A new strain of the virus that causes Covid-19 appears to be spreading fast in the the UK. Why it matters that the coronavirus is changing, and what it means for vaccine effectiveness.

Jupiter and Saturn's great conjunction - where they appeared exceedingly close on the sky's dome - was December 21. Thank you to EarthSky community members from around the world who captured photos!

China's robotic Chang'e 5 launched successfully last month atop a Chinese Long March 5 rocket. Now it's returned to Earth, loaded with moon rocks - the first since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.

Uranus likely won't be visible to the eye alone. But you'll easily see red Mars near the moon on December 22, 23 and 24, 2020. Mars isn't exactly blazing now. But it's bright, and very red, still a stunning sight, high in the sky at nightfall.

NOAA’s 2020 Arctic Report Card describes a region that is warming even more rapidly than scientists expected.

Overnight on Sunday, USGS reported lava fountains that shot nearly 165 feet into the sky from a fissure on the eastern side of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii. Lava has replaced the water that was in the basin of the crater, and a new lava lake was formed.

Jupiter and Saturn at conjunction are only 0.1 degree apart. Don't miss them! Info, charts, photos here.

The December solstice happens at 10:02 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on December 21, 2020. That time - the moment of solstice - marks the sun's southernmost point for this year.

Antarctic iceberg A-68A has drifted menacingly close to a remote island in the southern Atlantic Ocean. The giant iceberg could strike land this month. It has now split into 2 pieces.

A severe climate change event on Venus may have transformed an Earth-like climate to the current uninhabitable-to-humans state.