Anticrepuscular Rays: A Rainbow Fan over SpainYes, but can your rainbow do this? Late in the day, the Sun set as usual toward the west. However, on this day, the more interesting display was 180 degrees around — toward the east. There, not only was a rainbow visible, but an impressive display of anticrepuscular rays from the rainbow’s center. In…Read More

Wolf-Rayet Star 124: Stellar Wind MachineSome stars explode in slow motion. Rare, massive Wolf-Rayet stars are so tumultuous and hot that they are slowly disintegrating right before our telescopes. Glowing gas globs each typically over 30 times more massive than the Earth are being expelled by violent stellar winds. Wolf-Rayet star WR 124,…Read More

Comet G3 ATLAS DisintegratesWhat’s happening to Comet G3 ATLAS? After passing near the Sun in mid-January, the head of the comet has become dimmer and dimmer. By late January, Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) had become a headless wonder — even though it continued to show impressive tails after sunset in the skies of Earth’s Southern Hemisphere. Pictured…Read More

Nacreous Clouds over SwedenVivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of color wash across this skyscape from northern Sweden. Known as nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds, they are rare. But their unforgettable appearance was captured in this snapshot on January 12 with the Sun just below the local horizon. A type of polar stratospheric…Read More

The Variable Nebula NGC 2261The interstellar cloud of dust and gas captured in this sharp telescopic snapshot is seen to change its appearance noticeably over periods as short as a few weeks. Discovered over 200 years ago and cataloged as NGC 2261, bright star R Monocerotis lies at the tip of the fan-shaped nebula. About one light-year across and…Read More