3+ day, 17+ hour ago  (506+ words) Millions come to EarthSky for night sky news and trusted science. Your donation keeps us free and accessible for all. Astronomers know of three different categories of black holes. There are the supermassive black holes, which are the beasts that…...

3+ day, 16+ hour ago  (783+ words) Mars is a harsh and unforgiving place. But, eventually, human astronauts are expected to go there. And when they do, they’ll have companions: pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes that live in and on the human body. Could some of them survive? Tommaso…...

4+ day, 15+ hour ago  (512+ words) Astronomers have found a hidden planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. This star, 63 light-years away in the southern constellation Pictor, was already known to have 2 planets. This 3rd planet is now the faintest ever imaged from Earth. Video via ESO. EarthSky…...

5+ day, 12+ hour ago  (81+ words) Best deep-sky photos of June 2026 from the EarthSky community EarthSky Thank you, EarthSky community Visible planets and night sky guide for July If EarthSky has ever helped you discover something new, prepare for an eclipse, spot a planet, or simply…...

5+ day, 13+ hour ago  (736+ words) Dwarf planet Pluto and Saturn’s moon Titan are very different worlds, but it seems they share something unusual in common. Scientists said in late June that they’ve detected an unknown molecule on both Pluto and Titan. This mysterious molecule has…...

6+ day, 15+ hour ago  (1270+ words) By Samantha Lawler, University of Regina and Aaron Boley, University of British Columbia A giant mirror to create sunlight on demand was just approved by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), despite opposition from astronomers and the public, and…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago  (925+ words) EarthSky isn’t powered by billionaires. We’re powered by you. Support EarthSky’s 2026 Donation Campaign and help keep science accessible. ESA said on July 6, 2026, that the Euclid space telescope has discovered 31 of the most ancient quasars yet known. And that includes the…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago  (932+ words) Astronomers discover most exoplanets when they pass in front of their stars. Sometimes they discover one when they see a star wobbling slightly due to the planet’s gravity. But researchers at the University of New Mexico have just found a…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago  (643+ words) EarthSky isn’t powered by billionaires. We’re powered by you. Support EarthSky’s 2026 Donation Campaign and help keep science accessible. The size of the planet makes it a super-Earth. Those are rocky planets that are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. The…...

2+ week, 10+ hour ago  (863+ words) We’ve never needed good science more than we do right now. Support EarthSky in 2026 and help us keep it going strong. Just like those in our solar system, planets orbiting other stars come in a wide range of sizes and…...