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

Long Shadows of the Montes CaucasusWhen the Moon is at its first quarter phase, the Sun rises along the Montes Caucasus as seen from the lunar surface. The lunar mountain range casts the magnificent, spire-like shadows in this telescopic view from planet Earth, looking along the lunar terminator or the boundary between lunar night and day. Named…Read More

Jupiter and the Meteors from GeminiJupiter, the Solar System’s ruling gas giant, is the brightest celestial beacon at the center of this composite night skyscape. The scene was constructed by selecting the 40 exposures containing meteors from about 500 exposures made on the nights of December 13 and 14, near peak activity for this year’s annual…Read More