Ground-based astronomy is a research area focused on observing celestial objects and phenomena using instruments located on Earth’s surface, typically at high-altitude, low-humidity sites optimized for atmospheric transparency and stability. It encompasses optical, infrared, submillimeter, and radio observations employing telescopes, interferometers, and advanced detector arrays. Research addresses topics such as stellar and galactic structure, exoplanets, cosmology, and transient events, while contending with atmospheric turbulence, absorption, and light pollution. Adaptive optics, interferometric techniques, and sophisticated data reduction pipelines are central to mitigating atmospheric effects and enhancing spatial and spectral resolution, making ground-based facilities critical complements to space-based observatories.
Unfortunately, there's more bad news to report on the clear skies front. A new paper, available on the arXiv preprint server from researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center, reports that 73.3% of images the agency's new SPHEREx ...
Astronomy
Jun 9, 2026
4
253
The science academies of G7 member countries have identified international space governance as a pressing issue for the G7 Leaders' Summit, to be held from June 15–17 in Evian, France.
Space Exploration
May 23, 2026
0
25
The Haystack 37m Telescope has been a landmark in radio astronomy and radar studies of the solar system since its first light in 1964. Over the following four decades, it supported NASA's Apollo landings on the moon, made ...
Astronomy
May 20, 2026
0
68
A new European-led telescope could map the dusty, hidden half of the universe, all without using fossil fuels. If you have ever seen the Milky Way in the night sky, you probably noticed that it looks cloudy. That is because ...
Astronomy
May 19, 2026
1
60
Spain, one of the few places in the world where a total solar eclipse will be visible in August, has begun preparations for an event it hopes will shift tourism away from the beaches and toward the countryside.
Space Exploration
May 14, 2026
0
78
It takes a moment for the eyes to adjust. A faint spark appears in the darkness; then another, brighter one. Soon, stars, planets and entire constellations emerge. Before long, a whole galaxy stretches across the sky, visible ...
Astronomy
Apr 26, 2026
0
45
Thirty-four years after Cornell University scientists first conceived it, the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) now rises above the Atacama Desert, near the summit of Cerro Chajnantor in Chile. FYST will help answer ...
Astronomy
Apr 10, 2026
0
117
Using preliminary data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids. The data were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC), making this the ...
Planetary Sciences
Apr 2, 2026
0
83
More than 10,000 Starlink satellites currently orbit Earth. We see them crawling across dark skies, no matter how remote our location, and streaking through images from research telescopes.
Space Exploration
Mar 29, 2026
4
246
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is alarmed by the threat to ground-based astronomy posed by proposals put forward by Elon Musk's SpaceX and Reflect Orbital. SpaceX has applied to launch one million satellites to act ...
Space Exploration
Mar 16, 2026
0
32
