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Draco the Dragon on July evenings

Two of the brightest stars here are Eltanin and Rastaban. Dragon's eyes! Rrrrr! And Thuban is just ... well, awesome.

Electric blue night-shining clouds

2014 has been a great year for noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds, seen at high latitudes only from about mid-May to August. Wondrous, if you can catch them!

Why are fruit flies boarding the International Space Station?

They're about to become genetic models for astronauts, to help explore the long-term effects of space flight and deep space travel.

A rare alignment of Ceres and Vesta

This week, Fred Espenak posted this wonderful photo, which shows the minor planets Ceres and Vesta, together on Earth's sky dome in late June and early July 2014.

Timelapse video of a microburst

This short timelapse video of a microburst in the desert, with images every 30 seconds, makes you feel nature’s awesome power.

Shrinking human genome: New study says our genes number only 19,000

How many genes does it take to make a human? Fewer than we thought. A new estimate of 19,000 is far below initial estimates of 100,000 genes.

Video: How the sun can kill us all

The sun is a life-giving force. But it can also kill us in lots of different ways, points out Frasier Cain, publisher of the Universe Today website.

ISS photobombed the sun this week

Spaceships and sunspots! Two great photos of ISS transiting the sun on June 30.

Healthy honey bees discovered in Newfoundland

Scientists say the Newfoundland populations of bees offer them a unique opportunity to investigate honey bee health.

How the Pillars of Creation were created

The famous Hubble 'Pillars of Creation' image was made in 1995. New research suggests how these finger-like structures of interstellar gas and dust were formed.

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