EarthSky - Earth, Space, Human World, Tonight

November 12 full moon is the Beaver or Frosty Moon

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Moon Phases | 18 hours ago

Full moon – when the moon is most opposite the sun for this month – falls on November 12, 2019, at 13:34 UTC. Sometimes the November full moon is the Hunter’s Moon, but not this year.

Stunning view inside a young moon crater

Posted by Paul Scott Anderson in Space | Today's Image | 19 hours ago

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned some amazing high-resolution photos of the surface of the moon, including these ones of steep cliffs and impact melt inside a young crater called Giordano Bruno.

Full moon subdues North Taurid meteor peak

Posted by Bruce McClure in Astronomy Essentials | 20 hours ago

Full moon comes on November 12, 2019, as the moon is sweeping through the constellation Taurus the Bull. This full moon comes on the peak night of the North Taurid meteor shower.

Did ancient Earth life escape our solar system?

Posted by Paul Scott Anderson in Earth | Space | 2 days ago

You’ve heard of panspermia, the idea that life exists throughout space and was carried to Earth by comets? What if the reverse occurred, with microbes on Earth ejected into space by asteroid impacts, escaping into the solar system billions of years ago?

North Taurid meteors to peak in moonlight

Posted by Bruce McClure in Astronomy Essentials | 3 days ago

Slow-moving North Taurids don’t exhibit a sharp peak, so meteor rates may remain fairly steady for the next several days. Too bad about the moon!

Is Hygiea now the smallest dwarf planet?

Posted by Paul Scott Anderson in Space | 4 days ago

New images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope show that asteroid Hygiea is round, meaning that it may now be classified as the smallest-known dwarf planet in our solar system.

Edmond Halley’s magnificent prediction

Posted by Daniela Breitman and Deborah Byrd in Human World | Space | 4 days ago

Born on today’s date in the year 1656, English astronomer and mathematician Edmond Halley was the first to predict the return of a comet. Today, Halley’s Comet – the most famous of all comets – bears his name.

TESS watched a black hole tear apart a star

Posted by Eleanor Imster in Space | 5 days ago

TESS watched a black hole tear apart a star from start to finish, a cataclysmic phenomenon called a tidal disruption event.

TESS spacecraft is finding hundreds of exoplanets

Posted by EarthSky Voices in Space | 5 days ago

… and it’s poised to find thousands more. But will we find another Earth?

TESS planet-hunter shows you the southern sky

Posted by Eleanor Imster in Space | Today's Image | 5 days ago

Mosaic of the southern sky constructed from 208 images by NASA’s TESS spacecraft, taken during the mission’s first year of science operations.

This ancient rhino roamed the Yukon

Posted by Eleanor Imster in Earth | 6 days ago

Fossils suggest that a long-extinct cousin of today’s rhinoceroses tromped through the forests of Northwest Canada roughly 8 to 9 million years ago.

Pleiades star cluster, aka Seven Sisters

Posted by Bruce McClure in Astronomy Essentials | Clusters Nebulae Galaxies | Favorite Star Patterns | 6 days ago

The Pleiades star cluster – aka the Seven Sisters or M45 – is visible from virtually every part of the globe. It looks like a tiny misty dipper of stars.

Giant planet HR 5183b would look 15 times brighter than Venus

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Space | 6 days ago

Contrary to previous thought, a giant planet in a wild orbit doesn’t mean there can’t be an Earth-like planet in the same system. What’s more, the view from that Earth-like world as its giant neighbor moves past would be unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

Today's Image

Tonight

Tonight

Last transit of Mercury until 2032

November 12 full moon is the Beaver or Frosty Moon

Last transit of Mercury until 2032

Red Mars and blue-white Spica pair up in morning sky

Peer out our galaxy's south window

Space

Is Hygiea now the smallest dwarf planet?

Stunning view inside a young moon crater

Did ancient Earth life escape our solar system?

Is Hygiea now the smallest dwarf planet?

Edmond Halley's magnificent prediction

TESS watched a black hole tear apart a star

TESS spacecraft is finding hundreds of exoplanets

TESS planet-hunter shows you the southern sky

Giant planet HR 5183b would look 15 times brighter than Venus

Astro Essentials

North Taurid meteors to peak in moonlight

Full moon subdues North Taurid meteor peak

North Taurid meteors to peak in moonlight

Pleiades star cluster, aka Seven Sisters

Year's earliest solar noon on November 3

Earth

This ancient rhino roamed the Yukon

Did ancient Earth life escape our solar system?

This ancient rhino roamed the Yukon

Watch what happens when scientists excavate a giant anthill

Scientists study world's biggest geode

Why don’t evergreen trees change color and drop their leaves?

Night vision specialists: cats, bats, and owls

Deep-sea nightmares and other ocean spookiness

Did an asteroid collision cause abrupt Earth cooling?

Human World

Edmond Halley's magnificent prediction

Edmond Halley's magnificent prediction

What's the birthstone for November?

Scientists study world's biggest geode

Is daylight time worth the trouble?

Videos

TESS watched a black hole tear apart a star

TESS watched a black hole tear apart a star

TESS spacecraft is finding hundreds of exoplanets

TESS planet-hunter shows you the southern sky

Watch what happens when scientists excavate a giant anthill

Deep-sea nightmares and other ocean spookiness

Listen to the world's loudest bird

NOAA's US winter weather outlook

Tycho supernova