Joe Rao

Forty years ago this month, there came a show stopping celestial sight — literally a bolt out of the blue — as a new comet was discovered close to Earth.

During the last few days, astronomers have been pointing their telescopes toward a familiar celestial object in our spring night sky for a look at a rare event: A new supernova.

See the moon shine between Venus and Mars next week as the two planets, along with, Pollux and Castor engage in a series of interesting configurations.

Early in the morning on Wednesday, May 17, gas giant Jupiter and its four bright Galilean moons will pass behind a very thin crescent moon.

Venus will begin staying out later and later in the coming weeks until it leaves the night sky to become a dazzling fixture in the predawn morning through the end of 2023.

A pair of eruptions seen on the sun might lead to a display of auroras for parts of the northern and central United States on May 11.

What time is it on the moon? One wristwatch tried to answer that question, yet was largely forgotten by history.

The peak of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower unfortunately coincided with a bright full moon, but there is still time to catch a few stragglers was we approach the new moon on May 19.

A penumbral lunar eclipse will take place at 11:13 a.m. EDT (1513 GMT) on Friday (May 5) and will peak at 1:24 p.m. EDT (1724 GMT).

And on Thursday evening, April 20, everyone across North America will have an opportunity to sight an exceedingly young crescent moon. Try your own hand at finding it!

On April 20, a hybrid solar eclipse will be visible from parts of Indonesia, East Timor, and Australia. Here's everything you need to know about this rare celestial spectacle.

The Lyrids are an annual display of fairly fast meteors that may be seen any night from April 16 to 25.

On April 8, 2024, a total eclipse will sweep across much of North America. Here we take a look at the weather prospects for the Great American Solar Eclipse.

From now through mid-April, Venus will help you to identify the normally hard-to-find planet Mercury. And along the way, Venus will have a striking interaction with the Pleiades star cluster.

Now that spring is officially here, we have a great view of some of the most interesting double stars in our sky.

On Thursday, March 23, Venus will shine close to the slender slither of the young moon, providing an eye-catching sight in the night sky.

On March 27, a cosmic parade of five planets, the moon and a star cluster will line up in the night sky. Here's how to see the special event.

Jupiter will meet up with the moon before joining Mercury in late March, after which it will disappear in the glare of the sun until it reappears in May.

On March 20 at 5:24 p.m. EDT (2:24 p.m. PDT) the spring (or vernal) equinox occurs as the sun's rays shine directly down on the equator.

The sky is in transition throughout March as we watch the glorious wintertime stars and bright constellations give way to the somewhat dimmer stars of spring.

A comet recently discovered zooming through our solar system has the potential to be quite bright when it arrives late in 2024, but comets have let us down before.

Undoubtedly, one of the most beautiful objects in the night sky is the Great Orion Nebula, also known as M42, which shines in the southwestern sky in March.

You can catch an incredibly close view of these worlds for 2 hours after sunset tonight (March 1).

The moon and Mars will make a close approach high in the sky tonight (Feb. 27), making for a great skywatching spectacle.

Venus and Jupiter should make for a very striking visual spectacle, no doubt attracting the attention of even those who don't give more than a casual glance at the night sky.