Early Geminid fireball over Tucson

Geminids meteors are beginning to fly. The shower peaks on the night of December 13.

A new island turns two

Two years ago, during a volcanic eruption, a new island was born in the Pacific. It ultimately swallowed its neighbor. Before and after images from space, here.

Small Magellanic Cloud and 47 Tucanae

Two objects visible from Earth's Southern Hemisphere: An irregular dwarf galaxy near our Milky Way, and the second-brightest globular cluster in the sky.

Skyfall

Meteors over Mount Rainier, from last August's Perseid meteor shower.

Moon and Griffith Observatory

A bright moon seen Friday night from the famous Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

Winter begins in Wisconsin

Winter is coming to northerly latitudes ... A beautiful look at an early snowfall.

Morning planets over Aegean Sea

The planets are still striking before dawn in late November, 2015.

Circumhorizontal arc over Argentina

Don't call them "fire rainbows," experts say. They're not rainbows. And they originate with ice, not fire.

Day on Pluto, day on Charon

Best currently available images of Pluto and Charon - taken during New Horizons' flyby - combined to create a view of a full rotation of each of these worlds.

Hole-punch cloud over Massachusetts

Hole-punch clouds are sometimes called fallstreak holes. They are often-circular patches of clear sky, surrounded by clouds. Airplanes create them.