Habitable worlds: Better than Earth? Scientists wonder

Artist’s illustration of a super-Earth type exoplanet close to its red dwarf star. Some of these worlds might be superhabitable, with the potential for even more diverse kinds of life than on Earth. Are there actually worlds more habitable than Earth? Image via C. Lionel/ University of Liège. Used with permission.

• Astronomers use the word habitable to mean a planet whose physical conditions might allow life – any form of life, perhaps microbial life – to exist there. 
• Are there worlds more habitable than Earth? Some scientists think so.
• They wonder if super-Earth planets — larger and more massive than Earth — might be better suited for life than Earth is.

Are there worlds more habitable than Earth?

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Scientists are seeking signs of life elsewhere in the universe. Even the tiniest microbe would be big news! So far, we don’t have conclusive evidence of any form of life on any planet beyond our own. So Earth is our primary model for what might be possible. Our planet is still the only one known to be brimming with life.

We know that many rocky planets like Earth exist. Some are larger and more massive than Earth: we call them super-Earths. And we know that some are potentially habitable. Could they be even more habitable than Earth?

Some scientists have been weighing that idea. Nowadays, they are more confident than in past that such worlds might exist, especially since about 2010. The Kepler Space Telescope had launched in 2009, for example. It had demonstrated that Earth-sized and super-Earth-sized planets are extremely common across our Milky Way galaxy.

“It occurred to me that currently, humanity is looking for Earthlike planets with the same anthropocentric bias. Of course, Earth is special to us. But from a universal perspective, why should Earth be a reference?”

— Michael Kruse (@michaelkruse.bsky.social) 2026-10-20T14:11:45.279Z

Do the most habitable worlds orbit K dwarfs?

Beginning around 2010, astrobiologists — scientists who study the possibility of life beyond Earth — began recognizing that G-type stars like our sun might not be the best places for life. Research around this time highlighted orange dwarfs (K-type stars). They are far more abundant, have significantly longer lifespans (tens of billions of years in contrast to our sun’s 10 billion years) and emit less harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Around that time, scientists like René Heller and John Armstrong began challenging the anthropocentric assumption that an Earth twin is the ideal place for life. They formulated the concept of superhabitable worlds—super-Earths with stronger magnetic fields, thicker atmospheres, and warmer, more stable climates capable of supporting richer, more diverse ecosystems than Earth.

They teamed up in 2014 to present the hypothesis that smaller, cooler stars might be better for habitable planets. Why? Because they burn through their hydrogen fuel more slowly and brighten more gradually as they age. So they have longer lifespans for life to develop.

Our own sun only has about five billion years left before it turns into a red giant star. But K-type stars can live for 10s of billions of years. What kind of life could develop on planets in that length of time?

Armstrong, a professor at Weber State University in Utah, recently asked in the comments section of an astrobiology seminar on YouTube:

Shouldn’t there be planets more habitable than Earth?

What would these worlds be like?

Natalie Wolchover wrote about the fascinating possibility of superhabitable worlds for The New York Times on October 13, 2026. She pointed out that carbon-based life — like on Earth — could last longer and be even more diverse on such worlds than on Earth. But what might these planets be like?

The researchers say that typically they would be 20-30% larger than Earth and twice as massive. Hence, a super-Earth. Like Earth, they’d need water. But such massive rocky planets would have stronger gravity than Earth. They’d have been able to hold on to the ingredients for water as they formed. So they might have thicker atmospheres than Earth. They might have warmer and more stable climates.

Plus, super-Earths likely have iron cores that are larger than Earth’s. Those cores could produce stronger magnetic fields that would protect life even better than Earth’s magnetic field.

But — in the space of our Milky Way galaxy — do we know of any super-Earths orbiting more benign K-type stars better suited for life than Earth? The answer to that is no.

View larger. | This photo shows photosynthesis in action. The lake seaweed is emitting small trails of oxygen bubbles that can be seen in very still waters. Photosynthesis might be even more robust on planets with K-type stars, experiments show. Image via Rcaravit/ Wikimedia Commons.

Experiments related to super-Earths

As noted in Wolchover’s article, astrobiologist Iva Vilovic at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam, Germany, thinks that life could thrive on super-Earths orbiting K-type stars.

She did experiments with garden cress. She simulated the light coming from a K-type star to see if photosynthesis would occur. And surprise! The plants grew even better than they did under regular sunlight on Earth. She told Wolchover:

K-dwarf light is a very, very interesting light source, and it should be considered, if not prioritized, for any type of search for extraterrestrial life, in my opinion.

The idea of a planet even more biologically diverse than Earth might be hard to imagine. On Earth, the tropics are some of the most biodiverse areas on the planet. But what if an entire planet was like that?

Consider that the light from the K-type star could reach to the bottom of a shallow ocean. This could help fuel an amazingly diverse marine ecosystem, including on any islands that might exist.

Is Earth only marginally habitable?

The seemingly endless kinds of life on Earth are breathtaking. But many scientists consider Earth to be only marginally habitable. If our planet were just 2% closer to the sun, for example, it probably wouldn’t have as much — if any — surface water.

So did we just get lucky?

René Heller, at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, thinks that maybe we shouldn’t be so focused on finding Earth’s “twin.” He said:

It occurred to me that currently, humanity is looking for Earthlike planets with the same anthropocentric bias. Of course, Earth is special to us. But from a universal perspective, why should Earth be a reference?

He also wonders about there being “someone to talk to,” saying:

Although I am not, at least in my everyday life, a very spiritual person, it’s nevertheless something that at least drives me, this question. Could there be someone?

View larger. | A representation of the Tree of Life on Earth, based on the Tree of Life from the BBC. Earth hosts an astonishing variety of life. But could life on some planets be even more diverse? Image via Maytenus23/ Wikimedia Commons.

How can we find worlds more habitable than Earth?

If such worlds do exist, how can we find them? The European Space Agency’s Plato mission is launching in 2027. The space telescope will be able to find potentially habitable planets, including super-Earths orbiting K-type stars. But it will have its limits. Heller said:

We will probably find a few of them, maybe a dozen. But we won’t learn much about them.

But there’s also the James Webb Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile. Both can find potentially habitable super-Earths. And NASA’s planned Habitable Worlds Observatory — expected to launch sometime in the 2040s — will be able to make more detailed observations.

View larger. | NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory, due to launch in the 2040s, will be able to take a much closer look at potentially habitable exoplanets. Image via NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab/ Habitable Worlds Observatory.

Via The New York Times

Read more: Could an Earthlike planet with 2 stars be nearby?

Read more: Nearby super-Earth GJ 3378b may be a good candidate for life

The post Habitable worlds: Better than Earth? Scientists wonder first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3dUxvFu

Artist’s illustration of a super-Earth type exoplanet close to its red dwarf star. Some of these worlds might be superhabitable, with the potential for even more diverse kinds of life than on Earth. Are there actually worlds more habitable than Earth? Image via C. Lionel/ University of Liège. Used with permission.

• Astronomers use the word habitable to mean a planet whose physical conditions might allow life – any form of life, perhaps microbial life – to exist there. 
• Are there worlds more habitable than Earth? Some scientists think so.
• They wonder if super-Earth planets — larger and more massive than Earth — might be better suited for life than Earth is.

Are there worlds more habitable than Earth?

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Scientists are seeking signs of life elsewhere in the universe. Even the tiniest microbe would be big news! So far, we don’t have conclusive evidence of any form of life on any planet beyond our own. So Earth is our primary model for what might be possible. Our planet is still the only one known to be brimming with life.

We know that many rocky planets like Earth exist. Some are larger and more massive than Earth: we call them super-Earths. And we know that some are potentially habitable. Could they be even more habitable than Earth?

Some scientists have been weighing that idea. Nowadays, they are more confident than in past that such worlds might exist, especially since about 2010. The Kepler Space Telescope had launched in 2009, for example. It had demonstrated that Earth-sized and super-Earth-sized planets are extremely common across our Milky Way galaxy.

“It occurred to me that currently, humanity is looking for Earthlike planets with the same anthropocentric bias. Of course, Earth is special to us. But from a universal perspective, why should Earth be a reference?”

— Michael Kruse (@michaelkruse.bsky.social) 2026-10-20T14:11:45.279Z

Do the most habitable worlds orbit K dwarfs?

Beginning around 2010, astrobiologists — scientists who study the possibility of life beyond Earth — began recognizing that G-type stars like our sun might not be the best places for life. Research around this time highlighted orange dwarfs (K-type stars). They are far more abundant, have significantly longer lifespans (tens of billions of years in contrast to our sun’s 10 billion years) and emit less harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Around that time, scientists like René Heller and John Armstrong began challenging the anthropocentric assumption that an Earth twin is the ideal place for life. They formulated the concept of superhabitable worlds—super-Earths with stronger magnetic fields, thicker atmospheres, and warmer, more stable climates capable of supporting richer, more diverse ecosystems than Earth.

They teamed up in 2014 to present the hypothesis that smaller, cooler stars might be better for habitable planets. Why? Because they burn through their hydrogen fuel more slowly and brighten more gradually as they age. So they have longer lifespans for life to develop.

Our own sun only has about five billion years left before it turns into a red giant star. But K-type stars can live for 10s of billions of years. What kind of life could develop on planets in that length of time?

Armstrong, a professor at Weber State University in Utah, recently asked in the comments section of an astrobiology seminar on YouTube:

Shouldn’t there be planets more habitable than Earth?

What would these worlds be like?

Natalie Wolchover wrote about the fascinating possibility of superhabitable worlds for The New York Times on October 13, 2026. She pointed out that carbon-based life — like on Earth — could last longer and be even more diverse on such worlds than on Earth. But what might these planets be like?

The researchers say that typically they would be 20-30% larger than Earth and twice as massive. Hence, a super-Earth. Like Earth, they’d need water. But such massive rocky planets would have stronger gravity than Earth. They’d have been able to hold on to the ingredients for water as they formed. So they might have thicker atmospheres than Earth. They might have warmer and more stable climates.

Plus, super-Earths likely have iron cores that are larger than Earth’s. Those cores could produce stronger magnetic fields that would protect life even better than Earth’s magnetic field.

But — in the space of our Milky Way galaxy — do we know of any super-Earths orbiting more benign K-type stars better suited for life than Earth? The answer to that is no.

View larger. | This photo shows photosynthesis in action. The lake seaweed is emitting small trails of oxygen bubbles that can be seen in very still waters. Photosynthesis might be even more robust on planets with K-type stars, experiments show. Image via Rcaravit/ Wikimedia Commons.

Experiments related to super-Earths

As noted in Wolchover’s article, astrobiologist Iva Vilovic at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam, Germany, thinks that life could thrive on super-Earths orbiting K-type stars.

She did experiments with garden cress. She simulated the light coming from a K-type star to see if photosynthesis would occur. And surprise! The plants grew even better than they did under regular sunlight on Earth. She told Wolchover:

K-dwarf light is a very, very interesting light source, and it should be considered, if not prioritized, for any type of search for extraterrestrial life, in my opinion.

The idea of a planet even more biologically diverse than Earth might be hard to imagine. On Earth, the tropics are some of the most biodiverse areas on the planet. But what if an entire planet was like that?

Consider that the light from the K-type star could reach to the bottom of a shallow ocean. This could help fuel an amazingly diverse marine ecosystem, including on any islands that might exist.

Is Earth only marginally habitable?

The seemingly endless kinds of life on Earth are breathtaking. But many scientists consider Earth to be only marginally habitable. If our planet were just 2% closer to the sun, for example, it probably wouldn’t have as much — if any — surface water.

So did we just get lucky?

René Heller, at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, thinks that maybe we shouldn’t be so focused on finding Earth’s “twin.” He said:

It occurred to me that currently, humanity is looking for Earthlike planets with the same anthropocentric bias. Of course, Earth is special to us. But from a universal perspective, why should Earth be a reference?

He also wonders about there being “someone to talk to,” saying:

Although I am not, at least in my everyday life, a very spiritual person, it’s nevertheless something that at least drives me, this question. Could there be someone?

View larger. | A representation of the Tree of Life on Earth, based on the Tree of Life from the BBC. Earth hosts an astonishing variety of life. But could life on some planets be even more diverse? Image via Maytenus23/ Wikimedia Commons.

How can we find worlds more habitable than Earth?

If such worlds do exist, how can we find them? The European Space Agency’s Plato mission is launching in 2027. The space telescope will be able to find potentially habitable planets, including super-Earths orbiting K-type stars. But it will have its limits. Heller said:

We will probably find a few of them, maybe a dozen. But we won’t learn much about them.

But there’s also the James Webb Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile. Both can find potentially habitable super-Earths. And NASA’s planned Habitable Worlds Observatory — expected to launch sometime in the 2040s — will be able to make more detailed observations.

View larger. | NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory, due to launch in the 2040s, will be able to take a much closer look at potentially habitable exoplanets. Image via NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab/ Habitable Worlds Observatory.

Via The New York Times

Read more: Could an Earthlike planet with 2 stars be nearby?

Read more: Nearby super-Earth GJ 3378b may be a good candidate for life

The post Habitable worlds: Better than Earth? Scientists wonder first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/3dUxvFu

Is the Mars Grand Canyon still tectonically active?

View larger. | Artist’s concept of the view over Valles Marineris, aka the Grand Canyon of Mars. It’s the largest canyon system in the solar system. Researchers recently said that Mars’ Grand Canyon is still tectonically active, though tectonics on Mars are different from those on Earth. Image via Kevin Gill/ Flickr.

Is the Mars Grand Canyon still tectonically active? Scientists say yes

Mars might be smaller than Earth, but its landscape features are overachievers. The red planet is home to both the largest volcano (Olympus Mons) and the largest canyon system (Valles Marineris) in the solar system. Valles Marineris is dubbed the Grand Canyon of Mars. It stretches more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) long, nine times longer than the Grand Canyon on Earth. It’s also about 20 times wider and five times deeper than Earth’s Grand Canyon. On October 19, 2026, scientists with Columbia University and Imperial College London said Valles Marineris is still tectonically active, billions of years after it formed.

NASA’s InSight lander recently captured seismic data of a marsquake. The new research found the quake occurred 12 to 25 miles (20 to 40 km) beneath Valles Marineris. Rocks slipping along a fault deep in the red planet’s crust triggered the quake. But Mars does not have tectonic plates sliding around on the surface like Earth does. So the quakes today are happening along ancient fault lines on Mars.

The researchers published their peer-reviewed findings in the journal Nature Communications on October 15, 2026.

Science news, the night sky and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Tectonics on Mars versus Earth

Earth’s shaking, rattling and rolling is thanks to the tectonic plates that slide around on the upper mantle. The plates push, pull and slide against each other. Sometimes they get stuck and friction builds up. Eventually the stress snaps in an earthquake.

But quakes on Mars are different. Scientists describe Mars’ crust as similar to an outer shell that behaves like a single, slowly cooling lid. As Mars continues to cool from its early years, the crust shrinks and cracks. This activity forms faults that slip and cause seismic rumbles. And some of these faults, formed billions of years ago, can still slip and shift.

Finding a recent marsquake

On August 25, 2021, the InSight lander detected a quake from its location in Elysium Planitia, on the opposite side of Mars from Valles Marineris. At first, researchers didn’t know if the seismic activity was from a quake. That’s because tremors on Mars can also be from landslides or meteorite impacts.

But then researchers found the quake, named S0976a, had traveled through Mars’ core. Its epicenter was somewhere in the western Valles Marineris region. But its exact location and cause remained obscure.

The new research pinpoints the epicenter at 12 to 25 miles (20 to 40 km) beneath Valles Marineris. The researchers have now been able to learn about not just Mars’ core, but the trigger for the quake. Co-author Doyeon Kim of Imperial College London said:

S0976a has turned out to be an extraordinary event, playing an important role in our understanding of the red planet.

Its waves traveled through the core and helped us investigate the deepest part of Mars, and now they are telling us what happened at the source itself. From a single marsquake, we can learn both about the center of the planet and about an active fault beneath one of its most remarkable landscapes.

The yellow star marks the location of the marsquake that InSight lander detected in 2021. New research pinpointed the location of the quake in the Valles Marineris region of Mars. Image via J. Davis/ NASA/ JPL/ GSFC/ ESA/ DLR/ FuBerlin/ ASU/ ICL.

Grand Canyon of Mars: home to ancient fault and modern stress

The team was able to analyze the seismic waves, including their amplitudes and direction. Then they could reconstruct what must have happened to cause the quake. They said a strike-slip marsquake event was the most likely cause. This happens when two chunks of crust move horizontally past one another along a steep fault with a deep root. In this case, the quake was miles below ground. It created what would be equal to a magnitude 5 quake on Earth.

Lead author Jung-Hun Song of Imperial College London said:

What makes the result compelling is that several completely different types of evidence point in the same direction. The seismic waves tell us that there was a sideways sliding motion on a fault well below the surface, while the geology seen from orbit shows a region crossed by long-lived fault systems.

Song added:

What we see is that this is not just a ‘dead’ fossil landscape, as faults deep beneath the canyon can still slip and generate marsquakes, long after the geological processes that originally formed them have ceased.

Sadly, InSight lander ceased operations in 2022 due to too much dust accumulating on its solar panels. No active lander is currently recording new marsquakes on the surface of Mars. Perhaps we won’t discover the next marsquake until astronauts feel the red planet shake beneath them.

Bottom line: Researchers said the red planet is still tectonically active today. A team found the epicenter and cause of a marsquake at the Grand Canyon of Mars.

Source: Active crustal straining and fault reactivation at Valles Marineris

Via Columbia University

The post Is the Mars Grand Canyon still tectonically active? first appeared on EarthSky.

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View larger. | Artist’s concept of the view over Valles Marineris, aka the Grand Canyon of Mars. It’s the largest canyon system in the solar system. Researchers recently said that Mars’ Grand Canyon is still tectonically active, though tectonics on Mars are different from those on Earth. Image via Kevin Gill/ Flickr.

Is the Mars Grand Canyon still tectonically active? Scientists say yes

Mars might be smaller than Earth, but its landscape features are overachievers. The red planet is home to both the largest volcano (Olympus Mons) and the largest canyon system (Valles Marineris) in the solar system. Valles Marineris is dubbed the Grand Canyon of Mars. It stretches more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) long, nine times longer than the Grand Canyon on Earth. It’s also about 20 times wider and five times deeper than Earth’s Grand Canyon. On October 19, 2026, scientists with Columbia University and Imperial College London said Valles Marineris is still tectonically active, billions of years after it formed.

NASA’s InSight lander recently captured seismic data of a marsquake. The new research found the quake occurred 12 to 25 miles (20 to 40 km) beneath Valles Marineris. Rocks slipping along a fault deep in the red planet’s crust triggered the quake. But Mars does not have tectonic plates sliding around on the surface like Earth does. So the quakes today are happening along ancient fault lines on Mars.

The researchers published their peer-reviewed findings in the journal Nature Communications on October 15, 2026.

Science news, the night sky and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Tectonics on Mars versus Earth

Earth’s shaking, rattling and rolling is thanks to the tectonic plates that slide around on the upper mantle. The plates push, pull and slide against each other. Sometimes they get stuck and friction builds up. Eventually the stress snaps in an earthquake.

But quakes on Mars are different. Scientists describe Mars’ crust as similar to an outer shell that behaves like a single, slowly cooling lid. As Mars continues to cool from its early years, the crust shrinks and cracks. This activity forms faults that slip and cause seismic rumbles. And some of these faults, formed billions of years ago, can still slip and shift.

Finding a recent marsquake

On August 25, 2021, the InSight lander detected a quake from its location in Elysium Planitia, on the opposite side of Mars from Valles Marineris. At first, researchers didn’t know if the seismic activity was from a quake. That’s because tremors on Mars can also be from landslides or meteorite impacts.

But then researchers found the quake, named S0976a, had traveled through Mars’ core. Its epicenter was somewhere in the western Valles Marineris region. But its exact location and cause remained obscure.

The new research pinpoints the epicenter at 12 to 25 miles (20 to 40 km) beneath Valles Marineris. The researchers have now been able to learn about not just Mars’ core, but the trigger for the quake. Co-author Doyeon Kim of Imperial College London said:

S0976a has turned out to be an extraordinary event, playing an important role in our understanding of the red planet.

Its waves traveled through the core and helped us investigate the deepest part of Mars, and now they are telling us what happened at the source itself. From a single marsquake, we can learn both about the center of the planet and about an active fault beneath one of its most remarkable landscapes.

The yellow star marks the location of the marsquake that InSight lander detected in 2021. New research pinpointed the location of the quake in the Valles Marineris region of Mars. Image via J. Davis/ NASA/ JPL/ GSFC/ ESA/ DLR/ FuBerlin/ ASU/ ICL.

Grand Canyon of Mars: home to ancient fault and modern stress

The team was able to analyze the seismic waves, including their amplitudes and direction. Then they could reconstruct what must have happened to cause the quake. They said a strike-slip marsquake event was the most likely cause. This happens when two chunks of crust move horizontally past one another along a steep fault with a deep root. In this case, the quake was miles below ground. It created what would be equal to a magnitude 5 quake on Earth.

Lead author Jung-Hun Song of Imperial College London said:

What makes the result compelling is that several completely different types of evidence point in the same direction. The seismic waves tell us that there was a sideways sliding motion on a fault well below the surface, while the geology seen from orbit shows a region crossed by long-lived fault systems.

Song added:

What we see is that this is not just a ‘dead’ fossil landscape, as faults deep beneath the canyon can still slip and generate marsquakes, long after the geological processes that originally formed them have ceased.

Sadly, InSight lander ceased operations in 2022 due to too much dust accumulating on its solar panels. No active lander is currently recording new marsquakes on the surface of Mars. Perhaps we won’t discover the next marsquake until astronauts feel the red planet shake beneath them.

Bottom line: Researchers said the red planet is still tectonically active today. A team found the epicenter and cause of a marsquake at the Grand Canyon of Mars.

Source: Active crustal straining and fault reactivation at Valles Marineris

Via Columbia University

The post Is the Mars Grand Canyon still tectonically active? first appeared on EarthSky.

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Hunter’s Moon falls on October 25-26, with Saturn nearby

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When and where to look in 2026: For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the bright, round Hunter’s Moon — the full moon following the Harvest Moon — rises in the east around sunset on October 25. And be sure to watch for the nearly round moon on the nights before and after that, too. You’ll notice a bright steady light not far from the moon. That’ll be Saturn.

Crest of the full moon falls at 4:12 UTC on October 26, 2026. That’s 11:12 p.m. CDT on October 25 in central North America.

Characteristics of the Hunter’s Moon: The moon is roundest on the day that it’s full. And, on the day of the full moon, the moon will rise close to the time of sunset. But the nights before and after full moon typically feature a round-looking moon, too. And, like the Harvest Moon, the Hunter’s Moon is characterized by a shorter-than-usual time between successive moonrises for several evenings in a row. So watch the moonrise for a few nights around this full moon. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll notice the full or nearly full moon rising near the time of sunset.

For the Southern Hemisphere, the nights around this full moon feature a longer-than-usual time between successive moonrises. So, for the southern part of the globe, the moon on the nights following full moon will seem to rise late! And it’ll rise in a sky that’s already dark.

On the evening of October 25, as darkness falls, the full Hunter’s Moon will light up the eastern sky. It’ll be up all night, opposite the sun. You’ll spot a steady golden light nearby — Saturn! Chart via EarthSky.

What’s special about a Hunter’s Moon?

A full moon is always opposite the sun in space, and opposite the sun in our sky. So, all full moons rise in the east as the sun sets in the west. And all full moons set in the west around sunrise. They are highest in the sky in the middle of the night.

But all full moons have their own characteristics.

On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day. But when a full moon happens close to the autumn equinox — either a Harvest or a Hunter’s Moon — the moon rises only about 30 to 35 minutes later daily for several days around the time of full moon. The reason is that the ecliptic — the path of the sun, moon, and planets across the sky — makes a relatively narrow angle with the evening horizon in autumn.

So if it’s autumn where you are, you can expect a shorter-than-usual lag time between successive moonrises for several days around the full Hunter’s Moon. Those early evening moonrises make every Hunter’s Moon special.

Meanwhile, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere — where it’s springtime now — you can expect a longer-than-usual time between moonrises for several nights around the full moon.

A great source of moonrise times is timeanddate.com. Once you get to that page, enter your location to see a table of moonrise and moonset times for the month.

By the way, the Harvest Moon can come either before or after the autumn equinox. It typically falls in September. But when the Harvest Moon happens to fall in October, the Hunter’s Moon — the full moon following the Harvest Moon — will land in early November.

That’ll happen next in 2028.

2026 Harvest and Hunter’s Moons. In autumn, the ecliptic — or path of the sun, moon and planets — makes a narrow angle with respect to the eastern evening horizon. So you might see a bright moon in the east shortly after sunset for several evenings in a row. Chart via EarthSky.

Is a Hunter’s Moon bigger or brighter?

No. The Hunter’s Moon is just an ordinary full moon with a special path across our evening sky. Still, many of us do think the Hunter’s Moon looks bigger … or brighter … and more orange than usual. Why?

It’s because the Hunter’s Moon has a powerful mystique. Many people look for it shortly after sunset around the time of full moon. After sunset around any full moon, the moon will always be near the horizon … because full moons rise at sunset. It’s the location of the moon near the horizon that causes the Hunter’s moon — or any full moon — to look big and orange in color.

Orange moon near the horizon. The orange color of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect. It stems from the fact that, when you look toward the horizon, you are looking in through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you gaze overhead. The atmosphere scatters blue light. That’s why the day sky looks blue. The greater thickness of atmosphere in the direction of a horizon scatters blue light most effectively, but it lets red light pass through to your eyes. So any full moon near the horizon takes on a yellow or orange or reddish hue.

Big moon near the horizon. The bigger-than-usual size of a moon seen near the horizon is something else entirely. It is a trick that your eyes are playing — an illusion — called the Moon Illusion.

2026 full moon is in Aries

The October full moon lies in front of one of three constellations. Two are in the zodiac, Pisces the Fishes and Aries the Ram. The other is a non-zodiacal constellation, Cetus the Whale.

The October full moon most often falls in Pisces. But it occasionally lands in Aries, as it does this year.

Infrequently, though, the October full moon passes through the large neighboring constellation to their south, Cetus the Whale.

The October 2026 full moon occurs on the overnight of October 25 and lies in the constellation Aries. Chart via EarthSky.

How did the Hunter’s Moon get its name?

There are many stories surrounding the names of the full moons, including the Hunter’s Moon. From a practical standpoint, the Harvest Moon and the subsequent Hunter’s Moon provided extra light in the evenings for farmers and hunters to finish their tasks.

Every full moon has a slew of nicknames tied to months of the year. But some full moon names, such as the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons, are tied to the seasons.

In North America, the Harvest Moon was a time when the bright moon meant farmers could stay out later working in their fields and gathering in their crops before the first freeze. After the harvest, farmers would turn to hunting deer and other game to bolster their food stores before winter. The bright light of the full moon and almost full moons would let them hunt into the evening hours. So, we call it a Hunter’s Moon.

Who named the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons? Those names probably sprang to the lips of farmers and hunters throughout the Northern Hemisphere, on autumn evenings at times of the full moon.

Bottom line: The 2026 October full moon is the Hunter’s Moon. It falls around October 25-26. It’s near the planet Saturn and in front of the constellation Aries the Ram.

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When and where to look in 2026: For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the bright, round Hunter’s Moon — the full moon following the Harvest Moon — rises in the east around sunset on October 25. And be sure to watch for the nearly round moon on the nights before and after that, too. You’ll notice a bright steady light not far from the moon. That’ll be Saturn.

Crest of the full moon falls at 4:12 UTC on October 26, 2026. That’s 11:12 p.m. CDT on October 25 in central North America.

Characteristics of the Hunter’s Moon: The moon is roundest on the day that it’s full. And, on the day of the full moon, the moon will rise close to the time of sunset. But the nights before and after full moon typically feature a round-looking moon, too. And, like the Harvest Moon, the Hunter’s Moon is characterized by a shorter-than-usual time between successive moonrises for several evenings in a row. So watch the moonrise for a few nights around this full moon. If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll notice the full or nearly full moon rising near the time of sunset.

For the Southern Hemisphere, the nights around this full moon feature a longer-than-usual time between successive moonrises. So, for the southern part of the globe, the moon on the nights following full moon will seem to rise late! And it’ll rise in a sky that’s already dark.

On the evening of October 25, as darkness falls, the full Hunter’s Moon will light up the eastern sky. It’ll be up all night, opposite the sun. You’ll spot a steady golden light nearby — Saturn! Chart via EarthSky.

What’s special about a Hunter’s Moon?

A full moon is always opposite the sun in space, and opposite the sun in our sky. So, all full moons rise in the east as the sun sets in the west. And all full moons set in the west around sunrise. They are highest in the sky in the middle of the night.

But all full moons have their own characteristics.

On average, the moon rises about 50 minutes later each day. But when a full moon happens close to the autumn equinox — either a Harvest or a Hunter’s Moon — the moon rises only about 30 to 35 minutes later daily for several days around the time of full moon. The reason is that the ecliptic — the path of the sun, moon, and planets across the sky — makes a relatively narrow angle with the evening horizon in autumn.

So if it’s autumn where you are, you can expect a shorter-than-usual lag time between successive moonrises for several days around the full Hunter’s Moon. Those early evening moonrises make every Hunter’s Moon special.

Meanwhile, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere — where it’s springtime now — you can expect a longer-than-usual time between moonrises for several nights around the full moon.

A great source of moonrise times is timeanddate.com. Once you get to that page, enter your location to see a table of moonrise and moonset times for the month.

By the way, the Harvest Moon can come either before or after the autumn equinox. It typically falls in September. But when the Harvest Moon happens to fall in October, the Hunter’s Moon — the full moon following the Harvest Moon — will land in early November.

That’ll happen next in 2028.

2026 Harvest and Hunter’s Moons. In autumn, the ecliptic — or path of the sun, moon and planets — makes a narrow angle with respect to the eastern evening horizon. So you might see a bright moon in the east shortly after sunset for several evenings in a row. Chart via EarthSky.

Is a Hunter’s Moon bigger or brighter?

No. The Hunter’s Moon is just an ordinary full moon with a special path across our evening sky. Still, many of us do think the Hunter’s Moon looks bigger … or brighter … and more orange than usual. Why?

It’s because the Hunter’s Moon has a powerful mystique. Many people look for it shortly after sunset around the time of full moon. After sunset around any full moon, the moon will always be near the horizon … because full moons rise at sunset. It’s the location of the moon near the horizon that causes the Hunter’s moon — or any full moon — to look big and orange in color.

Orange moon near the horizon. The orange color of a moon near the horizon is a true physical effect. It stems from the fact that, when you look toward the horizon, you are looking in through a greater thickness of Earth’s atmosphere than when you gaze overhead. The atmosphere scatters blue light. That’s why the day sky looks blue. The greater thickness of atmosphere in the direction of a horizon scatters blue light most effectively, but it lets red light pass through to your eyes. So any full moon near the horizon takes on a yellow or orange or reddish hue.

Big moon near the horizon. The bigger-than-usual size of a moon seen near the horizon is something else entirely. It is a trick that your eyes are playing — an illusion — called the Moon Illusion.

2026 full moon is in Aries

The October full moon lies in front of one of three constellations. Two are in the zodiac, Pisces the Fishes and Aries the Ram. The other is a non-zodiacal constellation, Cetus the Whale.

The October full moon most often falls in Pisces. But it occasionally lands in Aries, as it does this year.

Infrequently, though, the October full moon passes through the large neighboring constellation to their south, Cetus the Whale.

The October 2026 full moon occurs on the overnight of October 25 and lies in the constellation Aries. Chart via EarthSky.

How did the Hunter’s Moon get its name?

There are many stories surrounding the names of the full moons, including the Hunter’s Moon. From a practical standpoint, the Harvest Moon and the subsequent Hunter’s Moon provided extra light in the evenings for farmers and hunters to finish their tasks.

Every full moon has a slew of nicknames tied to months of the year. But some full moon names, such as the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons, are tied to the seasons.

In North America, the Harvest Moon was a time when the bright moon meant farmers could stay out later working in their fields and gathering in their crops before the first freeze. After the harvest, farmers would turn to hunting deer and other game to bolster their food stores before winter. The bright light of the full moon and almost full moons would let them hunt into the evening hours. So, we call it a Hunter’s Moon.

Who named the Harvest and Hunter’s Moons? Those names probably sprang to the lips of farmers and hunters throughout the Northern Hemisphere, on autumn evenings at times of the full moon.

Bottom line: The 2026 October full moon is the Hunter’s Moon. It falls around October 25-26. It’s near the planet Saturn and in front of the constellation Aries the Ram.

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Pentagon UAP files part 7: Silent black triangles

View larger/full image. | Artist’s digital recreation of a June 2026 UAP incident involving a so-called black triangle. It’s part of the new Pentagon UAP files release, batch 7. Image via DoD.

• The U.S. Pentagon released the 7th batch of its UAP files on October 23, 2026.
• This Pentagon UAP files release contains 28 new files altogether, and all are PDF documents.
• The release is part of a continuing rollout of formerly classified files, every couple or few weeks. So far, there’s still been no “smoking gun” to show that alien craft are visiting Earth. But the files are interesting!

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

7th batch of Pentagon UAP files

The U.S. Pentagon released its 1st batch of declassified UAP/UFO materials on May 8, 2026. And now it has just made public batch 7. There are 28 new files in batch 7, all of which are PDF documents (some with images). There are no video, audio or separate image files this time around.

Some of the documents date back to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, but others are from this year.

And as usual, Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman, said in a statement:

Today, the Department of War is publishing the seventh release of declassified and historical Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The collection continues to be housed on WAR.GOV/UFO, and the Department will release additional files on a rolling basis.

The Department of War and our agency partners are actively working on the next release of UAP files. The seventh release of UAP files is available now on WAR.GOV/UFO.

For context, the government released a 2nd batch on May 22, a 3rd batch on June 12, the 4th batch on July 10, the 5th batch on August 7 and the 6th batch of the Pentagon UAP files on September 18, all in 2026. 

As has been the pattern for these releases, they are a mixed bag of old and previously known material, and newer material. Do the releases prove aliens exist, or that alien craft are visiting Earth? No. Not so far.

The @DeptofWar has released the seventh tranche of records, reinforcing our commitment under PURSUE to increase transparency by responsibly releasing information. To view Release 7: https://t.co/XtJxoryXtt

— All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (@DoW_AARO) October 23, 2026

View larger. | The 1st page of the AARO memo regarding the June 2026 triangle report. Image via DoD.

Triangular craft over military bases

Black triangular-shaped craft are common in UAP lore, going back several decades, with sporadic records tracing back to the 1950s and 1960s, before exploding into mainstream UFO lore in the 1980s and 1990s.

They have been described as being silent and capable of incredibly fast acceleration. And in many cases, bright lights are reported at each corner of the triangle, with, at times, a pulsing red light on the underside and in the center.

The report from June 2026 is detailed here and here. The reported object was much smaller than many older reports, but intriguing nonetheless. The U.S. All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) — a speciallized office within the U.S. Department of Defense, responsible for investigating analyzing and documenting reports of UAP (UFOs) — and the FBI both investigated it. The first description says:

This document is a memorandum for record documenting an AARO witness debrief concerning reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) observations at a sensitive national security site in the western United States over two days in 2026. AARO considers this incident to warrant further investigation due to the close alignment of the phenomenon’s reported morphological features and kinematic profiles with those of other reported incidents in the western United States region. The memorandum records an interview with two Federal Special Agents and incorporates a corroborating account from a third official positioned at a separate observation post.

The witnesses described the object as triangular, matte black, 13-15 feet (4-5 meters) wide, 6-9 feet (2-3 m) long and 1-2 feet (.3-.6 m) thick. It climbed about 200-300 feet (60-90 m) above the local ridge line and then suddenly stopped and hovered for 20 seconds.

Then, it went into a high-speed horizontal flight. And again, there was reportedly no engine roar, rotor hum or any other noise. The AARO memo said:

Absolute acoustic silence persisted throughout the high-velocity phase. No impact signature, smoke, dust or physical disturbance was observed. A ground survey of the canyon drainage conducted the following morning located no wreckage, ground scarring, or vegetation damage.

BREAKING- White House releases latest tranche of UFO/ UAP FILES.

Pentagon/FBI documents detail military personnel’s encounters with a black triangular craft flying over sensitive military sites, pentagon says it cannot explain the way the crafts maneuvered as they did pic.twitter.com/8HHFIjayvy

— Joe Khalil (@JoeKhalilTV) October 23, 2026

Cylindrical objects in Europe and Middle East

In addition, cylinder-shaped objects have also been reported many times over the decades.

For example, the new release of Pentagon UAP files contains reports of cylindrical or elliptical objects from Sweden (December 17, 1953), Saudi Arabia (January 18, 1957) and elsewhere.

Federal agents encountered a large, triangular aircraft earlier this year that zoomed through the sky from a standstill while making no noise or giving off any exhaust, according to new documents released by the Pentagon. https://t.co/tBXZmpoe7C pic.twitter.com/kKSqnGpntx

— CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil (@CBSEveningNews) October 24, 2026

NASA guidance for handling unidentified craft

Also included is interagency guidance from NASA about how to handle unidentified craft — or pieces thereof — that crashed. Why? Because this was during the space race, when the United States and the Soviet Union were placing satellites into orbit, and procedures existed for recovering American and Soviet technology.

The guidance, however, also included a third category for technology that authorities could not identify or classify.

View larger. | Witness sketch from one of the BAASS cases on November 2, 2009. Image via DoD.

Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies

The new batch includes progress reports from Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). Robert Bigelow, who founded Bigelow Aerospace, also set up BAASS as a subsidiary to study futuristic technology and UAP. BAASS reported to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

In addition, BAASS was the sole recipient of a multi-million-dollar government contract (initially $10 million) awarded by the DIA in 2008 to manage the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP).

The monthly reports are here, here, here, here, here and here.

Bottom line: The U.S. Pentagon released its 7th batch of UAP files on October 23, 2026. The documents include reports of silent black triangle craft and more.

Read and watch more:

Document files can be seen and downloaded here

Department of War Publishes Seventh Release of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Files on WAR.GOV/UFO

White House releases new UFO documents | Reality Check

New UFO files include details of strange triangular craft: “Absolute acoustic silence”

Latest Pentagon UFO files include reports of triangular craft over military sites

Strange triangular craft reported in new U.S. government UFO release

The post Pentagon UAP files part 7: Silent black triangles first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/zfqArFM

View larger/full image. | Artist’s digital recreation of a June 2026 UAP incident involving a so-called black triangle. It’s part of the new Pentagon UAP files release, batch 7. Image via DoD.

• The U.S. Pentagon released the 7th batch of its UAP files on October 23, 2026.
• This Pentagon UAP files release contains 28 new files altogether, and all are PDF documents.
• The release is part of a continuing rollout of formerly classified files, every couple or few weeks. So far, there’s still been no “smoking gun” to show that alien craft are visiting Earth. But the files are interesting!

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

7th batch of Pentagon UAP files

The U.S. Pentagon released its 1st batch of declassified UAP/UFO materials on May 8, 2026. And now it has just made public batch 7. There are 28 new files in batch 7, all of which are PDF documents (some with images). There are no video, audio or separate image files this time around.

Some of the documents date back to the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, but others are from this year.

And as usual, Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman, said in a statement:

Today, the Department of War is publishing the seventh release of declassified and historical Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The collection continues to be housed on WAR.GOV/UFO, and the Department will release additional files on a rolling basis.

The Department of War and our agency partners are actively working on the next release of UAP files. The seventh release of UAP files is available now on WAR.GOV/UFO.

For context, the government released a 2nd batch on May 22, a 3rd batch on June 12, the 4th batch on July 10, the 5th batch on August 7 and the 6th batch of the Pentagon UAP files on September 18, all in 2026. 

As has been the pattern for these releases, they are a mixed bag of old and previously known material, and newer material. Do the releases prove aliens exist, or that alien craft are visiting Earth? No. Not so far.

The @DeptofWar has released the seventh tranche of records, reinforcing our commitment under PURSUE to increase transparency by responsibly releasing information. To view Release 7: https://t.co/XtJxoryXtt

— All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (@DoW_AARO) October 23, 2026

View larger. | The 1st page of the AARO memo regarding the June 2026 triangle report. Image via DoD.

Triangular craft over military bases

Black triangular-shaped craft are common in UAP lore, going back several decades, with sporadic records tracing back to the 1950s and 1960s, before exploding into mainstream UFO lore in the 1980s and 1990s.

They have been described as being silent and capable of incredibly fast acceleration. And in many cases, bright lights are reported at each corner of the triangle, with, at times, a pulsing red light on the underside and in the center.

The report from June 2026 is detailed here and here. The reported object was much smaller than many older reports, but intriguing nonetheless. The U.S. All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) — a speciallized office within the U.S. Department of Defense, responsible for investigating analyzing and documenting reports of UAP (UFOs) — and the FBI both investigated it. The first description says:

This document is a memorandum for record documenting an AARO witness debrief concerning reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) observations at a sensitive national security site in the western United States over two days in 2026. AARO considers this incident to warrant further investigation due to the close alignment of the phenomenon’s reported morphological features and kinematic profiles with those of other reported incidents in the western United States region. The memorandum records an interview with two Federal Special Agents and incorporates a corroborating account from a third official positioned at a separate observation post.

The witnesses described the object as triangular, matte black, 13-15 feet (4-5 meters) wide, 6-9 feet (2-3 m) long and 1-2 feet (.3-.6 m) thick. It climbed about 200-300 feet (60-90 m) above the local ridge line and then suddenly stopped and hovered for 20 seconds.

Then, it went into a high-speed horizontal flight. And again, there was reportedly no engine roar, rotor hum or any other noise. The AARO memo said:

Absolute acoustic silence persisted throughout the high-velocity phase. No impact signature, smoke, dust or physical disturbance was observed. A ground survey of the canyon drainage conducted the following morning located no wreckage, ground scarring, or vegetation damage.

BREAKING- White House releases latest tranche of UFO/ UAP FILES.

Pentagon/FBI documents detail military personnel’s encounters with a black triangular craft flying over sensitive military sites, pentagon says it cannot explain the way the crafts maneuvered as they did pic.twitter.com/8HHFIjayvy

— Joe Khalil (@JoeKhalilTV) October 23, 2026

Cylindrical objects in Europe and Middle East

In addition, cylinder-shaped objects have also been reported many times over the decades.

For example, the new release of Pentagon UAP files contains reports of cylindrical or elliptical objects from Sweden (December 17, 1953), Saudi Arabia (January 18, 1957) and elsewhere.

Federal agents encountered a large, triangular aircraft earlier this year that zoomed through the sky from a standstill while making no noise or giving off any exhaust, according to new documents released by the Pentagon. https://t.co/tBXZmpoe7C pic.twitter.com/kKSqnGpntx

— CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil (@CBSEveningNews) October 24, 2026

NASA guidance for handling unidentified craft

Also included is interagency guidance from NASA about how to handle unidentified craft — or pieces thereof — that crashed. Why? Because this was during the space race, when the United States and the Soviet Union were placing satellites into orbit, and procedures existed for recovering American and Soviet technology.

The guidance, however, also included a third category for technology that authorities could not identify or classify.

View larger. | Witness sketch from one of the BAASS cases on November 2, 2009. Image via DoD.

Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies

The new batch includes progress reports from Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS). Robert Bigelow, who founded Bigelow Aerospace, also set up BAASS as a subsidiary to study futuristic technology and UAP. BAASS reported to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

In addition, BAASS was the sole recipient of a multi-million-dollar government contract (initially $10 million) awarded by the DIA in 2008 to manage the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP).

The monthly reports are here, here, here, here, here and here.

Bottom line: The U.S. Pentagon released its 7th batch of UAP files on October 23, 2026. The documents include reports of silent black triangle craft and more.

Read and watch more:

Document files can be seen and downloaded here

Department of War Publishes Seventh Release of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Files on WAR.GOV/UFO

White House releases new UFO documents | Reality Check

New UFO files include details of strange triangular craft: “Absolute acoustic silence”

Latest Pentagon UFO files include reports of triangular craft over military sites

Strange triangular craft reported in new U.S. government UFO release

The post Pentagon UAP files part 7: Silent black triangles first appeared on EarthSky.

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Olbers’ paradox asks ‘Why is the night sky dark?’

Brian Jackson, Boise State University

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

Why is space dark if the universe is filled with stars?

People have been asking why space is dark despite being filled with stars for so long that this question has a special name: Olbers’ paradox.

Astronomers estimate that there are about 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. And many of those stars are as bright or even brighter than our sun. So, why isn’t space filled with dazzling light?

I am an astronomer who studies stars and planets — including those outside our solar system — and their motion in space. The study of distant stars and planets helps astronomers like me understand why space is so dark.

You might guess it’s because a lot of the stars in the universe are very far away from Earth. Of course, it is true that the farther away a star is, the less bright it looks. A star 10 times farther away looks 100 times dimmer. But it turns out this isn’t the whole answer.

Imagine a bubble

Pretend, for a moment, that the universe is so old that the light from even the farthest stars has had time to reach Earth. In this imaginary scenario, all of the stars in the universe are not moving at all.

Picture a large bubble with Earth at the center. If the bubble were about 10 light-years across, it would contain about a dozen stars. Of course, at several light-years away, many of those stars would look pretty dim from Earth.

If you keep enlarging the bubble to 1,000 light-years across, then to one million light-years, and then one billion light-years, the farthest stars in the bubble will look even more faint. But there would also be more and more stars inside the bigger and bigger bubble, all of them contributing light. Even though the farthest stars look dimmer and dimmer, there would be a lot more of them, and the whole night sky should look very bright.

It seems I’m back where I started, but I’m actually a little closer to the answer.

Age matters in Olbers’ paradox

In the imaginary bubble illustration, I asked you to imagine that the stars are not moving and that the universe is very old. But the universe is “only” about 13 billion years old.

Even though that’s an amazingly long time in human terms, it’s short in astronomical terms. It’s short enough that the light from stars more distant than about 13 billion light-years hasn’t actually reached Earth yet. And so the actual bubble around Earth that contains all the stars we can see only extends out to about 13 billion light-years from Earth.

There just are not enough stars in the bubble to fill every line of sight. Of course, if you look in some directions in the sky, you can see stars. If you look at other bits of the sky, you can’t see any stars. And that’s because, in those dark spots, the stars that could block your line of sight are so far away their light hasn’t reached Earth yet. As time passes, light from these more and more distant stars will have time to reach us.

The Doppler shift and Olbers’ paradox

You might ask whether the night sky will eventually light up completely. But that brings me back to the other thing I told you to imagine: that all of the stars are not moving. The universe is actually expanding, with the most distant galaxies moving away from Earth at nearly the speed of light.

Because the galaxies are moving away so fast, the light from their stars is pushed into colors the human eye can’t see. This effect is the Doppler shift. So, even if it had enough time to reach you, you still couldn’t see the light from the most distant stars with your eyes. And the night sky would not be completely lit up.

If you wait even longer, eventually the stars will all burn out. Stars like the sun last only about 10 billion years. Astronomers hypothesize that in the distant future — a thousand trillion years from now — the universe will go dark, inhabited by only stellar remnants like white dwarfs and black holes.

Even though our night sky isn’t completely filled with stars, we live in a very special time in the universe’s life, when we’re lucky enough to enjoy a rich and complex night sky, filled with light and dark.

Brian Jackson, Associate Professor of Astronomy, Boise State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: Olbers’ paradox asks why is space dark if the universe is filled with stars. The answer is that not all of the light from distant stars has reached us yet. Plus, the universe is expanding, so stars’ light gets red-shifted, pushing it into colors where our human eyes can’t see.

The post Olbers’ paradox asks ‘Why is the night sky dark?’ first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/C3wxd6A

Brian Jackson, Boise State University

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

Why is space dark if the universe is filled with stars?

People have been asking why space is dark despite being filled with stars for so long that this question has a special name: Olbers’ paradox.

Astronomers estimate that there are about 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. And many of those stars are as bright or even brighter than our sun. So, why isn’t space filled with dazzling light?

I am an astronomer who studies stars and planets — including those outside our solar system — and their motion in space. The study of distant stars and planets helps astronomers like me understand why space is so dark.

You might guess it’s because a lot of the stars in the universe are very far away from Earth. Of course, it is true that the farther away a star is, the less bright it looks. A star 10 times farther away looks 100 times dimmer. But it turns out this isn’t the whole answer.

Imagine a bubble

Pretend, for a moment, that the universe is so old that the light from even the farthest stars has had time to reach Earth. In this imaginary scenario, all of the stars in the universe are not moving at all.

Picture a large bubble with Earth at the center. If the bubble were about 10 light-years across, it would contain about a dozen stars. Of course, at several light-years away, many of those stars would look pretty dim from Earth.

If you keep enlarging the bubble to 1,000 light-years across, then to one million light-years, and then one billion light-years, the farthest stars in the bubble will look even more faint. But there would also be more and more stars inside the bigger and bigger bubble, all of them contributing light. Even though the farthest stars look dimmer and dimmer, there would be a lot more of them, and the whole night sky should look very bright.

It seems I’m back where I started, but I’m actually a little closer to the answer.

Age matters in Olbers’ paradox

In the imaginary bubble illustration, I asked you to imagine that the stars are not moving and that the universe is very old. But the universe is “only” about 13 billion years old.

Even though that’s an amazingly long time in human terms, it’s short in astronomical terms. It’s short enough that the light from stars more distant than about 13 billion light-years hasn’t actually reached Earth yet. And so the actual bubble around Earth that contains all the stars we can see only extends out to about 13 billion light-years from Earth.

There just are not enough stars in the bubble to fill every line of sight. Of course, if you look in some directions in the sky, you can see stars. If you look at other bits of the sky, you can’t see any stars. And that’s because, in those dark spots, the stars that could block your line of sight are so far away their light hasn’t reached Earth yet. As time passes, light from these more and more distant stars will have time to reach us.

The Doppler shift and Olbers’ paradox

You might ask whether the night sky will eventually light up completely. But that brings me back to the other thing I told you to imagine: that all of the stars are not moving. The universe is actually expanding, with the most distant galaxies moving away from Earth at nearly the speed of light.

Because the galaxies are moving away so fast, the light from their stars is pushed into colors the human eye can’t see. This effect is the Doppler shift. So, even if it had enough time to reach you, you still couldn’t see the light from the most distant stars with your eyes. And the night sky would not be completely lit up.

If you wait even longer, eventually the stars will all burn out. Stars like the sun last only about 10 billion years. Astronomers hypothesize that in the distant future — a thousand trillion years from now — the universe will go dark, inhabited by only stellar remnants like white dwarfs and black holes.

Even though our night sky isn’t completely filled with stars, we live in a very special time in the universe’s life, when we’re lucky enough to enjoy a rich and complex night sky, filled with light and dark.

Brian Jackson, Associate Professor of Astronomy, Boise State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: Olbers’ paradox asks why is space dark if the universe is filled with stars. The answer is that not all of the light from distant stars has reached us yet. Plus, the universe is expanding, so stars’ light gets red-shifted, pushing it into colors where our human eyes can’t see.

The post Olbers’ paradox asks ‘Why is the night sky dark?’ first appeared on EarthSky.

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1st photo of Earth from space, 80 years ago

The 1st photo of Earth from space gave us a look at our world’s clouds from above. The image is from October 24, 1946. Image via White Sands Missile Range/ Applied Physics Laboratory/ Wikimedia Commons.

1st photo of Earth from space

On October 24, 1946, scientists launched a V-2 rocket — carrying a 35-mm motion picture camera — to a height 65 miles (105 km) above a New Mexico desert. After a few minutes, the camera dropped back to Earth and was destroyed on impact. But the film survived.

Today, the Kármán line is the widely recognized boundary that marks the edge of space. It’s located at 62 miles (100 km) above Earth’s surface, roughly where Earth’s atmosphere becomes too thin to support traditional aerodynamic flight. According to the Orbital Radar 2025 Launch Database, we’re currently launching into space at a rate of about a launch per day (6-7 launches per week).

But the 1946 first photo of Earth was nothing short of a revelation.

Fascinating science, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Reliving the momentous day

Air & Space Magazine tells the story of this major event in space history:

Snapping a new frame every second and a half, the rocket-borne camera climbed straight up, then fell back to Earth minutes later, slamming into the ground at 500 feet per second [152 meters/second]. The camera itself was smashed, but the film, protected in a steel cassette, was unharmed.

Fred Rulli was a 19-year-old enlisted man assigned to the recovery team that drove into the desert to retrieve film from those early V-2 shots. When the scientists found the cassette in good shape, he recalls, ‘They were ecstatic, they were jumping up and down like kids.’ Later, back at the launch site, ‘when they first projected [the photos] onto the screen, the scientists just went nuts.’

Before 1946, the highest pictures ever taken of the Earth’s surface were from the Explorer II balloon, which had ascended 13.7 miles [22 km] in 1935, high enough to discern the curvature of the Earth. The V-2 cameras reached more than five times that altitude, where they clearly showed the planet set against the blackness of space. When the movie frames were stitched together, Clyde Holliday, the engineer who developed the camera, wrote in National Geographic in 1950 that the V-2 photos showed for the first time ‘how our Earth would look to visitors from another planet coming in on a space ship.’

Another early image from space

Scientists quickly got better at taking Earth’s picture. Here’s a still frame from about 6 months later, taken from V-2 #21, launched on March 7, 1947. This picture is from 101 miles (163 km) up. The dark area on Earth at upper left is the Gulf of California. Image via White Sands Missile Range/ Naval Research Laboratory/ Wikimedia Commons.

See a panorama of Earth from 1948 here

See videos and read the rest of the story from Air & Space.

Bottom line: On October 24, 1946, a movie camera on board a V-2 rocket captured the first photo of Earth from outer space. We’ve come a long way since then!

Read more: Earth images from space: 10 incredible photos of our planet

Read more: GOES-19 first light images show stunning view of Earth

The post 1st photo of Earth from space, 80 years ago first appeared on EarthSky.

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The 1st photo of Earth from space gave us a look at our world’s clouds from above. The image is from October 24, 1946. Image via White Sands Missile Range/ Applied Physics Laboratory/ Wikimedia Commons.

1st photo of Earth from space

On October 24, 1946, scientists launched a V-2 rocket — carrying a 35-mm motion picture camera — to a height 65 miles (105 km) above a New Mexico desert. After a few minutes, the camera dropped back to Earth and was destroyed on impact. But the film survived.

Today, the Kármán line is the widely recognized boundary that marks the edge of space. It’s located at 62 miles (100 km) above Earth’s surface, roughly where Earth’s atmosphere becomes too thin to support traditional aerodynamic flight. According to the Orbital Radar 2025 Launch Database, we’re currently launching into space at a rate of about a launch per day (6-7 launches per week).

But the 1946 first photo of Earth was nothing short of a revelation.

Fascinating science, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Reliving the momentous day

Air & Space Magazine tells the story of this major event in space history:

Snapping a new frame every second and a half, the rocket-borne camera climbed straight up, then fell back to Earth minutes later, slamming into the ground at 500 feet per second [152 meters/second]. The camera itself was smashed, but the film, protected in a steel cassette, was unharmed.

Fred Rulli was a 19-year-old enlisted man assigned to the recovery team that drove into the desert to retrieve film from those early V-2 shots. When the scientists found the cassette in good shape, he recalls, ‘They were ecstatic, they were jumping up and down like kids.’ Later, back at the launch site, ‘when they first projected [the photos] onto the screen, the scientists just went nuts.’

Before 1946, the highest pictures ever taken of the Earth’s surface were from the Explorer II balloon, which had ascended 13.7 miles [22 km] in 1935, high enough to discern the curvature of the Earth. The V-2 cameras reached more than five times that altitude, where they clearly showed the planet set against the blackness of space. When the movie frames were stitched together, Clyde Holliday, the engineer who developed the camera, wrote in National Geographic in 1950 that the V-2 photos showed for the first time ‘how our Earth would look to visitors from another planet coming in on a space ship.’

Another early image from space

Scientists quickly got better at taking Earth’s picture. Here’s a still frame from about 6 months later, taken from V-2 #21, launched on March 7, 1947. This picture is from 101 miles (163 km) up. The dark area on Earth at upper left is the Gulf of California. Image via White Sands Missile Range/ Naval Research Laboratory/ Wikimedia Commons.

See a panorama of Earth from 1948 here

See videos and read the rest of the story from Air & Space.

Bottom line: On October 24, 1946, a movie camera on board a V-2 rocket captured the first photo of Earth from outer space. We’ve come a long way since then!

Read more: Earth images from space: 10 incredible photos of our planet

Read more: GOES-19 first light images show stunning view of Earth

The post 1st photo of Earth from space, 80 years ago first appeared on EarthSky.

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Lucy mission to Trojan asteroids: 5 years of discoveries

View larger. | Artist’s concept of the Lucy spacecraft making a close flyby of an asteroid. The Lucy mission is now less than a year from reaching the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. Image via NASA.

• NASA’s Lucy mission is headed to the Trojan asteroids. These asteroids, traveling ahead of and behind Jupiter in its orbit, have never been explored before.
• Lucy is now less than a year away from the Trojans. But it has already made several exciting discoveries.
• These include new findings at other asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

5 years into the Lucy mission

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is getting ever closer to its destination, the Trojan asteroids. These are two groups of asteroids that travel ahead of and behind Jupiter in its orbit. Lucy is now less than a year away from meeting its first Trojan. Exciting!

Launched on October 16, 2021, Lucy has been traveling for about five years now. But even though it hasn’t reached the asteroids yet, it has already made several remarkable discoveries, researchers from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) said on October 19, 2026.

Here, the white “donut” represents the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. And the green groups of dots are Trojans. These asteroids move in Jupiter’s orbit, 60 degrees ahead of and behind the giant planet. Asteroids orbiting in front of Jupiter are named for the Greek heroes of the Trojan War. And likewise, asteroids trailing behind Jupiter are named for the Trojan heroes. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

An ambitious mission to unexplored asteroids

Lucy will be the first mission to explore the Trojan asteroids. Hal Levison at SwRI is the principal investigator of the mission. He said:

Lucy is an ambitious NASA mission, with plans to visit 11 asteroids in its 12-year mission to tour the Trojan asteroids that are located in two swarms leading and trailing Jupiter. As we passed through the main asteroid belt, we visited three asteroids, capturing close-up views of those bodies while performing engineering tests of the spacecraft’s innovative navigation system in advance of the main event to study the Trojans. These relics are effectively fossils of the planet formation process, holding vital clues to deciphering the history of our solar system.

Dinkinesh has a moon

Even though Lucy hasn’t reached the Trojans yet, it has already made several discoveries.

The first was at the asteroid Dinkinesh. Back in 2022, the mission team found that Lucy would come close to the asteroid, which was still unnamed at the time. Dinkinesh is in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The flyby happened in November 2023. The mission team tweaked the spacecraft’s trajectory so it would fly even closer to Dinkinesh. And there was a surprise waiting for them.

The asteroid had a tiny moon! So now, scientists count that as being two asteroids. But there was yet another surprise.

The little moon, now named Selam, was a contact binary. That is, it had two parts that were joined together. So there were three bodies altogether, not just one.

The Lucy mission took this image a few minutes after closest approach to asteroid Dinkinesh on November 1, 2023. We clearly see the asteroid’s double moon, Selam, on the right, as 2 smaller bodies stuck together. Image via NASA/ SwRI/ Johns Hopkins APL/ NOIRLab.

Peanut-shaped Donaldjohanson

Later, in 2025, Lucy flew past another asteroid, Donaldjohanson. And this time, it was the asteroid itself that was a contact binary.

Donaldjohanson is peanut-shaped, with two large lobes joined together by a smooth “neck.” Simone Marchi, deputy principal investigator for Lucy, said:

The Donaldjohanson flyby revealed many surprises about the small asteroid. For instance, the peanut-shaped, two-lobed structure is connected by a remarkably smooth neck. The asteroid also wobbles, rotating end-over-end once every 10.5 Earth days while rolling around its lateral axis once every 26.5 days.

This is asteroid Donaldjohanson, as NASA’s Lucy spacecraft saw it during a flyby on April 20, 2025. Its apparent rotation here is due to the spacecraft’s motion as it flew by Donaldjohanson at a distance of 660 to 1,000 miles (1,060 to 1,600 km). But Lucy did find that this little asteroid wobbles in space. Image via NASA/ Goddard/ SwRI/ Johns Hopkins APL.

Gravity assists boot Lucy’s speed

During its journey, Lucy looped back and passed by Earth twice. Why? It might sound counterproductive, but the spacecraft uses Earth’s gravity to gain speed and fine-tune its trajectory.

The first gravity assist was in October 2022. Lucy passed only 220 miles (350 km) above the surface of Earth. This propelled Lucy into a two-year solar orbit. Lucy took images of Earth and the moon to calibrate its instruments.

Later, in December 2024, the second flyby increased its speed relative to the sun by over 16,000 mph (25,750 km/h). That put Lucy on a current path to make its first Trojan encounter in August 2027.

Lucy will make yet another Earth flyby in December 2030. It will then reach the second Trojan swarm of asteroids in March 2033.

NASA Lucy spacecraft’s 2nd Earth gravity assist dramatically alters the spacecraft’s trajectory, enabling it to travel through the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Lucy’s trajectory after the assist is shown by a dashed red curve. The gray regions indicate the approximate location of the main asteroid belt (upper right) and the leading group of Jupiter trojan asteroids (lower left). In addition, the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson and the Trojan asteroid Eurybates are shown at the time of Lucy’s encounters. Image via NASA/ SwRI.

When problems arise

With any mission, there can be problems that occur, and Lucy was no exception. Soon after launch, one of its two huge solar panels didn’t deploy properly.

However, mission engineers were able to diagnose the problem and get the solar panel to deploy far enough to save the mission.

View larger. | Lucy’s massive solar arrays completed their 1st set of deployment tests in January 2021 inside this thermal vacuum chamber at Lockheed Martin Space. NASA engineers had to solve a problem with them on the fly, as the spacecraft makes its way to the Trojan asteroids. Image via Lockheed Martin Space/ NASA.
Image via Lockheed Martin Space.

Other observations

Lucy has been fortunate to witness some other events too during its journey.

In September 2022, NASA DART probe impacted the near-Earth asteroid Didymos (on purpose, to demonstrate planetary defense technology). And Lucy saw it happen.

In September 2025, Lucy observed the now-famous interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed through our solar system. 

But there is much more to come, as Levison noted:

Despite these eventful five years, most of Lucy’s mission still lies ahead. The main events start in less than a year as Lucy gets a close-up look at four Trojan asteroid systems: Eurybates and its satellite Queta in August 2027, Polymele and its as-yet-unnamed satellite in September 2027, Leucus in April 2028 and Orus in November 2028.

It will be exciting when Lucy finally reaches the Trojans. None of them have been seen up close before, so what will Lucy find?

Bottom line: NASA’s Lucy mission is now less than a year from reaching the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. And it has already made some exciting discoveries along the way.

Via SwRI

Read more: Lucy spacecraft 1st images of asteroid Donaldjohanson!

Read more: Lucy spacecraft update: And then there were 3!

The post Lucy mission to Trojan asteroids: 5 years of discoveries first appeared on EarthSky.

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View larger. | Artist’s concept of the Lucy spacecraft making a close flyby of an asteroid. The Lucy mission is now less than a year from reaching the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. Image via NASA.

• NASA’s Lucy mission is headed to the Trojan asteroids. These asteroids, traveling ahead of and behind Jupiter in its orbit, have never been explored before.
• Lucy is now less than a year away from the Trojans. But it has already made several exciting discoveries.
• These include new findings at other asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

5 years into the Lucy mission

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is getting ever closer to its destination, the Trojan asteroids. These are two groups of asteroids that travel ahead of and behind Jupiter in its orbit. Lucy is now less than a year away from meeting its first Trojan. Exciting!

Launched on October 16, 2021, Lucy has been traveling for about five years now. But even though it hasn’t reached the asteroids yet, it has already made several remarkable discoveries, researchers from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) said on October 19, 2026.

Here, the white “donut” represents the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. And the green groups of dots are Trojans. These asteroids move in Jupiter’s orbit, 60 degrees ahead of and behind the giant planet. Asteroids orbiting in front of Jupiter are named for the Greek heroes of the Trojan War. And likewise, asteroids trailing behind Jupiter are named for the Trojan heroes. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

An ambitious mission to unexplored asteroids

Lucy will be the first mission to explore the Trojan asteroids. Hal Levison at SwRI is the principal investigator of the mission. He said:

Lucy is an ambitious NASA mission, with plans to visit 11 asteroids in its 12-year mission to tour the Trojan asteroids that are located in two swarms leading and trailing Jupiter. As we passed through the main asteroid belt, we visited three asteroids, capturing close-up views of those bodies while performing engineering tests of the spacecraft’s innovative navigation system in advance of the main event to study the Trojans. These relics are effectively fossils of the planet formation process, holding vital clues to deciphering the history of our solar system.

Dinkinesh has a moon

Even though Lucy hasn’t reached the Trojans yet, it has already made several discoveries.

The first was at the asteroid Dinkinesh. Back in 2022, the mission team found that Lucy would come close to the asteroid, which was still unnamed at the time. Dinkinesh is in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The flyby happened in November 2023. The mission team tweaked the spacecraft’s trajectory so it would fly even closer to Dinkinesh. And there was a surprise waiting for them.

The asteroid had a tiny moon! So now, scientists count that as being two asteroids. But there was yet another surprise.

The little moon, now named Selam, was a contact binary. That is, it had two parts that were joined together. So there were three bodies altogether, not just one.

The Lucy mission took this image a few minutes after closest approach to asteroid Dinkinesh on November 1, 2023. We clearly see the asteroid’s double moon, Selam, on the right, as 2 smaller bodies stuck together. Image via NASA/ SwRI/ Johns Hopkins APL/ NOIRLab.

Peanut-shaped Donaldjohanson

Later, in 2025, Lucy flew past another asteroid, Donaldjohanson. And this time, it was the asteroid itself that was a contact binary.

Donaldjohanson is peanut-shaped, with two large lobes joined together by a smooth “neck.” Simone Marchi, deputy principal investigator for Lucy, said:

The Donaldjohanson flyby revealed many surprises about the small asteroid. For instance, the peanut-shaped, two-lobed structure is connected by a remarkably smooth neck. The asteroid also wobbles, rotating end-over-end once every 10.5 Earth days while rolling around its lateral axis once every 26.5 days.

This is asteroid Donaldjohanson, as NASA’s Lucy spacecraft saw it during a flyby on April 20, 2025. Its apparent rotation here is due to the spacecraft’s motion as it flew by Donaldjohanson at a distance of 660 to 1,000 miles (1,060 to 1,600 km). But Lucy did find that this little asteroid wobbles in space. Image via NASA/ Goddard/ SwRI/ Johns Hopkins APL.

Gravity assists boot Lucy’s speed

During its journey, Lucy looped back and passed by Earth twice. Why? It might sound counterproductive, but the spacecraft uses Earth’s gravity to gain speed and fine-tune its trajectory.

The first gravity assist was in October 2022. Lucy passed only 220 miles (350 km) above the surface of Earth. This propelled Lucy into a two-year solar orbit. Lucy took images of Earth and the moon to calibrate its instruments.

Later, in December 2024, the second flyby increased its speed relative to the sun by over 16,000 mph (25,750 km/h). That put Lucy on a current path to make its first Trojan encounter in August 2027.

Lucy will make yet another Earth flyby in December 2030. It will then reach the second Trojan swarm of asteroids in March 2033.

NASA Lucy spacecraft’s 2nd Earth gravity assist dramatically alters the spacecraft’s trajectory, enabling it to travel through the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Lucy’s trajectory after the assist is shown by a dashed red curve. The gray regions indicate the approximate location of the main asteroid belt (upper right) and the leading group of Jupiter trojan asteroids (lower left). In addition, the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson and the Trojan asteroid Eurybates are shown at the time of Lucy’s encounters. Image via NASA/ SwRI.

When problems arise

With any mission, there can be problems that occur, and Lucy was no exception. Soon after launch, one of its two huge solar panels didn’t deploy properly.

However, mission engineers were able to diagnose the problem and get the solar panel to deploy far enough to save the mission.

View larger. | Lucy’s massive solar arrays completed their 1st set of deployment tests in January 2021 inside this thermal vacuum chamber at Lockheed Martin Space. NASA engineers had to solve a problem with them on the fly, as the spacecraft makes its way to the Trojan asteroids. Image via Lockheed Martin Space/ NASA.
Image via Lockheed Martin Space.

Other observations

Lucy has been fortunate to witness some other events too during its journey.

In September 2022, NASA DART probe impacted the near-Earth asteroid Didymos (on purpose, to demonstrate planetary defense technology). And Lucy saw it happen.

In September 2025, Lucy observed the now-famous interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passed through our solar system. 

But there is much more to come, as Levison noted:

Despite these eventful five years, most of Lucy’s mission still lies ahead. The main events start in less than a year as Lucy gets a close-up look at four Trojan asteroid systems: Eurybates and its satellite Queta in August 2027, Polymele and its as-yet-unnamed satellite in September 2027, Leucus in April 2028 and Orus in November 2028.

It will be exciting when Lucy finally reaches the Trojans. None of them have been seen up close before, so what will Lucy find?

Bottom line: NASA’s Lucy mission is now less than a year from reaching the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. And it has already made some exciting discoveries along the way.

Via SwRI

Read more: Lucy spacecraft 1st images of asteroid Donaldjohanson!

Read more: Lucy spacecraft update: And then there were 3!

The post Lucy mission to Trojan asteroids: 5 years of discoveries first appeared on EarthSky.

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