If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, Shaula and Lesath will come over your southeastern horizon before dawn sometime this month. They’re a hopeful sign that spring is coming. How do you recognize the coming of spring? Maybe you spot a first returning robin. Or tune into news about a groundhog looking for its shadow. For … Read more
Enjoy this short video by Marcy Curran on the zodiacal light around the March equinox. We hope you enjoy it! Zodiacal light around March equinox The moon has waned now and left the evening sky dark for seeing the zodiacal light! This eerie cone of light can be found in the west, just as evening … Read more
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jelieta Walinski of St. David, Arizona, captured this image on January 23, 2025, and wrote: “This single-exposure photo captures the Desert Bloom Observatory at its center, glowing with a warm red light. Above, a stunning planetary parade unfolds, with Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars visible to the naked eye.” … Read more
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Karthik Easvur in Delhi, India, captured these 2 images on September 12, 2023. They show a crescent moon – and a crescent planet Venus – on the same evening. “It was just amazing,” he wrote. You need a telescope to see Venus as a crescent. But the planet and … Read more
Venus, named for the Roman goddess of love, reaches its greatest brilliancy on Valentine’s Day, February 14. Venus is currently blazing, low in the west after sunset, with Saturn below. Join EarthSky’s founder and editor-in-chief Deborah Byrd at 12:15 p.m. CT (18:15 UTC) on Wednesday, February 12, to learn how (and why) to love Venus. … Read more
Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter. UPDATE FEBRUARY 2, 2025. IT’S CLOUDY AND COLD IN PUNXSUTAWNEY, PENNSYLVANIA. But the legendary groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, somehow saw his shadow. The prediction is for six more weeks of winter! The great weather prognosticator In case you’ve just landed here from another planet … Groundhog Day happens … Read more
Why are the winter stars so bright? It’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere (summer in the Southern Hemisphere), and if you look outside in the evening you’ll see many bright stars. Beginning around now, the evening sky as seen from around the world will look clearer and sharper than it did 6 months ago, assuming no … Read more
Mercury will reach its farthest angular distance from the sun at 3 UTC on December 25, 2024 (9 p.m. CST on December 24). Then it’ll be 22 degrees from the sunrise. No matter where you are on Earth, look east before sunrise to see Mercury now. The red star Antares will be nearby. Chart via … Read more
In 2024, the December solstice falls at 9:21 UTC on December 21 (3:21 a.m. CST). Long nights, short days, for the Northern Hemisphere. Short nights, long days, for our friends south of the equator. No matter where you live on Earth’s globe, the solstice is your signal to celebrate seasonal change. EarthSky’s veteran stargazers Deborah … Read more
The Ursid meteor shower radiates from the constellation Ursa Minor, the Lesser Bear, aka the Little Dipper, and is named after it. The Little Dipper also contains the North Star, Polaris. So for the Northern Hemisphere, the radiant is above the horizon all night long. Chart via EarthSky. This low-key meteor shower – which always … Read more