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Editors of EarthSky

Betelgeuse will explode someday, but WHEN?

Will Betelgeuse have another period of noticeable dimming? Betelgeuse will explode as a supernova someday. When it does, it'll be visible in daylight.

Voyager 2 met Uranus 40 years ago

Voyager 2 met Uranus on January 24, 1986. The spacecraft sent data that revealed 2 new rings, 10 new moons, radiation belts, and a very unusual magnetic field.

Which Milky Way spiral arm contains our sun?

Where do we live in the Milky Way galaxy? We lie between the major arms in a smaller spiral arm known as the Orion Arm. See diagrams here.

See Mira the Wonderful waking up!

Catch elusive wonderful Mira, a famous variable star in the constellation Cetus, at its maximum brightness in February or March 2026.

Capella is one of the sky’s brightest stars

The 6th-brightest star in the night sky, Capella, in the Northern Hemisphere constellation Auriga the Charioteer, is also a point of the Winter Hexagon.

Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper in January skies

Watch the celestial clock and its 2 great big hour hands - Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper - as they swing around the North Star each and every night!

Venus superior conjunction (beyond sun) on January 6

The moment of the Venus superior conjunction - when it passes most nearly behind the sun as viewed from Earth - occurs today, January 6, 2026.

January birthstone: The colorful garnet

Garnets, the beautiful January birthstone, are often thought to be red gemstones. But they also come in yellow, green, orange, brown and black.

How to translate UTC to your local time zone

The Earth has about 24 time zones. Because these differ widely, science uses Universal Time, or UTC. Learn how to translate UTC to your local time zone.

Yarkovsky effect: Pushing asteroids with sunlight

The Yarkovsky effect is a minuscule push on a small body in space, imparted by nothing more than sunlight. It can change the direction of asteroids.