As the line of sunsets swept westward yesterday, people around the globe thrilled to the sight of the moon and Venus in their twilight sky. See their photos!

“If one of these objects was found orbiting a star, there is a good chance that it would be called a planet.”

Astronomers have used ESO's New Technology Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to explore more than 100 planetary nebulae in the central bulge of our galaxy. They have found that butterfly-shaped members of this cosmic family tend to be mysteriously aligned — a surprising result given their different histories and varied properties.

Cassini spacecraft images show the development of the largest storm seen on the planet since 1990. On Saturn, not only are storms much bigger than on Earth, they're far more violent, with vertical winds of more than 300 miles per hour.

"For decades people have known that the solar cycle depends on the poleward flow or material, changing the magnetic fields from one cycle to the next. We mapped out what we believed to be the flow pattern in the 1990s, but the results didn't quite make sense." - Philip Scherrer

The peak of the Aurigid meteor shower has passed, but you still might see meteors in early September. Expect a handful each hour in a clear, dark sky.

When Phobos passed in front of the sun, it created an annular or "ring" eclipse. That is, the sun's surface appeared in a ring around the little moon in silhouette.

The Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico has just been named the International Dark-Sky Association's newest Dark Sky Park.

Titan is Saturn's large moon. Some have proposed ice volcanoes to explain certain features on this moon's surface. But a thick, rigid ice shell would make ice volcanoes unlikely.

"This impressive research confirms earlier lab analyses of Apollo samples, and will help broaden our understanding of how this water originated and where it might exist in the lunar mantle," - NLSI Director Yvonne Pendleton.