A daily update by email. Science news, great photos, sky alerts.
Visible planets and night sky guide for September 2024. Neptune's opposition happened today. Coming tomorrow: the moon visits the Pleiades.
Neptune at opposition - when it's 180 degrees from the sun on the sky's dome - comes early on September 21, 2024. You'll need optical aid to spot it.
Want to do some cloudspotting on Mars? Researchers in Germany have created the new Cloud Atlas of Mars, with 20 years of images from the Mars Express orbiter.
New DNA studies of a Neanderthal from France support a theory that Neanderthals became extinct because their populations were isolated, leading to inbreeding.
If you're new to observing the night sky, check out our top 10 stargazing tips for beginners. We'll help you explore and expand your love for astronomy.
Comet A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS survived its rumored disintegration and may be the brightest comet of the year this September and October. Finder maps here.
MIT researchers believe dark matter exists in the form of tiny black holes. Those black holes may cause Mars' orbit to wobble, making them detectable.
NASA scientists say they have confirmed a theory about how Martian 'spiders' form in the southern polar regions: erupting bursts of carbon dioxide gas.
There are many cycles in the heavens. We're coming up to a noticeable cycle, the 2nd eclipse season this year. It starts with a partial lunar eclipse.
A black hole duo is headed for a collision. The active central black holes of 2 distant merging galaxies are only 300 light-years apart.
Mars' polar caps are generally similar, but they also differ in some some ways. A new study shows how the differing sublimation of CO2 ice plays a role.
An unusual occurrence of gravitational lensing created this view of a question mark galaxy. The discovery reveals details about early galactic evolution.
Watch a new animation showing Earth’s tectonic and plate boundary evolution over 1.8 billion years, along with the creation and destruction of supercontinents.
A recently-published study suggests the red giant star Betelgeuse may have a sun-size companion which might affect the star's brightness and variability.
The Great Square of Pegasus consists of 4 stars of nearly equal brightness in a large square pattern. It's a great jumping-off point for star-hopping.
Dragonflies are fierce hunters with a very high success rate. They are agile and fast. And they live underwater much longer than in the air.
Join us from 12:15 CDT (17:15 UTC) on Monday, September 9, 2024, as lunar astrophotographer Robert Reeves discusses ways to appreciate our moon.
Scientists in China, studying samples brought back by the Chang’e-5 mission, say that the moon's volcanoes were active as recently as 120 million years ago.
Opposition is when Earth passes directly between the sun and an outer planet, placing the outer planet on the opposite side of the sky from the sun.
Don't miss Saturn at opposition on and around the night of September 8, 2024. That's when our planet Earth passes between the sun and Saturn.