable because it appears too close to the sun, as seen from the Earth. So astronomers imaged Apophis extensively whenever it was visible. And, by 2006, they were able to determine that Apophis won’t hit the Earth in 2029.
Whew, we dodged that one!
What about 2036?
But what about the next close approach in 2036? That possibility was eliminated in 2013.
In early March of 2013, all eyes turned toward Apophis as the asteroid made a relatively close sweep (though not nearly as close as in 2029) to our planet on March 6. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex tracked the asteroid for about two weeks around the closest approach. Researchers at the Green Bank Telescope took observations, coordinating with Goldstone because the use of these two telescopes together allows the data to be sharper. The coordination between the two telescopes meant that Goldstone was transmitting data while Green Bank was receiving, performing what is known as a bistatic experiment that doubled the strength of the received signal. Marina Brozovic of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained:
Apophis made a [close approach in 2013] with Earth, it was still nearly 10.6 million miles (17 million km) away. Even so, we were able to acquire incredibly precise information about its distance to an accuracy of about 490 feet (150 meters).
Later calculations let NASA scientists announce on March 26, 2021, that Earth is safe from an impact with the relatively large asteroid for at least the next 100 years. Radar observations taken at NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California and the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia have officially ruled out an impact in 2068, the only year out of the next 100 that previously showed a slight risk. Earlier observations had ruled out impacts during the upcoming 2029 and 2036 flybys.
A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years.
Apophis is no longer listed as a risk
This new analysis means that Apophis is no longer on the Sentry Impact Risk Table, which is a list of objects that pass so close by Earth that astronomers have not yet been able to rule out a possible strike.
This campaign not only helped us rule out any impact risk, but it also set us up for a wonderful science opportunity in 2029.
These images show asteroid Apophis during 3 days of its flyby on March 8, 9 and 10, 2021. Radio antennas at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Complex in California and the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia worked together to acquire these images. The asteroid was 10.6 million miles (17 million km) away, and each pixel has a resolution of 127 feet (39 meters). Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ NSF/ AUI/ GBO.
The images seen above are the product of the collaboration. Brozovic went on to describe the excellent quality achieved through the collaboration, which she called:
… a remarkable resolution, considering the asteroid was 10.6 million miles (17 million km) away, or about 44 times the Earth-moon distance. If we had binoculars as powerful as this radar, we would be able to sit in Los Angeles and read a dinner menu at a restaurant in New York.
More images from 2021
The image, taken by the Virtual Telescope Project in Europe, shows Apophis as a distant bright dot against a backdrop of stars.The photo was taken using a telescope mounted on a robotic arm. The astronomers used a single 300-second exposure shot to capture the image, seen below pic.twitter.com/6y5dIU7d7Y
The Virtual Telescope Project, based in Rome, Italy, captured asteroid (99942) Apophis on March 2, 2021. The asteroid shows as a dot – while the stars around it show as streaks – because the telescope was tracking the asteroid’s motion. It is moving through space with respect to Earth at 2.894 miles/sec (4.658 km/sec). Image via Virtual Telescope.
Astronomers also studied asteroid Apophis using NASA’s NEOWISE infrared space telescope in April 2021. This is the same telescope that discovered 2020’s favorite comet, Comet NEOWISE. They found the asteroid is about 1181 feet (360 meters) across and reflects about 30% to 50% of the light that strikes it. They also suspect the asteroid is “significantly elongated.” The NEOWISE report is here.
A gentle effect that pushes a rock
Astronomers in Hawaii studied how Yarkovsky acceleration, or pushes due to sunlight, would change Apophis’ orbit. In some instances, acceleration – a change in an object’s speed and direction through space – can help avoid a collision. Studies of Yarkovsky acceleration as related to asteroid Apophis suggest this is the case for this asteroid.
Astronomer Dave Tholen and colleagues suggest that Apophis is drifting more than 500 feet (about 152 meters) per year from its expected position in its orbit. These observations aren’t easy to obtain and analyze. Factors such as the asteroid’s distance at the time of observation, its composition, its shape, and its surface features all affect the outcome.
This animation shows the distance between the Apophis asteroid and Earth at the time of the asteroid’s closest approach in 2029. The blue dots are manmade satellites orbiting our planet, and the pink represents the International Space Station. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.As a result of the extremely close approach of April 2029, it is expected that perturbations caused by Earth’s gravity will change Apophis’ orbit from the Aten to the Apollo class. Image via NASA/ Marco Polo/ Wikimedia Commons.
Apophis between now and then
Apophis is now in a part of the sky that is not observable from Earth. It will remain so until we see it again in 2029.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx was a historic space mission which brought the first samples from asteroid Bennu back to Earth. The spacecraft remains in good condition and still has a quarter of its fuel left. So NASA has redirected the craft to a new destination. It’s now on its way to Apophis. After a long journey, the craft will reach Apophis in April 2029, just as the asteroid is sweeping past Earth.
And NASA has given the mission a new name. It’s now called OSIRIS-APEX, short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Apophis Explorer.
Bottom line: In just three years, asteroid Apophis will zoom safely past Earth. This much-anticipated event is a must-see! Here’s how.
View larger. | Artist’s concept of the nearby super-Earth planet GJ 3378b. It’s about twice the size of Earth and receives a similar amount of light from its star as Earth does. Could it be habitable? Image via Nikolai Berman/ UC Irvine.
GJ 3378b is a super-Earth exoplanet about 25 light-years away. It is about twice the size of Earth.
The planet is in the habitable zone of its red dwarf star, where liquid water could exist. But does it have an atmosphere?
We don’t know yet if GJ 3378b has an atmosphere. If it does, it could possibly be rather Earth-like and habitable.
Astronomers have discovered a new Earth-like planet that might be a good candidate for habitability. The exoplanet, GJ 3378b, is about twice the size of Earth and 25 light-years away. The team of researchers, led by the University of California, Irvine, said on June 30, 2026, that the planet is in the habitable zone of its red dwarf star. That means it could have liquid water on its surface, if it has an atmosphere. So this planet could be habitable. But we don’t have enough data to know that yet.
The size of the planet makes it a super-Earth. Those are rocky planets that are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.
The new observations also refined the planet’s orbit from 25 days to 21. That’s a lot less than Earth’s at 365 days, but the planet also orbits much closer to its red dwarf star, which is smaller and cooler than our sun.
The researchers published the peer-reviewed details of the new discovery in The Astrophysical Journal on June 30, 2026.
In the habitable zone
GJ 3378b is in the habitable zone of its star, a good location for potential habitability. That’s the region where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist on a planet’s surface, though whether it actually does also depends on its own atmosphere and composition. The planet does receive a suitable amount of radiation from its star, as lead author Paul Robertson at UC Irvine stated:
This super-Earth gets about 90% of the radiation from its host star as Earth gets from its sun, so it’s right in the sweet spot.
This one’s exciting. It’s one of our closest cosmic neighbors. 25 light-years sounds like a long way, but the Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across, so in that respect it’s our next-door neighbor.
Our mantra is ‘follow the water.’ It’s the one thing every known living thing on Earth needs, so that’s the first thing we look for when trying to find environments that could sustain life.
Paul Robertson at UC Irvine led the new study about GJ 3378b and its potential habitability. Image via UC Irvine.
Does GJ 3378b have an atmosphere?
What we know so far about GJ 3378b sounds promising in terms of habitability. But there’s still one big question: does the planet have an atmosphere? We don’t know yet. It’s in the habitable zone, but it’s also at the edge of what scientists call the cosmic shoreline. If a planet is outside of that boundary, closer to the star, then radiation from the star could strip away the planet’s atmosphere. This is common with planets close to red dwarf stars.
But GJ 3378b is right at the edge of this boundary. And we don’t know yet if it still has an atmosphere or if it had one and lost it. Ideally, the planet would have a thin, evolved atmosphere like Earth’s — nitrogen-based, not the thick, hydrogen-dominated “primordial” atmosphere a planet is born with. A more Earth-like atmosphere could maintain liquid water, as Robertson explained:
If you scale the Earth down to the size of an apple, its atmosphere would be about as thick as the skin of the apple. That’s just enough to maintain the kinds of surface pressures where you can have liquid water. It’s enough that there’ll be breathable air, and it provides maybe a little bit of protection from the harsh radiation environment of space.
Searching for signs of life on GJ 3378b
Right now, we don’t know if GJ 3378b is even habitable, let alone has life of any kind. But scientists want to take a closer look. NASA’s planned Habitable Worlds Observatory, for example, scheduled to launch sometime in the 2040s, would be able to take direct images of the planet. That, or perhaps other telescopic observations before then, will help determine whether GJ 3378b could actually support life. And then scientists could search for biosignatures, chemical or other signs of life in the planet’s atmosphere.
If a planet in the habitable zone has a proper atmosphere, we can justify further research looking for biosignatures, liquid water or other signs of life that require both an atmosphere and the right amount of heating from the host star.
View larger. | This is another artist’s concept of a super-Earth exoplanet. Image via NASA.
The search for biosignatures continues
As Michael Endl, an astronomer at UT Austin, noted:
The ultimate goal is biosignatures. We really want to know, ‘Are we alone in the universe?’ We are still in the reconnaissance phase of our solar neighborhood, trying to find the planets around the nearest stars because those will be the easiest ones to detect a biosignature on. This planet brings us one step closer to knowing all of our neighbors and, ultimately, which might be hospitable for life.
For Robertson, the prospect of searching for life on GJ 3378b is something to savor:
I think that’s just too much fun.
Bottom line: Astronomers have gotten a closer look at the nearby super-Earth GJ 3378b. It could be habitable, if it has an atmosphere.
View larger. | Artist’s concept of the nearby super-Earth planet GJ 3378b. It’s about twice the size of Earth and receives a similar amount of light from its star as Earth does. Could it be habitable? Image via Nikolai Berman/ UC Irvine.
GJ 3378b is a super-Earth exoplanet about 25 light-years away. It is about twice the size of Earth.
The planet is in the habitable zone of its red dwarf star, where liquid water could exist. But does it have an atmosphere?
We don’t know yet if GJ 3378b has an atmosphere. If it does, it could possibly be rather Earth-like and habitable.
Astronomers have discovered a new Earth-like planet that might be a good candidate for habitability. The exoplanet, GJ 3378b, is about twice the size of Earth and 25 light-years away. The team of researchers, led by the University of California, Irvine, said on June 30, 2026, that the planet is in the habitable zone of its red dwarf star. That means it could have liquid water on its surface, if it has an atmosphere. So this planet could be habitable. But we don’t have enough data to know that yet.
The size of the planet makes it a super-Earth. Those are rocky planets that are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.
The new observations also refined the planet’s orbit from 25 days to 21. That’s a lot less than Earth’s at 365 days, but the planet also orbits much closer to its red dwarf star, which is smaller and cooler than our sun.
The researchers published the peer-reviewed details of the new discovery in The Astrophysical Journal on June 30, 2026.
In the habitable zone
GJ 3378b is in the habitable zone of its star, a good location for potential habitability. That’s the region where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist on a planet’s surface, though whether it actually does also depends on its own atmosphere and composition. The planet does receive a suitable amount of radiation from its star, as lead author Paul Robertson at UC Irvine stated:
This super-Earth gets about 90% of the radiation from its host star as Earth gets from its sun, so it’s right in the sweet spot.
This one’s exciting. It’s one of our closest cosmic neighbors. 25 light-years sounds like a long way, but the Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across, so in that respect it’s our next-door neighbor.
Our mantra is ‘follow the water.’ It’s the one thing every known living thing on Earth needs, so that’s the first thing we look for when trying to find environments that could sustain life.
Paul Robertson at UC Irvine led the new study about GJ 3378b and its potential habitability. Image via UC Irvine.
Does GJ 3378b have an atmosphere?
What we know so far about GJ 3378b sounds promising in terms of habitability. But there’s still one big question: does the planet have an atmosphere? We don’t know yet. It’s in the habitable zone, but it’s also at the edge of what scientists call the cosmic shoreline. If a planet is outside of that boundary, closer to the star, then radiation from the star could strip away the planet’s atmosphere. This is common with planets close to red dwarf stars.
But GJ 3378b is right at the edge of this boundary. And we don’t know yet if it still has an atmosphere or if it had one and lost it. Ideally, the planet would have a thin, evolved atmosphere like Earth’s — nitrogen-based, not the thick, hydrogen-dominated “primordial” atmosphere a planet is born with. A more Earth-like atmosphere could maintain liquid water, as Robertson explained:
If you scale the Earth down to the size of an apple, its atmosphere would be about as thick as the skin of the apple. That’s just enough to maintain the kinds of surface pressures where you can have liquid water. It’s enough that there’ll be breathable air, and it provides maybe a little bit of protection from the harsh radiation environment of space.
Searching for signs of life on GJ 3378b
Right now, we don’t know if GJ 3378b is even habitable, let alone has life of any kind. But scientists want to take a closer look. NASA’s planned Habitable Worlds Observatory, for example, scheduled to launch sometime in the 2040s, would be able to take direct images of the planet. That, or perhaps other telescopic observations before then, will help determine whether GJ 3378b could actually support life. And then scientists could search for biosignatures, chemical or other signs of life in the planet’s atmosphere.
If a planet in the habitable zone has a proper atmosphere, we can justify further research looking for biosignatures, liquid water or other signs of life that require both an atmosphere and the right amount of heating from the host star.
View larger. | This is another artist’s concept of a super-Earth exoplanet. Image via NASA.
The search for biosignatures continues
As Michael Endl, an astronomer at UT Austin, noted:
The ultimate goal is biosignatures. We really want to know, ‘Are we alone in the universe?’ We are still in the reconnaissance phase of our solar neighborhood, trying to find the planets around the nearest stars because those will be the easiest ones to detect a biosignature on. This planet brings us one step closer to knowing all of our neighbors and, ultimately, which might be hospitable for life.
For Robertson, the prospect of searching for life on GJ 3378b is something to savor:
I think that’s just too much fun.
Bottom line: Astronomers have gotten a closer look at the nearby super-Earth GJ 3378b. It could be habitable, if it has an atmosphere.
This chart shows the 3 stars of the Summer Triangle in the east on July evenings. Note the size of Vega’s constellation, Lyra. The Summer Triangle is big! A 12-inch (1/3-meter) ruler, placed at an arm’s length from your eye, will span the approximate distance from Vega to the star Altair. And an outstretched hand will fill the gap between Vega and Deneb. You can see the Summer Triangle in the evening from around May through the end of every year.
The Summer Triangle
On July evenings, look eastward from the Northern Hemisphere for the season’s signature star pattern. It’s an asterism called the Summer Triangle, and, as you might guess, it consists of three stars: blue-white Vega, distant Deneb and fast-spinning Altair.
During northern summer, they’re the first three stars to light up the eastern half of the sky after sunset. You can see them even from light-polluted cities or on a moonlit night.
Watch for the Summer Triangle pattern in the evening beginning around the June solstice, through the end of each year.
Its brightest star is brilliant Vega, in the constellation Lyra the Harp. Read on to find out more about the Summer Triangle’s most dazzling star.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia captured this image from New York on September 1, 2024, and wrote: “The Milky Way, the Summer Triangle and a shooting star.” Thank you, Steven.
Vega is bright and blue-white
Blue-white Vega shines brightest of the three stars in the Summer Triangle. In fact, it’s the brightest star in the east on July evenings in the Northern Hemisphere.
Vega is also the brightest light in the constellation Lyra the Harp. Thus, Vega is also known as Alpha Lyrae. It shines at magnitude +0.03.
Vega is located about 25 light-years away from us. Many people recognize Vega’s constellation, Lyra. This pattern of stars looks like a triangle connected to a parallelogram.
Many skywatchers around the world have a special place in their hearts for the beautiful blue-white Vega. Come to know it, and you will see why.
How to see Vega from the Northern Hemisphere
Observers in the Northern Hemisphere typically begin noticing Vega in the evening around May, when this star comes into view in the northeast in mid-evening. Throughout northern summer, Vega shines brightly in the east in the evening. It’s high overhead on northern autumn evenings, and in the northwest by December evenings.
The little constellation Lyra has some interesting features. Near Vega you can see Epsilon Lyrae, which telescope users know as a famous Double Double star. That’s because binoculars reveal Epsilon Lyrae to be a double star, while a small telescope reveals each of these components to also be a double star.
Meanwhile, another famous telescopic sight lies between the Gamma and Beta stars in Lyra: the Ring Nebula, also called M57.
You can see Vega, Epsilon Lyrae and M57 (the Ring Nebula) marked on the chart below.
The constellation Lyra the Harp is easy to spot as a triangle connected to a parallelogram with Vega as the brightest star. We’ve marked some other noteworthy objects in this constellation, too. Notice Epsilon Lyrae, also known as the Double Double star, and M57, also called the Ring Nebula.
Science of the star Vega
Vega is the 5th-brightest star visible from Earth, and the 3rd-brightest easily visible from mid-northern latitudes, after Sirius and Arcturus. At about 25 light-years away, it is the 6th-closest of all the bright stars.
The star’s distinct blue color indicates a surface temperature of nearly 17,000 degrees Fahrenheit (9,400 Celsius), which is is about 7,000 degrees F (4,000 C) hotter than our sun.
Vega’s diameter is roughly 2.5 times the diameter of the sun, and it has about twice its mass. But Vega’s internal pressures and temperatures – far greater than our sun’s – will cause it to burn its internal fuel faster. At only 1/2 billion years old, Vega is already middle-aged. That’s in contrast to our middle-aged sun, which is 4 1/2 billion years old. Vega is only about a 10th of our sun’s age, but it will run out of fuel in only another half-billion years.
In astronomer-speak, Vega is an “A0V main sequence star.” The “A0” signifies its temperature, whereas the “V” is a measure of energy output (luminosity), indicating that Vega is a normal star (not a giant). “Main sequence” means it’s in the category of normal stars, and produces energy through stable fusion of hydrogen into helium. With a visual magnitude of +0.03 (apparent brightness), Vega appears only marginally dimmer than Arcturus, but with a distinctly different, cool-blue color.
Vega rotates so fast it’s flattened
Vega rotates rapidly, making a single full rotation about its axis once about every 12.5 hours. In contrast, our sun requires 27 days to spin once. As a result, if you could visit Vega in space, you’d find it noticeably flattened, as shown in the computer simulation below. Though a fast spinner, Vega isn’t the fastest of the three Summer Triangle stars. Altair rotates once in only about 10 hours!
This artist’s concept contrasts Vega with our own sun. It rotates so fast that, if you could see it close up, the star would appear flattened. Image via Aufdenberg/ NOIRlab/ AURA/ NSF.
Vega appears to have an asteroid belt
In 2018, astronomers announced it appears Vega has a large asteroid belt surrounding it. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory detected a ring of warm, rocky debris. NASA said:
In this diagram, the Vega system, which was already known to have a cooler outer belt of comets (orange), is compared to our solar system with its asteroid and Kuiper belts. The relative size of our solar system compared to Vega is illustrated by the small drawing in the middle. On the right, our solar system is scaled up four times.
The comparison illustrates that both systems have inner and outer belts with similar proportions. The gap between the inner and outer debris belts in both systems works out to a ratio of about 1-to-10, with the outer belt 10 times farther away from its host star than the inner belt.
Diagram of a possible asteroid belt (shown here as a warm inner belt) around the star Vega. The outer cool belt might be comets. Also, this shows the Vega system in comparison to our solar system enlarged 4 times and to scale. Image via NASA / JPL.
No planets found at Vega
In 1984, astronomers using the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) spotted a strange excess of infrared light surrounding the bright star Vega. They interpreted this as a disk of planet-forming material. It was the first of many debris disks now identified around stars. Many of these disks contain ring-shaped gaps, likely carved out by exoplanets.
However, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope to study Vega found no evidence of planets around the star. The two telescopes provided an unprecedentedly detailed view of Vega’s dust disk, and found it to be almost totally smooth, with no signs of any planets. Of course, the study of Vega – and the search for planets there – continues.
In western skylore, Vega’s constellation Lyra was a harp that the legendary Greek musician Orpheus played. According to legend, when Orpheus played his harp, neither god nor mortal could turn away.
In western culture, Vega is known as the Harp Star.
But Asia has the most beautiful stories relating to Vega. In China, the legend speaks of a forbidden romance between the goddess Zhinü – represented by Vega – and a humble farm boy, Niulang, represented by the star Altair. Separated in the night sky by the Milky Way, or Celestial River, the two lovers may meet only once a year. It’s said that their meeting comes on the 7th night of the 7th moon, when a bridge of magpies forms across the Celestial River, and the two lovers briefly reunite.
In Japan, the Tanabata Festival features Orihime, a celestial princess or goddess, represented by Vega, who falls in love with a mortal, Hikoboshi, represented by the star Altair. However, this enrages Orihime’s father so he forbids her to see this mere mortal. Then … you know the story. The gods place the two lovers in the sky, separated by the Celestial River or Milky Way. Yet the sky gods in kindness let them reunite on the 7th night of the 7th moon each year. Sometimes Hikoboshi’s annual trip across the Celestial River is treacherous, though, and he doesn’t make it. In that case, Orihime’s tears form raindrops that fall over Japan.
Many Japanese celebrations of Tanabata occur in July, but sometimes they take place in August. Sometimes the Perseid meteor shower represents Orihime’s tears in myth.
For observation, Vega’s position is RA: 18h 36m 56.3s, dec: +38° 47′ 1.3″.
Bottom line: The star Vega in the constellation Lyra is one of the sky’s most beloved stars for people around the world.
This chart shows the 3 stars of the Summer Triangle in the east on July evenings. Note the size of Vega’s constellation, Lyra. The Summer Triangle is big! A 12-inch (1/3-meter) ruler, placed at an arm’s length from your eye, will span the approximate distance from Vega to the star Altair. And an outstretched hand will fill the gap between Vega and Deneb. You can see the Summer Triangle in the evening from around May through the end of every year.
The Summer Triangle
On July evenings, look eastward from the Northern Hemisphere for the season’s signature star pattern. It’s an asterism called the Summer Triangle, and, as you might guess, it consists of three stars: blue-white Vega, distant Deneb and fast-spinning Altair.
During northern summer, they’re the first three stars to light up the eastern half of the sky after sunset. You can see them even from light-polluted cities or on a moonlit night.
Watch for the Summer Triangle pattern in the evening beginning around the June solstice, through the end of each year.
Its brightest star is brilliant Vega, in the constellation Lyra the Harp. Read on to find out more about the Summer Triangle’s most dazzling star.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia captured this image from New York on September 1, 2024, and wrote: “The Milky Way, the Summer Triangle and a shooting star.” Thank you, Steven.
Vega is bright and blue-white
Blue-white Vega shines brightest of the three stars in the Summer Triangle. In fact, it’s the brightest star in the east on July evenings in the Northern Hemisphere.
Vega is also the brightest light in the constellation Lyra the Harp. Thus, Vega is also known as Alpha Lyrae. It shines at magnitude +0.03.
Vega is located about 25 light-years away from us. Many people recognize Vega’s constellation, Lyra. This pattern of stars looks like a triangle connected to a parallelogram.
Many skywatchers around the world have a special place in their hearts for the beautiful blue-white Vega. Come to know it, and you will see why.
How to see Vega from the Northern Hemisphere
Observers in the Northern Hemisphere typically begin noticing Vega in the evening around May, when this star comes into view in the northeast in mid-evening. Throughout northern summer, Vega shines brightly in the east in the evening. It’s high overhead on northern autumn evenings, and in the northwest by December evenings.
The little constellation Lyra has some interesting features. Near Vega you can see Epsilon Lyrae, which telescope users know as a famous Double Double star. That’s because binoculars reveal Epsilon Lyrae to be a double star, while a small telescope reveals each of these components to also be a double star.
Meanwhile, another famous telescopic sight lies between the Gamma and Beta stars in Lyra: the Ring Nebula, also called M57.
You can see Vega, Epsilon Lyrae and M57 (the Ring Nebula) marked on the chart below.
The constellation Lyra the Harp is easy to spot as a triangle connected to a parallelogram with Vega as the brightest star. We’ve marked some other noteworthy objects in this constellation, too. Notice Epsilon Lyrae, also known as the Double Double star, and M57, also called the Ring Nebula.
Science of the star Vega
Vega is the 5th-brightest star visible from Earth, and the 3rd-brightest easily visible from mid-northern latitudes, after Sirius and Arcturus. At about 25 light-years away, it is the 6th-closest of all the bright stars.
The star’s distinct blue color indicates a surface temperature of nearly 17,000 degrees Fahrenheit (9,400 Celsius), which is is about 7,000 degrees F (4,000 C) hotter than our sun.
Vega’s diameter is roughly 2.5 times the diameter of the sun, and it has about twice its mass. But Vega’s internal pressures and temperatures – far greater than our sun’s – will cause it to burn its internal fuel faster. At only 1/2 billion years old, Vega is already middle-aged. That’s in contrast to our middle-aged sun, which is 4 1/2 billion years old. Vega is only about a 10th of our sun’s age, but it will run out of fuel in only another half-billion years.
In astronomer-speak, Vega is an “A0V main sequence star.” The “A0” signifies its temperature, whereas the “V” is a measure of energy output (luminosity), indicating that Vega is a normal star (not a giant). “Main sequence” means it’s in the category of normal stars, and produces energy through stable fusion of hydrogen into helium. With a visual magnitude of +0.03 (apparent brightness), Vega appears only marginally dimmer than Arcturus, but with a distinctly different, cool-blue color.
Vega rotates so fast it’s flattened
Vega rotates rapidly, making a single full rotation about its axis once about every 12.5 hours. In contrast, our sun requires 27 days to spin once. As a result, if you could visit Vega in space, you’d find it noticeably flattened, as shown in the computer simulation below. Though a fast spinner, Vega isn’t the fastest of the three Summer Triangle stars. Altair rotates once in only about 10 hours!
This artist’s concept contrasts Vega with our own sun. It rotates so fast that, if you could see it close up, the star would appear flattened. Image via Aufdenberg/ NOIRlab/ AURA/ NSF.
Vega appears to have an asteroid belt
In 2018, astronomers announced it appears Vega has a large asteroid belt surrounding it. NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Observatory detected a ring of warm, rocky debris. NASA said:
In this diagram, the Vega system, which was already known to have a cooler outer belt of comets (orange), is compared to our solar system with its asteroid and Kuiper belts. The relative size of our solar system compared to Vega is illustrated by the small drawing in the middle. On the right, our solar system is scaled up four times.
The comparison illustrates that both systems have inner and outer belts with similar proportions. The gap between the inner and outer debris belts in both systems works out to a ratio of about 1-to-10, with the outer belt 10 times farther away from its host star than the inner belt.
Diagram of a possible asteroid belt (shown here as a warm inner belt) around the star Vega. The outer cool belt might be comets. Also, this shows the Vega system in comparison to our solar system enlarged 4 times and to scale. Image via NASA / JPL.
No planets found at Vega
In 1984, astronomers using the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) spotted a strange excess of infrared light surrounding the bright star Vega. They interpreted this as a disk of planet-forming material. It was the first of many debris disks now identified around stars. Many of these disks contain ring-shaped gaps, likely carved out by exoplanets.
However, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope to study Vega found no evidence of planets around the star. The two telescopes provided an unprecedentedly detailed view of Vega’s dust disk, and found it to be almost totally smooth, with no signs of any planets. Of course, the study of Vega – and the search for planets there – continues.
In western skylore, Vega’s constellation Lyra was a harp that the legendary Greek musician Orpheus played. According to legend, when Orpheus played his harp, neither god nor mortal could turn away.
In western culture, Vega is known as the Harp Star.
But Asia has the most beautiful stories relating to Vega. In China, the legend speaks of a forbidden romance between the goddess Zhinü – represented by Vega – and a humble farm boy, Niulang, represented by the star Altair. Separated in the night sky by the Milky Way, or Celestial River, the two lovers may meet only once a year. It’s said that their meeting comes on the 7th night of the 7th moon, when a bridge of magpies forms across the Celestial River, and the two lovers briefly reunite.
In Japan, the Tanabata Festival features Orihime, a celestial princess or goddess, represented by Vega, who falls in love with a mortal, Hikoboshi, represented by the star Altair. However, this enrages Orihime’s father so he forbids her to see this mere mortal. Then … you know the story. The gods place the two lovers in the sky, separated by the Celestial River or Milky Way. Yet the sky gods in kindness let them reunite on the 7th night of the 7th moon each year. Sometimes Hikoboshi’s annual trip across the Celestial River is treacherous, though, and he doesn’t make it. In that case, Orihime’s tears form raindrops that fall over Japan.
Many Japanese celebrations of Tanabata occur in July, but sometimes they take place in August. Sometimes the Perseid meteor shower represents Orihime’s tears in myth.
For observation, Vega’s position is RA: 18h 36m 56.3s, dec: +38° 47′ 1.3″.
Bottom line: The star Vega in the constellation Lyra is one of the sky’s most beloved stars for people around the world.
The Japanese space agency (JAXA) just shared an image from the Hayabusa2 mission to asteroid Torifune. On July 5, 2026, the space probe flew within 6.2 miles (10 km) of the asteroid and sent back the image above. The asteroid appears to be what astronomers call a contact binary, or 2 asteroids stuck together. Just days earlier, the Chinese space agency also made a flyby of a different asteroid, 2016 HO3 Kamo’oalewa. See the pic below. These 2 asteroid flybys came within 3 days of each other. Torifune image via JAXA, The University of Tokyo, Chiba Institute of Technology, Tokyo University of Science, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Paris Observatory, Canary Islands Institute for Astrophysics.
2 asteroid flybys yield new closeup images
Space agencies from both China and Japan have just shared images from flybys of two different asteroids in our solar system. On July 2, 2026, China’s Tianwen-2 probe flew past asteroid Kamo’oalewa from a distance of just 12.5 miles (20 km). Then on July 5, 2026, Japan’s Hayabusa2 flew past asteroid Torifune from a mere 6.2 miles (10 km) distant.
Both space agencies caught images of the asteroids. Kamo’oalewa might be a chunk of the moon ejected in a giant impact. And Torifune revealed itself to be two rubble piles joined together, or what astronomers call a contact binary.
Flyby of asteroid Kamo’oalewa
On July 6, 2026, the China National Space Administration said:
The Tianwen-2 probe has arrived at its target asteroid and begun scientific exploration.
Tianwen-2’s target is the asteroid Kamo’oalewa, which is a near-Earth asteroid. The asteroid has a strange orbit that keeps it in unison with Earth. This resonant orbit makes it a quasi-satellite of Earth. A 2024 study showed Kamo’oalewa might have once been a part of the moon that blasted off during an impact that formed the lunar crater Giordano Bruno.
China’s mission to the asteroid began back on May 29, 2025, with the launch of Tianwen-2. After a journey of what the space agency called about 400 days and 1 billion kilometers (621 million miles), Tianwen-2 will now:
… conduct more detailed scientific explorations to obtain information on the asteroid’s shape, material composition, and internal structure, providing support for preparations for sampling.
The China National Space Administration said on July 6, 2026, that it had recently captured this image of the asteroid Kamo’oalewa. Tianwen-2 took this image on July 2, 2026. Image via China National Space Administration.
Flyby of asteroid Torifune
Hayabusa2’s journey to Torifune has taken much longer. The mission launched to space in December 2014. At that time, its target was the asteroid Ryugu. In 2020, Hayabusa2 rendezvoused with Ryugu and took samples that it sent back to Earth. Analysis of the samples show they are rich in primitive organic material.
After Ryugu, JAXA sent the Hayabusa2 probe on an extended mission to Torifune. The probe arrived at 18:30 Japan Standard Time on July 5, 2026. Hayabusa2 made several observations during its flyby. JAXA is still acquiring this data, so expect more revelations about the asteroid to come!
But Hayabusa2’s extended mission is not over. After a couple swings past Earth, the space probe is headed for the tiny asteroid 1998 KY26. The asteroid is just 11 meters (36 feet) in diameter. Hayabusa2 should arrive at the asteroid in 2031.
Bottom line: Japanese and Chinese space agencies both completed asteroid flybys in early July, 2026. See the closeup images here.
The Japanese space agency (JAXA) just shared an image from the Hayabusa2 mission to asteroid Torifune. On July 5, 2026, the space probe flew within 6.2 miles (10 km) of the asteroid and sent back the image above. The asteroid appears to be what astronomers call a contact binary, or 2 asteroids stuck together. Just days earlier, the Chinese space agency also made a flyby of a different asteroid, 2016 HO3 Kamo’oalewa. See the pic below. These 2 asteroid flybys came within 3 days of each other. Torifune image via JAXA, The University of Tokyo, Chiba Institute of Technology, Tokyo University of Science, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Paris Observatory, Canary Islands Institute for Astrophysics.
2 asteroid flybys yield new closeup images
Space agencies from both China and Japan have just shared images from flybys of two different asteroids in our solar system. On July 2, 2026, China’s Tianwen-2 probe flew past asteroid Kamo’oalewa from a distance of just 12.5 miles (20 km). Then on July 5, 2026, Japan’s Hayabusa2 flew past asteroid Torifune from a mere 6.2 miles (10 km) distant.
Both space agencies caught images of the asteroids. Kamo’oalewa might be a chunk of the moon ejected in a giant impact. And Torifune revealed itself to be two rubble piles joined together, or what astronomers call a contact binary.
Flyby of asteroid Kamo’oalewa
On July 6, 2026, the China National Space Administration said:
The Tianwen-2 probe has arrived at its target asteroid and begun scientific exploration.
Tianwen-2’s target is the asteroid Kamo’oalewa, which is a near-Earth asteroid. The asteroid has a strange orbit that keeps it in unison with Earth. This resonant orbit makes it a quasi-satellite of Earth. A 2024 study showed Kamo’oalewa might have once been a part of the moon that blasted off during an impact that formed the lunar crater Giordano Bruno.
China’s mission to the asteroid began back on May 29, 2025, with the launch of Tianwen-2. After a journey of what the space agency called about 400 days and 1 billion kilometers (621 million miles), Tianwen-2 will now:
… conduct more detailed scientific explorations to obtain information on the asteroid’s shape, material composition, and internal structure, providing support for preparations for sampling.
The China National Space Administration said on July 6, 2026, that it had recently captured this image of the asteroid Kamo’oalewa. Tianwen-2 took this image on July 2, 2026. Image via China National Space Administration.
Flyby of asteroid Torifune
Hayabusa2’s journey to Torifune has taken much longer. The mission launched to space in December 2014. At that time, its target was the asteroid Ryugu. In 2020, Hayabusa2 rendezvoused with Ryugu and took samples that it sent back to Earth. Analysis of the samples show they are rich in primitive organic material.
After Ryugu, JAXA sent the Hayabusa2 probe on an extended mission to Torifune. The probe arrived at 18:30 Japan Standard Time on July 5, 2026. Hayabusa2 made several observations during its flyby. JAXA is still acquiring this data, so expect more revelations about the asteroid to come!
But Hayabusa2’s extended mission is not over. After a couple swings past Earth, the space probe is headed for the tiny asteroid 1998 KY26. The asteroid is just 11 meters (36 feet) in diameter. Hayabusa2 should arrive at the asteroid in 2031.
Bottom line: Japanese and Chinese space agencies both completed asteroid flybys in early July, 2026. See the closeup images here.
