Sign Up for Our Amazing Newsletter!
A daily update by email. Science news, great photos, sky alerts.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Asteroid, discovered November 1, swept past
Astronomers discovered asteroid 2016 VA on November 1, 2016, just hours before it passed within 0.2 times the moon's distance of Earth. Images here.
November 2, 2016
Earliest noontime, plus evening planets
All around the world today, the sun reaches its midday noontime position earlier by the clock today than at any other time of the year. Plus ... planets!
November 2, 2016
Curiosity finds small meteorite on Mars
It's not the first meteorite found by a rover on Mars, and won't be the last. In fact, in several ways, Mars is a meteorite-hunter's paradise. Photos here.
November 1, 2016
Mount Hekla was called Gateway to Hell
Mount Hekla is Iceland’s 3rd most active volcano. A large eruption in 1104 earned it the moniker Gateway to Hell. Is Mount Hekla overdue for another eruption?
November 1, 2016
Wow! Photos of moon, Venus and Saturn
Venus and Saturn were extra close on the sky's dome this past weekend. Now the waxing moon has come back after sunset and is sweeping near them each evening.
November 1, 2016
Moon, Venus and Saturn after sunset
Look for Venus and Saturn near the moon on November 1 and 2, then watch as the moon shifts upward in the evening twilight, past Mars.
November 1, 2016
Farthest moon of 2016
The October 31 moon is farthest for this year. In about 2 weeks, we'll have the closest moon since 1948. It'll be a full moon and a supermoon.
October 31, 2016
Airglow over Sweden
Airglow is the light of excited atoms, high in Earth's atmosphere.
October 31, 2016
Check out fast-spinning ‘pumpkin’ stars
These stars produce X-rays at 100 times our sun’s peak levels. They spin so fast they've been squashed into pumpkin-like shapes.
October 30, 2016
Science fights to control fire ants
Thinking of the ant colony as a superorganism, entomologist Patricia Pietrantonio is searching for the master regulator genes that may help control them.
October 30, 2016
