Posts by

Kelly Kizer Whitt

Meet the Winter Circle, aka the Winter Hexagon

The brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere's winter sky form the shape of the Winter Circle, or Hexagon, that will help you locate 6 constellations.

Bruce McClure

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 15, 2026

Earth’s ice ages shaped by tiny tugs from Mars

Computer simulations show the presence of Mars affects the cycles that cause Earth's ice ages. Without Mars, those cycles vanish.

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 14, 2026

Top 10 brightest objects in our solar system

Ready for some easy astronomy? How about the top 10 brightest objects in our solar system? If you've seen every one of these objects, congrats!

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 14, 2026

Potentially hazardous asteroid to pass Earth safely Monday

A potentially hazardous asteroid, 2005 UK1, will safely pass Earth on January 12, 2026. At this time it will be more than 32 times the moon's distance away.

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 8, 2026

Ursa Major the Great Bear, home to the Big Dipper

Ursa Major the Great Bear is in Northern Hemisphere skies and is home to the asterism of the Big Dipper, which you can use to find other constellations.

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 7, 2026

Pictor and Reticulum, the Painter’s Easel and Net

Pictor and Reticulum, the Painter's Easel and Net, are two constellations in southern skies on either side of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 1, 2026

Myths of the northern and southern lights through history

For millennia, humans have viewed the northern and southern lights and created myths and folklore to explain the dancing lights they saw in the sky.

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 1, 2026

Greatest elongation, superior and inferior conjunction

When Mercury and Venus are as far from the sun as they get from our earthly point of view, they are at greatest elongation. It is the best time to observe them.

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 1, 2026

Deep-sky objects: Small telescope and binocular targets

Deep-sky objects - including bright and dark nebulae, star clusters and distant galaxies - are favorite targets for amateur stargazers.

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 1, 2026

Sky measurements: Degrees, arcminutes and arcseconds

What are sky measurements - or distances - in the night sky? Here's what it means for objects to be several degrees (or arcminutes or arcseconds) apart.

Kelly Kizer Whitt

January 1, 2026

Kelly Kizer Whitt

Kelly Kizer Whitt writes and edits some of the most fascinating stories at EarthSky.org. She's been writing about science, with a focus on astronomy, for decades. She began her career at Astronomy Magazine and made regular contributions to other outlets, including AstronomyToday and the Sierra Club. She has nine published books, including a children's picture book, Solar System Forecast, and a young adult dystopian novel, A Different Sky.