Moon

A Chinese probe carrying samples from the far side of the Moon started its journey back to Earth on Tuesday, the country's space agency said — a world first and a major achievement for Beijing's space programme.

The ascender module of the Chang'e-6 probe "lifted off from lunar surface" and entered a preset orbit around the Moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

Eclipse mania gripped North America on Monday as a breathtaking celestial spectacle captivated tens of millions of people, offering a rare blend of scientific interest, commercial opportunity and daytime partying.

A historic private mission to land on the Moon faced near-certain failure Monday after the spacecraft suffered a "critical loss" of fuel, dealing a major blow to America's hopes of placing its first robot on the lunar surface in five decades.

Beneath the Earth's surface, buried deep within the mantle, lies a long-standing enigma that might hold the key to unraveling the ancient secrets of our Moon's birth. For over half a century, seismologists have been tracking two massive, continent-sized anomalies concealed beneath Africa and the South Pacific region.

Astronomy enthusiasts were in for a treat on Aug. 30 night: a rare "super blue Moon" that won't be seen again for more than a decade.

Supermoons occur when the Moon passes through its perigee, or the point that takes it closest to Earth during its elliptical orbit. This makes it look about 14 percent bigger compared to when it is at its furthest point, and a touch brighter.

India began exploring the Moon's surface with a rover yesterday, a day after it became the first nation to land a craft near the largely unexplored lunar south pole.

Pragyan - "Wisdom" in Sanskrit - rolled out of the lander hours after the latest milestone in India's ambitious but cut-price space program sparked huge celebrations across the country.

Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years, the Luna-25 probe, has crashed on the Moon's surface after an unspecified incident during pre-landing maneuvers, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Aug. 20.

The crash comes almost a year and a half into Russia's Ukraine offensive that has seen Moscow isolated, with punishing sanctions that have affected its space industry.

A partial solar eclipse will be visible across a swathe of the Northern Hemisphere tomorrow, with amateur astronomers warned to take care watching the rare phenomenon.

The eclipse will start at 0858 GMT in Iceland and end off the coast of India at 1302 GMT, crossing Europe, North Africa and the Middle East on its way, according to the IMCCE institute of France's Paris Observatory.

After technical issues halted its first launch attempt, NASA will try again on Aug. 3 to get its new 30-story rocket off the ground and send its unmanned test capsule towards the Moon.

Seeing a rocket blast off to the Moon is "a once-in-a-lifetime thing to experience," says Joanne Bostandji.