Venus and Mercury are both in the western sky after sunset now, but both are exceedingly low in the sky, in the midst of bright twilight, and so difficult to spot. These photos captured them.

Within hours of each other, one rocket left the Earth on April 28, 2021, and one cargo space ship returned on April 29 – via a planned destruction during re-entry – after having been attached to the International Space Station for a year.

Color image of the Martian surface, captured by the Ingenuity Mars helicopter.

The expanse of the Milky Way is punctured by a Lyrid meteor in this incredible photograph taken from Sedona, Arizona, by Cecilia Ray.

Venus and Mercury are back in the evening sky. Have you seen them? Probably not; they’re exceedingly close to the sun. But EarthSky Community member Helio Vital did manage to capture a photo of Venus on April 19, 2021. Way to go, Helio!

Some lucky skywatchers in Southeast Asia saw the moon pass in front of Mars on Saturday, April 17, 2021. Check out these images from EarthSky readers!

When sunlight filters through trees, you may get a corona effect where the rays from the light sources take on the colors of the rainbow.

A blend of a total of 100 images showing every sunspot that appeared on the sun from December 25, 2020, to April 3, 2021.

Hummingbirds can fly up to 20 miles (32 km) in a day and are now traveling north, some all the way from Central America to Canada and even Alaska. This beautiful hummingbird was captured feeding from blossoms in California this week.

What’s a mineral moon? In this case, it’s a photo of our moon with the colors of its surface enhanced to reveal the moon’s mineral deposits. As an added bonus, here’s a mineral moon with the International Space Station passing by!

The golden hour – actually, more like 30 minutes – is that magical period of daylight shortly after sunrise or before sunset, when the brightness of the sky matches streetlights, signs and car headlights. Photographers love it!

Dark skies let the Milky Way shine, and this stunning shot from Cape Cod exhibits our galaxy in its full glory, even reflected on the water!

This nocturnal owl wakes briefly during the day to have a quick look around.

Amateur astronomers across the globe have been watching a star brighten on the dome of our night sky. You can try to spot it, too. Use the photo here as a finder guide to locate the nova named V1405 Cas.

United Arab Emirates’ Hope spacecraft has begun producing images of Mars’s surface, including a view of Olympus Mons, highest volcano in the solar system.