Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. In what's come to be known as the "jellyfish" effect, the dusk launch provided ideal conditions for the setting sun to light up the rocket's expanding engine plume against the darkening sky, as the vehicle climbed high into Earth's atmosphere. A Spider in the Dark (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Tully, M. Messa) Monday, March 18, 2024: Most galaxies we see have clear shapes: spirals, barred, or maybe it's just a starry oval, but every now and then scientists find something, well, irregular. Case in point, this view of a galaxy called UGC 5829, more commonly known as the Spider Galaxy. Located 30 million light-years away in the constellation Leo Minor, the Spider Galaxy is a gauzy mass of stars with arms that are so distorted, scientists have compared them to the arms of an arachnid (which, of course, is what scientists call a spider). This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and shows pockets of star formation (which appear as pink, glowing patches) and hot, bluish gas that appears brighter than the galaxy's core. "Two large arms flank the left and right of the body, and smaller streams of stars emerge from the top. Other, distant, galaxies can be seen on the edges of the image," an image description explains. - Tariq Malik SpaceX's Starship Soars on Flight 3 (Image credit: Josh Dinner/Future) Thursday, March 14, 2024: SpaceX launched the world's largest and most powerful rocket today in an epic third test flight of its Starship and Super Heavy launch system. The 400-foot-tall rocket, which you can see here streaking towards space as seen by Space.com writer Josh Dinner, launched at 9:25 a.m. EDT (1325 GMT) on test flight that lasted just over an hour. During the flight, SpaceX's Starship Ship 28 flew higher and faster than any flight to date, and even tested a series of actions like opening its payload bay "Pez" door for Starlink deployments, attempting an in-vehicle refueling test and more. The first stage Super Heavy booster successfully reentered Earth's atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico, but failed to reignite its engines to make a controlled, soft-landing in the ocean. Meanwhile, Ship 28 captured stunning views of its reentry, but lost contact shortly thereafter. SpaceX is still calling it a win. - Tariq Malik What shape, this galaxy?