View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Paolo Palma in Naples, Italy, created this composite of star colors with images of individual stars taken over the course of 2 years, which he calls Kaleidocosmo. He captured all the stars he could see from Naples – up to +5 magnitude and brighter – some 1,250 stars! Then, … Read more
Watch live! SpaceX to launch IM-2 moon mission atop Falcon 9 rocket – YouTube Watch On CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Intuitive Machines is poised to launch its second lunar lander in as many years, marking a significant milestone in commercial space exploration. The mission, known as IM-2, is set to lift off on a SpaceX … Read more
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander stands on the lunar surface in this illustration after its arrival at the ridge near Shackleton crater. Credit: Intuitive Machines UPDATE Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025: Intuitive Machines and SpaceX are targeting a launch for IM-2 this evening. The Kennedy Space Center’s website lists a scheduled launch time no earlier than 7:17 … Read more
You can find Cassiopeia the Queen in the northwest in the evening around the month of February. It’s one of the easiest constellations to spot! It has the shape of an M or W. If you have a dark sky, you can also look above Cassiopeia for a famous binocular object, the Double Cluster in … Read more
Taurus the Bull contains 2 star clusters that are easy to spot, the Pleiades and the Hyades. Taurus the Bull The constellation Taurus the Bull is visible during the fall through spring in the Northern Hemisphere (or spring through fall in the Southern Hemisphere). It sits in the evening sky close to the easy-to-see constellation … Read more
To date it has been a superb winter for viewing the queen of the planets, Venus. February marks the pinnacle of the evening visibility of Venus as it stands like a sequined showgirl nearly halfway up in the western sky at sunset. Currently shining at its greatest brilliance for this current apparition, this dazzling evening … Read more
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Richard Witkowski captured the aurora storm on May 10-11, 2024, from Indiana Dunes National Park. It was surely one of the best night sky events of this past year. Thanks, Richard! So how about 2025? We can’t predict the next auroral display, but we can provide a preview of … Read more
View larger. | The shortest day is at the solstice. But many are surprised to learn that the latest sunrises come days or weeks after the solstice. This map shows the number of days between earliest sunset and latest sunrise, for various latitudes. And it shows the dates of these events. When is your latest … Read more
Sundial at Adler Planetarium in Chicago. A sundial can be used to measure the interval from one solar noon to the next. Earth’s longest days, from noon to noon, happen in December. Image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). What is a day? You might casually talk about a day as a period of daylight. … Read more