Space

Venus, which has been such a prominent object in the western evening twilight sky since the start of spring, is now entering its final full month of visibility. With each passing day, it drops a bit lower in the southwest sky and sets a bit earlier and closer to the vicinity of the sun. By month’s end, making a Venus sighting will be rather difficult as it will be following the sun to below the…

New research into the interior of Mars further emphasizes that the Red Planet is a world of two very different halves. Deep inside the southern hemisphere of Mars, the temperature is up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees Celsius) warmer than beneath the northern hemisphere, deepening the mystery of the strange dichotomy between the Red Planet’s flattened north and craggy southern…

A gorgeous partial lunar eclipse delighted stargazers overnight on Aug. 27-28, as Earth’s shadow darkened the full “Sturgeon Moon” in an impressive display of orbital mechanics, and we’ve got the photos to prove it! The lunar eclipse occurred as Earth passed between the sun and the moon, granting viewers a spectacular view of our planet’s deep umbral shadow as it…

Tonight (Aug. 27-28), the full Sturgeon Moon will slip into Earth’s shadow, creating a stunning “almost blood moon” as up to 96.2% of the lunar surface disappears into the darkest part of our planet’s shadow, the umbra. At maximum eclipse, much of the moon may take on an eerie reddish hue as sunlight filtered through Earth’s atmosphere is refracted into the shadow…