Night Sky Blog
Cosmic News, Articles and Videos
How to See China’s Tiangong Space Station Crossing Your Sky
China’s “Heavenly Palace” can look like a brilliant star gliding silently overhead—and you do not need a telescope to see it. LOOK UP! One of the brightest objects moving through the night sky this week is not a planet, an airplane or a meteor. It is Tiangong, China’s permanently crewed space station, sweeping around Earth with three […]
China Just Reached Earth’s Strange “Mini-Moon
Earth has one big, beautiful Moon that lights up our nights. But did you know our planet also has a strange little companion hiding nearby? It is called Kamoʻoalewa, and this week China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft arrived beside it, giving us one of our first close-up looks at one of the weirdest objects in Earth’s neighbourhood. Kamoʻoalewa is often […]
Watch a Giant Asteroid Slip Past Earth
A rare visitor from deep space is making a safe flyby of Earth today — and backyard skywatchers with telescopes may be able to see it move in real time. Tonight, a large near-Earth asteroid known as 152637 (1997 NC1) is sweeping past our planet. There is absolutely no danger to Earth, but this is still a sky event […]
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.
How to See China’s Tiangong Space Station Crossing Your Sky
China’s “Heavenly Palace” can look like a brilliant star gliding silently overhead—and you do not need a telescope to see it. LOOK UP! One of the brightest objects moving through the night sky this week is not a planet, an airplane or a meteor. It is Tiangong, China’s permanently crewed space station, sweeping around Earth with three […]
China Just Reached Earth’s Strange “Mini-Moon
Earth has one big, beautiful Moon that lights up our nights. But did you know our planet also has a strange little companion hiding nearby? It is called Kamoʻoalewa, and this week China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft arrived beside it, giving us one of our first close-up looks at one of the weirdest objects in Earth’s neighbourhood. Kamoʻoalewa is often […]
Watch a Giant Asteroid Slip Past Earth
A rare visitor from deep space is making a safe flyby of Earth today — and backyard skywatchers with telescopes may be able to see it move in real time. Tonight, a large near-Earth asteroid known as 152637 (1997 NC1) is sweeping past our planet. There is absolutely no danger to Earth, but this is still a sky event […]
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.