Stellar photos from around the world of the 2020 Perseids

Read about the dangerous comet behind the Perseids meteor shower

Every summer, Earth passes through the debris trail of the Swift-Tuttle comet, producing the spectacle of the Perseids meteor shower. The phenomenon is a glorious opportunity for amateur stargazers, but astronomers have long noted the comet's orbit...

Explore every meteor shower from space

Every year, Earth travels through a series of meteor showers—the Perseids in August, the Lyrids in April—and a fraction of them light up the sky as they hit the atmosphere. Explore each group of meteors with this fascinating, year-round interactive.

A 101 on the science and history of meteor showers

Bits of rock, ice, and dust flying through space called meteors burn up in a spectacular display when they hit our atmosphere 60 miles up at an average of 30,000 mph. Some of these are isolated objects, but others are recurring phenomena caused by...

Shooting stars, or meteors, are fragments of asteroids and comets that burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating streaks in the sky called meteor showers.

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

Shooting stars are streaks of light produced by meteoroids

As these rocks enter Earth's atmosphere at high speeds, friction causes them to burn up, briefly leaving streaks of light. The color of these fireballs can be used to determine the composition of the meteoroid, if it does not reach the ground and become a meteorite for analysis.

Explore the night's sky from anywhere

Stellarium Web is a planetarium running in your web browser. It shows a realistic star map, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. Using its interface, you can click on object's visible at your location on the Earth...

See the 25 of the best photos of auroras from around the world.

View a gallery of notable comets

The collection features 1973's Kohoutek, which had been dubbed the "comet of the century," 1965's Ikeya-Seki—one of the brightest comets of the millennium—and 2002's NEAT, a comet that survived a coronal mass ejection as it passed near the sun.

Watch a lightning storm from the International Space Station

While passing over the Alabama and Georgia regions, NASA astronauts photographed passing thunderstorms from the ISS. The illuminated clouds are described as "nebula-like formations."

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

This Milky Way photo took 12 years to shoot

Finnish astrophotographer J-P Metsavainio has released a Milky Way photo that took him nearly 12 years to create. The 1.7-gigapixel image has a cumulative

Spectacular shots of 2022's Blood Moon eclipse

A total lunar eclipse took place early Tuesday on Election Day. This occurs when the moon and the sun are on exact opposite sides of Earth, NASA says. See photos of the event here.

The next five asteroid approaches

Asteroids are zinging by our planet regularly, and some of them you can see without a telescope. Here's a regularly updated list of the next five asteroid approaches.

The best places to visit in 2024

Stargaze from moonscape deserts, or absorb high-design in a rising city. Peruse Conde Nast's annual look forward to travel destinations and dream up your next big trip.

Visualize the impact of satellites and space debris orbiting Earth

According to NASA, approximately 9,000 metric tons of debris are orbiting Earth, with 70% of it located in low Earth orbit, where the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station reside. The growing reliance on space-based platforms for modern technologies, including Starlink satellites, increases the risk of debris collisions.

Ten underrated astronomy studies from 2022

The James Webb Space Telescope understandably received a lot of coverage in 2022. This astrophysicist wants to highlight ten major studies published last year you might have missed.

Forty-nine top-notch photos of springtime around the world

Peruse this collection of stunning images gleaned from thousands submitted in a 2020 "springtime" contest which features close-ups and drone photos from Vietnam to Ireland.

Images of Jupiter in unprecedented detail

Jupiter has never seemed closer and clearer than it does in these images gathered by the James Webb Telescope. Behold beautiful auroras, hazy clouds, and more. This may not be the classic image of Jupiter (and its stormy Great Red Spot) you're used to, but it tells scientist, and us, more about the largest planet in our solar system.

Cosmic rays are high-energy particles from outside the solar system

Trillions of these particles moving close to the speed of light hit Earth daily, with some originating from beyond our galaxy. While the planet’s magnetic field blocks most, some collide with atoms in the atmosphere, producing cascades of exotic secondary particles.

Bray Falls' astrophotography gallery

Bray Falls is a deep sky photographer out of Phoenix, Arizona, using his own set-ups to capture dazzling images of nearby galaxies and much more. Check out his images here.

Spikes of light around stars are artifacts of light bending around the mirror supports

Through diffraction, electromagnetic waves can bend around obstacles, as observed in the silver linings at the edges of clouds, where light should be blocked. Within reflecting telescopes, starlight diffracts around struts—beams holding a secondary mirror in place—and spreads perpendicular to them, creating pairs of spikes.

Why meteorologists say summer starts June 1

There are at least two periods called summer: astronomical and meteorological. Astronomical summer mirrors the movement of celestial bodies and begins roughly around June 20, with the summer solstice. Meteorologists designate the beginning of June as the start of summer to make tracking weather patterns from year to year easier.

Ten impact craters you can visit

See photos of ten wild Earth impact craters across the world, the result of impacts occurring between thousands and millions of years ago.

Hubble revealed that planet-forming disks are common around young stars

One of Hubble’s early images captured 30 young star systems in the Orion region, each surrounded by material that looked like it was forming planets. These systems increased the number of data points scientists had to test planetary formation models.

See images of modern Druids who visit Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice

At the summer solstice, crowds at Stonehenge range from white-robed modern Druids with staffs and antler crowns to revelers with ox-horn trumpets or hula hoops—scenes regularly documented by photographers.

View the surface of Mars from NASA's Perseverance

Simulate a visit to the red planet with the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. This 3D interactive experience lets you explore various locations on the martian surface. See closeup images the rover has taken and view key points of interest. It's the next best thing to being there and certainly far safer!

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Why parts of the Earth are colder when the planet is closer to the Sun

The Earth orbits the Sun in an elliptical shape, and winter in the Northern Hemisphere occurs when the Earth reaches the point in its orbit closest to the Sun, known as perihelion. The lower temperatures result from the hemisphere tilting away from the Sun.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Poison ivy can cause rashes year-round since all parts of the plant contain urushiol, the oil that triggers our allergic response.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Coral polyps reproduce via broadcast spawning, where entire reefs simultaneously release reproductive cells for about one hour, once a year.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.