Solar maximum is coming up next year. Revised predictions suggest that the Sun will reach the peak of its current activity cycle in 2024, one year earlier than previous estimates. This is good news for anyone planning on viewing the April 8 total solar eclipse, since heightened solar activity could lead to more visible solar prominences — loops of plasma extending outward from the Sun — during totality. Pictured: Solar prominences seen during the 2017 total solar eclipse. Image credit: Blake Estes.

Some of OSIRIS-REx’s asteroid sample is going on display at the Smithsonian. A fragment of the asteroid Bennu, which OSIRIS-REx returned to Earth in September, will be visible to the public starting Nov. 3 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Other samples will later go on display at the University of Arizona and Space Center Houston.

Blue Origin has shared a mockup of their Blue Moon lunar lander prototype. The lander is designed to deliver cargo to the lunar surface as part of a technology demonstration to test technologies intended for a crewed version it is developing for NASA’s Artemis program. Blue Origin is one of 14 companies in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program for uncrewed lunar landings.