Look north this evening a couple hours after sunset and you’ll easily spot the large shape of the Big Dipper as it sits upside-down in the sky, appearing to pour from its cup into that of the smaller ...

French astronomer Charles Messier did not intend to be remembered for his discoveries of galaxies, nebulae, and stars clusters when he looked to the sky in the 1750s. Dubbed the “Ferret of Comets” by ...

Look north this evening for Ursa Major the Great Bear, whose back half is best known as the Big Dipper. The two stars on the far end of the cup from the handle are called the Pointer Stars: These are ...

The Sun, along with more than 1,500 other stars, journeyed from the middle of the Milky Way to its current position a few billion years ago.

French astronomer Urbain Le Verrier was a tutor and an assistant at the Paris Observatory when the director, François Arago, asked him to investigate irregularities in Uranus’ orbit. Using extensive, ...

Io transits Jupiter’s broad disk late tonight, beginning at midnight EST. On the East Coast, Jupiter is still 40° high in the west at local midnight, readily visible as the brightest point of light in ...

You can credit Earth’s atmosphere with providing an orangish color to the Moon during an eclipse. The atmosphere acts like a filtered lens. It bends red sunlight into our planet’s shadow and scatters ...

Asteroid 7 Iris reaches opposition at 1 P.M. EST today. Now shining at 9th magnitude, you can best spot the main-belt world after dark, rising higher in the hours after sunset. By 10 P.M. local time, ...

Mercury, Venus, and Saturn put on an early-evening display in the west, while Jupiter dominates the rest of the night. Jupiter features many events involving its four major moons that are well worth ...

Russell W. Porter had a fascination with telescope-making that proved contagious: When he moved to Springfield, Vermont, in 1919, many townsfolk quickly became interested in his hobby, prompting ...

Saturn’s four brightest moons are lined up for ideal viewing this evening. You can catch the ringed planet for a few hours after sunset, as it slowly sinks toward the western horizon. Around 7 P.M.

Saturn is on display in the early-evening sky this month along with Uranus and Neptune, both within reach of binoculars. Jupiter dominates the night, reaching opposition on the 10th. The gas giant is ...