| |   | 'Ring of fire' appears over Antarctica | | |  | | (ALEJANDRO PAGNI/AFP via Getty Images) | A magnificent annular solar eclipse just swept over Antarctica, putting on an impressive display of orbital mechanics as the moon passed in front of the sun at the perfect distance from Earth to create a fiery halo in a darkened sky - at least for the few souls lucky enough to be in a position to see it. | | |   | | (CCTV+) | China's Shenzhou 21 crew rang in the Year of the Horse with an impressive celebration aboard the nation's Tiangong Space Station this week, including filming a music video in space. | |  | | (NASA) | Following the uncrewed Artemis 1 lunar flight test in late 2022, it was found that protective material had unexpectedly chipped away from the Orion spacecraft's heat shield during its plunge through Earth's atmosphere. Will it happen again? | |  | | (NASA) | NASA announced that it has picked Long Beach-based Vast to conduct the sixth private astronaut flight to the International Space Station, which will launch no earlier than summer 2027. The selection is a big deal for Vast and for NASA, which wants private companies to take the reins from the ISS when it's decommissioned in 2030. | | |  | | (NASA/JPL-Caltech) | It's one of the most instantly recognizable scenes in cinematic history: Luke Skywalker gazes at a double sunset to the haunting melody of a mournful French horn. And while "Star Wars" may take place in a galaxy far, far away, planets orbiting binary stars actually do exist in the Milky Way. Yet mysteriously, there are not as many as scientists expect - and new research might explain why. | |  | | (Robert Lea (Created with Canva)) | Wormholes are often imagined as tunnels through space or time - shortcuts across the universe. But this image rests on a misunderstanding of work by physicists Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen. As it turns out, new research points to something far stranger - and more fundamental - than wormholes. | | |  | | (SEGA) | As Disney and 20th Century Studios revive the Alien and Predator series, we think a new video game crossover should already be in the works. | | |  | | (A. Trigo/ESO) | The European Southern Observatory has released a breathtaking photo of the Milky Way shining over the Paranal Observatory in Chile, as lasers create artificial "guide stars" in the pristinely dark sky above. | | | | Stay up-to-date on all things space science, news, and entertainment by subscribing to our newsletters. | |  | | | | | | | Future US LLC © | | Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036 | | | |
