Astronomy Essentials
Tonight
Visible planets and night sky guide for July
EarthSky's visible planets and night sky guide. Watch a video about the night sky highlights youll be able to see this week. Meteors and more!
Space
10,000 black holes are missing, but we’ve finally found 1
Astronomers think the Omega Centauri globular cluster should be home to 10,000 black holes of a stellar-mass size. But they've never found one ... until now.
Space

Infectious microbes on Mars could become even more deadly

A new thesis examines how earthly pathogenic microbes on Mars could survive and potentially become even more dangerous for future astronauts.
Sun

Sun news: Large coronal hole turns toward Earth

Sun news July 18, 2026: The sun is entering a lull period. But a large coronal hole, transequatorial, emerged from the east.
Favorite Star Patterns

Coathanger cluster: This star pattern looks like its name

The Coathanger cluster resembles its namesake and is easy to spot with binoculars, using the star Albireo - part of the Summer Triangle - as a signpost.
Space

Hidden planet found around nearby star Beta Pictoris

Astronomers have found a hidden planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. This previously unseen world is now the faintest planet ever imaged from Earth.
Earth

Wildfire smoke is choking Canada, Great Lakes and Northeast

Wildfire smoke is pouring across Canada and into the US in the Great Lakes and Northeast. These areas will continue to see poor air quality into the weekend.
Space

Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact on Jupiter 32 years ago

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter in 1994, 32 years ago, scarring the planet's surface and leaving behind water that remained in the atmosphere for decades.
Constellations

Hercules the Strongman and a great globular cluster

Hercules the Strongman is a great constellation to view in Northern Hemisphere summer. With binoculars you can see Hercules' remarkable star cluster, M13.
Space

Titan and Pluto share same mysterious molecule: What is it?

Scientists have discovered a unknown molecule on both Titan and Pluto. It's a puzzle, since the 2 worlds are so different from each other.

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