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25 earth astronomy news items found

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The Universe, Live: Rubin Observatory Flips the Switch on Real-Time Space Monitoring

Wednesday, February 25, 2026 by Richard Harris

The NSF DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has turned on a new capability for astronomy by issuing its first stream of scientific alerts that report what is changing across the night sky. This is the start of a real time discovery service at observatory scale. NSF DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory launches real-time discovery machine for monitoring the night sky. In an initial h...

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Viewing the Gegenschein

Saturday, February 21, 2026 by Richard Harris

If you spend enough nights outside with a camera and a thermos, the sky starts talking back. It speaks in whispers though, and the Gegenschein is one of its quietest voices -almost impossible to catch too. I like that. It rewards patience, good notes, and an honest eye. Chasing it will tune your instincts for transparency, light pollution gradients, and the way the ecli...

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The astronomical observatories in Chile

Thursday, February 5, 2026 by Mark Johnston

High in the Chilean Andes, beneath some of the darkest skies on Earth, world-leading observatories are reshaping our understanding of the universe - each in their own unique way. I had the amazing opportunity travel to Chile as an ACEAP Ambassador. The Astronomical Observatories in Chile (above) The Astronomy in Chile Educator Ambassador Program (ACEAP) is a colla...

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What is a FITS astrophotography file

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 by Richard Harris

When I first started out in astrophotography, I remember squinting at a folder of strange .fits files and wondering what on Earth I had gotten myself into. After a long night under the stars with my telescope and camera, these files were the fruits of my labor - yet if you clicked on one, it looked like an almost black, empty image. In spite of their unas...

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Automatic polar alignment for telescopes just got real

Monday, January 12, 2026 by Richard Harris

Polar alignment is a nuts-and-bolts procedure - an unglamorous but unavoidable step if we want precise tracking of the night sky with our telescopes. There’s nothing particularly elegant or mysterious about it. You’re simply aligning the polar axis (RA) of your mount as accurately as possible with the celestial pole of the planet you’re standing on...E...

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The startup bringing space telescopes to everyone

Sunday, November 30, 2025 by Richard Harris

What if you could schedule your own cosmic observation from space - no clouds, no light pollution, no billion-dollar budget? In a world where most CubeSats stare hungrily back at Earth, a small team is flipping the narrative. Bueche Labs, driven by startup veterans with a restless love for the stars, is on a mission to point affordable telescopes outward, opening the...

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Pleiades star cluster meets Supermoon in the night sky

Thursday, November 6, 2025 by Richard Harris

You can observe a unique celestial pairing as the Pleiades star cluster aligns closely with the full Moon, commonly referred to as a supermoon. This alignment offers a distinctive visual contrast between the bright lunar surface and the faint blue stars of the cluster. The event provides a natural opportunity for both amateur and professional astronomers to observe and ...

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Astronomy in November 2025

Wednesday, November 5, 2025 by Richard Harris

This month offers a bit of everything: a once-in-a-lifetime interstellar visitor passing through, a brilliant supermoon lighting up the sky, two bright comets fading out after their October glory, planets dancing in interesting ways, and even a couple of meteor showers (plus the promise of the auroras glimmering for those far north). It&rsq...

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ZuluAlpha remote observatory phase 1 reservation now open

Monday, October 20, 2025 by Austin Harris

The newly launched ZuluAlpha remote observatory near Sutherland, South Africa, is now accepting reservations for Phase 1 of its remote hosting facility. Built on a high plateau under some of the darkest skies on Earth, the observatory allows astronomers, astrophotographers, and research institutions to operate telescopes and instruments remotely. The site has been desig...

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Interstellar Comet 3I ATLAS observed by NASA as it approaches Mars

Friday, October 10, 2025 by Austin Harris

A rare celestial visitor from beyond the solar system is offering scientists a brief opportunity to study material that formed around another star. Known as Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS, the object is only the third confirmed interstellar body to pass through our solar system. Discovered in July 2025, it is now being tracked by NASA’s fleet of space-based and groun...

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Reflect Orbital satellites could roast the night sky!

Tuesday, October 7, 2025 by Richard Harris

Are you kidding me? As if the ever-growing wall of light pollution from every city, streetlight, and LED billboard wasn’t already bad enough, now we’ve got a startup that wants to beam sunlight back down to Earth at night. Reflect Orbital - backed by Sequoia Capital and Baiju Bhatt, no less - wants to fill the sky with thousands of satellites th...

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Unistellar anniversary promotion 10 percent off telescopes

Friday, September 26, 2025 by Richard Harris

Unistellar telescopes is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a global promotion offering 10 percent off its smart telescope lineup. The milestone reflects a decade of innovation in augmented optics, as well as the development of citizen science programs in partnership with NASA and the SETI Institute. Founded in Marseille in 2015, Unistellar has grown into a compan...

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October Super Hunter Moon brings a double treat with Harvest Supermoon

Thursday, September 25, 2025 by Austin Harris

The October full Moon in 2025 will bring a rare alignment of astronomical events. Known as the Hunter’s Moon, it will also be a supermoon and will serve as the year’s Harvest Moon. The combination makes it a notable moment for skywatchers, enhanced by close encounters with Saturn and the Pleiades star cluster. Above Photo Credit: The 18 September 202...

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Core of Andromeda galaxy by Weitang Liang, Qi Yang, Chuhong Yu

Saturday, September 20, 2025 by Austin Harris

The 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, organized by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, showcased a wide range of astrophotography from around the world. The competition received over 5,500 entries from 69 countries, including submissions from both amateur and professional photographers. Categories included stars and nebulae, skyscapes, aurorae, our S...

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Planets outside our solar system reaches 6,000

Friday, September 19, 2025 by Richard Harris

The exploration of planets outside our solar system has been one of the most fascinating scientific endeavors of our time. The expanse of the universe harbors countless mysteries, and the discovery of exoplanets has opened a new chapter in our quest to understand the cosmos. As of now, NASA scientists have cataloged over 6,000 exoplanets, marking an extraordinary milest...

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Cloud Appreciation Day 2025 is here

Friday, September 12, 2025 by Richard Harris

For us astronomers—clouds can suck (on Earth anyway). But cloud Appreciation Day is an annual initiative by the Cloud Appreciation Society that invites people worldwide to stop, look up, and celebrate the clouds above them. The event encourages participants to photograph their local skies, write reflections, and submit their contributions to the Memory Cloud Atlas...

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Rectangular telescope design promises shortcut to earth 2.0

Tuesday, September 9, 2025 by Richard Harris

Every so often, an weird idea comes along that makes you sit back and wonder why we didn’t think of it sooner. This talk of building a rectangular telescope instead of another big round one might seem odd at first. Folks are used to round mirrors and dishes because that’s what we see in everyday life. But when you peel back the layers, the logic makes good s...

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AM3N harmonic equatorial mount arrives

Wednesday, August 27, 2025 by Richard Harris

There’s a special kind of relief that washes over a backyard astronomer when setting up under the stars becomes easier. I remember nights wrestling with a bulky mount and a counterweight heavy enough to anchor a canoe (anyone rememember the Atlas mounts?). If old Mark Twain were here, he might chuckle at the sight of me tiptoeing around a tripod, trying not to dro...

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Solar weather forecast AI model unveiled

Wednesday, August 20, 2025 by Russ Scritchfield

IBM and NASA have introduced Surya, an artificial intelligence system designed to predict solar weather with unprecedented accuracy. Named after the Sanskrit word for the Sun, Surya is purported to be a major leap forward in the ability to safeguard technology and infrastructure from the volatile activity of our nearest star. Now available as an open-source model on Hug...

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See Mercury early morning August 2025

Sunday, August 17, 2025 by Richard Harris

Mercury, the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system, orbits the sun every 88 days. Its swift journey around the sun means that it often appears close to the sun in our sky, making it challenging to observe. Mercury passes between Earth and the sun approximately every 116 days, a position known as inferior conjunction. During this time, Mercury is lost in the ...

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ZWO Astronomy photographer of the year 2025

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 by Richard Harris

The shortlist for the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2025 competition has been unveiled. From a blood moon hanging over Shanghai to a family portrait of the Solar System and a close-up of a comet's streaming tails, distant astronomical wonders are photographed in magnificent detail for all to admire. Now in its 17th year, in 2025 the competition received a r...

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Backyard radio telescope

Sunday, August 10, 2025 by Richard Harris

To celebrate a major milestone, the amatuer astronomer Angela Collier decided to take on something many space enthusiasts only dream about, building a working radio telescope in the backyard. What began as a casual idea turned into a hands-on citizen science project involving soldering, assembling equipment, and diving deep into both classical and modern physics. T...

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Helio highlights

Thursday, August 7, 2025 by Russ Scritchfield

In July 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon. Now, NASA and its international partners in the Artemis accords are working to send humans back there, this time to stay. The trip will be challenging, especially since space is a very uninviting place for humans! One unexpected source of danger will be the Sun. Image...

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PARISTAR star party in the Pisgah National Forest

Wednesday, August 6, 2025 by Richard Harris

Each year, amateur astronomers across the Southeast look forward to one of the most accessible and friendly star party weekends in the region: the Star Party at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, better known as PARI. Set in western North Carolina, surrounded by forest and far from city lights, PARI is a certified Dark Sky Park with Bortle 2 conditions, some of...

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All Sky Map

Monday, August 4, 2025 by Russ Scritchfield

Sky charts have always been a cornerstone of amateur and professional astronomy. From books like Turn Left at Orion to iconic maps by Wil Tirion, they provide orientation and inspiration under the stars. Continuing in that tradition but innovating for real-world usability, Steve Berardi has released the All Sky Map, a rugged, full-sky reference chart designed to be take...

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