Perihelion for 2020, the point in Earth’s elliptical orbit when it is closest to the Sun, occurred on January 5th. The distance from the Sun doesn’t determine the seasons, though. […]

Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own galaxy engages in a sort of galactic cannibalism, absorbing small galaxies that are too close and are captured by the […]

Rippling dust and gas lanes give the Flaming Star Nebula its name. The orange and purple colors of the nebula are present in different regions and are created by different […]

Some cloud patterns on Jupiter are quite complex. The featured tumultuous clouds were captured in May by NASA’s robotic Juno spacecraft currently orbiting our Solar System’s largest planet. The image […]

On some nights, the sky is the best show in town. On this night, the sky was not only the best show in town, but a composite image of the […]

Like salsa verde on your favorite burrito, a green aurora slathers up the sky in this 2017 June 25 snapshot from the International Space Station. About 400 kilometers (250 miles) […]

Named for a forgotten constellation, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower is an annual event for planet Earth’s northern hemisphere skygazers The shower’s radiant on the sky lies within the old, astronomically […]

Begirt with many a blazing star, Orion the Hunter is one of the most recognizable constellations. In this night skyscape the Hunter’s stars rise in the northern hemisphere’s winter sky […]

Why is Betelgeuse fading? No one knows. Betelgeuse, one of the brightest and most recognized stars in the night sky, is only half as bright as it used to be […]

If this is Saturn, where are the rings? When Saturn’s “appendages” disappeared in 1612, Galileo did not understand why. Later that century, it became understood that Saturn’s unusual protrusions were […]