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See an animation of this huge solar prominence
When you view this giant feature on the sun, realize that it's several times the size of Earth!
January 5, 2019
Watch Venus and Jupiter before sunup
Venus reaches a milestone - greatest elongation - on January 6, 2019. At that time, this gem of a planet rises a maximum time before sunrise. Don't miss the Jupiter/Venus conjunction on January 22.
January 4, 2019
China’s Chang’e-4 lands on moon’s far side
China’s Chang’e-4 spacecraft set down last night, according to clocks in the Americas. It's a historic event, the first time a spacecraft has landed on the side of the moon we cannot see.
January 3, 2019
Oxygen and life: a cautionary tale
On Earth, oxygen is a signature byproduct of life. But what if astronomers found oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant sun? Would that prove life exists there? Not necessarily, says a new study.
January 3, 2019
See it! Moon and Venus at sunrise
Not to be missed! A beautiful combo to ring in the new year. Photos here from the EarthSky community.
January 3, 2019
Ultima Thule seen in detail
Ultima Thule - a Kuiper Belt object and the most distant object yet seen by an earthly spacecraft - is now revealed as a "contact binary," created when two small bodies in the early solar system stuck together.
January 2, 2019
Has Mars’ methane gone missing?
The 1st results from ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter mission at Mars have been released and - surprise - no atmospheric methane. That's even though methane on Mars has been observed multiple times before. Where is it?
January 2, 2019
New Year’s Day clouds over El Paso
These are called lenticular clouds. They usually - but not always - form where stable moist air flows over a mountain or range of mountains. They can form rapidly and then disappear again just as fast.
January 2, 2019
Spacecraft orbits tiny Bennu, breaks record
On December 31 - while we celebrated - NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft went into orbit around Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid. The maneuver makes Bennu the smallest object yet to be orbited by a spacecraft.
January 1, 2019
