Cosmic Perspectives from Amid the Stars:
Astronomy Blog

Have you ever wondered where to point your telescope? If you’ve ever looked into a listing of astronomical objects, you’ve likely noticed that many of the galaxies, nebulae, and more are labeled with an M followed by a number. That means the object in question is part of the Messier Catalog, a listing of 110 astronomical objects used worldwide that features some of the best targets for any telescope.

We’re about to get a whole new perspective of the universe. On August 30, 2026, NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the newest telescope in a lineage including Hubble and Webb. With its specialized design and new technology, the Roman Telescope is poised to change the way we view the cosmos.

As of August 24, 2026, it will have been 20 years since Pluto was officially reclassified from planet to dwarf planet. While there are those who argue that Pluto didn’t deserve to be “demoted,” the history of Pluto and our perceptions of it paints a very different picture. So why isn’t Pluto considered a planet anymore?

Earth is the only planet we know in the entire universe to support life. In a universe as big as ours, life likely exists out there somewhere by sheer odds alone. But for now, Earth is all we know and the only example of a habitable planet we can study. So why can Earth support life when so many other planets fail? In order to predict what other planets might support life, we first need to understand life on Earth. What is it that makes Earth perfect for life?

In some parts of the world on August 12, 2026, day will temporarily turn to night as the Moon passes in front of the Sun, blocking its light during a rare solar eclipse. Throughout history, solar eclipses have been viewed with a unique combination of awe and fear. As wonderful a spectacle as they are, equally interesting is the science behind them and the series of coincidences that allow them to exist.

The exoplanet LHS 1140 b was first discovered in 2017. It was immediately a planet of note because it orbited within its star’s habitable zone—just the right distance from the star to potentially support liquid water on its surface. Nearly 10 years later, LHS 1140 b has become the center of a massive milestone in the search for life on exoplanets, thanks to a discovery announced July 16, 2026.

Nothing in stargazing quite beats the experience of spotting a shooting star. For just the briefest of moments, a bright light streaks across the sky in a dazzling display. With the Perseids Meteor Shower starting this week on July 17 and lasting until August 24 it’s a great time to go hunting for shooting stars.

Take a look into the early evening sky any night this summer, and you’ll see a bright light over the western horizon, just above where the sun set. It looks like an incredibly bright star, but it’s actually the planet Venus. Venus has often been called Earth’s sister planet. It’s a rocky planet with about the same size and mass, as well as being the closest planet to Earth, but the similarities end there. Venus is actually about as different from Earth as a rocky planet can g

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory was launched in 2004 in order to study highly energetic events known as gamma-ray bursts. While it was originally planned to operate for a two-year mission, it has continued to function to this day. But if left as is, that won’t be the case for long. The telescope orbiting Earth is slowly falling back down, and without intervention, it will reenter the atmosphere before the end of 2026. But not if NASA has something to say about it.

Ever since Galileo pointed his telescope to the sky in 1609, telescopes have slowly revealed the universe to us. Over time, the telescopes got better, and so did the views they provided. But we started to hit a point of diminishing returns. As powerful as telescopes were getting, factors that seemed inescapable on Earth got more and more in the way. There was one clear solution: make a telescope that’s not on Earth.

In less than a week, on Sunday, June 21, summer will begin, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. But in the south, it will actually be the start of winter. Just how is it possible that two different places on the same planet could be experiencing different seasons at the same time?

According to our best estimates, the universe is 13.8 billion years old. It goes without saying that that’s extremely old. But just how long of a time is 14 billion years? The human mind has a way of underestimating massive numbers. So, to truly understand the implications of a nearly 14-billion-year-old universe, we need a scale model. Famous astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan introduced the concept of the cosmic calendar for exactly this reason.

On Saturday, May 30th, at 2:06 p.m. EDT, people across New England reported hearing two consecutive explosions strong enough to rattle buildings. The source was actually a meteor—a rock falling from outer space.

In the late nineteenth century, astronomers believed they had discovered canals on Mars. These obviously artificial structures had to be the work of a civilization on the Red Planet. The idea was so popular that it even influenced H.G. Wells to write The War of the Worlds. The idea that there was life on Mars entered the mainstream mind. However, later observations with better telescopes proved there were no such artificial structures on Mars. It was simply an optical illusio

One of the most iconic scenes in Star Wars is the famous twin sunset over Tatooine, a desert planet that orbits not one, but two stars. Science fiction often takes creative liberties with its fantastic planets, but what about this one? Can a planet really have two suns?

Ask any number of people what the single most important tool in astronomy is, and almost universally, they will claim the telescope as their answer. With telescopes, we’ve been able to peer beyond our world and out into the distant reaches of the universe. The name literally means far-seeing. How is it that these rather simple contraptions are able to show us so much? How do telescopes work?

How likely is it that there are intelligent civilizations out there beyond our Solar System? This is the question that Frank Drake asked in 1961 when he came up with the eponymous Drake Equation. In the search for extraterrestrial life, finding an intelligent civilization that we might even be able to communicate with is the gold standard. We might not have found any yet, but given our knowledge of how the universe works, we should be able to predict how common or rare they a

Artemis II brought humanity farther than it's ever traveled before. Along the way they collected a vast array of stunning imagery of not only the Moon, but Earth and space as well. Join me as we explore my favorite of the best images from the Artemis II mission and break down any interesting science behind the photos.

The true size of the universe boggles the mind. It’s so large that it is simply impossible to truly grasp its size. Even light, which travels faster than anything else, takes time to travel through space. For light, it’s eight minutes from the Sun to Earth, four years to the closest star, and a hundred thousand years to cross the Milky Way. To truly appreciate these vast distances, a scale model is necessary.

The solar eclipse is the well-known event when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun, blocking the Sun from view. Less known is the lunar eclipse, where the Earth passes between the Sun and Moon, blocking the light of the Sun that usually reflects off the Moon. The morning of March 3, 2026, at around 3:00 am PST, will provide this special show of celestial alignment.