EarthSky

Do dolls creep you out? Especially this time of year? 🥺 As we approach #Halloween, you might be unsettled by the sight of creepy #dolls in stores and on lawns. But why? Science might have the answer for why they make many people so uncomfortable: buff.ly/syHpgLd 📸 Sandman TSM/ Pixabay.

Are there worlds more habitable than Earth? 🌎 Some scientists think #superhabitable worlds could sustain even more diverse kinds of life than we find on our #planet. How would we find these worlds? Find out more: buff.ly/DpwetHF 📸 Lionel J. Garcia/ University of Liège.

Did you see the Hunter’s Moon last night? 🌕 Jeremy Evans captured the full #moon rising over the White Mountains, as seen from California’s Eastern Sierra. Thank you for sharing this beautiful view! buff.ly/5Jg83UB The moon will look bright and nearly full again tonight. Don’t miss it!

Hi, stargazers! Watch for the moon near Aldebaran and the Pleiades! 🌖🌟 This evening, the waning gibbous #moon will lie near the #Pleiades star cluster and the brightest star in the constellation #Taurus the Bull, #Aldebaran. For more, visit EarthSky's night sky guide: buff.ly/4po1O7F 📸 EarthSky.

Kaboom! 💥 23 years ago, the #sun looked a lot like it does now. Suddenly, 3 monster sunspot regions appeared and unleashed some of the most powerful #solarstorms of the space age. Follow along this week as we relive the Halloween Storms of 2003, day by day! buff.ly/Ot77bAD 📸 NASA/ ESA.

A great blue #heron, a glass-still reflection and the delicate mist of a chilly fall sunrise — a little autumn magic at Huntley Meadows Park. 💙🐦 Melissa Neadle captured this beautiful scene in Virginia on Saturday. Thank you, Melissa! buff.ly/VhKijo2 Want to see more? buff.ly/PtxwVQf

#UFOs or #UAP? Whatever you call them, you can read about them in the 7th batch of the Pentagon's UAP files. Released Friday, they add to the information 1st shared by the US government last May.🛸 Are they evidence for aliens? What do you think? Read about them here: buff.ly/bI4tGKZ 📸 DoD.

#Moon phases can seem mysterious! Find 4 tips for understanding them here: buff.ly/vcH1Hsp 📸 Brandi Mullins.

Quakes reveal that the #Mars Grand Canyon — Valles Marineris — though billions of years old, is geologically active. 🤔 Marsquakes are stll shaking the planet. How do scientists know? And what does this tell them about Mars? Read more at: buff.ly/J8gENnH 📸 Kevin Gill/ Flickr.

This week, look for the bright waning #moon shining near the #Pleiades (or 7 Sisters) star cluster. Some areas, including North America, will see the moon pass in front of this tiny but beloved cluster. EarthSky’s Marcy Curran has the story at: buff.ly/hdek5lv

Hunter's #Moon tonight! 🌕 As the sun sets this evening, the bright full Hunter’s Moon will be rising in the east. Look for the steady golden light of #Saturn nearby. What is a Hunter's Moon? Find out here: buff.ly/rKnzhx2

Happy 20th birthday, STEREO! This ENLIL computer model looks down on the plane of Earth's orbit. It shows solar material spiraling outward back on July 23, 2012 — the most powerful in some 150 years! The STEREO-A spacecraft caught it. Read on: buff.ly/Ot77bAD 📸 NASA SVS.

Alexander Krivenyshev in Guttenberg, New Jersey, took this image of the New York City skyline amidst a cotton candy sky. What a sight! Thank you, Alexander! buff.ly/JAkWvj0 Have a photo of your own to share? Submit it to us here! buff.ly/bLMp4Zz

#Venus is passing between Earth and the sun today! But did you know Venus can sometimes cross directly in front of the sun? The last transit was in 2012. When will the next one be? Join EarthSky’s Will Triggs to learn more! buff.ly/cKewsva

Enjoy this EarthSky Puzzler! And for more space news, visit EarthSky.org.

Our friend Cecille Kennedy captured this image of an Anna's #Hummingbird on October 21, from Oregon. "Anna's hummingbirds are the only species to stay in Oregon all winter.” Thank you, Cecille! buff.ly/LXW9m5B Read about hummingbirds here: buff.ly/yUHvsH7

A blob of solar stuff, or coronal mass ejection (CME), is heading our way. It might reach Earth tomorrow and deliver a glancing blow. Earth is the green dot in this image. Read the #sun news at: buff.ly/Ot77bAD

Jelieta Walinski captured #Saturn last week from Desert Bloom Observatory, Arizona. She wrote: "Today, I proudly share my image of Saturn, a magnificent world of rings, atmospheric bands, and timeless mystery." Lovely, Jelieta! buff.ly/VppBkb0 Have a photo of your own to share? buff.ly/bLMp4Zz

The bright planet #Venus has been a fixture of our evening skies for months. Now, it's disappeared into the sunset. Why? And when will it return? The answers can transform the way you see your sky. EarthSky's senior editor Will Triggs explains here: buff.ly/cOt0tCY

A million people on the #moon? In today’s livestream, find out what Martin Elvis of the Center for Astrophysics says about a moon city. He and EarthSky's Dave Adalian will discuss the possibilities. Watch here: buff.ly/c49xD15

Why is the night sky dark? 🤔 The estimated 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe ought to be filling the sky with dazzling light! But they aren't. That's Olbers’ paradox. Find out the solution here: buff.ly/4jisVzT

1st photo of Earth from space, 80 years ago! On October 24, 1946, scientists launched a V-2 rocket carrying a movie camera to a height of 65 miles (105 km). That's past the Kármán line, the boundary of space, 62 miles up. Read more: buff.ly/wrB9F30 📸 Wikimedia Commons.

What lies behind #Halloween’s fascination with darkness, spirits and the dead? In this conversation with Irish folklorist Jenny Butler, we explore the ancient Irish festival of #Samhain and the traditions that helped shape Halloween. Watch here! buff.ly/rr6BspJ

Look eastward for the bulging gibbous #moon near #Saturn 👀 in the evening sky tonight. They’ll set before sunrise the next morning. For more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide at: buff.ly/4po1O7F

Hi skywatchers, watch for the full Hunter's Moon! 🌕 The October full #HuntersMoon will light up the night sky overnight on October 25-26, reaching peak illumination at 11:12 p.m. CDT on Sunday. Golden #Saturn is near the moon, too. #astronomy 🪐 buff.ly/AyBihPp 📹 EarthSky.

Hi stargazers, watch for Cassiopeia and Perseus! 🌌 If you can locate #Cassiopeia the Queen, with its distinctive M or W shape, then you can find #Perseus. Perseus the Hero follows Cassiopeia across the sky on autumn and winter evenings. Do you see it? #astronomy buff.ly/bTo1dcQ 📸 EarthSky.

The U.S has a new national park! 🏞️ On Tuesday, Chiricahua officially became a national park. That makes 64 national parks for the U.S. and 4 for Arizona. #Chiricahua is home to towering rock formations and animals such as the coatimundi. buff.ly/rOOtBNg 📸 Coati in the park. Via Lucy Whitt.

#Venus is about to pass between Earth and the sun, leaving just a tiny sliver of its sunlit side visible. Steven Bellavia managed to capture this stunning view yesterday, thanks! In the coming weeks, Venus will reappear in the morning sky. But when can YOU see it? Watch this video: buff.ly/N5ffLLt

If you live at high latitudes, did you catch the aurora last night? 😍 A stream of fast solar wind triggered a minor geomagnetic storm. A 2nd coronal hole is now sending fast solar wind our way. It may reach us late Friday or early Saturday. More sun news: buff.ly/Tn8i5Ma 📸 NOAA.

Almost there! 🛰️ NASA’s #Lucy spacecraft is getting closer to Jupiter’s #Trojan #asteroids. It's now less than 1 year away. But in its 5 years of traveling, Lucy's already seen several amazing sights along the way. Find out more about Lucy's discoveries so far: buff.ly/6qMUQ7X 📸 Image via NASA.

Why does anything exist? 🌌 After the #BigBang, antimatter should have canceled out matter. So how did matter become dominant? A new theory focuses on a forgotten particle: the decoupled heavy #neutrino. buff.ly/mCf3ERS 📸 NASA/ ESA/ J. Hester and A. Loll/ Wikimedia Commons.

What's that spooky flashing star in the northeastern sky? 🌌🔭 #Auriga the Charioteer is a popular #constellation for Northern Hemisphere observers in autumn. #Capella, its brightest star, flashes red, blue and green when it’s close to the horizon. buff.ly/xB9q5bl 📹 EarthSky.

October is the most exciting month of the year for #baseball. And the universe even conspired to send us a giant cosmic baseball diamond in the sky this month. The #GreatSquare of Pegasus looks distinctly like a baseball diamond. Just in time for the World Series! buff.ly/fTqCsdb 📸 EarthSky.

Bob Kuo in Arizona took this photo of crepuscular rays reaching up to a #rainbow on Saturday and wrote: "Viewed during our ascent to the ridge of South Mountain in Phoenix. What a treat for a casual weekend hike!" Thank you! 🌈 buff.ly/VMQaE1g Read more about #crepuscularrays: buff.ly/p7e73sv

What lies behind Halloween’s fascination with darkness, spirits and the dead? In this conversation with Irish folklorist Dr. Jenny Butler, we explore the ancient Irish festival of #Samhain and the traditions that helped shape #Halloween. 🎃👻💀 Find out more at noon CDT! buff.ly/rr6BspJ 📸 EarthSky.

Feeling lonely tonight? Keep #Fomalhaut company. The Loneliest Star has the waxing gibbous #moon joining in out of solidarity. Will you be there too? For more sky events, check out our night sky guide: buff.ly/4po1O7F 📸 EarthSky.

ESA’s #Euclid mission is watching the #cosmos. It's creating a map of the large-scale structure of the #universe. But Euclid made an unexpected 1st-time discovery. It spotted a #comet 800 million miles away! 🛰️🌌☄️ Read more: buff.ly/To5sM7i 📸 ESA/ Euclid/ Euclid Consortium/ NASA/ M. Pöntinen et al.

White dwarf stars are, well ... white, right? Not always! 🌟🌌 They can come in a rainbow of #colors. Researchers at the University of Warwick said last week that #whitedwarfs could glow in shades of pink, cyan, yellow, purple and even green! buff.ly/A2veWuB 📸 M. A. Garlick/ Univ. of Warwick.

See the brightest star, Sirius, in your morning sky! 🌟🌌 If you’re up before daybreak, look for #Sirius. It’s so brilliant that you can even see it from a light-polluted city. It’s rising in the middle of the night now and best seen by dawn. #astronomy buff.ly/sif9VQE 📸 EarthSky.

Have you ever seen a #fogbow? It looks like a white #rainbow! 🌈 Chris Eddy caught this fogbow arcing over a beach in Manzanita, Oregon, last Wednesday. Fogbows form when sunlight passes through droplets of #water, just like a rainbow. On a foggy day, look opposite the sun! buff.ly/GcAdrZV

Our #sun is often adorned with cooler, less-dense patches in its atmosphere called #coronalholes. Fast solar wind can stream out from these holes. And today, one such stream should reach Earth, potentially triggering far-northerly #auroras. Read today's sun news: buff.ly/Tn8i5Ma 📸 NOAA.

Where is #Venus? The bright planet has been a fixture of our evening skies for months. Now, it has all but disappeared into the #sunset. But its disappearance occurred much later for one half of the globe than the other ... and its reappearance will, too. Why? Watch: buff.ly/N5ffLLt 📸 EarthSky.

A dangerous #fungus, a promising discovery! 🦠 #Candidaauris causes life-threatening infections and resists antifungal drugs. But now researchers have uncovered new clues to how it survives treatment, opening new avenues to fight it. 🔬 Find out more: buff.ly/7ashmDz 📸 Gustavo Fring/ Pexels.

NASA plans to search for lunar caves! 🚀🌕 The upcoming #GIMLI mission will investigate a lunar pit for lava tubes that could protect #astronauts from radiation and extreme temperatures. What secrets lie beneath the #moon’s surface? 🔎 buff.ly/PhvqA0S 📸 NASA/ GSFC/ Arizona State University.

Hi, skywatchers! 🌌 The Orionid #meteorshower is expected to peak tomorrow morning and Thursday morning. Are you ready to catch some shooting stars? 🌠 Find out when and where to spot the #Orionids here: buff.ly/A23u67Z 📸 James McCue.

Every fall, nature puts on a spectacular show of reds, golds and oranges. But have you ever wondered why some #leaves turn brilliant red while others glow yellow or orange? Discover the secrets of #fall foliage! 🍁👇 earthsky.org/earth/why-do... 📸 Ross Stone.

Hi stargazers! 🔭 The waxing gibbous #moon will be among the stars of #Capricornus the Sea-goat tonight and passing nearby tomorrow evening, October 19 and 20. They’ll set after midnight. Don't miss them! 🌔🌌 For more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide: buff.ly/icBPfff 📸 EarthSky.

Have you seen the #Orionid meteor shower yet? This is October's best #meteorshower, made of meteors left behind by #CometHalley. And it's now rising to its peak on the mornings of October 20, 21 and 22. #astronomy EarthSky's Deborah Byrd explains it all in this video: buff.ly/yLOJLUj 📸 EarthSky.

Aurora alert! Could the skies be about to light up? A large coronal hole is sending a stream of high-speed solar wind toward Earth. Forecasters expect G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm conditions and possible #auroras at high latitudes. Find out when and where to watch: buff.ly/Tn8i5Ma 📸 NOAA.

1st quarter #moon falls today. It'll rise about noon your local time and set at around midnight. Watch for the moon high in the sky at sundown. Keep an eye out for the Orionid #meteors, too! They'll be peaking soon. Read more and see a video: buff.ly/icBPfff