See a lunar eclipse share the night sky with the Milky Way

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.

Zoom into this mega-photo of the Milky Way galaxy

A telescope in Chile has captured 21,400 exposures of the central region of the Milky Way galaxy, and scientists created one composite image showcasing over 3 billion celestial objects. Zoom in here.

The crew of Artemis II captured a photograph of Earth setting as they orbited the moon

On April 6, 2026, the Artemis II astronauts captured a striking image of Earth setting as their spacecraft orbited the Moon, echoing the iconic Earthrise photo taken by Apollo 8's Bill Anders 58 years earlier.

Photographer catches a 'once in a blue moon' shot

A rare "super blue moon" occurred in August 2023, a phenomenon which will not occur again until 2037. Photographer Andrew McCarthy caught a stunning image of the larger-than-normal orb with an ironic twist: a JetBlue flight silhouetted against the...

Explore the Earth at night from space

See the planet in all its luminosity with this NightEarth app, an interactive spherical globe showing real satellite imagery of Earth. Toggle between views of real-time clouds, aurora borealis activity, and more.

Track all future solar eclipses and their projected paths of totality around the world

Solar eclipses are among the most awe-inspiring natural phenomena a person can witness, occurring when the Earth, Moon, and Sun align. This tool provides an interactive, data-rich visualization of the dramatic world events across time.

The accidental birth of radio astronomy and the benefits of a moon-based telescope

Detecting radio waves from distant celestial objects is complicated by noise from solar wind, which the nighttime side of the moon is shielded from. If lunar temperature extremes can be overcome, the environment may serve as an optimal future home for radio astronomy, a field that began in 1928 when a 30-meter-long directional antenna, mostly out of brass and wood, picked up signals from the Sagittarius constellation.

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

Colorful thunderstorm phenomena can be viewed from the International Space Station

Transient luminous events are lightning-related phenomena that occur in the atmosphere above storm clouds. These events often look like columns of red light resulting from electrical discharge, but may also appear as purple tendrils or long blue jets.

Moon's visibility is determined by its declination, equivalent to Earth latitude

The Moon's declination varies between approximately +28.7 degrees and -28.7 degrees, ensuring it rises and sets between latitudes of approximately 61.3 degrees north and south. This means there are places on Earth where the Moon is never visible above the horizon and places where it temporarily does not set.

Stellar photos from around the world of the 2020 Perseids

The annual Perseids meteor shower occurs in the Northern Hemisphere's summer, peaking usually around mid-August. The phenomenon is caused by the Earth's passing through a comet's debris trail of ice and dust, providing a weekslong spectacle for...

Rare chance for US states to see Northern Lights

A solar storm in July 2023 offered people in 17 American states, as well as Canada, an unusual chance to witness the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis. The 11-year solar cycle, reaching its peak in 2024, made the lights visible in places further south than usual. Read up on the announcement from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks here.

Watch the sunset at Stonehenge during the 2025 Summer Solstice

Each year, tens of thousands gathered at Stonehenge to witness the sun’s alignment with the stones during the solstice. Watch a replay of a lifestream of the event from 2025.

Visualizing Earth's space garbage

An unsavory byproduct of humanity's brilliant exploration of space, the Moon, and more, is the rapid production of space debris floating around in orbit. Its estimated over 25,000 objects are in orbit, a number that grows everyday as satellites are decommissioned, rockets enter orbit, and more. Now, you can visualize what this debris looks like from a zoomed-out perspective with this brief video.

In 2024, China announced plans to establish an international lunar research station

The strategy, which runs until 2050, focuses on advancing space science, fostering technological innovation, and exploring habitable planets and extraterrestrial life, beginning with landing astronauts on the moon before 2030.

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

How to sight the new crescent moon that starts Ramadan

Ramadan doesn't begin on a fixed date. Instead, it begins when a crescent moon is visually confirmed. The Royal Museums Greenwich explains the astronomy behind the sighting, including the conditions that must be met: the sun must be below the horizon, the moon must be above it, and the two must not be within the Danjon Limit (roughly 5 to 7 degrees of separation in the sky, as shown below).

The last day of the Lunar New Year culminates in the Festival of Lanterns

The Festival of Lanterns celebrates the first full moon of the year. Elaborate, colorful light displays are held throughout China, with many regions having their own unique traditions, from the candle-lit lanterns in the south to the elaborate lighted ice sculptures common in the northeast.

The moon's little-known, incredibly thin atmosphere

Earth's colorless, lifeless moon is often portrayed as devoid of an atmosphere. However, this fascinating article describes the very thin layer of gases floating above the surface of our celestial neighbor, a layer so thin it's technically known as...

See a timeline of the space race

This interactive timeline chronicles the space race from its Cold War origins to the moon landing, highlighting key figures, pivotal moments, and rapid technological advancements. It combines archival photos, video, and links to related material.

Watch an artist's impression of two neutron stars merging in a kilonova explosion

Such an event produces enough light to briefly outshine an entire galaxy and to produce characteristic gravitational wave and gamma-ray signals. On August 17, 2017, these signals were captured by the LIGO–Virgo and Fermi/INTEGRAL observatories, respectively, from a kilonova about 130 million light-years away.

The Earth orbits the sun within the Orion Spur arm of the Milky Way galaxy

The solar system is roughly halfway between the galaxy's outer rim and its center, which is located about 25,000 light years away. The Milky Way is itself one of hundreds of thousands of galaxies in the Virgo Supercluster.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

First-ever image of the sun's south pole

For the first time, we have clear images of the sun's mysterious south pole. Captured in March 2025, by ESA and NASA's Solar Orbiter, this footage reveals magnetic chaos that could unlock answers about solar storms, the sun's strange 11-year cycle, and why its atmosphere is hotter than its surface.

See February 2026's best science images, including raining iguanas.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

A 1919 eclipse validated general relativity and made Albert Einstein a celebrity

According to the theory, starlight should deflect around massive objects due to the warping of spacetime light travels through on its way to Earth. Comparing the locations of stars behind the Sun during the eclipse with their positions at night showed deflections that popularized Einstein's model.

View a photo essay of renewable power landscapes in China

Using a drone, Chinese photographer Weimin Chu captured the deployment of solar and wind power installations across the country, which accounted for half of all global installations in 2025. The images show modern infrastructure juxtaposed with natural landscapes and was featured in an award-winning exhibition presented by Greenpeace in 2025.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

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.'

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.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

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.

Massive blooms of microscopic plankton called dinoflagellates produce the neon blue light seen in glowing tides.

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 how fireworks are made and learn how metals like magnesium and copper are responsible for different colors.

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.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

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.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

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.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.

The 2026 Ebola outbreak in the DRC is spurring new Ebola vaccine development for the Bundibugyo species.