EarthSky - Earth, Space, Human World, Tonight

Summer 2019 tied for hottest on record for Northern Hemisphere

Posted by Eleanor Imster in Earth | 10 hours ago

June through August 2019 was the Northern Hemisphere’s hottest summer on record, tied with 2016. Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, the same period marked the 2nd-warmest winter in the 140-year record.

Did an asteroid collision cause an ice age on Earth?

Posted by Paul Scott Anderson in Earth | Space | 11 hours ago

Could a collision between 2 asteroids millions of miles away cause an ice age on Earth, some 460 million years ago? A new study of earthly rocks and sediments – plus micrometeorites that fell in Antarctica – suggest it’s possible.

No, asteroid 2007 FT3 won’t hit Earth in October

Posted by Eddie Irizarry and Deborah Byrd in Space | 1 day ago

Why is the internet so chock-full of stories about asteroids on a collision course with Earth? At this rate, we should have been obliterated many times over already. Here comes the newest scare story: asteroid 2007 FT3. No, it won’t hit us, either.

Volcanic eruption creates moveable islands of pumice

Posted by Eleanor Imster in Earth | 1 day ago

Last month, rafts of pumice, spewed from an undersea volcano and spanning an area about the size of Washington, D.C., appeared in the South Pacific.

How to see the Great Square of Pegasus

Posted by EarthSky in Astronomy Essentials | Favorite Star Patterns | 1 day ago

It’s easy! The Great Square of Pegasus consists of 4 stars of nearly equal brightness in a large square pattern. Once you find it, you can star-hop to other well-known sights in the sky.

Will a huge volcano on Jupiter’s moon Io erupt this month?

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Space | 2 days ago

Loki, the largest volcano on Jupiter’s moon Io, erupts on a more or less regular schedule. Planetary scientists are predicting an eruption this month. Here’s what we know.

Are Saturn’s rings young or old?

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Space | 2 days ago

Cassini data suggested that Saturn’s rings were only 10 to 100 million years old. A new study suggests that a “ring rain” onto Saturn makes the rings look younger than they really are, and that in fact Saturn’s rings date back billions of years.

What makes a red rainbow?

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Earth | 2 days ago

Have you ever seen a red rainbow? You might, if you’re outside at sunrise or sunset at a time when there’s rain in the air. Red rainbows have a surreal beauty, but their explanation is fairly ordinary. They’re created via the same physics that makes a sunset or sunrise looks red.

Tonight

Today's Image

Tonight

Moon, Aldebaran, Pleiades before bedtime

Moon, Aldebaran, Pleiades before bedtime

How to see the Great Square of Pegasus

Close-up on Cassiopeia the Queen

Use Big Dipper to find North Star

Space

Will a huge volcano on Jupiter's moon Io erupt this month?

Did an asteroid collision cause an ice age on Earth?

No, asteroid 2007 FT3 won't hit Earth in October

Will a huge volcano on Jupiter's moon Io erupt this month?

Are Saturn's rings young or old?

Mystery green blob appears and disappears in distant galaxy

Milky Way's black hole appears to be getting hungrier

Is K2-18b really a habitable super-Earth?

A distant galaxy's black hole seen to flare unexpectedly

Astro Essentials

How to see the Great Square of Pegasus

How to see the Great Square of Pegasus

Fomalhaut: The loneliest star

All you need to know: September equinox

All you need to know: 2019's Harvest Moon

Earth

What makes a red rainbow?

Summer 2019 tied for hottest on record for Northern Hemisphere

Did an asteroid collision cause an ice age on Earth?

Volcanic eruption creates moveable islands of pumice

What makes a red rainbow?

Tsunamis, wildfires followed dinosaur-killing impact

Why carbon dioxide has such outsized influence on Earth's climate

Plastic pollution has entered fossil record, says study

T. rex had an air conditioner in its head

Human World

Why carbon dioxide has such outsized influence on Earth's climate

We'll have 2 Friday the 13ths in 2019

Plastic pollution has entered fossil record, says study

New names for 5 Jupiter moons

What asteroid Ryugu told us

Videos

Milky Way's black hole appears to be getting hungrier

Milky Way's black hole appears to be getting hungrier

Shedding light on black holes

T. rex had an air conditioner in its head

ALMA images show what's happening beneath Jupiter's storms

Hurricane Dorian: Why it's so destructive

Wow! Night skies and petroglyphs

Name NASA’s next Mars rover

Gaia tracks sibling stars in Milky Way