starry night | EarthSky

Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night painting is recreated in a monochromatic hue of red on a grid.

DNA origami used to recreate Van Gogh’s Starry Night

An example of DNA origami. It's one of the world's smallest reproductions - about the size of a dime - of Vincent van Gogh's famous painting Starry Night.

Skyglow: Imagine starry nights over cities

What Los Angeles would look like if you could see the night sky wheeling overhead.

Lightning strikes and starry nights

It's still International Dark Sky Week, and today's image of starry night skies and lightning strikes comes from photographer Scott Toste.

Astro quiz: Test your night sky know-how here!

How well do you know the night sky? Test your know-how of stars, constellations and more with this fun astro quiz. Enjoy!

Silhouette of 2 dinos at night with stars and the Milky Way behind them.

The night sky in the time of the dinosaurs

The night sky in the time of the dinosaurs would have looked much different than today’s. Some famous stars had not yet been born. Read more.

Star chart: Line with three dots along it labeled alpha, beta and gamma.

Pyxis the Compass shines in the March night sky

Pyxis the Compass is a constellation lying in southern skies. But Northern Hemisphere viewers can get a glimpse of in March.

Star chart with large triangle with labeled stars at the corners.

The Winter Triangle stands out in the night sky

The Winter Triangle is a distinct pattern of stars in the night sky formed by 3 of the brightest stars: Sirius, Betelgeuse and Procyon.

Hundreds of multicolored donut shapes of different sizes inside a circle on a black background.

Look for the colors of the stars in the night sky

Winter is the perfect time for noticing the colors of the stars. Start with Capella, then move on to Taurus and Orion. Check out some colorful stars tonight!

Wide array of bright but slightly fuzzy stars, mostly blue-white but one reddish, over dark landscape.

See Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky

Sirius is the brightest star as seen from Earth and is visible from both hemispheres. It lies just 8.6 light-years away, in the constellation Canis Major.

Crisply outlined swirls of 3 glowing, multicolored gas clouds with stars embedded in them.

The Orion Nebula (M42) is a starry nursery

You can see the Orion Nebula as a fuzzy spot in the sky using just your eyes. It's really a vast cloud in space where new stars are forming. Learn more.

Look for the Witch Head nebula this Halloween night

The Witch Head nebula rises near the star Rigel in Orion on Halloween night, but it's too faint to see without a large telescope. A perfect sight for Halloween.

A dumbbell shaped light in the night sky.

Strange spiral in the night sky was a rocket fuel dump

On Tuesday, August 12, 2025, many people in the U.S. and Canada reported seeing a strange spiral in the night sky. It was a fuel dump from a rocket.

Star trails with 2 spire like towers in desert landscape.

Night sky of Star Wars’ Tatooine, in Tunisia

Astrophotographer Makrem Larnaout journeyed to the desert of Tunisia to capture the night sky as seen from a movie set for Star Wars. Enjoy his amazing images.

Aurora photos, night of April 23-24, 2023

The night of April 23-24, 2023, featured a wonderful auroral display. Aurora photos from our community, and some tweets, here.

Starry sky with distinctive 3 belt stars, nebulous patch on sword star, and bright shoulder and knee stars.

Globe at Night asks you to help study light pollution

Participate in the March campaign for Globe at Night by looking at Orion and reporting how many of its stars you can see.

Poster showing Opportunity rover on Mars.

Media We Love: Good Night Oppy Review

Read this movie review for Good Night Oppy, the story of the twin sisters Martian rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Learn about the movie here.

Moonlight Mojave: Star trails above trees in desert.

Moonlight Mojave: The desert under starry skies

Enjoy the timelapse video Moonlight Mojave that captures the beauty of the night sky and the surreal moonlit scenery and panoramas of the Mojave Desert.

Moon and Mars in the July 2020 night sky.

Moon and Mars from midnight until dawn

Jupiter dominates over the July evening sky, staying out from dusk until dawn. Venus, the sky's brightest planet, lords over the eastern sky at dawn. Mars is roughly midway between Jupiter and Saturn. It's near the moon on the mornings of July 11 and 12, 2020.

Quadrantid meteors on night of January 3-4

The expected peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower in 2020 comes late evening January 3 until dawn January 4, with the predawn hours on January 4 being your best bet.

Awesome nightscape photos from New Mexico’s Very Large Array

Observatories are great places to view and photograph the night sky. Tips from an astrophotographer's trip to the Very Large Array in New Mexico - to help you plan your next astrophotography adventure - plus awesome photos.

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DNA origami used to recreate Van Gogh’s Starry Night

Skyglow: Imagine starry nights over cities

Lightning strikes and starry nights

Astro quiz: Test your night sky know-how here!

The night sky in the time of the dinosaurs

Pyxis the Compass shines in the March night sky

The Winter Triangle stands out in the night sky

Look for the colors of the stars in the night sky

See Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky

The Orion Nebula (M42) is a starry nursery

Look for the Witch Head nebula this Halloween night

Strange spiral in the night sky was a rocket fuel dump

Night sky of Star Wars’ Tatooine, in Tunisia

Aurora photos, night of April 23-24, 2023

Globe at Night asks you to help study light pollution

Media We Love: Good Night Oppy Review

Moonlight Mojave: The desert under starry skies

Moon and Mars from midnight until dawn

Quadrantid meteors on night of January 3-4

Awesome nightscape photos from New Mexico’s Very Large Array