EarthSky

Artist’s concept of a quasar. Quasars are some of the most luminous events in the universe. They are the result of black holes in the early universe undergoing feeding frenzies. Of the 31 newly discovered quasars by the Euclid space telescope, 2 are the most ancient quasars yet found. Image via ESA. EarthSky isn’t powered by billionaires. We’re powered by you. Support EarthSky’s 2026 Donation Campaign and help keep science accessible. Euclid finds the most ancient quasars in the univ

View larger. | Artist’s concept of Gaia23bra b, a super-Jupiter exoplanet that is 40,000 light-years away. Astronomers discovered it thanks to the warping of the fabric of the universe. Find out how warped spacetime can reveal new worlds below. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ University of New Mexico. Gaia23bra b is a super-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting an orange dwarf star. It orbits farther out from its star than most exoplanets found so far. NASA’s TESS space telescope

Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, with its brightest star Alphecca. Read more about the Northern Crown below. Image via Fred Espenak/ AstroPixels. Used with permission. On June, July and August evenings, look for the constellation Corona Borealis, also known as the Northern Crown. It’s a faint constellation, but a dark sky will reveal a distinctive C shape of stars in the night sky. In the middle of the C is a white jewel of a star. This star, the brightest light in the Northern Crown,

View larger. | Artist’s concept of the nearby super-Earth planet GJ 3378b. It’s about twice the size of Earth and receives a similar amount of light from its star as Earth does. Could it be habitable? Image via Nikolai Berman/ UC Irvine. GJ 3378b is a super-Earth exoplanet about 25 light-years away. It is about twice the size of Earth. The planet is in the habitable zone of its red dwarf star, where liquid water could exist. But does it have an atmosphere? We don’t know yet if

This chart shows the 3 stars of the Summer Triangle in the east on July evenings. Note the size of Vega’s constellation, Lyra the Harp. The Summer Triangle is big! A 12-inch (30 cm) ruler, placed at an arm’s length from your eye, will span the approximate distance from Vega to the star Altair. And an outstretched hand will fill the gap between Vega and Deneb. You can see the Summer Triangle in the evening from around May through the end of the year. Chart via EarthSky. Your support =

The Japanese space agency (JAXA) just shared an image from the Hayabusa2 mission to asteroid Torifune. On July 5, 2026, the space probe flew within 6 miles (10 km) of the asteroid and sent back the image above. The asteroid appears to be what astronomers call a contact binary, or 2 asteroids stuck together. The Chinese space agency also made a flyby of a different asteroid, 2016 HO3 Kamo’oalewa. See the pic below. These 2 asteroid flybys came within 3 days of each other. Image via JAXA/ Un

This is RCW 86, the remnant of a Type 1a supernova 8,000 light-years away. Studying Type 1a supernovae led to the discovery that the universe’s expansion is accelerating. An astonishing 2025 study called this discovery into question. But now, new research claims to have found flaws in the 2025 paper. Image via NASA/ CXC/ SAO/ ESA (X-ray)/ JPL-Caltech/ B. Williams (infrared). The Royal Astronomical Society originally published this article on June 11, 2026. Edits by EarthSky. No crisis? Uni

View larger. | Artist’s concept of Kepler-186f, an Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of its star, where liquid water could exist. Now, a new habitable exoplanets model is helping to determine which rocky exoplanets might be the most likely to support life. Image via NASA/ Ames/ SETI Institute/ JPL-Caltech. Scientists have discovered many rocky exoplanets around other stars. But which ones are the most likely to be habitable? A new model of habitable exoplanets is narrowing down

Rastaban and Eltanin, found in the head of Draco the Dragon, represent the Dragon’s Eyes. Don’t miss the next unmissable night sky event. Sign up for EarthSky’s free newsletter and get daily night sky updates! Find the Dragon’s Eyes Tonight, find the Dragon’s Eyes. For years, I’ve glanced up to the north on June evenings and spied the two stars marked on today’s chart, Rastaban and Eltanin in the constellation Draco. They’re noticeable because they&#8217

Tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are expected across some of the Midwest on Wednesday, June 17. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center is warning of a moderate risk for severe weather. Image via NOAA/ Storm Prediction Center. Tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are possible in parts of the U.S. Midwest today, June 17, with the Storm Prediction Center forecasting a moderate risk of severe weather. Meanwhile, what might soon become Tropical Storm Arthur is expected to bring heavy rain a

This simulation shows the distribution of a mysterious substance called dark matter in our Local Group of galaxies. The 2 brightest areas at the center are our Milky Way galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy, both surrounded by vast clouds of dark matter. The white squares are simulated locations of dark galaxies, or galaxies composed primarily of dark matter. Image via Guacimara García Bethencourt (ULL) and Gabriel Pérez Díaz (IAC). You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and

Alan Dyer of Amazingsky.net recorded this video from his home in southern Alberta, Canada, around 51 degrees north latitude. Watch satellites swarm across the night sky in a 2.5-hour time lapse aimed toward the summer Milky Way. Video via Alan Dyer/ AmazingSky.net. Used with permission. Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter. Satellites swarm the night sky in this new video Alan Dyer of Amazingsky.net shared thi

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter. Noctilucent cloud season is here! Images are already showing up on social media of these night-shining clouds. Noctilucent clouds at the Avebury Stones.#StandingStoneSunday — Pete Glastonbury (@peteglastonbury.bsky.social) 2026-06-14T01:58:41.945Z There was a nice display of noctilucent clouds last night. Here's the view from the North York Moors,

Artist’s illustration depicting the Chicxulub asteroid impact 66 million years ago. This space rock smashed into our planet off the coast of southeastern Mexico. A new study suggests the dinosaur-killing asteroid impact created an underground hydrothermal habitat – an abode for microbial life – that lasted for 8 million years. Image via Don Davis/ NASA/ Wikimedia Commons. Love wildlife and the natural world? Get the latest animal stories – as well as space and night sky u

View larger. | Artist’s illustration of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover. Image via ESA/ Mlabspace. ESA’s new Rosalind Franklin rover will land on Mars in 2028. Its primary mission is to search for evidence of past or present Martian life. The region it will land in, Oxia Planum, has even more clay than previously thought. Clay deposits might indicate the site of an ancient Mars ocean. So scientists are encouraged that this is a good place for a life search. You deserve a daily

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ray Tolomeo wrote: “Looking to the northwest, the International Space Station flies over Lake Brittle near Warrenton, Virginia, on the evening of May 8, 2026. This is a composite of 7 30-second exposures.” Thank you, Ray! See the International Space Station before it’s gone! The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting our planet since 1998. And it’s scheduled to be de-orbited – and safely brought down over the Pacific

Satellite views of Earth on the solstices and equinoxes. From left to right, a June solstice, a September equinox, a December solstice and a March equinox. To understand these images, look at the poles. Notice that at the June solstice, the North Pole is in sunlight. At the December solstice, the South Pole is in sunlight. Read more about these images, which are via Robert Simmon (Sigma Space Corporation)/ NASA. June solstice in 2026 When is it? In 2026, the solstice moment will fall at 8:25 UTC

Powerful “winds” that blasted gas into space might have been a common killer of massive galaxies in the early universe. But where did these winds come from? Read more about a galaxy-killing wind in the early universe below. Image via Joshua Worth/ The Conversation. When astronomers look far back in space and time, they see more big, dead galaxies than expected. But why? Powerful winds can sweep away a galaxy’s gas and dust, which are needed to create new stars. A new study su

Cygnus the Swan’s brightest star, Deneb, marks one of the corners of the Summer Triangle. And its bright double star, Albireo, is one of the finest in the heavens. Don’t miss the next unmissable night sky event. Sign up for EarthSky’s free newsletter and get daily night sky updates! If you have a dark sky, you can observe the edgewise view into our own galaxy – our Milky Way – spanning across the heavens. As you gaze toward it, you’ll also be looking toward the cons

For all of us on Earth now, the sun’s innermost planet, Mercury, is in the west after sunset, below blazing Venus and Jupiter. A line between Venus and Jupiter more or less points to Mercury. This is the view from the Northern Hemisphere. Notice how the planets make a line extending above and to the left of the sunset point. Mercury is farthest from the sunset – at greatest elongation on June 15. But look soon! Mercury – sometimes called the most elusive planet – will sli