When the moon falls into Earth’s shadow Thursday night into Friday (March 13-14), observers will be treated to views of a “blood moon” total lunar eclipse. But given that lunar spacecraft are solar-powered, how do they survive when they’re cut off from the sun? For NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has been orbiting the … Read more
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
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Chuck Reinhart captured this starry scene from Vincennes, Indiana, on November 1, 2024. Thank you, Chuck! On December 30-31, 2024, we’ll have what some call a Black Moon. On that evening, the moon won’t be visible because it’s a new moon, the 2nd new moon of a month: voila! … Read more
As a species, we’ve come to the awareness that we’re a minuscule part of a vast Universe defined by galaxy superclusters and the large-scale structure of the Universe. Driven by a healthy intellectual curiosity, we’re examining our surroundings and facing the question posed by Nature: how did everything get this way? We only have incremental … Read more
Our understanding of the Universe is profound. Only a century ago, astronomers held a Great Debate to argue over whether our galaxy was an island universe, or whether nebulae such as Andromeda were galaxies in a much larger cosmos. Now we know that the Universe is billions of years old, ever expanding to billions of … Read more