EarthSky

Dark matter makes up a large proportion of galaxies like the Milky Way, but scientists are still figuring out what it is. New telescopes like the Rubin Observatory could help astronomers find dark matter. Image Rubin Observatory/ NOIRLab/ SLAC/ NSF/ DOE/ AURA/ B. Quint. Dark matter makes up about 85% of the universe’s matter, but cannot be seen directly. Researchers have found possible dark matter hints, but the evidence is not yet conclusive. New telescopes could help confirm whether

View larger/ full image. | This image of Comet 3I/ATLAS shows the interstellar comet shining against a background of stars. The European Space Agency’s JUICE spacecraft obtained this image and other data on November 6, 2025. New analysis of data from the James Webb Space Telescope shows that Comet 3I/ATLAS has methane, and a lot of it. Image via ESA/ Juice/ JANUS. Comet 3I/ATLAS is the 3rd known interstellar object to enter our solar system. We are still learning about its composition. Ne

On Thursday morning, the National Weather Service upgraded the threat for severe weather to a level 4 out of 5. Image via NOAA. Update: On Thursday morning, NOAA updated the threat of severe weather in northern Illinois and surrounding areas to a level 4 out of 5. The update for moderate risk is because conditions are right for widespread and intense damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes. The tornadoes could be as strong as EF3. This region of the Midwest should expect two rounds of severe we

The year’s earliest sunrises don’t happen on the summer solstice. For much of the Northern Hemisphere, they’re happening now. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the earliest sunsets that come before the winter solstice in June. The yearly cycle of sunrise and sunset times is easy to miss. But once you start noticing this cycle, it reveals the deeper rhythm of Earth’s journey around the sun … and your place in it. When to look: The exact dates of the earliest sun

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Makrem Larnaout in Morneg, Tunisia, captured this image – with airglow – on June 18, 2023. Thank you, Makrem! And what a fantastic display! Read more about this image. You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter. What is airglow? Airglow is the light of excited atoms high in Earth’s atmosphere. And it’s usually too faint for the eye alone to see. But

The constellation Lyra the Harp. It’s made of a triangle and a parallelogram. Its brightest star is Vega. Then, look next to it for Epsilon Lyrae, the famous Double Double star. Lyra is the 52nd smallest of the 88 constellations, but it has a big presence. That’s because its brightest star Vega is the 5th brightest star in Earth’s sky, or the 2nd brightest star belonging to just the Northern Hemisphere. Vega is best known for being the corner of the famous Summer Triangle star

The Venus-Jupiter conjunction is one of the most spectacular astronomical events of 2026. Enjoy these photos our talented community photographers have captured so far from around the world. Vegastar Photography shared this lovely image of blazing Venus and bright Jupiter from Épernay, France, on June 1. Thank you! Best photos of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction 2026 The two brightest planets in our sky – Venus and Jupiter – have been inching closer each day in the west after sunset for

Since at least the 1970s, people around the world have reported a mysterious hum. It’s known simply as The Hum. What produces it? No one knows. But a new scientific study provides clues. Image via Idun Haugan/ Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)/ Norwegian SciTech News. People have reported a mysterious humming sound around the world since the 1970s. It’s called The Hum. Scientists have proposed possible explanations. But there may not be a single answer for the ph

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cecille Kennedy captured this scene on April 2, 2026, from Oregon. She wrote: “The sun is setting on the ever-present marine cloud layer over the ocean horizon. The seagull is flying north heading home.” Thank you, Cecille! Celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8. You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.   World Oceans Day 2025 World Oceans Day has fallen

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steven Bellavia in Smithfield, Virginia, captured this telescopic view of galaxy Messier 83 on May 11, 2026. Steven wrote: “Even down here in southern Virginia, M83, the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, only reaches an altitude of 22 degrees. So this is a challenging object to capture. M83, also called the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, is a barred spiral galaxy in the constellation borders of Hydra and Centaurus. Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille discovered it on February

Watch NASA’s perpetual ocean video here. NASA has created a second perpetual ocean video, building on the incredibly popular original video from 2011. The new video traces some of the strongest currents, showing surface ocean currents in white and deeper ocean currents in dark blue. The video helps scientists understand the characteristics of these currents better and ultimately understand how heat is transported globally in the ocean. NASA published this original article on February 27

On Monday, June 1, 2026, NASA detected a worsening ISS leak. And on Friday, June 5, it told the astronauts aboard the aging International Space Station to don spacesuits and shelter in an escape craft while repairs were attempted. A few hours later, they were given the all-clear to exit their shelter. But the leak is still there. Is an ISS evacuation still in the cards? Image via NASA/ Roscosmos. ISS leak worsens, as astronauts shelter then return At 13:04 UTC on June 5, 2026, NASA ordered astro

On Friday, June 5, 2026, NASA told the astronauts on the International Space Station to don spacesuits and shelter in their escape spacecraft after an air leak worsened. A few hours later, they were given the all-clear to exit their shelter. Could an ISS evacuation still be on the cards? Image via NASA/ Roscosmos. ISS evacuation? Astronauts briefly shelter as leak worsens At 13:04 UTC today (June 5, 2026), NASA ordered astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to put on their space

The Small Magellanic Cloud is our galactic neighbor. It’s a satellite galaxy that orbits our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists long assumed it was rotating like other galaxies, but new observations show its stars are expanding outward instead. The arrows show the motion of stars away from the center of the galaxy, and the colors indicate the velocities of the stars. Image via ESO/ VISTA VMC/ AIP/ S. Vijayasree. The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds are dwarf satellite galaxies of our Milky Wa

Did you know the names for the days of the week come from bodies in our solar system? Image via Pixabay/ EarthSky. Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter. Names for days of the week come from the solar system Did you know the days of the week are named after objects in our solar system? Sure, Sunday is easy for us to recognize as being named for the sun. And maybe you can even spot Monday as origina

The Summer Triangle, ascending for Northern Hemisphere observers in the east on June evenings. Are you in the Southern Hemisphere? See below. Chart via EarthSky. Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter. Northern summer is Summer Triangle time During the summertime in the Northern Hemisphere, the days are long. The sun is high in the midday sky. And our summer sky is with us, too. Watch for the famous

The Arietids are an active shower, but they’re visible mostly in daytime. Watch for them in the sunrise direction in the dark hour before dawn from May 22 to July 3. They’ll be best around June 10. You’ll be looking for meteors that shoot up from the horizon. The radiant is below the constellation Aries the Ram. Chart by EarthSky. June 2026 daytime meteor shower … the Arietids Most meteor showers are easy to observe. Just find a dark sky, and look up! But what about meteo

The Blue Origin mega-rocket explosion took place at 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 28, 2026. On June 1, 2026, the CEO of Blue Origin released more information about the explosion and its aftermath. Image via SpaceFlight Now. Blue Origin mega-rocket explosion update On May 28, 2026, Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin was testing its New Glenn mega-rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida, when a huge explosion erupted in a fireball that you could see on the other side of the state. It was one of t

The constellation Norma in the Southern Hemisphere is meant to represent a right angle. Chart via EarthSky. What is the Great Attractor? The Great Attractor is a massive gravitational anomaly: an invisible, unimaginably colossal amount of mass in space that astronomers did not expect to find. They know it’s there because it’s pulling on everything around it. It’s like a cosmic tug-of-war champion, pulling millions of galaxies – including our own Local Group of galaxies &#

This is a view of the rare meteorite NWA 12774 under cross-polarized light. Scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder said the source of the meteorite might be a giant, early planet that shattered in a collision billions of years ago. Image via CU Boulder/ John Kashuba. Rare meteorite hints at giant early planet Fragmented rocks and debris in our solar system sometimes strike Earth, burning up in our atmosphere as meteors. Occasionally, those pieces of debris are large enough to survive