Sky Watching Guide

A Perseid meteor burns up against the night sky over Big Bend National Park.

Ten Celestial Events to Look Forward to in 2021

Eclipses, meteor showers and dazzling views of planets will excite amateur and professional astronomers alike in North America

2020 is shaping up to be a great year for sky watching.

Ten Celestial Events You Don't Want to Miss in 2020

Whether you are a telescope enthusiast or just want to step outside to enjoy the night sky, these are the phenomena to look out for this year

Nevada Has a Massive New Dark Sky Sanctuary

The night skies at 100,000-acre Massacre Ridge are some of the starriest in the world

A STEVE lights up the night over British Columbia.

STEVE the Purple Beam of Light Is Not An Aurora After All

In a second study of mysterious phenomena, researchers discovered that solar particles hitting the ionosphere do not power the violet, vertical streaks

A view of the Perseid meteor shower over Northern Ireland in 2017.

Why This Year's Perseid Meteor Shower Promises to Be Especially Dazzling

Thanks to the moon’s conspicuous absence, those looking up at peak viewing hours will see 60-70 shooting stars every hour

Noctilucent clouds.

Climate Change Is Responsible for These Rare High-Latitude Clouds

A study shows that methane emissions are responsible for the increase of noctilucent clouds, which glow eerily at night

How to Catch a Glimpse of This Weekend's Lyrid Meteor Shower

Conditions are expected to be favorable, and experts say the shower might produce as many as 18 meteors every hour

An artist's illustration of the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit.

Five Things to Know About China's Falling Space Station

For one, it's exceedingly unlikely to cause you harm

The moon turned blood red when the moon passed through Earth's shadow on September 28, 2015.

Don't Miss This Celestial Triplet: a Blue Moon, Supermoon and Lunar Eclipse

January’s second full moon will appear slightly larger during its blood-red lunar eclipse

A Quadrantid fireball

Quadrantid Meteor Shower Kicks Off the New Year

The annual show is known for producing long-lasting, bright fireballs from asteroid 2003 EH1

A compound image captures the rising moon over the Futako-Tamagawa Rise complex in Tokyo, Japan.

Watch the Supermoon Rise Around the World in Pictures

The 'super' event was a great excuse to get outside and take in some celestial wonder—even if the moon didn't look all that different

Geminid meteor shower streaks across skies in December of 2013.

Geminid Meteor Shower Will Blaze Across Skies

Will you stay up to catch the show?

An aircraft takes off from Ronald Reagan National Airport, passing in front of the Moon as it rises above Washington D.C.

Super Pictures Capture This Year's Only Visible Supermoon

If you missed last night's celestial show, these images feature our lunar orb in all its glory

Geminids streak across the skies above the Alabama Hills. The approaching asteroid is thought to be the parent body of this annual meteor shower.

Three-Mile Wide Asteroid Will Zoom by Earth This December

But it will still be about 6.4 million miles away

A Leonid meteor in 2009

Leonid Meteor Shower Will Streak Through Skies This Weekend

Expect 10 to 25 shooting stars per hour as the planet passes through the debris of comet Tempel-Tuttle

The International Space Station can be seen as a small object in upper left of this image of the moon in the early evening Jan. 4 in the skies over the Houston area flying at an altitude of 242.8 miles.

Out-of-This-World Facts for International Observe the Moon Night

This Saturday, people around the world will be gazing up at the glowing orb in the sky

An Orionid meteor

Look Up: The Orionid Meteor Shower Will Streak Through Skies This Weekend

Bits of Halley's Comet are raining down on Earth, and the show will peak in the wee hours of Saturday morning

An October Harvest Moon Rises Tonight

The full moon closest to the equinox rises soon after sunset, casting a glow early evening that helps farmers bring in their crops

Have an hour or twenty? Take in the mesmerizing views from Slooh's live feeds of space.

Watch Free Live Streams of Outer Space

The astronomy website Slooh has lifted the paywall on footage from its telescopes

A meteor from the Perseids is seen falling over the Very Large Telescope array in Chile.

Catch the Perseid Meteor Shower's Fiery Show

Though the moon will partially obscure the normally dazzling sight, the shower's peak is still worth a peek

Page 3 of 4