SUNSET: 
Explore the Night with Bob King
Get Ready to Greet the Geminid Meteor Shower!
The year's most spectacular meteor shower is upon us. Prepare to enjoy the Geminids under a dark, moonless sky, when you might see more than 100 meteors per hour.
Watch Uranus's Moon Titania Cover a Star Monday Night
Observers across much of the U.S. and Canada have a unique opportunity Monday night, November 20–21, to see Uranus's brightest moon occult a star.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Jupiter's Great Red Spot Just Keeps Getting Smaller
Jupiter's Great Red Spot may be reaching a milestone this year by shrinking to its smallest size in recorded observational history.
Explore the Night with Bob King
How to See Freaky Starlink "Cluster Flares", Plus the Latest on Comet Lemmon
Alien invasion or flares from satellites in multiple orbits? It depends on your point of view. We also check in on Comet Lemmon, poised to possibly reach binocular-visibility.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Orionid Meteors Fly; Two Moons Shadow Jupiter
Bundle up and enjoy the Orionid meteor shower under moonless skies this week. Don't miss the warm-up act, either, when two of Jupiter's moons pair up in a captivating double-shadow transit.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks (aka the "Millenium Falcon" Comet) Flares Again!
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks has awakened again from its recent slumbers with a fresh outburst. It's now bright enough to see in a modest telescope.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Comet Hartley Comes Home Again; Gegenschein-gazing
Get acquainted with Comet 103P/Hartley. It's been a dozen years since its last bright apparition. While you're at it challenge yourself to spot the elusive gegenschein.
Is the Day 12 Hours Long on the Equinox? It's Complicated
The Earth's atmosphere and the large size of the solar disk result in unequal days and nights, even on the equinox.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Action-packed Sky: Saturn, Comet Nishimura, and More
September is Saturn's time to shine. We also check on Comet Nishimura — now at 5th magnitude and still brightening — and look forward to a dramatic asteroid occultation. Not to mention that Jupiter just took another hit.
New Comet Nishimura May Become Naked-Eye Bright
Comet Nishimura is quickly brightening in the morning sky and may be faintly visible with the naked eye next month. And on August 24th observers in North America will be treated to an occultation of Antares.
Get Ready for a Great Perseid Meteor Shower
The Perseids are here! With no Moon to spoil the show it's time to break out the lawn chairs, sit back, and watch the comet dust fly.
Explore the Night with Bob King
View the Thin Crescent of Venus
With Venus approaching inferior conjunction in August here's a foolproof way to follow its thinning crescent as the planet transitions from Evening Star to Morning Star.
See Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in Outburst!
Comet Pons-Brooks, a dim comet on its way to a great apparition next spring, suddenly sprang into action overnight, brightening by five magnitudes. Now you can see it in a 4-inch telescope.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Time-lapse Animations Reveal a Universe in Transformation
Deep-sky objects may appear static throughout our lifetime but by carefully "blinking" archival and current images we can discern real changes in their appearance.
Explore the Night with Bob King
See Summer's Best “Gobbled” Globulars
Mergers between the Milky Way and long-ago dwarf galaxies have enriched our skies with dozens of iconic globular clusters. Many are visible in small telescopes.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Eking Out Observing from under Wildfire Smoke
Smoke from Canadian wildfires has made observing the night sky a challenge for many. Here are some ways you can make the best of a bad situation.
Find a Horizon and Savor the Bending of Light
The full Strawberry Moon on June 3rd invites us to experience the refractive power of Earth's atmosphere.
Explore the Night with Bob King
Bright Supernova Blazes in M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy
A supergiant star exploded as a supernova in the prominent galaxy M101 in Ursa Major. It's now bright enough to see in a 4.5-inch telescope!
See the Moon-Jupiter Trifecta: Conjunction, Occultation, and Double-Shadow Transit
The May 17th dawn pairing of Jupiter and the Moon may be one of the most amazing conjunctions you'll ever see.
Scientists Confirm: Meteorite Crashed Into New Jersey Home
A rock that crashed through the roof of a house in New Jersey proved to be the real thing — a chunk spalled from a 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid.
