After adorning the evening skies for most of this year, Jupiter and Saturn are moving toward the sunset horizon. In fact, Earth, in its faster orbit, is leaving them on the far side of the sun. Venus, in its even faster orbit, passed behind the sun on Aug. 14 and has been slowly rising into ...

On Monday, Nov. 11, an event will occur that won’t occur again until 2032 — Mercury will transit the sun. This means that the tiniest, swiftest planet will be seen to cross the face of the sun. The event will begin at 7:36 a.m. EST as the planet appears to touch the southwest edge of ...

Once again, the relentless orbit of the tilted Earth is nodding the northern hemisphere toward the sun, shortening the nights, and ending this column until the lengthening hours of darkness next November. But there’s much to view in our summer skies, however short the hours of darkness. So ...

(Editor’s note: This is a guest astronomy column for “The Wilderness Above” by Aileen O’Donoghue.) --- Mars shines low in the western sky after sunset in May. Earth is moving away from the Red Planet in our annual journey around the sun, and Mars will soon vanish from our sky ...

The amazing image of the black hole in the center of the giant galaxy M87 has been hard to miss over the past week. The image is a stunning achievement of astronomical inquiry, technology and persistence. M87 is the largest and second brightest galaxy in the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. As ...

The great astronomers, professional and amateur, can be quite specific about when, how and what event ignited their interest in the night sky. It would have been the same moment that also piqued their inspiration for science, and for a life of imagining, dreaming and acting on their dreams. ...