Space

lunar_halo_300
May 17, 2012 FAQs 64 Comments

What makes a halo around the sun or moon?

Halos around the moon – or sun – are a sign of thin cirrus clouds drifting high above our heads.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
May 17, 2012 Blogs 2 Comments

How many killer asteroids are out there?

A NASA survey is counting potentially hazardous asteroids.

Photo credit: NPS/Kevin Poe and Ron Warner
May 16, 2012 Blogs 19 Comments

Watch May 2012 solar eclipse at a National Park

Want to see the solar eclipse on May 20, 2012? National parks in the United States are gearing up for the event.

A Martian dust devil roughly 12 miles high.
May 16, 2012 Blogs 2 Comments

NASA spacecraft spots 12-mile-high Martian dust devil

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught sight of this beauty as it whirled on the sands of the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars.

May_20_annular_eclipse_map_cropped
May 15, 2012 Blogs 2 Comments

For U.S. observers: Annular or ring eclipse on Sunday May 20

Annular eclipse on Sunday! Here’s the story ….

Mineral map of Vesta
May 15, 2012 Blogs 1 Comment

Dawn spacecraft reveals landscapes of Vesta

New findings from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft reveal enormous impact craters and diverse mineralogy on the asteroid Vesta.

Sunspot AR 1476.  Image Credit: NASA/SDO
May 14, 2012 Blogs 1 Comment

Solar storm effects may give Earth a glancing blow on May 14

Effects of a coronal mass ejection from huge sunspot region 1476 will deliver a glancing blow to Earth today, while in route to Mars.

Artist's concept of KOI-872's planets
May 12, 2012 Blogs 5 Comments

New planet found in distant solar system by its tug on another world

Using the same technique that led to Neptune’s discovery in 1846, astronomers have found a previously hidden planet by observing its pull on a neighboring world.

Buy eclipse glasses for May 20/21 eclipse
May 12, 2012 Blogs 1 Comment

EarthSky 22: Goodbye Venus, hello China to Texas eclipse

Seeing Venus near star Elnath. Previewing May 20-21 annular eclipse! Song of Week “Don Alejo” from The Echocentrics by Grammy Award winner Adrian Quesada.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Ariz./JHUAPL
May 11, 2012 Blogs 1 Comment

Orbiting spacecraft shows Mars’ surprising shifting sands

Sand dunes on Mars shift and move at about the same rate as earthly dunes. Yet Mars atmosphere is thin, and its winds are weak.