Night Sky Blog
Cosmic News, Articles and Videos
Noctilucent Clouds 2026: How to See Rare Night-Shining Clouds This Summer
Every summer, one of the most ghostly sights in the sky quietly returns. They’re called noctilucent clouds — literally, “night-shining clouds” — and they can look like glowing blue-white ripples, waves, or delicate brushstrokes suspended low in the twilight sky. They are not auroras. They are not ordinary weather clouds. And they are not something you can […]
Tonight: Bits of Halley’s Comet streak across our sky! My Observing Guide.
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks overnight, with the best chance to see meteors in the dark hours before dawn. 👀 What to look for: fast, graceful shooting stars that may leave glowing trails. 🌙 The challenge: the bright Moon will hide the faint ones — so stand in the shadow of a building, tree, or hill and keep the Moon out […]
A Star Died 50 Million Years Ago — I Captured Its Light With my Tiny Smart Scopes
I Caught an Exploding Star From My Backyard Last night, from my backyard in Saint-Lazare, Québec, I went hunting for the light of a dying star. Not a nearby star. Not even a star in our own Milky Way. This was SN 2026kid, a newly discovered supernova in the famous edge-on galaxy NGC 5907, better known as […]
SpaceX Rocket Debris Will Hit the Moon in August 2026: Here’s Why It Matters
The Moon is about to get a new crater — and this one will be made by us. A spent upper stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is predicted to slam into the lunar surface on August 5, 2026, at about 5,400 miles per hour. That sounds dramatic, and in one sense it is. Let’s be […]
May 2026 Double Full Moons: How to Watch the Flower Moon and Blue Moon
A Beautiful Month for Moonwatchers May begins with a full Moon — and ends with another one. On Friday, May 1, 2026, the Moon reaches full phase at 1:23 p.m. EDT, which means the best view for most of us in North America will come later that evening, when the Moon rises in the east just after […]
Curiosity Rover Finds New Organic Molecules on Mars — Could They Be Clues to Ancient Life?
Mars has just offered scientists another tantalizing clue in one of the greatest mysteries in planetary science: Did life ever exist on the Red Planet? NASA’s Curiosity rover has uncovered the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on Mars. Even more exciting, seven of these carbon-rich compounds had never before been detected on […]
Watch the Moon Hide a Bright Star This Weekend: A Beginner’s Guide
A beautiful celestial close encounter is coming this weekend as the waxing Moon slides in front of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. Here’s what beginners need to know to catch this rare sky show.
iPhone Astrophotography: Apple’s 4-Year Roadmap to DSLR-Quality Star Shots?
If you’ve been following the rumor mill today, the folks over at MacRumors just dropped a bombshell regarding Apple’s possible “four-part plan” for the iPhone camera. If true, Apple is playing the long game, rolling out these features over the next several years. Let’s look at the roadmap for how the iPhone could evolve into a legitimate […]
Messier Marathon Sampler Webinar
A Smart Telescope Tour of the Night Sky What does it take to see some of the most breathtaking sights in the universe—all in a single night? During Global Astronomy Month, I teamed up with Astronomers Without Borders to host a special livestream exploring the greatest hits of the Messier Marathon—a legendary observing challenge featuring 110 deep-sky objects […]
Could You Really See NASA’s Orion Moon Capsule With Binoculars?
For most of us, the idea sounds a little wild. A crewed spacecraft on its way around the Moon… spotted not by a giant observatory, but by everyday skywatchers standing in their backyard with a pair of binoculars. And yet, for a brief slice of NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission, that may actually be possible. According to […]
Noctilucent Clouds 2026: How to See Rare Night-Shining Clouds This Summer
Every summer, one of the most ghostly sights in the sky quietly returns. They’re called noctilucent clouds — literally, “night-shining clouds” — and they can look like glowing blue-white ripples, waves, or delicate brushstrokes suspended low in the twilight sky. They are not auroras. They are not ordinary weather clouds. And they are not something you can […]
Tonight: Bits of Halley’s Comet streak across our sky! My Observing Guide.
The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks overnight, with the best chance to see meteors in the dark hours before dawn. 👀 What to look for: fast, graceful shooting stars that may leave glowing trails. 🌙 The challenge: the bright Moon will hide the faint ones — so stand in the shadow of a building, tree, or hill and keep the Moon out […]
A Star Died 50 Million Years Ago — I Captured Its Light With my Tiny Smart Scopes
I Caught an Exploding Star From My Backyard Last night, from my backyard in Saint-Lazare, Québec, I went hunting for the light of a dying star. Not a nearby star. Not even a star in our own Milky Way. This was SN 2026kid, a newly discovered supernova in the famous edge-on galaxy NGC 5907, better known as […]
SpaceX Rocket Debris Will Hit the Moon in August 2026: Here’s Why It Matters
The Moon is about to get a new crater — and this one will be made by us. A spent upper stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is predicted to slam into the lunar surface on August 5, 2026, at about 5,400 miles per hour. That sounds dramatic, and in one sense it is. Let’s be […]
May 2026 Double Full Moons: How to Watch the Flower Moon and Blue Moon
A Beautiful Month for Moonwatchers May begins with a full Moon — and ends with another one. On Friday, May 1, 2026, the Moon reaches full phase at 1:23 p.m. EDT, which means the best view for most of us in North America will come later that evening, when the Moon rises in the east just after […]
Curiosity Rover Finds New Organic Molecules on Mars — Could They Be Clues to Ancient Life?
Mars has just offered scientists another tantalizing clue in one of the greatest mysteries in planetary science: Did life ever exist on the Red Planet? NASA’s Curiosity rover has uncovered the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on Mars. Even more exciting, seven of these carbon-rich compounds had never before been detected on […]
Watch the Moon Hide a Bright Star This Weekend: A Beginner’s Guide
A beautiful celestial close encounter is coming this weekend as the waxing Moon slides in front of Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. Here’s what beginners need to know to catch this rare sky show.
iPhone Astrophotography: Apple’s 4-Year Roadmap to DSLR-Quality Star Shots?
If you’ve been following the rumor mill today, the folks over at MacRumors just dropped a bombshell regarding Apple’s possible “four-part plan” for the iPhone camera. If true, Apple is playing the long game, rolling out these features over the next several years. Let’s look at the roadmap for how the iPhone could evolve into a legitimate […]
Messier Marathon Sampler Webinar
A Smart Telescope Tour of the Night Sky What does it take to see some of the most breathtaking sights in the universe—all in a single night? During Global Astronomy Month, I teamed up with Astronomers Without Borders to host a special livestream exploring the greatest hits of the Messier Marathon—a legendary observing challenge featuring 110 deep-sky objects […]
Could You Really See NASA’s Orion Moon Capsule With Binoculars?
For most of us, the idea sounds a little wild. A crewed spacecraft on its way around the Moon… spotted not by a giant observatory, but by everyday skywatchers standing in their backyard with a pair of binoculars. And yet, for a brief slice of NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission, that may actually be possible. According to […]