Purple Haze Aurora: Why Earth Glowed Green, Red and Purple From the ISS
An astronaut photographed a vivid green-and-purple aurora from the ISS on September 7, 2026. Here is what creates the colors and why equinox season matters.
Browse simple, structured explanations designed to help readers understand the sky one idea at a time.
3 articles
An astronaut photographed a vivid green-and-purple aurora from the ISS on September 7, 2026. Here is what creates the colors and why equinox season matters.
Explore the Moon's major surface features, including impact craters, dark maria, highlands and the clues they preserve about lunar history.
A beginner-friendly guide to the lunar cycle, from new moon to full moon, and why the Moon's appearance changes through the month.
4 articles
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter found McGetchin crater, a 728-foot-wide impact scar formed in 2024 and surrounded by a surprising nighttime cold spot.
Explore Mars as it is today and learn why its dry landscape still contains strong evidence that liquid water once shaped the planet.
Meet the eight planets, understand their order from the Sun, and learn how rocky worlds differ from giant planets.
Understand the difference between Solar System planets and exoplanets, how astronomers find distant worlds, and what scientists learn from them.
6 articles
Hubble’s new view of NGC 4698 reveals a Virgo Cluster spiral whose central stars and gas rotate at right angles to its main disk, hinting at a complex past.
NASA and JAXA’s XRISM mission directly traced hot plasma falling toward pulsar GX 301-2 in the BP Crucis system, revealing how a neutron star feeds during powerful X-ray flares.
Understand how hot accretion disks form around black holes and why the brightest light can come from material outside the event horizon.
Discover what nebulae are, why some glow while others appear dark, and how giant clouds of gas and dust can create new stars.
Learn where the Andromeda Galaxy is, how large it is, why it is moving toward the Milky Way, and what astronomers expect in the distant future.
Learn what a black hole is, what an event horizon means, how black holes form, and why they do not simply suck up everything around them.
2 articles
Learn why meteor showers return each year, what creates shooting stars, and how to get the best view without any telescope.
A practical beginner guide to observing the Moon, bright planets, stars and constellations using only your eyes and a simple plan.
3 articles
Webb’s huge new panorama of IC 348 reveals extremely low-mass brown dwarfs, a possible disk around one of them, and dramatic newborn-star jets.
What commercial space tourism offers today, why it remains expensive, and what would need to change before it becomes ordinary travel.
A clear overview of how scientists and engineers turn a question into a space mission, from planning and launch to data and discovery.