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Articles by Deborah Byrd
Visible planets and night sky guide late September and October
September 28: Moon near Saturn The bright September full moon – the Harvest Moon, or full moon closest to the autumn equinox – was near Saturn. But it’s not far from Saturn on Monday, September 28, too! Chart via EarthSky. September 28 evening: Moon near Pleiades The bright waning gibbous moon will float near the Pleiades star cluster tonight. A charming little cluster! Chart via EarthSky.
The September full Moon is the Harvest Moon near Saturn
KosmosNauka EarthSky 26 września 2026 8 min czytania Aktualizacja 28 września 2026, 22:41 Czytasz w BOMEGA EarthSky 8 min czytania Udostępnij Czytanie Formularz zgłoszeniowy Opisz problem dotyczący tego materiału. Zgłoszenie zostanie przekazane do weryfikacji. Formularz zostanie przygotowany po otwarciu. What is a Harvest Moon? Plus, how can you see this 2026 Harvest Moon near Saturn? EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd has more. Watch in the player above or on YouTube.
Afghanistan earthquake: Impassable roads, inclement weather
EarthHuman World Rescuers are using helicopters to deliver supplies and personnel to help comb the rubble of homes in a remote mountainous region of Afghanistan, following a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck around midnight local time (19:18 UTC) on Sunday, August 31, 2025. Reuters is reporting “impassable roads,” “rough terrain” and “inclement weather,” as rescuers attempt to reach survivors. Already 1,400 people have been reported dead by a United Nations humanitarian agency.
X-class solar flare August 9. Aurora alert in coming days
On August 9, the Sun created the largest solar flare in five years. Could this solar flare be the cause of the recent 5.9 earthquake in Virginia and Hurricane Irene? Read this report by EarthSky.org. The sun emitted an X6.9 or X7 flare on August 9, 2011. X-flares are the biggest flares. Some radio blackouts might occur. Aurora alert in the next few days. by Deborah Byrd According to NASA, the sun released an X-class solar flare in Earth’s direction earlier today (August 9, 2011).
Federal and state funding cuts could affect local farmers’ markets
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Ashley Cavender is the Equitable Nutrition and Food Access Director at Appalachian Resource Conservation and Development, or ARC&D. Cavender said that recent funding freezes and cuts to state programs, as well as proposed funding cuts to federal programs, could affect local farmers’ markets and the farmers who rely on them.
A planetary alignment on January 25, 2025?
Tonight Will there be a planetary alignment on January 25, 2025? EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd and John Goss have the scoop on planets in January 2025! If you’re on social media, by now you might have seen the breathless announcements of a planetary alignment on January 25, 2025. A flurry of videos and memes is claiming that all eight planets will be in a line on one side of the sun and visible in our nighttime sky. Is it true? Nope. Why January 25? We have no idea.
MOND and more. Does the universe need a rethink? Original
Human WorldSpace Our current cosmology says cold dark matter helped small galaxies form in the early universe. But recent data from the James Webb Space Telescope is challenging that idea. Astronomers, like Stacy McGaugh of Case Western Reserve University, think since our theories don’t match the observations, it might be time to rethink our story of how the universe formed in its extreme youth. According to the scientists, new research supports the MOND theory.
The End of Everything, LIVE, with Katie Mack
Katherine J. (Katie) Mack is a theoretical cosmologist and the Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. She is the author of The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). Katie Mack is a theoretical cosmologist who specializes in the connections between astrophysics and particle physics…so the really BIG and the really SMALL.
What does summer mean to you?
Join Deborah Byrd, Marcy Curran and Dave Adalian LIVE at 12:15 p.m. CT (17:15 UTC) on Monday, June 17, as we at EarthSky celebrate the summer season. We’ll reach the point in Earth’s orbit known as the June solstice this week, at 20:51 UTC (3:51 p.m. CDT) on June 20. Although no official world body has decreed it, most people nowadays will celebrate the start of Northern Hemisphere summer on this date, or Southern Hemisphere winter. What does this upcoming solstice mean to you?
The Crow, Cup and Water Snake in June skies
Tonight The Crow, Cup and Water Snake on June evenings. At nightfall tonight, or any June evening, look in a general southward direction for Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, Spica appears overhead or high in the north. Spica is your jumping off point to three faint constellations: Corvus the Crow, Crater the Cup and Hydra the Water Snake. Check out the two charts below.
Lineup of 6 planets soon to grace our morning skies
Tonight There are only eight major planets in our solar system. One is the Earth below your feet. One is Venus, currently hidden in the sun’s glare. But this past couple weeks the internet has been buzzing with the fact that the other six planets – Saturn, Neptune, Mars, Uranus, Mercury and Jupiter – will all grace the eastern sky before sunup in the first days of June. Will you see them?
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will cut 8% of its workforce this week
For decades, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has been a world leader in robotic space exploration. When the United States has sent rovers to Mars or probes to the far corners of the solar system, you can be sure that JPL scientists helped build and/or operate the spacecraft. Well… a sign of the times? Late yesterday (February 6, 2024), JPL Director Laurie Leshin announced in a memo that the NASA facility will lay off hundreds of employees this week.
What moves the sailing stones of Death Valley?
Earth Science matters. Wonder matters. You matter. Join our 2025 Donation Campaign today. How could rocks – driven by some unseen force – slide across the ground, leaving behind a trail? That’s what happens at Racetrack Playa, a dry lake bed at Death Valley National Park in California. The definitive solution to this long-standing mystery finally came in 2014, from two cousins.
¡Guau! Una rara tromba marina sobre el lago Sun Moon, Taiwán
Muchos vieron esta rara tromba marina sobre el lago Sun Moon en Nantou, Taiwán, ayer (16 de noviembre de 2023). Bob Kuo, colaborador desde hace mucho tiempo de fotografías interesantes en la página de la comunidad de EarthSky, Bob escribió: ¡Un placer poco común para los turistas! Estábamos concluyendo nuestro primer día de actividades en el famoso monumento de Taiwán, el hermoso lago Sun Moon.
Do we all see the same moon phase from Earth?
Moon Phases Everyone on Earth sees essentially the same moon phase at the same time. But the moon can look different depending on where you are. Its orientation changes with your location and even over the course of a single night. Why does this happen? It comes down to Earth’s rotation and our different perspectives on the sky. The moon appears to change its angle in the sky as the night goes on. That’s because Earth rotates, changing our view of the moon.
Cassiopeia the Queen is overhead on autumn evenings
Constellations The constellation Cassiopeia the Queen can be found high in the sky on October and November evenings, not far from Polaris, the North Star. And at any time of year, you can use the Big Dipper to find Cassiopeia. These two star formations are like riders on opposite sides of a Ferris wheel. In fact, they’re part of a great spinning wheel of stars seen moving counterclockwise around Polaris, the North Star, once each day.
¡Récord mundial de trombas de agua sobre los Grandes Lagos! -- Sott.net
Traducido por el equipo de SOTT.net Estamos en plena temporada de trombas de agua sobre los Grandes Lagos, la serie de grandes lagos de agua dulce interconectados en el interior este-centro de Norteamérica. Según el Centro Internacional de Investigación de Trombas de Agua (ICWR), el viernes se batió el récord mundial de trombas de agua avistadas sobre los Grandes Lagos en un solo día. Si las trombas de agua hubieran tocado tierra, las habríamos llamado tornados.
World record for waterspouts over Great Lakes! -- Sott.net
Waterspout season on the Great Lakes starts in August and runs through October. And on Friday, October 7, 2023, the U.S. National Weather Service reported dozens of sightings of funnels and twisters over the Great Lakes, visible mostly across two states, northeastern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania. On Friday, they broke the world waterspout record, for most waterspouts sighted over the Great Lakes in a single day, according to the International Centre for Waterspout Research (ICWR).
A red rainbow happens when the sun is low
Earth It’s rare to see a red rainbow. I’ve seen only one in all my decades of skywatching … although, I admit, I live in a place where it doesn’t rain much. I spotted my sole red rainbow early one morning decades ago, around sunup, while driving on the dirt road leading from Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. That is such a magical place, and I fancied at the time that the magic of the canyon helped create the red rainbow. Not so. A red rainbow in a red sky.
First March live stream ever! See the replay here
Science 4 Views The first-ever live stream from Mars began at noon ET (16 UTC, 18 CEST) on Friday, June 2, 2023, and lasted for one hour. See this one. Wow! A Mars live stream?! What next? On June 2, 2023, the European Space Agency (ESA) broadcast a live stream – the first ever – from the red planet Mars. The live stream lasted about an hour, as live images streamed down directly from Mars about every 50 seconds. See in the viewer above.
Vega is a bright bluish star on May evenings
Tonight The 3 brightest stars in this image make up the asterism of the Summer Triangle, a giant triangle in the sky composed of the bright stars Vega (top left), Altair (lower middle) and Deneb (far left). Also in this image, under a dark sky and on a moonless night, is the Great Rift that passes right through the Summer Triangle. Image via NASA/ A. Fujii/ ESA. Look for Vega tonight. It’s the 5th brightest star in our sky.
Why do we celebrate Earth Day on April 22?
This is NASA’s massive 3.2 gigapixel mosaic of … us. And we look good. It contains more than 36,000 individual photographs from the more than 50,000 images posted around the world on Earth Day, April 22, 2014. Image via NASA. Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter. The first Earth Day – April 22, 1970 – is sometimes said to have marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement.
Hercules is between 2 bright stars: Vega and Arcturus
Tonight Hercules the Strongman is, overall, a faint constellation. But its mid-section contains the easy-to-see Keystone asterism. In order to find it, look between the bright stars Vega in Lyra the Harp and Arcturus in Boötes the Herdsman. Chart via EarthSky. Tonight, try locating the constellation Hercules the Strongman. This star pattern is ascending in the east-northeast on these Northern Hemisphere spring evenings. You can find it between two brilliantly bright stars, Arcturus and Vega.
The Great Meteor Procession 112 years ago
Human WorldSpace An odd and still-unexplained parade of meteors on this date dazzled viewers in Canada, the northeastern United States and ships in the Atlantic all the way down to Brazil. The origin of the event called the Great Meteor Procession of 1913, after more than a century, is still unknown. This procession of meteors was unlike other meteor showers, where zippy streaks of light all radiate outward from a single point.
Fotos de la conjunción Venus-Saturno, enero 2023
Fotos de la conjunción Venus-Saturno A fines de enero de 2023, el planeta más brillante Venus, segundo planeta desde el sol, y el planeta dorado Saturno, sexto planeta desde el sol, se cruzaron en el oeste después de la puesta del sol. Venus pasó 0,4 grados S. de Saturno en la cúpula del cielo a las 20 UTC del 22 de enero.
Astrónomos encuentran 8 nuevas estrellas súper calientes
8 nuevas estrellas súper calientes La Royal Astronomical Society, con sede en Londres, dijo esta semana (9 de enero de 2023) que los astrónomos han identificado ocho de las estrellas más calientes conocidas hasta ahora en nuestro universo. Sorprendentemente, todos tienen superficies a más de 100 000 grados Celsius (180 000 F).
Un gran estallido volcánico en la luna Io de Júpiter
Un gran estallido volcánico en Io El Instituto de Ciencias Planetarias dijo ayer (3 de enero de 2023) ese astrónomo jeff morgenthaler descubrió un gran estallido volcánico en la luna Io de Júpiter el otoño pasado. Era el más grande hasta ahora, él dijo. Morgenthaler ha estado operando de forma remota un nuevo observatorio que instaló en 2017, en el desierto cerca de Tucson, Arizona.
How to see Earth’s shadow at sunrise and sunset Original
EarthSpace EarthSky’s Kelly Kizer Whitt explains how to see Earth’s shadow and the Belt of Venus, in this video. You can see the shadow of Earth cast onto Earth’s atmosphere twice a day as a bluish band adjacent to the horizon. Just look east after sunset or west before sunrise. Like all worlds orbiting a sun, Earth casts a shadow. It extends some 870,000 miles (1.4 million km) into space. And like all shadows, the shadow of Earth is always opposite the sun.
A runaway star moves fast in an unusual direction Original
Space This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a cloud in space where new stars are forming called 30 Doradus, aka the Tarantula Nebula. The enlarged inset shows a star that appears to have been kicked out of the nebula. In the inset, an arrow points to the runaway star and a dashed arrow to its presumed direction of motion. Image via NASA. The sun and all of the Milky Way’s stars are moving in orbit around the center of our galaxy.
Is there a North Star for Mars?
The 2025 EarthSky Lunar Calendar is now available! Makes a great gift. Get yours today! We sometimes get this question. The North Star for Earth is Polaris. Does our next-door neighbor planet, Mars, have the same North Star as Earth? If not, does Mars have a star located more or less above its north pole? Let’s talk about what we mean by North Star. Every planet in our solar system spins on its axis. Earth’s spin is what defines the length of our day of approximately 24 hours.
Webbâs 1st Mars images: A heat map and more
Webb’s 1st Mars images The Hubble telescope sees mostly at visible or ultraviolet wavelengths. But the new Webb telescope sees mostly in the infrared. It picks up a part of the electromagnetic spectrum we humans perceive as heat (but that some snakes can see, as, in the dark, they aim toward then strike their prey). And now we have the first infrared images and spectra from Mars, released today (September 19, 2022) in the Webb Telescope blog.
Voyager 1: 1st portrait of Earth and moon 45 years ago today
Voyager 1 on September 18, 1977 captures image of Earth and moon Previous images had shown a part of the Earth, and a part of the moon, together. But we’d never seen the Earth and moon as whole worlds in space, in the same frame and in color. That’s until Voyager 1 took this image on today’s date 45 years ago. Can you imagine how the image affected people at the time? I can, because I remember it. It was a stunning revelation and such an incredible photo. Voyager 1 left Earth on September 5, 1977.
Today in 2015: New Horizons at Pluto Original
Space Ten years ago tomorrow, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft passed distant Pluto, sweeping only about 7,750 miles (12,472 km) above its surface. The fast-moving spacecraft had traveled almost 10 years and 3 billion miles (5 billion km) to reach Pluto. The journey took only about a minute less than what the mission team predicted when the craft launched in January 2006. Once at Pluto, New Horizons “threaded a needle” through a 36-by-57 miles (58 by 92 km) window in space.
Opportunity left for Mars on July 7, 2003
Space NASA’s Mars exploration rover Opportunity took this dramatic image of its shadow on sol 180 (July 26, 2004). Opportunity was using its front hazard-avoidance camera as it moved farther into Endurance Crater in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech. NASA’s beloved Mars rover Opportunity – nicknamed Oppy – launched on July 7, 2003, and ended up surpassing all expectations. It was designed to last 90 Martian days and travel 1,100 yards (1,000 meters).
Chelyabinsk meteor: February 15, 2013 Original
Human WorldSpace EarthSky’s 2026 lunar calendar shows the moon phase for every day of the year. Get yours today! On February 15, 2013, a small asteroid with an estimated size of 65 feet (20 meters) entered Earth’s atmosphere. It was moving at 12 miles per second (~19 km/sec) when it struck the protective blanket of air around our planet, which did its job and caused the asteroid to explode.
Are the December solstice and January perihelion related?
The December solstice fell on December 21, 2025. Our next perihelion – Earth’s closest point to the sun – will fall on January 3, 2026. Coincidence? EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd and John Goss have more. Watch in the player above or on YouTube. The 2026 lunar calendars are here! Great gift for the new year. Get yours today!. Earth comes closest to the sun on January 3, 2026. This event is called Earth’s perihelion. Meanwhile, the December solstice is December 21, 2025.
Dark days: Earth has 'dimmed' by 0.5% since 2017 and scientists aren't sure why -- Sott.net
© NASA An image taken from the International Space Station in 2011 shows Earthshine on the moon. Earth is dimming due to climate change Posted by October 2, 2021 Scientists used measurements of earthshine - the faint glow on the darkened portion of a crescent moon - plus satellite measurements to learn that Earth is dimming. The reason is fewer bright clouds, due to warming temperatures.
Great Square of Pegasus gallops into the autumn sky
Throughout late September and October evenings, the Great Square of Pegasus is ascending in the eastern evening sky. Then the Great Square will be high in the sky around the December solstice. And it’ll disappear from the evening sky sometime in February. The Great Square is an asterism — an obvious pattern of stars — that consists of four stars of nearly equal brightness. Specifically, they are Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib.
Orion’s Belt points to Sirius on September mornings
Tonight Sirius is the sky’s brightest star. You can always be sure you’re looking at the correct bright star by drawing a line from Orion’s Belt to Sirius. And from the Southern Hemisphere, turn the chart upside down. It’s one of the neatest tricks in all the heavens: Orion’s Belt points to Sirius, the sky’s brightest star. On September mornings, you’ll find both Orion the Hunter and the very bright star Sirius in the eastern part of the sky before dawn.
Want to find the Andromeda galaxy? Here are 2 ways
Take a night to drive to a dark sky and find the glorious Andromeda galaxy. It’s the great spiral galaxy next door to the Milky Way, and the most distant object you can see with your eye alone. It’s best seen in the evening at this time of year. Most people find the galaxy by star-hopping from the constellation Cassiopeia the Queen, a very noticeable M- or W-shaped pattern on the sky’s dome.
Scutum the Shield is named for a Polish king
Constellations In late July and early August, watch for one of our sky’s most beautiful sights. Look in a dark sky, far from the glare of city lights, for a hazy pathway that stretches across the sky. It’ll be in the southern sky in the Northern Hemisphere, or overhead in the Southern Hemisphere. This band is the edgewise view into our own Milky Way galaxy. And if you see it, you can also find a small but noteworthy constellation called Scutum the Shield.
Summer Triangle: Star pattern of the season
The Summer Triangle, ascending for Northern Hemisphere observers in the east on June evenings. Are you in the Southern Hemisphere? See below. Chart via EarthSky. During the summertime in the Northern Hemisphere, the days are long. The sun is high in the midday sky. And our summer sky is with us, too. Watch for the famous Summer Triangle, now ascending in the eastern sky on these late June and July evenings. The Summer Triangle isn’t a constellation. It’s an asterism, or noticeable pattern of stars.
Don't Miss Jupiter and Saturn's Great Conjunction
Deborah Byrd & Bruce McClure EarthSky December 17, 2020 Astronomers use the word conjunction to describe meetings of planets and other objects on our sky’s dome. They use the term great conjunction to describe meetings of the two biggest worlds in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn. The December 21, 2020, great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is already underway and highly conspicuous in the west after sunset each evening. Read Full Article »
An ultra-rare 'double planet' will light up the night sky this December
Winter solstice is around the corner and with it comes a rare and spectacular phenomenon in the night sky. On December 21, Jupiter and Saturn will align to form a "double planet," an occurrence that hasn't happened in nearly 800 years, according to Deborah Byrd and Bruce McClure with Earth Sky.
Moon composite | Today's Image | EarthSky
Last month’s full moon plus this month’s waxing gibbous moon, combined. View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Composite moon image by Stefan Nilsson of Digitaliz.se in Åhus, Sweden. Stefan Nilsson wrote: This is a composite consisting of 121 images. The main image is the moon from March 5, 2020 and is 79% lit while the shadow side is from February 8, 2020 and is 99.5% of the full moon.
Standing wave cloud at sunrise, over Zimbabwe | EarthSky.org
Standing wave clouds form when wind blows over a mountain. View larger. | Standing wave cloud at sunrise, March 4, 2020, by Peter Lowenstein. Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe, wrote: Was surprised during my early morning walk on Wednesday [March 4, 2020] by the appearance of an unusual low-level standing wave (lenticular) cloud above a familiar saddle on a hill in Cecil Kop Nature Reserve.
And now, a word from Juno at Jupiter | EarthSky.org
Juno arrived at Jupiter in 2016. It’s in a 53-day orbit around the planet. Close sweeps past the planet are called “perijoves” (peri means “near”). Here are some spectacular images from the most recent sweep, Perijove 25, in February. Jupiter at mid-northern latitudes as seen by Juno during Perijove 25. The small, round, swirly spots are storms in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ SwRI/ MSSS/ Kevin M. Gill.
The Beehive: 1,000 stars in Cancer | EarthSky.org
On a dark night, look for it as a smudge of light, with 3 times the moon’s diameter. It’s really a wondrous cluster of stars called the Beehive, or M44. Beehive star cluster, aka M44, by Fred Espenak at AstroPixels. Used with permission. Although it’s one of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac, Cancer the Crab is so faint that you’d likely never notice it … except for the lovely star cluster in its midst. This cluster is commonly known as the Beehive, or M44. Astronomers know it as NGC2632.
Western New York digging out from intense snow and ice | EarthSky.org
An intense storm and lake-effect snow walloped upstate New York – especially rural areas in western New York – in late February 2020. On the shores of Lake Erie, the storm created a dramatic display of thick, windblown ice on homes and buildings.
African dust bombards the Canary Islands | EarthSky.org
These hot, dust-laden winds are known as “la calima” and happen most often in winter. They can blow at up to 75 mph (120 kph). The dust kicked up last weekend in Africa drifted over the Canary Island, shutting down airports and stranding travelers. View larger. | The NOAA-20 satellite watched this sandstorm blow over the Canary Islands on February 23, 2020. What you’re seeing here is dust over the ocean. The dark spots toward the center of the image are the islands.
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