Just before dawn, curious clouds appeared on the horizon. They were strangely bright relative to the rest of the sky, and as the dawn progressed, other similar clouds became visible. Were they “contrails” from aircraft? A meteor’s smoke trail?
Later in the day, Anthony Arrigo, Utah Skies C0-Founder and President/CEO of Starry Night Lights brought to [...]

The little town of Tekapo, New Zealand (pop. 830) is fighting to preserve the night sky.
In 1965, officials of this pristine lakeside town recognized the importance of protecting the skies around the nearby Mount John Observatory and began putting controls on outdoor illumination.  According to an AP report, the ordinances require that, “low-energy sodium lamps [...]

Thanks to the slowing spin of the Earth on its axis (don’t worry, there is no immediate peril associated with the fact), the official timekeepers of the world must adjust their atomic clocks by adding a second to them tonight - 11:59:59 will happen twice! Enjoy your celebrations of 2008, your anticipations for 2009, and [...]

Once again as Santa brings gifts to all the good girls and boys, North American Aerospace Defense Command - NORAD - is tracking his progress east to west. “NORAD manages to keep track of him with satellites, radar, and strategically placed ‘SantaCams’,” says Navy Petty Officer Shane Wolenda. For more than 50 years, NORAD has [...]

Dark matter and normal matter have been wrenched apart by the tremendous collision of two large clusters of galaxies. The discovery, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, gives direct evidence for the existence of dark matter. "This is the most energetic cosmic event, besides the Big Bang, which we know about," said team [...]

The planet Jupiter will be at the closest point in its orbit to Earth tonight… a mere 410 million miles away This makes Jupiter appear bigger and brighter than usual. Look for the giant planet to rise in the east around sunset. It is so much brighter than any other star-like object that you [...]

Amateur astronomer Greg Piepol captured this enormous solar prominence along the southwestern limb of the Sun yesterday. Sunspot activity has been low for the last couple of weeks, but… that certainly doesn’t mean that our star is sitting quietly. Checkout Greg’s Sungazer.net website for more incredible images.