Saturn’s moon Iapetus is now some 8’ east of the planet; although it is nearing 12th magnitude as it approaches its fainter eastern elongation in the first week of October, observers with larger ...

The Moon reaches apogee, the farthest point from Earth in its orbit, at 5:46 A.M. EDT. At that time, our satellite will stand 251,996 miles (405,548 km) away. With the Moon sinking low in the hours ...

On Sept. 30, 1880, in a pioneering moment for astrophotography, amateur astronomer Henry Draper and his wife, Anna, captured the first image of the Orion Nebula. Though a medical doctor by trade, ...

Saturn reached opposition at 2 A.M. EDT, exhibiting high visibility throughout the night and presenting optimal viewing conditions for its rings and moons. Saturn's apparent magnitude was 0.6 in ...

Asteroid 2 Pallas, at 10th magnitude, exhibited a stationary position at 7:00 A.M. EDT within the constellation Aquila. Pallas's location was approximately 6.5° southeast of Altair, Aquila's brightest ...

A star like the Sun lives modestly for billions of years, converting the nuclear fuel in its core into energy that ultimately escapes as light and heat. But the most spectacular phase of a Sun-like ...

Tiny pieces of glass found scattered across Australia have revealed evidence of a previously unknown giant asteroid impact. This discovery centers on a new type of tektite, a natural glass formed when ...

NASA announced Wednesday that its Perseverance rover discovered what scientists are calling a “potential biosignature” in a rock on Mars last year. This signature, which may have a biological origin ...

Key Takeaways: On Nov. 24, 2021, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) launched. The spacecraft was on its way to Dimorphos, part of a binary system with the asteroid Didymos. Nearly a year ...

Key Takeaways: Cocconi and Morrison's 1959 Nature paper, "Searching for Interstellar Communications," provided a foundational scientific framework for the then-unconventional field of SETI. The paper ...

Neptune reached opposition at 9:00 A.M. EDT, rendering it visible throughout the night. Neptune, at magnitude 7.7, is not visible to the unaided eye but can be located 2.7° northeast of Saturn using ...

Look to Scorpius this evening, where the asteroid 4 Vesta floats near the globular cluster M80 close to the Scorpion’s claws. Viewing is best looking southwest starting around 30–60 minutes after ...