EarthSky - Earth, Space, Human World, Tonight

New image of Earth’s new mini-moon

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Space | 22 hours ago

Late in the day on Thursday, astronomers released this new image of 2020 CD3, a small object now confirmed to be orbiting Earth temporarily. It was apparently captured into Earth orbit 3 years ago. Its fate, here.

Marsquakes: InSight lander shows active faults in planet’s crust

Posted by EarthSky Voices in Space | 2 days ago

The results from NASA’s Mars InSight lander’s first 10 months on the Martian surface have been published in a series of papers.

Pollux: The brighter twin star

Posted by Larry Sessions in Brightest Stars | Space | 3 days ago

Pollux, the brightest star in the constellation Gemini, blazes in a golden light next to its bluish-white heavenly twin, Castor, in the evening skies of the Northern Hemisphere’s spring.

Fifty years of data show spring and fall bird migrations changing

Posted by EarthSky in Earth | 3 days ago

Bird-banding data in North America shows a spring migration pattern that’s become progressively earlier with each of the last 5 decades, and a fall migration that’s lasting longer than 50 years ago.

Cosmic rays and Titan’s organic molecules

Posted by Paul Scott Anderson in Space | 3 days ago

A new study from researchers in Tokyo helps explain how cosmic rays affect prebiotic organic chemistry in the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan.

Castor is six stars in one

Posted by Larry Sessions in Brightest Stars | Space | 3 days ago

The bright bluish-white star, Castor, in the constellation Gemini, appears to our eyes as a single star. But it’s actually a family of 6 stars.

African dust bombards the Canary Islands

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Earth | Today's Image | 3 days ago

These hot, dust-laden winds are known as “la calima” and happen most often in winter. They can blow at up to 75 mph (120 kph). The dust kicked up last weekend in Africa drifted over the Canary Islands, shutting down airports and stranding travelers.

Venus phases: Late 2019 and early ’20

Posted by Deborah Byrd in Astronomy Essentials | 4 days ago

This video tracks a telescopic view of Venus from when it came into easy view in our evening sky – around October 2019 – to May 2020. It shows how Venus wanes in phase as the planet’s disk sizes increases, and explains why.

Using radio waves to discover and study exoplanets

Posted by Paul Scott Anderson in Space | 4 days ago

A new study from researchers in the Netherlands shows how scientists can detect exoplanets orbiting red dwarf stars, and learn about their environments, from the radio waves generated by auroras on those worlds.

Did early humans in Africa interbreed with a mysterious, extinct species?

Posted by EarthSky Voices in Human World | 4 days ago

New research suggests that early humans in Africa interbred with a ghost population that likely split from the ancestors of humans and Neanderthals between 360,000 and 1.02 million years ago.

What is dark matter?

Posted by Andy Briggs in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 5 days ago

Dark matter doesn’t emit light. It can’t be directly observed with any of the existing tools of astronomers. Yet astrophysicists believe it and dark energy make up most of the mass of the cosmos. What dark matter is, and what it isn’t. here.

Come to know orange Arcturus in Boötes

Posted by Deborah Byrd and Larry Sessions in Astronomy Essentials | Brightest Stars | 5 days ago

Orange Arcturus is more evolved than our sun and has swollen up to a larger size. It’s less than 37 light-years away and appears as the brightest star north of the celestial equator. The Big Dipper can help you find it.

Longest lunar month starts February 23

Posted by Bruce McClure in Astronomy Essentials | 6 days ago

The longest lunar month in 2020 starts with the new moon on February 23, and concludes with the new moon on March 24. Details about 2020’s lunar months, here.

Tonight

Today's Image

Tonight

Moon and Venus close around February 27 and 28

Moon and Venus close around February 27 and 28

Pollux: The brighter twin star

Castor is six stars in one

Watch for the moon and Venus this week

Space

Cosmic rays and Titan's organic molecules

New image of Earth's new mini-moon

Marsquakes: InSight lander shows active faults in planet's crust

Pollux: The brighter twin star

Cosmic rays and Titan's organic molecules

Castor is six stars in one

Using radio waves to discover and study exoplanets

What is dark matter?

Why does Arrokoth look like a snowman?

Astro Essentials

Castor is six stars in one

Venus phases: Late 2019 and early '20

What is dark matter?

Come to know orange Arcturus in Boötes

Longest lunar month starts February 23

Earth

Arctic ice melt changing major ocean current

Fifty years of data show spring and fall bird migrations changing

African dust bombards the Canary Islands

Arctic ice melt changing major ocean current

A bee from the age of dinosaurs

This extinct horned turtle was the size of a car

Meet the Reaper of Death, a new Canadian tyrannosaur

January 2020 was Earth's warmest on record, again

Himalayan glacier shows evidence of start of Industrial Revolution

Human World

Did early humans in Africa interbreed with a mysterious, extinct species?

Did early humans in Africa interbreed with a mysterious, extinct species?

Happy birthday, Nicolaus Copernicus

Today, 30th anniversary of the Pale Blue Dot

For you, Valentine: 10 reasons we fall in love

Videos

Venus phases: Late 2019 and early '20

Marsquakes: InSight lander shows active faults in planet's crust

VLT sees surface of dim Betelgeuse

The Science Love Song

New timeline rewrites history of Easter Island collapse

Pine Island Glacier spawns PIGlets

Liftoff! Solar Orbiter launches successfully

Make your own galaxy image with NASA's Astrophoto Challenges

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