What are #exoplanets? They are #planets orbiting other distant stars. Astronomers have confirmed more than 6,000 exoplanets. Astronomers found the 1st 2 exoplanets orbiting a pulsar in 1992. Then they found the 1st exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star in 1995. 🌌🔭 buff.ly/YybhN1X 📸 NASA/ Tim Pyle.

Of all the #comets suddenly soaring into our skies, #CometLemmon (C/2025 A6) might be the best of the year. And it favors Northern Hemisphere observers. In early October, it will cut a path underneath the Big Dipper. It will be closest to Earth on October 21, 2025. ☄️🔭 buff.ly/TzZxQFB 📸 J. Chumack.

Are you an #October baby? The best known October #birthstone is the #opal. Opals are amazingly diverse, taking on different appearances depending on how they formed. Precious opals, known for their flashy iridescent colors, are popular in jewelry. 💎 buff.ly/7WlDw4x 📸 Sevenopal/ Wikimedia Commons.

Join us at 12:15 p.m. CDT (17:15 UTC) as we preview 5 must-see #sky events in #October 2025! From the Super Harvest Moon with Saturn to the Orionid meteor shower and a rare Pleiades occultation. Plus the best times to catch Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. 🌌🔭 buff.ly/H0WEKdA 📸 EarthSky.

Tonight, see the #moon near #Capricornus! The bright waxing gibbous moon will hang in the south near the arrow-shaped constellation Capricornus the Sea-goat after sunset tonight. Capricornus is easy to see in a dark sky. It looks like an arrowhead! 🌔🌌🔭 buff.ly/nXurzth 📸 EarthSky.org.

After a week of voting, Explore.org has announced the victor of its 2025 Fat Bear Week competition: Chunk, a huge brown #bear with a broken jaw. Chunk overcame 11 formidably large opponents to take the title. 🐻 Read more at buff.ly/1WukPEH 📷 Explore.org.

The National Hurricane Center warned this morning that Hurricane Imelda (left) is expected to pass over Bermuda this evening, just a day after the island felt the effects of the much more distant Humberto (right). More on these #hurricanes at: buff.ly/MRJV0V0 📷 NOAA.

Wow! Astronomers have discovered a colossal hydrogen gas bridge between 2 small #galaxies. It spans 185,000 light-years, nearly twice the width of our Milky Way galaxy. This bridge is connected to a gas "tail," which stretches over 1.6 million light-years! 🌌🔭 buff.ly/OVCNEO7 📸 ICRAR/ D. Lang.

Hodge Albritton took this amazing photo this morning and wrote: "We were able to watch the light show as we traveled from US to Europe." Thanks for sharing your image with us, Hodge! buff.ly/w7WkIEh See more stunning images and submit your own too! buff.ly/BsHEyI8

Gamma Cephei, also called #Errai, is a moderately bright 3rd-magnitude star in the northern constellation #Cepheus the King. This star has played a major role in our understanding of #exoplanets, especially in multiple star systems. Read more about the star: buff.ly/jbHdhrS 📸 EarthSky.org.

I'm ready for my closeup! Mandy Daniels in Derbyshire, UK, captured this great shot of a Syrphus Ribesii #hoverfly sitting on flowering ivy seed heads on Monday. Thank you, Mandy! 📸 buff.ly/F7WI6uI Go to EarthSky Community Photos to see more great images, and submit your own:
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Hi stargazers! Join EarthSky's Marcy Curran in a video preview of the #moon phases - and the morning and evening #planets - for the month of October. We've got the full Harvest Moon on October 6-7 and it's a #supermoon. The morning planets are #Venus and #Jupiter. 🌓🔭 buff.ly/nXurzth 📹 EarthSky.org.

The October 6-7 full moon will be a Super Harvest Moon, bigger, brighter and later in the year than usual. In this video, EarthSky's Deborah Byrd explains what makes a full moon a Harvest Moon, the science behind #supermoons and tips for observing it: buff.ly/NJIxqCK 📸 Jenney Disimon/EarthSky.org.

This evening, the #moon will float near the handle of the #Teapot, an asterism in #Sagittarius the Archer. You can use the spout of the Teapot to find the center of our #MilkyWay galaxy in your sky. For more sky events, visit EarthSky's night sky guide: buff.ly/nXurzth 📸 EarthSky.org.

It's been a busy day on the #sun. Our star unleashed 4 M (moderate) flares over the past 24 hours, alongside this spectacular #prominence eruption early this morning. Plus, a stream of high-speed #solarwind triggered G3 (strong) geomagnetic storming at Earth. Read more: buff.ly/QxHwJbs 📸 NOAA/GOES.

A new study says potentially #dangerous nearby #asteroids could be invisible to astronomers. These space rocks share #Venus' orbit and spend most of their time hidden by the sun's glare. They could come perilously close to #Earth: buff.ly/xbor8VE 📸 Valerio Carruba/ Google Gemini/ Agência FAPESP.

Behold #Orion's Sword! Jeremy Likness in Newport, Oregon, captured this view last Thursday and wrote: "This is the Great Orion nebula (M42), De Mairan's nebula (M43) and the Running Man nebula (NGC19677)." Thanks! 🌌📸 buff.ly/O4BI53o See more great images and submit your own photos: buff.ly/BsHEyI8

#Saturn after #opposition ... Guido Santacana in San Juan, Puerto Rico, captured this great view last Friday. Thank you, Guido! 🪐🔭📸 buff.ly/kxqJC9W Go to EarthSky Community Photos to see more great images, and submit your own recent photos:
 buff.ly/BsHEyI8

Hiking in the #Himalayas, anyone? Sudhir Sharma in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand, India, took this photo on Saturday and wrote: "Himalayan #mountain range as seen from Shri Kedarnath Temple in Uttarakhand, India." Thank you, Sudhir! 🏔️📸 buff.ly/4hBpkoC See more great images:
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The Super Harvest Moon is almost here, on October 6-7! It is bigger, brighter and later than usual in 2025. Join us LIVE today at 12:15 CDT (17:15 UTC) as we explain the science behind #supermoons and tips for observing the #HarvestMoon in your sky. Watch here: buff.ly/NJIxqCK 📹 EarthSky.org.

Hi stargazers! Tonight, the 1st quarter #moon will float among the stars of the #Teapot of #Sagittarius the Archer and near the center of the# MilkyWay galaxy. But the moon’s glow might make spotting the Teapot’s stars difficult. They’ll set around midnight. 🌓🌌🔭 buff.ly/kJbwDvw 📹 EarthSky.org.

Check out this #rainbow in #Iceland! Paul C. Peh saw this rainbow in Geysir on Sunday at the filming location of the movie Prometheus. Thank you, Paul! 🌈📸 buff.ly/DneQLTR Go to EarthSky Community Photos to see more great images, and submit your own recent photos:
 buff.ly/coL17AB

Scientists have unveiled the largest universe #simulation ever created. The cosmological map contains 3.4 billion galaxies modeled with 400-plus different properties. Read here: buff.ly/vPYedNv 📸 Jorge Carretero & Pau Tallada (Port d’Informació Científica/ Euclid Consortium).

Most of the time, the #HarvestMoon falls in September. But this year it’s in October. It's the October 6-7 full moon — bigger, brighter, and later than usual! Join us LIVE as we discuss it tomorrow at 12:15 CDT (17:15 UTC). Watch here: buff.ly/TmDO4In Or, read here: buff.ly/KP65A4k

The new #comet is becoming more visible! Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) - confirmed in September 2025 in images from the SOHO spacecraft’s SWAN camera - is now up to around magnitude 5.9. Find out how to see it at: buff.ly/AFPPPM8 📸 Michael Mattiazzo.

#Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in our solar system. Researchers in Brazil, Germany and France say Mercury might've formed when 2 bodies of similar mass collided. Read on: buff.ly/xsRzrMz 📸 NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Wikimedia Commons.

NASA said Tuesday that the #Artemis2 mission - intended send a crew around the moon - could launch as early as February 2026, or no later than April 2026. Read more about Artemis 2 at: buff.ly/kYUsq4T 📸 Greg Diesel Walck.

Tonight, the fat waxing crescent #moon will float near the Teapot asterism of #Sagittarius the Archer and the center of the #MilkyWay galaxy. The moon’s glow might make spotting the Teapot’s stars difficult. They’ll set around midnight. Visit EarthSky’s night sky guide at: buff.ly/nXurzth

Sunspot area AR4232 unleashed a super-strong M6.5 flare at 8:40 UTC this morning, bringing overall solar activity levels to high. The event also produced a blast of sun-stuff that sprayed solar plasma out into space. Read the #sun news at: buff.ly/Tb71haX 📸 NOAA/ GOES.

Thousands of #meteors rain down on Earth every night and citizen scientists are mapping them as they fall. EarthSky’s Dave Adalian talked with SETI astronomer and founder of the CAMS project, Peter Jenniskens. Find out how they spot meteors and how to join! Watch here! buff.ly/u0dRDCm

Tameem Altameemi in the UAE captured this telescopic view on September 19: "I captured #comet C/2025 A6 (#Lemmon). In the image, you can see the bright #nucleus at the core, the surrounding #coma of gas and dust, and a faint dust #tail stretching away from the #sun." Thank you! buff.ly/QZhDf9T

Eliot Herman in Anchorage, Alaska, took this photo and wrote: "Sundogs are common, this one was very bright, bright enough that it is reflected in the Cook Inlet in Anchorage, Alaska, as rainbow colors." Wonderful! Thank you, Eliot. buff.ly/pENysWv Read more about #sundogs: buff.ly/79zCs8N

Bill Kozar in Taylorsville, Indiana, took this photo and wrote: "Suspended under a leaf like a Christmas ornament, the #chrysalis from a #monarch caterpillar is in its second stage of life. The transformation to get here is both fascinating to witness and time consuming." Thank you! buff.ly/KuDB4uX

Tonight, the waxing crescent #moon will lie close to the brightest star in #Scorpius the Scorpion: #Antares. A few lucky observers will see the moon occult – or pass in front of – Antares at 18 UTC on September 27. For more details, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide: buff.ly/nXurzth 📹 EarthSky.org.

Mandy Daniels captured this image in the UK on Tuesday and wrote: "A #hoverfly on pink flowers in the garden.” Thanks, Mandy! buff.ly/fDSOspU Have a photo of your own to share? We can't wait to see it. 👀 Submit it here! buff.ly/Vpup80H

Randy Strauss in Nebraska captured this image and wrote: "The funny thing about red-tailed #hawks is that many of them don't actually have red tails. But this guy does. In fact, this is about the most red-tailed hawk I've seen." Thank you! buff.ly/7wftTtw

Over the past day, we had 4 M-class (moderate) flares and a huge blast in the solar southeast! The #sun delivered a flurry of 16 flares over the past day, including the 4 Ms plus 12 C-class (common) flares. Read the sun news at: buff.ly/QxHwJbs 📸 NOAA/ GOES.

Artemis 2 is the next step in humanity’s journey from the #moon to #Mars. This mission will be the Artemis program’s 1st crewed mission, with 4 astronauts flying around the moon in 10 days. Artemis 2 is scheduled for no later than April 2026. Read the latest mission update: buff.ly/kYUsq4T 📸 NASA.

Steven Bellavia in New York shared this image and wrote: "Supernova remnants are formed when a large star ends its life in a violent #supernova explosion. G65.3+5.7 is an extremely faint supernova remnant in #Cygnus, with portions in #Vulpecula." Thank you, Steven! buff.ly/SffJXfS

It’s autumn for us in the Northern Hemisphere. There’s a chill in the air, and nights are getting long. Maybe you’ve been standing outside on an autumn evening, looking for the #BigDipper? And you’re looking, but you can’t find it. Why not? Read about it at: buff.ly/fJm4gh1 📸 Jeremy Likness.

Christoph Stopka took this pic from the #mountains and wrote: "The stuff photographers' dreams are made of: A storm had draped a blanket of snow overnight over Colorado’s Southern Rockies, and the Aspen forests, with their multicolored display, glowed like an explosion of colors!" Thanks!

As spring arrives in the Southern Hemisphere, a massive #iceberg – once the world's largest – is now breaking up in the South Atlantic. On September 11, NASA's Terra satellite captured iceberg A-23A and its fragments. Its largest piece is still about the size of Chicago. buff.ly/i64tVCC 📷 NASA

Tonight's waxing #moon will begin moving through #Scorpius the Scorpion. This is one of the few constellations that resembles its namesake. And #Antares, the bright red star near the moon both tonight and tomorrow night, is also worth a look. For more sky events, visit: buff.ly/nXurzth

Earlier this month, NASA provided an update on the possible discovery of a #biosignature by the Perseverance rover in Jezero crater. Now, another team of scientists has said the crater experienced multiple periods of habitability. Read more at: buff.ly/4Vn9J53 📸 NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ MSSS/ JHUAPL.

NASA has said the International Space Station will cease operations at the end of 2030. What will replace it? What will happen when it's gone? Aerospace engineer John M. Horack tells us what might happen when it's gone. Read here: buff.ly/ADMgG8x 📸 NASA/ Roscosmos.

Humberto has now become this season's 3rd hurricane, and forecast to become a major #hurricane. More than 800 miles SW of Humberto is another tropical wave that forecasters expect will become Tropical Storm Imelda. It could bring possible impacts to the U.S. buff.ly/MRJV0V0 📸 NOAA/ CIRA.

Yesterday, EarthSky's Will Triggs and Michael Martin of Late Night Astronomy discussed the best things you can see in the night sky with the unaided eye, and how those sights change with #binoculars or a #telescope. Watch the video here: buff.ly/AKRtMGK 📸 Wo Wehali/ EarthSky.org.

See the Great Square of Pegasus galloping into the autumn sky! Look east just after dark for the #GreatSquare around the time of the September equinox. Throughout late September and October evenings, the Great Square will be ascending in the eastern evening sky. 🌌🐎🔭 buff.ly/zo2GpVx 📸 EarthSky.org.

Do you love waterfalls? Immerse yourself in this photo gallery video of #waterfalls captured by our EarthSky community photographers located around the globe. They are beautiful and always a delight to see. Enjoy! 💦📸 Watch the video here: buff.ly/2Sns9EB 📸 Paul C. Peh.

Thousands of #meteors rain down on Earth every night and citizen scientists with Cameras with Allsky Meteor Surveillance (CAMS) are mapping them as they fall. Watch our interview with #SETI astronomer Peter Jenniskens to find out what CAMS might find and how you can join the search: buff.ly/XyNZjKN