This artist’s illustration represents the start of the alert stream from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The summit facility is on a rocky ridge with the Milky Way above. The
This artist’s illustration represents the start of the alert stream from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The summit facility is on a rocky ridge with the Milky Way above. The
View larger. | NASA’s Curiosity rover captured this closeup view of some of the red planet’s boxwork – or “spiderweb” – formations on September 26, 2025. These “spiderwebs” on Mars
Astronomers use the term orbital resonance to describe the way planets can gravitationally affect each other when their orbits line up in a regular way. Here, we see 2 planets
Artist’s concept of a galaxy with an active supermassive black hole millions to billions of times the mass of the sun – also known as a quasar – at its
From a Northern Hemisphere location, face generally northward to find the Big Dipper asterism in the constellation Ursa Major. Look mid-evening or later in February, earlier in March. Draw an
Draw an imaginary line from 2 bright stars in the easy-to-see constellation Orion the Hunter to star-hop to the “twin” stars Castor and Pollux. The line goes from Orion’s bright
View larger. | Artist’s illustration depicting the skylight – a hole in the ceiling of the lava tube – that leads to the subsurface lava tube on Venus. Image via
In 2019, NASA’s New Horizons mission flew by Kuiper Belt object 486958 Arrokoth. Arrokoth has a snowman shape – or 2-lobed figure – that is common in our outer solar
View larger. | NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this stunning view of Saturn and Titan in 2012. The thin rings are seen edge-on here, casting a shadow, with Titan floating in
Here’s an astronomer’s view of a star obscured by streaks from Starlink satellites. Are there too many satellites in orbit around Earth? Image via Rafael Schmall/ NOIRLab. The number of






