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Associated Press

The moon and sun share top billing in 2026.
Kicking off the year’s cosmic wonders is the moon, drawing the first astronauts to visit in more than 50 years, as well as a caravan of robotic lunar landers, including Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos’ new supersized Blue Moon. A supermoon looms on January 3, and an astronomical blue moon is on the books for May.
The sun will also generate buzz with a “ring of fire” eclipse at the bottom of the world in February and a total solar eclipse at the top of the world in August. Expect more auroras in unexpected places, though perhaps not as frequently as in the past couple of years.
And that comet that strayed into our turf from another star? While still visible with powerful backyard telescopes, the recently discovered comet known as 3I/ATLAS is fading by the day after swinging past Earth in December. Jupiter is next on its dance card in March. Once the icy outsider departs our solar system a decade from now, it will be back where it belongs in interstellar space.
It is our third known interstellar visitor. Scientists anticipate more.

“I can’t believe it’s taken this long to find three,” says Nasa’s Paul Chodas, who has been on the lookout since the 1980s. And with ever better technology, “the chance of catching another interstellar visitor will increase”.
Here is a rundown on what the universe has in store for us in 2026:
Next stop, moon
Nasa’s coming moonshot commander Reid Wiseman says there is a good chance he and his crew will be the first to lay eyes on large parts of the lunar far side that were missed by the Apollo astronauts a half-century ago. Their observations could be a boon for geologists and other experts picking future landing sites, he notes.
Launching early in the year, the three Americans and one Canadian will zip past the moon, do a U-turn behind it, then hustle straight back to Earth to close out their 10-day mission. No stopping for a moonwalk – the boot prints will be left by the next crew in Nasa’s Artemis lunar exploration programme.

More robotic moon landings are on the books by China as well as American companies. Early in the year, Amazon founder Bezos is looking for his Blue Origin rocket company to launch a prototype of the lunar lander it is designing for Nasa’s astronauts.
This Blue Moon demo will stand 26ft (eight metres), taller than what delivered Apollo’s 12 moonwalkers to the lunar surface. The Blue Moon version for the crew will be almost double that height.
Back for another stab at the moon, Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines are also targeting 2026 landings with scientific gear. The only private entity to nail a lunar landing, Firefly Aerospace, will aim for the moon’s far side in 2026.
China is targeting the south polar region in the new year, sending a rover as well as a so-called hopper to jump into permanently shadowed craters in search of ice.
Eclipses
The cosmos pulls out all the stops with a total solar eclipse on August 12 that will begin in the Arctic and cross over Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Totality will last two minutes and 18 seconds as the moon moves directly between Earth and the sun to blot out the latter. By contrast, the total solar eclipse in 2027 will offer a whopping six and a half minutes of totality and pass over more countries.

For 2026, the warm-up act will be a “ring of fire” eclipse in the Antarctic on February 17, with only a few research stations in prime viewing position. South Africa and southernmost Chile and Argentina will have partial viewing. A total lunar eclipse will follow two weeks after February’s eclipse, with a partial lunar eclipse closing out the action at the end of August.
Parading planets
Six of the solar system’s eight planets will prance across the sky in a must-see line-up around February 28. A nearly full moon is even getting into the act, appearing alongside Jupiter. Seeing Uranus and Neptune will require binoculars or telescopes. But Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn should be visible with the naked eye shortly after sunset, weather permitting, though Mercury and Venus will be low on the horizon.
Mars will be the lone no-show. The good news is that the red planet will join a six-planet parade in August, with Venus the holdout.
Supermoons

Three supermoons will light up the night skies in 2026, the stunning result when a full moon inches closer to Earth than usual as it orbits in a not-quite-perfect circle. Appearing bigger and brighter, supermoons are a perennial crowd-pleaser requiring no equipment, only your eyes.
The year’s first supermoon in January coincides with a meteor shower, but the moonlight will probably obscure the dimmer fireballs. The second supermoon of 2026 will not occur until November 24, with the third – the year’s final and closest supermoon – occurring the night of December 23 into December 24. This Christmas Eve supermoon will pass within 221,668 miles (356,740km) of Earth.
Northern and southern lights
The sun is expected to churn out more eruptions in 2026 that could lead to geomagnetic storms here on Earth, giving rise to stunning aurora. Solar action should start to ease, however, with the 11-year solar cycle finally on the downslide.
Space weather forecasters such as Rob Steenburgh at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a United States governmental agency, cannot wait to tap into all the solar wind measurements coming soon from an observatory launched in the autumn.
“2026 will be an exciting year for space weather enthusiasts,” he said in an email, with this new spacecraft and others helping scientists “better understand our nearest star and forecast its impacts”.


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Space

Supermoons, eclipses and more: a 2026 guide to the best night sky events to look out for

A “ring of fire” solar eclipse seen from Tahai, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile, in 2024. In 2026, another will occur in February, but over the Antarctic. Photo: AP

An image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it streaks through space on November 19, 2025. Photo: Gianluca Masi via AP

Artemis II crew members, from left, Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch, stand together at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in 2023. The four are set to do a 10-day mission past the moon. Photo: Nasa via AP

An illustration provided by Blue Origin depicts the company’s Blue Moon MK1 spacecraft, a prototype of the lunar lander it is designing for Nasa’s astronauts, on the moon. Photo: Blue Origin via AP

A view of the moon’s shadow covering portions of Canada and the US during a total solar eclipse as seen from the International Space Station in 2024. Photo: Nasa via AP

Top 10 travel trends for Hongkongers in 2026, from road trips to ‘romantasy’

Road trips that embrace spontaneity and discovery will be popular among Hongkongers in 2026, according to a travel survey by Booking.com. Photo: Sinclair Communications

“Romantasy retreats” appealed to 89 per cent of Hongkongers in the travel survey. Photo: Booking.com

In the Booking.com survey, 88 per cent of Hong Kong travellers said they would stay at hotels where they could forage for their meals in the wild. Photo: Sinclair Communications

Many travellers plan to use time away to test the strength of their relationships: romantic, platonic or even professional. Photo: Sinclair Communications

Hongkongers love pampering holidays: 86 per cent of survey respondents were open to booking a “glow-cation”. Photo: Booking.com

Many Hongkongers want to stay in places that match locations from stories or fantasy films. Photo: Booking.com

How to make 2026 the best year of your life? YouTuber Ali Abdaal says he has the answers

Ali Abdaal, a former doctor who is now a digital creator, entrepreneur and YouTube star, sits at a cafe in Causeway Bay. Abdaal will speak at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Amphitheatre on December 8 to explain how to make 2026 “the best year of your life”. Photo: Nora Tam

Abdaal is a Hong Kong-based British content creator and entrepreneur who has nearly 6.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 1.1 million followers on Instagram. Photo: Nora Tam

Abdaal says that the principles of productivity can be applied to relationships. Photo: Nora Tam

US$500,000 luxury meal in space created by chef of 2-Michelin-star restaurant has people flying to sign up

SpaceVIP will take guests 30 kilometres above sea level in a space balloon to dine on a luxury meal created by Danish chef Rasmus Munk while watching the sun rise over the earth’s curvature - at the cost of US$500,000. Photo: SpaceVIP

Chef Rasmus Munk of Denmark’s Alchemist with his team at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony in Valencia, Spain, on June 20, 2023. Photo: Alchemist

The spacecraft, built by Space Perspective, requires no training or special gear, according to a statement. Photo: SpaceVIP

The Dome room at Munk’s Alchemist restaurant features changing landscapes. Photo: Alchemist

What are ‘enemy signs’ in the Chinese zodiac? Snakes have 3; how to find success with them

Tigers are one of the Snake’s three “enemy signs” in the Chinese zodiac. The Snake and Tiger can be a challenging combination in both love and business, with relationships often full of conflict. Photo: Shutterstock

The Year of the Snake 2025 is not predicted to be a good one for Snakes, according to Chinese geomancy, who will experience unstable luck and relationship challenges. Photo: Shutterstock

Monkeys have a difficult time cooperating with Snakes in professional settings. Photo: Shutterstock

The relationship between Snakes and Pigs is considered one of the most challenging in the Chinese zodiac. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle

Travel & Leisure

The coming year is packed with cosmic events, from a ‘ring of fire’ eclipse to two six-planet line-ups to several supermoons


The coming year is packed with cosmic events, from a ‘ring of fire’ eclipse to two six-planet line-ups to several supermoons.


Science

Jeff Bezos

Amazon

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Supermoons, eclipses and more: a 2026 guide to the best night sky events to look out for

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The coming year is packed with cosmic events, from a ‘ring of fire’ eclipse to two six-planet line-ups to several supermoons

The coming year is packed with cosmic events, from a ‘ring of fire’ eclipse to two six-planet line-ups to several supermoons