Astronomy

December offers some of the richest meteor showers of the year, highlighted by the reliable Geminids and the more modest Ursids. Unlike sporadic meteors, these showers result fr...

As of today, no major planet in our solar system is in retrograde motion relative to Earth. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are currently direct (eastward against the...

Sunset with the moon pairs two reliable celestial events into a quiet, repeatable experience you can plan around the world. Unlike one-off eclipses or rare conjunctions, this pa...

The full moon of March 2019 occurred on Sunday, March 24, at 11:43 UTC (6:43 a.m. EDT). At that moment the Moon was opposite the Sun in ecliptic longitude, fully illuminated as...

In early November the evening sky often shows a waxing crescent or quarter moon in the western sky after sunset, while by late November the brighter gibbous and full moon rise e...

If you are wondering about the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter tonight, this guide explains how to determine visibility for your specific location and time. Planetary visibility depend...

The Leonid meteor shower peaks around November 17 to 18 each year, with activity typically rising a few nights before and after the peak. It is best seen after midnight local ti...

The smiley face moon appears when craters and lunar features create a curved smile and dots for eyes in our perception. This effect is a form of pareidolia, where the brain reco...

A so-called drunk star is not a formal astrophysical category but a descriptive way to refer to a star whose observed motion appears notably irregular, directionally confused, o...

We see the Moon phases because the Moon orbits Earth while Earth orbits the Sun, and only the side of the Moon lit by the Sun is bright enough for us to see from our viewpoint....