| |   | Amazon Prime Day Space Deals | Hey, Space Fans! Space.com Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik here, and we've got some amazing news from space in today's newsletter (including SpaceX and Blue Origin launches!). But to kick things off, this is just a reminder that it's Day 2 of Amazon's October Prime Day deals, meaning it's a great time to lock in on telescopes, binoculars or other gifts for your space cadet. Here's our main picks! | |  | | (Morgan Bailee Boggess • Celestron) | Our top pick for today is this amazing Celestron Astromaster 130EQ telescope, which is on sale for $252, saving you $180 on a great intrument for observing the moon and planets. This scope may be beginner-friendly but with its 130mm aperture and optics, coated for clearer views, it should be with you a while at least. | |  | | (Hasbro) | If you're like any of us on Team Space, you've seen Star Wars a time or two (and maybe even imagined yourself as a lightsaber-weilding Sith at some point. So this deal on a Star Wars: Ashoka Black Series Baylan Skoll Force FX Lightsaber just might be the one you're looking for, and at 30% off to boot. | | | | The Launchpad  | | (Blue Origin) | It may be hump day, but it wasn't a slump day for Blue Origin this morning. The company successfully launched its latest space tourist flight on a suborbital New Shepard rocket, which carried six self-described "Space Nomads," one of which refused to be identified until after touchdown. See stunning video of the launch, landing and touchdown here! | |  | | (NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle) | So, we've found 6,000 exoplanets since the 1990s. That's great. What's better? Finding 100,000 more or, just maybe, that holy grail exoplanet that just might be right for life as we know it. Space.com contributor (and author) Keith Cooper tackles what 30 years of exoplanet searching has got us,and what's to come in this feature. | | | | Skywatching  | | (-/Getty Images) | If you're graced with nice, dark skies tonight, stay up extra late for a chance to see the Draconid meteor shower. It peaks overnight tonight (although it does run from Oct. 6-10), but could get washed out by the bright nearly full moon. | | | | Science & Astronomy  | | (ESA/TGO/CaSSIS) | From alien planets to alien comets, scientists just got a new view of that interstellar interloper Comet 3I/ATLAS, which swung close by Mars on Oct. 3. Here's the latest look from Europe's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, one of several probes to watch the comet glide past the Red Planet. | | | | SpaceX  | | (SpaceX) | Blue Origin wasn't the only private company to launch a rocket in the last 24 hours. SpaceX actually lifted off late Tuesday night to send a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a new fleet of Starlink satellites into orbit on a whopping 29th flight for its booster. | | | | Search for Life  | | (Workman Publishing Company) | It's a question as old as time, and one "E.T." never really solved for me as a kid. But author Becky Ferreira tackles the question of humanity's drive to find intelligent life in her new book "First Contact." But are aliens cliche at this point? Here's what she said. | | | | Entertainment  | | (Disney / 20th Century Studios) | Finally, we would be remiss if we didn't let you know about this final trailer for the new "Predator: Badlands" sci-fi film, which is poised to hit theaters on Nov. 7. With multiple Yautja Predators, Weyland Yutani robots and so many aliens, it has everything we wanted. | | | | Today in Space  | | (ESA / Las Cumbres Observatory) | Our pick for Space Photo of the Day for Oct. 8 is these amazing shot of a small asteroid giving Earth one of the closest shaes we've seen in recent years. The asteroid, called 2025 TF, flew within 266 miles (428 kim) of Earth on Oct. 1. Here's what a telescope tracking it on Earth saw as it flew over Antarctica. | | | | 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 | | | |
