technical updates

SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket on a critical 13th test flight late Friday, but there was no triskaidekaphobia on this mission. The July 24 test launch, Space's Starship Flight 13 mission , sent a towering rocket the size of a 40-story skyscraper into space from South Texas, returned its massive Booster to Earth, and then — in a feat perhaps none saw coming — gently landed its Starship upper stage in the Indian Ocean, where it tipped over to float belly up on the sea. "Starship is intact, floating in the ocean and transmitting telemetry!" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X . SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight lifts off from Starbase, Texas on July 24, 2026. SpaceX SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight lifts off from Starbase, Texas on July 24, 2026. SpaceX SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight lifts off from Starbase, Texas on July 24, 2026. ...

Smart telescopes like the Seestar S30 Pro have changed astrophotography and, arguably, urban astronomy. The Seestar S30 Pro takes that concept further than most. Small enough to fit inside a camera backpack , it combines a refractor telescope, motorized mount, dual cameras and image-processing software into a compact unit controlled entirely from a smartphone. Within minutes of powering on, it can align itself to the night sky, slew to a specified target and begin stacking exposures to reveal galaxies , nebulas and star clusters — even from light-polluted locations. The Pro version of the S30 adds a higher resolution sensor, advanced optics and upgraded software functionality. (Image credit: Jamie Carter) It makes astrophotography — once a complex and expensive hobby — possible with a single, automated device, though what makes the Seestar S30 Pro particularly interesting is not just its simpl...

Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman are the primary ringleaders behind " Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ", and they're about to unleash the next cluster of 10 Season 4 episodes for their spirited space show. With an abundance of genre-crossing indulgences that are scary, surreal, and sometimes silly, the Paramount+ hit is operating at full warp speed in this penultimate outing, the debut episode of which just premiered on July 23, 2026. We hitched a ride with the acclaimed executive producers to learn all about their vision for "Strange New Worlds'" fourth season and why they believe it will prove to be the finest one yet, taking cues from ‘90s-style time-travel odysseys, haunted starships, noir crime thrillers, puppet mishaps, and utopian fantasies. (Image credit: Paramount) "It’s hard to come up through the ‘90s and not feel affected by a lot of the films tha...

2026 is the 60th anniversary of "Star Trek". To help celebrate the show that creator Gene Roddenberry described as "Wagon Train to the Stars,""Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" returns to Paramount+ for its penultimate season. From teasers and trailers that first dropped last summer and fall, we’re anticipating a rollicking batch of dynamic episodes that draw on diverse subgenres, with everything from classic film noir crime stories and time travel to spooky ghost stories and sword-clashing swashbucklers. But the end is nigh for this colorful modern interpretation of "Trek". Next year's truncated fifth season will be the crew's final mission, so let's revel in the time we have left and beam onto the Enterprise bridge for a promising round of missions. Here's our guide to everything you need to know about "Strange New Worlds" Season 4...

For several years now, astronomers who study the sun have faced a little mystery — our star seemed to hold too little silver. Whenever scientists examined the sun's outer layers, they've seen significantly less silver than they've expected to find. Where, then, did the missing silver go? As it turns out, this mystery may finally be solved. Newly published research suggests that the sun 's missing silver may have been hiding in plain sight all along. At first, the real mystery might seem to be why you'd seek silver in the sun at all. After all, 98.5% of the sun's mass is made from lightweight hydrogen and helium. Silver is just a tiny fraction of the remaining 1.5%, which also includes traces of other heavy elements like iron and copper. These trace elements can illuminate the history of the cosmos. Silver is thought to form when dying stars violently explode in supernovas ...

In a rare first for me, I actually used autofocus for this entire astrophotography shoot. If I'm being honest? I prefer it when shooting astro with a mirrorless camera . Why? Because it is quicker and that means more time capturing the stars and less time setting up. I can get a star in sharp focus using autofocus in half the time that it would take me to do it manually and it's way easier to focus with the shutter or back button than play about with the focus ring, especially with cold fingers. The Canon EOS R6 III makes shooting astro much quicker with its rapid low-light autofocus. (Image credit: Harry Bennett / Future) I only managed to get out under one clear sky to test the new R6 III but it was a wonderful session at my usual dark hill spot surrounded by a sea of stars and celestial shapes. After setting up my tripod, I was ready to start shooting, armed with the Canon 14mm f/1.4 ...