Mystery: Little Red Dots in the Early UniverseWhat are these little red dots (LRDs)? Nobody knows. Discovered only last year, hundreds of LRDs have now been found by the James Webb Space Telescope in the early universe. Although extremely faint, LRDs are now frequently identified in deep observations made for other purposes. A wide-ranging debate…Read More

Mystery: Little Red Dots in the Early UniverseWhat are these little red dots (LRDs)? Nobody knows. Discovered only last year, hundreds of LRDs have now been found by the James Webb Space Telescope in the early universe. Although extremely faint, LRDs are now frequently identified in deep observations made for other purposes. A wide-ranging debate…Read More

Red Sprites and Circular Elves Lightning over ItalyWhat’s happening in the sky? Lightning. The most commonly seen type of lightning involves flashes of bright white light between clouds. Over the past 50 years, though, other types of upper-atmospheric lightning have been confirmed, including tentacled red sprites and ringed ELVES. Although both…Read More

Sunset Solstice over StonehengeYesterday the Sun reached its southernmost point in planet Earth’s sky. Called a solstice, many cultures mark yesterday’s date as a change of seasons — from autumn to winter in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere and from spring to summer in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere. The featured image was taken just before the longest…Read More

A Solstice Sun TattooThe word solstice is from the Latin for Sun and to pause or stand still. And in the days surrounding a solstice the Sun’s annual north-south drift in planet Earth’s sky does slow down, pause, and then reverse direction. So near the solstice the daily path of the Sun through the sky really doesn’t change much. In fact, near the…Read More