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Editors of EarthSky

Mystery orbits don’t require a Planet 9, researchers say

Here's an alternative explanation to the Planet 9 hypothesis, the idea that a large undiscovered planet in the outer solar system is pulling on some small outer worlds, distorting their orbits.

Stargazing destinations: Alberta

Skywatchers! Check out this first video in the Chasing Darkness series, a stargazing destination guide. This episode - dark sky preserves in Alberta, Canada.

Did life on land arrive far earlier than thought?

New clues from fossils from the oldest soils on Earth suggest that multicellular, land-dwelling organisms might have emerged much earlier than we thought.

Holy cow! Astronomers puzzle over a mysterious blast

Astronomers are arguing over a brief and unusual flash in the night sky from earlier this year. The call it the Cow. One group argues it was a monster black hole shredding a passing star. The other argues it might have been a black hole being born.

Probing the magnetar at the center of our galaxy

A new study analyzes pulses of radio waves coming from a magnetar - a rotating, dense, dead star with a strong magnetic field - located near the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way.

Dark matter on the move

New evidence suggests that dark matter - the mysterious stuff that makes up a significant percentage of the universe's mass - can heat up and move around.

More East Antarctica glaciers are waking up

Researchers have said that Totten Glacier, a behemoth with enough ice to raise sea levels by 11 feet (3.4 meters), appears to be melting. Now, they say 4 glaciers west of Totten, and a handful farther east, are also losing ice.

Pluto craft to encounter Ultima Thule

New Horizons is the spacecraft that sent back those amazing images of Pluto in 2015. Ultima Thule is its next target, a billion miles beyond Pluto. The encounter is New Year's Day, but start watching now!

Eureka! Astronomers find a Big Bang fossil

Only 2 other fossil clouds are known in our universe, and both were serendipitous discoveries. Then astronomers began searching for these rare relics, and found one!

What are your chances for a white Christmas?

For people in the continental United States, here’s your historic probability of getting a white Christmas in 2018.