So this week is going to be a little different. There has been a lot of solar system and space science this week, so I'm going to include a lot of that stuff. Still going to have a good number of other pretty pictures, I promise.
Let's start out with a sort of spooky soundtrack for this week.
Stellar nurseries always seem to give us good pictures.
Behold NGC 2467 — a dazzling star-forming cauldron captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Swirling clouds of glowing gas and dark dust bubble like an exotic potion, studded with brilliant newborn stars that light up the entire scene in vivid pinks, blues, and fiery…
— Black Hole (@konstructivizm) July 16, 2026
Hubble Sees Crimson Cloud and Stars: Blue and white stars shine brilliantly against a crimson background of glowing gas in this July 3, 2026, image of stellar nursery LH 95 from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. LH 95 is a region in the Large Magellanic Clo… https://t.co/DU2q802RXK pic.twitter.com/aKAEeNhHOa
— Elysia Segal (@elysiasegal) July 14, 2026
Herbig-Haro is a double-star system that's pretty flashy.
Step into a cosmic theater unlike any other. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captures Herbig-Haro 46/47, where young stars take shape amid glowing clouds of gas and dust.
— World and Science (@WorldAndScience) July 12, 2026
Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA. Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) pic.twitter.com/xinQ5IbFlB
Did you ever see the movie The Day Of The Triffids?
Deep into the Milky Way here. Trifid Nebula on top right (M20), IC 4685 lower left and 1st time shooting the Lagoon Nebula (M8) on the lower right all in Sagittarius. Shot with the Astro-Tech AT60ED and ZWO ASI533mc Pro Camera. Only 2 hours of data. pic.twitter.com/SkEtFbWRJ8
— BigKahuna Ron (@BigKahunaRon) July 13, 2026
I grew up in the San Luis Valley in Colorado, which—at least then—had extraordinarily dark clear skies most of the year. I kind of miss it.
Southern Winter Skies over Namibia. Captured last night from the surroundings of Tivoli Astrofarm, Namibia, under one of the darkest skies on Earth.
— Aleix Roig (@astrocatinfo) July 14, 2026
This wide-field panorama reveals some of the Southern Hemisphere's most spectacular deep-sky treasures. Dominating the scene is… pic.twitter.com/GDsbcV70z1
The Swan Nebula.
✨ M17 — The Swan Nebula
— ZWO (@zwoastro) July 15, 2026
Glowing with intricate filaments of ionized gas and rich SHO color, this stunning capture reveals the remarkable structure of one of the Milky Way's most iconic star-forming regions.
40 × 300s per SHO channel
12 × 300s per RGB channel
🔭 Equipment
•… pic.twitter.com/AS5kGfc5Ar
Here are some images from Ireland.
Here are a few of my recent captures with the Dwarf 3 Smart Telescope. Captured from my back garden in County Meath, Ireland.
— Sky watcher Ireland (@skywatcher_irl) July 16, 2026
1. The Eagle Nebula (M16). Sitting roughly 7,000 light-years away in the constellation Serpens, this active star-forming region houses the iconic Pillars… pic.twitter.com/zplXOX83cA
And an image from Arizona.
Nebulae are filled with pockets of impossible beauty
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) July 14, 2026
This is a small part of an image captured with my largest telescope- more to come! pic.twitter.com/gPgENexLEw
And now closer to home.
The *Cassini* robotic spacecraft ceased to exist in the depths of Saturn long ago, yet the stunning images it captured continue to delight us.
— Black Hole (@konstructivizm) July 15, 2026
The moon Mimas above the "Lord of the Rings." pic.twitter.com/hI0GkgJf6N
This one-of-a-kind Hubble image from 2009 features Saturn with its rings edge-on and both poles in view, offering a stunning double view of its fluttering aurorae! 1/2 pic.twitter.com/4NrWRtCkat
— Science And Nature (@ScienceAndNatu7) July 14, 2026
I have some friends at SwRI doing some exciting stuff.
SwRI-led research connects asteroid collision to impact showers 800 million years agohttps://t.co/dsfJBsJqiM
— Southwest Research Institute (@SwRI) July 15, 2026
Credit: SwRI/Don Davis pic.twitter.com/vmo3NS8EsP
Sadly, the next Starship test has been put off to Monday. I really love the color of the methalox rocket plume.
I get to see this monster fly again later this week... new photos to come! pic.twitter.com/j1IcA7wJSD
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) July 12, 2026
This one is kind of art for art's sake, I think, but it's cool. That's Mars from over the pole, taken at intervals. There's lots more at the Psyche mission site.
These stunning views of our favorite planet come courtesy of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which recently completed a Mars gravity assist on its way to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche captured this series of images throughout the month of May as it sped toward the Red Planet. pic.twitter.com/C7GgriEEVz
— NASA Mars (@NASAMars) July 17, 2026
The whole time-lapse video.
Okay, one more nebula. Cluck.
IC2944 Running chicken nebula in Sagitaris constellation by Azar Rhana (Facebook)https://t.co/tr3BZ7fDem pic.twitter.com/8xhBercTwk
— Alienigena11 (@Madriles6211) July 17, 2026
60 years ago. OMG.
Tonight in 2019, on the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, we unveiled our own Moonshot: a projection of the Saturn V rocket on the Washington Monument as part of our #GoForTheMoon celebration.
— National Air and Space Museum (@airandspace) July 17, 2026
Were you there? 🚀 pic.twitter.com/yc3j3SmTGs
So this wasn't as science-y as I planned, but I have a question for you all. I tried a "Science Friday" column once that didn't get a lot of attention. Would you all be interested in a weekly science column? Let me know in the comments.
And come back next week for the next Sky Candy. Hopefully with Starship pictures.
