Moon, Jupiter, Saturn before sunup on April 5-8

The waning crescent moon will be sweeping by the morning planets, Jupiter and Saturn, from April 5-8, 2021.

Last quarter moon on April 4, 2021

get up early on April 4, 2021, to view the southernmost last quarter moon of the year.

Is the Hyades star cluster being destroyed?

Data from ESA’s Gaia star-mapping satellite have revealed tantalizing evidence that the famous V-shaped Hyades - nearest star cluster to our sun - is being disrupted. The culprit may be a suspected population of dark matter sub-halos. Wow!

Interstellar visitor Borisov could be 1st truly pristine comet yet seen

Comet 2I/Borisov is the 2nd known object to pass near our sun from outside our solar system. Its 2019 pass near our sun might have been its first-ever interaction with a star. If so, it's among the most pristine, or unspoiled, objects yet known.

Hummingbird having a spring meal

Hummingbirds can fly up to 20 miles (32 km) in a day and are now traveling north, some all the way from Central America to Canada and even Alaska. This beautiful hummingbird was captured feeding from blossoms in California this week.

A new Goldilocks black hole

Astronomers have detected a "Goldilocks" or intermediate-mass black hole. It's not small, not supermassive - but right in the middle - and it "sheds light" on how the supermassive black holes got so large.

TESS’s exoplanet catalog grows to over 2,200 worlds

When the TESS planet hunter launched nearly 3 years ago, some 4,000 exoplanets were known. NASA confirmed in late March that TESS has discovered over 2,200 additional exoplanet candidates orbiting distant stars.

ISS passing a mineral moon

What's a mineral moon? In this case, it's a photo of our moon with the colors of its surface enhanced to reveal the moon's mineral deposits. As an added bonus, here's a mineral moon with the International Space Station passing by!

Moon and star Antares on April 1 and 2

On the mornings of April 1 and 2, 2021, watch for the waning gibbous moon to be in the vicinity of red Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion.

Awaiting the next historic solar storm

Researchers uncovering eyewitness accounts of powerful solar storms of the past say we should expect at least one super-storm from the sun per century.