EarthSky

Large, bright, white egg-shaped object in space. It has several diffuse tail-like filaments streaming behind it, with stars in the background.

The European Space Agency has released a striking new image of interstellar #comet #3IATLAS from its #JUICE spacecraft, which is on its way to Jupiter. You can see a bright halo and long and fainter rays, jets, streams and filaments of gas and dust. 🛰️☄️🔭
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📸 ESA/ JUICE/ JANUS.

Two grey oval objects in space. The one on the left is larger.

Do you remember when #DART struck an asteroid? On September 26, 2022, planetary defense experts aimed the DART spacecraft at #Dimorphos, a little moon of the asteroid #Didymos. It changed the moonlet’s orbit, but also changed the orbit of the asteroid it didn't strike. 🛰️🪨
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📸 JHAPL.

A carpet of purplish flowers with a mountain behind.

For the 1st time in a decade, #DeathValley National Park is experiencing a #superbloom! While the park normally sees about 2 inches of rain in a year, it had 2.5 inches between November 2025 and January 2026. The extra rain awakened dormant seeds. 🌼💧
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📸 National Park Service.

A man and woman standing in front of an igloo with a spike on top that is glowing from the inside. A starry night sky is in the background.

Winter Earth & Sky at Mount Carleton Provincial Park ... 🌌 Stephane Picard sent us this photo from a #stargazing event in New Brunswick, Canada, last Friday. Thank you, Stephane! 📸
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See more great images, and submit your own photos, here:
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Two dots, one bigger and brighter (Venus) than the other (Saturn) in a bluish and orangish sky. There is a city below.

Juan Manuel Pérez Rayego captured #Venus and #Saturn yesterday, after sunset, from Mérida, Spain, and wrote: "Bright Venus and Saturn to its lower left, with an airplane and its trail above them. Thank you, Juan Manuel!
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See more great images and submit your own too:
ecp.earthsky.org

Chart showing the moon moving past 14 small dots representing the stars of Scorpius.

Hi stargazers! Tomorrow morning, the waning gibbous #moon will be near red #Antares. It’s the brightest star in the constellation of #Scorpius the Scorpion. Can you spot 3 moderately bright stars known as the Crown of Scorpius as well? 🌖🌌🔭

Watch a video:
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📸 EarthSky.org.

A new large coronal hole has emerged from the eastern horizon of our #sun. As it moves into a geoeffective position in the next days, the fast solar wind it produces will be sent our way, disturbing our magnetic field and potentially triggering #auroras. Stay tunned:
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📸 NOAA.

Butterfly with orange wings sitting on green leaves. Long black lines and white dots are also on the wings.

Cecille Kennedy in Lakeland, Florida, saw this colorful viceroy #butterfly sitting on green leaves last Friday. 🦋🌿Thank you, Cecille! 📸
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Go to EarthSky Community Photos to see more great images and submit your own recent photos:
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Closeup of yellow flower with beetle on it.

Juan Manuel Pérez Rayego in Mérida, Spain, saw this insect on a flower last week and wrote: "After a long rainy season, the sun came out and temperatures rose, bringing #spring a little early." See it at buff.ly/w3jBccT. Have your own nature photo? Share it here: buff.ly/cWu3RhR

Round sky chart with green ecliptic line going across, with Jupiter in the middle. Venus and Saturn are at the far west next to the horizon.

As seen from across Earth this month, the bright planet #Jupiter will be high in the sky as darkness falls. #Venus and #Saturn are next to the horizon in the west. Read more at EarthSky’s night sky guide: buff.ly/oYpLhg0
Get night sky news with EarthSky's free newsletter: subscribe.earthsky.org

An underwater closeup of a fish apparently peering at the camera, surrounded by a yellow haze.

#Spring is returning to the Northern Hemisphere, and fish in the Netherlands are swimming upstream to their spawning grounds. That's where you come in. Watch the livestream, and when you see a fish, ring the doorbell! Read more at: buff.ly/fTJCqZQ

📸 Fish Doorbell.

Poster of starry night sky with words Trying to take a break from social media? Get EarthSky's daily newsletter!

Want to take a break from social media? EarthSky's free newsletter brings the night sky, science news, and more directly to your inbox! Get it at subscribe.EarthSky.org.

🔭 📷️ Shireen Gonzaga

Spacecraft coronagraph image showing the Sun blocked by a red disk, revealing bright solar corona and a comet streaking past against a starry background.

In May 2024, the biggest solar storm recorded in 20 years hit Earth. It sent our planet’s atmosphere into overdrive, triggering #auroras. This storm also hit Mars. Read about what happened on the Red Planet at: buff.ly/unepnU8

📸 SOHO (ESA & NASA), NASA/SDO/AIA/ JHelioviewer/ D. Müller.

Aurora borealis glows green over snowy Finnish forest and cabins beneath a clear starry night sky.

A G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm brought gorgeous #auroras to high northern latitudes last night. EarthSky’s own C. Alex Young - a sun scientist and co-author of EarthSky's daily sun update - got to see them! More of Alex's photos here, along with tonight's prospects: buff.ly/WNDBg5Z

Woman in white pajamas stretching her arms while sitting up in bed beside a nightstand with an alarm clock and lamp.

At 2 a.m. today, clocks in most U.S. states and many Canadian provinces leapt forward one hour. #Daylightsaving time (DST) began. Don’t like daylight saving time? Blame New Zealand entomologist G.V. Hudson.

Here are some tips that might help!
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📸 Miriam Alonso/ Pexels.

Star chart: 2 ladle-shaped patterns of stars, with an arrow between them pointing from the Big Dipper to Polaris.

The Big Dipper's "pointer stars" help you spot #Polaris, the North Star. The #BigDipper is an easy-to-locate star pattern visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Both it and the Little Dipper look like big dot-to-dots of a kitchen ladle.

Read more at: buff.ly/fqrbHx2

Deep red full Moon rising above the dark ocean, casting a shimmering crimson reflection across the water beneath low clouds.

Steven Sweet in Mississauga captured this image and wrote, "Beautiful red #moonrise in a foggy sky. I had to use some interesting settings to capture this image." Thank you, Steven!
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Have a photo of your own to share? Submit it here!
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Tomorrow morning, the waning gibbous #moon will be near the star Zubenelgenubi. Then on Monday morning, it'll shine near the bright red star Antares. For more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide: buff.ly/nSksjEr

Or watch a video for more information, here!
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Sequence showing the Moon’s stages during a lunar eclipse, progressing from a bright full Moon through partial shadow to a deep red “Blood Moon.”

Did you see the total lunar #eclipse this week? Adolfo Lopez in Retalhuleu, Guatemala, did and sent us this beautiful progression from full moon to total eclipse. Thank you, Adolfo!

Relive the last total lunar eclipse in 3 years with this photo gallery: buff.ly/tMxqNaC

Map of US with green across the south from Texas to Virginia.

#Tornados in the central US have left at least 6 people dead. More severe weather is forecast for today and tomorrow. Read about the oncoming weather and see forecast maps here: buff.ly/20jybHn

📸 Map via NOAA.

Star chart showing the horizon and 2 moons, one for March 5 and one for March 6, on either side of the star Spica.

Tonight's waning #moon will have swept past the star Spica, the brightest light in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. Read about Spica. 🔭 And, for more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide at: buff.ly/nSksjEr

Or watch this video for more information!
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Star chart showing the three constellations that formed the ancient Argo Navis—Carina, Vela, and Puppis—with bright stars Sirius and Canopus labeled.

The #constellation of Puppis the Stern was once part of a much-larger constellation named Argo Navis, the Ship. In the 1700s, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided the Ship into 3 constellations. They are Puppis the Stern, Carina the Keel and Vela the Sails. 🔭 Read more about Puppis at: buff.ly/bGRE1RL

Oval map of near side of the moon. The yellow spots mark ridge-adjacent small mare ridges and the red spots mark standalone small mare ridges.

Moonquakes! Scientists have found new evidence of recent movement in the #moon's crust -- small ridges in the lunar maria are both young and widespread. 🔭 See the new map here: buff.ly/HiovMcb

📸 NASA/ GSFC/ Arizona State University/ The Planetary Science Journal (Open Access/ CC BY 4.0).

Map of the US with an orange and green area from Texas through Lake Michigan.

Spring has brought the return of severe #weather outbreaks of thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes to the U.S. More than 58 million people will be bracing for a threat of significant severe weather today. Read more at: buff.ly/20jybHn

📸 NOAA Storm Prediction Center.

Distant Earth in space with a gray, irregular, cratered space rock in foreground.

When #asteroid 2024 YR4 was first discovered, in December 2024, there were only a few observations to draw from. But yesterday, NASA said new Webb observations have allowed scientists to safely rule out a lunar impact in 2032. Read more: buff.ly/5ndMhgF

📸 urikyo33/ Pixabay.

Water bears on Mars: Wrinkly, kind of oval-shaped creature with no eyes and 6 stubby legs with claws.

You’ve probably heard of #tardigrades - better known as water bears. Now, a new study from researchers suggests they could one day help astronauts survive on Mars. Read how at: buff.ly/GDh3Gr1

📸 Terranaut/ Pixabay (Royalty Free).

Large and bright cocoon of gas in violet and yellow, over a multitude of distant stars.

It's the Jellyfish #Nebula! Andrew Stone in Cave Creek, Arizona, captured it last month and wrote it's a ... “galactic supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini, roughly 5,000 light-years from Earth." Thank you, Andrew!

See more deep-sky photos from February 2026: buff.ly/vNGSFTz

Sky photo with many stars and the Winter Hexagon outlined, its stars and a few more objects labeled.

Throughout history, humans looked at the stars and saw mythical beings, beasts and cultural touchstones. Our #constellations provide links to our ancestors. But most #asterisms - patterns within a constellation or stars in multiple constellations - are relatively new. 🌌🔭
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📸 A. Raka.

Hi stargazers! Tonight, the waning gibbous #moon will be near #Spica, the brightest star in #Virgo the Maiden. You can also catch them before dawn tomorrow. Don't miss them! 🌖🌌🔭

Watch this video:
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And visit EarthSky’s night sky guide:
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📹 EarthSky.org.

A man in the foreground. There is an image of Earth and the moon behind him. There are lines showing the Artemis 2 route from Earth to the moon.

Yesterday, expert #spaceflight journalist Eric Berger gave us the low-down on the huge recent changes to the #Artemis program, which will see humans set up a base on the #moon. Plus, he outlined the riskiest moments for the Artemis 2 astronauts. Watch the video here:
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📸EarthSky.org.