Unicorn, Fox Fur and Christmas TreeA star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, this beautiful but complex arrangement of interstellar gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. Seen toward the celestial equator and near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the seasonal skyscape…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

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