281–300 of 1,389 results

Why We Look Up with Jennifer Willis

Sucker Holes

When skies are cloudy, sucker holes may offer us a view — albeit often only a brief one — of the universe overhead.

Red aurora shines at the center to top with green aurora on the horizon line with dark trees and a snowy field at the bottom.

Explore the Night with Bob King

Aurora Season Is Underway

These are the nights to get ready for the auroras — and tonight may be your lucky night. Not only is the current solar cycle swiftly intensifying, March is one of the best times of the year to see the northern lights.

2023 CX1

Astronomy in Space with David Dickinson

Small Asteroid Spotted Hours Before Demise

The swift detection of a small asteroid, and recovery of its surviving fragments, shows we’re getting better at spotting incoming objects.

a black dot against a grey background with two white lines on either side

Cosmic Relief with David Grinspoon

ET on Earth? 

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence should not exclude our own planet.

Orion Nebula with T Ori

Explore the Night with Bob King

Catch Birth Flickers of Budding Suns in Orion

Three flickering stars in Orion offer insight into what life looks like before the main sequence.

Nova image, not animated

Why We Look Up with Jennifer Willis

On Burnout, the “Green Comet,” and White Dwarf Stars

With care and diligence, amateur astronomy can offer a satisfying reprieve.

Lucy spacecraft next to shiny rock on black field

Astronomy in Space with David Dickinson

Lucy Mission Has a New Asteroid to Fly By

NASA’s Lucy mission now has a new first target of opportunity, a main-belt asteroid it will visit this November.

Comet ZTF (C/2022) and Mt. Etna

Explore the Night with Bob King

Understanding the Tails of Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3)

We explore Comet ZTF's remarkable trio of tails and share the latest news and photos.

Comet ZTF E3 dust tail

Explore the Night with Bob King

See Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) Dash Between Big and Little Dippers

Forget the hype and go outside to enjoy the real thing — a relatively bright comet you can see in binoculars from a dark sky.

2023 BU close approach

Explore the Night with Bob King

Tiny Asteroid 2023 BU to Miss Earth

A recently discovered asteroid will pass exceptionally close to Earth on January 26th. Here's how to see it. Also, Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) is brightening nicely, with three tails visible in binos.

Why We Look Up with Jennifer Willis

Why We Look Up: Star Stuff

Why do we look up? Because we are a way for the universe to know itself; and perhaps because the universe is a way for us to know ourselves.

Winter Pair-a-gon

Explore the Night with Bob King

Explore Double Stars in the "Winter Pair-a-gon"

The Winter Hexagon is not only key to finding six of the season's most prominent constellations but also a gateway to a more than a half-dozen delightful double stars.

Psyche Mission

Astronomy in Space with David Dickinson

Space Missions to Watch in 2023

A tour of Jupiter’s moons and a mission to a "metal asteroid" are among the spacecraft to be launched in 2023.

Astronomy in Space with David Dickinson

NASA's Mars Insight Reaches End of Mission

NASA's groundbreaking Insight lander on Mars has fallen silent.

June 2022 planets

Explore the Night with Bob King

All Eight Planets Line Up ... Again!

Echoing summer's great arc of planets at dawn, winter presents the full octet again, this time splayed across the evening sky.

Gravitational waves from GW190521

The Black Hole Files with Camille Carlisle

The Challenge of Weird Black Hole Mergers

When spacetime shivers last only a fraction of a second — as in the case of the massive-black-hole merger GW190521 — astronomers struggle to uncover their origins.

Geminid over Tucson

Explore the Night with Bob King

Catch the Geminid Meteor Shower; Plus, Watch RW Cephei Fade

The luminous Geminid meteor shower returns. We also meet a binocular-bright star that may be experiencing Betelgeuse-like convulsions.

a trio of images: a grey rock in the lower left corner with a smaller grey rock in the middle against a black background, a large grey rock against a black background, and grey rocky ground

Cosmic Relief with David Grinspoon

Nudging a Space Rock

That’s one small change in an asteroid’s orbit, one giant leap for humanity.

Hakuto-R launch

Astronomy in Space with David Dickinson

Trio of Spacecraft Launch for the Moon

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight, iSpace’s Hakuto R from Japan, and the United Arab Emirates' Rashid rover are all headed to the Moon after launching aboard a SpaceX rocket.

Mars up close

Explore the Night with Bob King

Mars Mesmerizes at Opposition

It may not be the closest opposition, but this time around Mars arcs high across the sky where good seeing promises sharp views. That's not all. On December 7th, one night before opposition, the full Moon occults the Red Planet!