astronomy

A 6 planet parade refers to a time when six planets are visible in the sky around the same period, typically in the evening after sunset or before sunrise. This kind of alignmen...

A crescent moon Venus Jupiter Mercury conjunction is an arrangement in which the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury appear within a small region of the sky from Earth’s perspec...

A full moon occurs when the Moon is opposite the Sun in ecliptic longitude, fully illuminated as seen from Earth. When this opposition happens within the zodiac constellation Sc...

The Perseid meteor shower is an annual display of meteors produced by Earth passing through the debris stream left by comet Swift-Tuttle. As these small particles enter Earth’...

In astronomy, retrograde describes a planet appearing to move backward (westward) against the background stars, even though it continues orbiting the Sun in the same overall dir...

A New Moon occurs when the Moon aligns with the Sun in ecliptic longitude, positioning the unlit hemisphere toward Earth and making the lunar disk mostly invisible from Earth. O...

Venus near the moon is a common and striking sky event in which the second-brightest natural object in the night sky appears close to the Moon as seen from Earth. This relations...

When people ask when all the planets will align again, they are usually asking when multiple planets appear near one another in the night sky from Earth’s perspective. This ki...

The Leonid meteor shower peaks around November 17–18 each year, produced by dust shed from comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Tonight’s level of activity depends on the timing of your...

The phase immediately preceding the full moon is the waxing gibbous moon. It rises in the afternoon or early evening, is more than half illuminated but not yet full, and culmina...