View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Catherine Hyde in Cambria, California, captured this stunning telescope image of the total lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026. Thank you, Catherine! See more incredible images of the total lunar eclipse below.
Did you see this morning’s total lunar eclipse? If not, don’t worry; EarthSky’s global community has got you covered!
On March 2-3, the moon slipped into Earth’s shadow and transformed into a stunning copper-red orb. This event was especially significant because it was the last total lunar eclipse until 2028. If you didn’t get the chance to see it live, here are some incredible images capturing the magic.
We’re adding photos as they come in. So if you captured your own shot of the eclipse, submit it here!
Images of the total lunar eclipse of March 2-3, 2026
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cissy Beasley captured this beautiful shot of the total lunar eclipse from Beeville, Texas, and wrote: “One of a few images shot from my driveway in Bee County, TX, before a bank of clouds rolled in, which obscured the moon for the remainder of the eclipse.” You certainly made the most of it, Cissy. Thank you!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Larry Isenberg from Ocala, Florida, captured this view of the total lunar eclipse as a jet flew in front of the moon. Thanks, Larry!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Linda Carlson captured this view of the eclipse from Orlando, Florida. Thank you, Linda!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Richard Swieca in Hillsboro Beach, Broward County, Florida, submitted the first photo of the event. Thank you, Richard!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Amy Van Artsdale in Mansfield, Texas, captured this view during the partial phase of the eclipse and wrote: “Woke up early to cloudy skies, which moved in to completely obscure lunar totality in Mansfield, TX.” Sorry, Amy! Thank you for the photo.
Images of the almost full moon
Totality occurred shortly after the moon reached the peak of its full phase at 11:38 UTC on March 3. Here are some images of the dazzling moon from the day before. The moon appears full both the day before and the day after reaching its peak full phase.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Kevan Hubbard in Seaton Carew, County Durham, England, captured this wonderful view of the moon on March 2, the evening before the eclipse. Kevan wrote: “On the evening before the eclipse which we, sadly, can’t see from here.” It is a great shot! Thank you, Kevan.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Claire Shickora in Errol, New Hampshire, shared this gorgeous photo of the moon on March 2, and wrote: “The moon was already higher in the sky than I normally would have shot, and it was getting dark, but for a change there were no clouds over Umbagog Lake so I went for it. The colors were beautiful.” Thank you, Claire!
Bottom line: A total lunar eclipse lit up the sky this morning. See the stunning Blood Moon in all its glory!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Catherine Hyde in Cambria, California, captured this stunning telescope image of the total lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026. Thank you, Catherine! See more incredible images of the total lunar eclipse below.
Did you see this morning’s total lunar eclipse? If not, don’t worry; EarthSky’s global community has got you covered!
On March 2-3, the moon slipped into Earth’s shadow and transformed into a stunning copper-red orb. This event was especially significant because it was the last total lunar eclipse until 2028. If you didn’t get the chance to see it live, here are some incredible images capturing the magic.
We’re adding photos as they come in. So if you captured your own shot of the eclipse, submit it here!
Images of the total lunar eclipse of March 2-3, 2026
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cissy Beasley captured this beautiful shot of the total lunar eclipse from Beeville, Texas, and wrote: “One of a few images shot from my driveway in Bee County, TX, before a bank of clouds rolled in, which obscured the moon for the remainder of the eclipse.” You certainly made the most of it, Cissy. Thank you!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Larry Isenberg from Ocala, Florida, captured this view of the total lunar eclipse as a jet flew in front of the moon. Thanks, Larry!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Linda Carlson captured this view of the eclipse from Orlando, Florida. Thank you, Linda!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Richard Swieca in Hillsboro Beach, Broward County, Florida, submitted the first photo of the event. Thank you, Richard!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Amy Van Artsdale in Mansfield, Texas, captured this view during the partial phase of the eclipse and wrote: “Woke up early to cloudy skies, which moved in to completely obscure lunar totality in Mansfield, TX.” Sorry, Amy! Thank you for the photo.
Images of the almost full moon
Totality occurred shortly after the moon reached the peak of its full phase at 11:38 UTC on March 3. Here are some images of the dazzling moon from the day before. The moon appears full both the day before and the day after reaching its peak full phase.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Kevan Hubbard in Seaton Carew, County Durham, England, captured this wonderful view of the moon on March 2, the evening before the eclipse. Kevan wrote: “On the evening before the eclipse which we, sadly, can’t see from here.” It is a great shot! Thank you, Kevan.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Claire Shickora in Errol, New Hampshire, shared this gorgeous photo of the moon on March 2, and wrote: “The moon was already higher in the sky than I normally would have shot, and it was getting dark, but for a change there were no clouds over Umbagog Lake so I went for it. The colors were beautiful.” Thank you, Claire!
Bottom line: A total lunar eclipse lit up the sky this morning. See the stunning Blood Moon in all its glory!
This artist’s illustration represents the start of the alert stream from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The summit facility is on a rocky ridge with the Milky Way above. The multiple alert pings in the sky represent individual alerts from Rubin that something in the sky has changed in brightness or position. Different icons represent various types of alerts, including asteroids, supernovas, active galactic nuclei and variable stars. Image via NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/ NOIRLab /SLAC /AURA /P. Marenfeld/ J. Pinto.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has launched a near-real-time discovery machine for monitoring the night sky. Its alert system will enable scientists around the world to coordinate follow-up observations like never before.
The observatory will document events as they unfold, from new supernovas to asteroid discoveries and variable stars to the active black holes at the centers of distant galaxies.
The public nature of Rubin’s alert system will allow scientists using other ground and space-based telescopes around the world to coordinate follow-up observations. This collaboration will enable fast and detailed studies of unfolding phenomena.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, has released its first alerts documenting astronomical events spotted by the observatory. Rubin issued 800,000 alerts the night of February 24. These alerts called scientists’ attention to new asteroids, exploding stars and other changes in the night sky. This milestone marks the launch of a system expected to eventually produce up to 7 million alerts per night.
Among the first alerts are detections of supernovas, variable stars, active galactic nuclei and objects whizzing around our solar system, such as asteroids. The beginning of scientific alerts is one of the last major milestones before Rubin Observatory begins its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) later this year.
During the LSST, Rubin will scan the Southern Hemisphere sky nightly for 10 years to precisely capture every visible change using the largest digital camera ever made. These alerts will chronicle the treasure trove of scientific discoveries that Rubin will make through its time-lapse record of the universe. In the first year of the LSST, Rubin is expected to capture images of more objects than all other optical observatories combined in human history.
Luca Rizzi, a program director for research infrastructure at NSF, said:
By connecting scientists to a vast and continuous stream of information, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory will make it possible to follow the universe’s events as they unfold, from the explosive to the most faint and fleeting.
Kathy Turner, program manager in the High Energy Physics program in the DOE’s Office of Science, said:
Rubin Observatory’s groundbreaking capabilities are revealing untold astrophysical treasures and expanding scientists’ access to the ever-changing cosmos.
Alerts from the universe
Rubin’s alerts will power discoveries in many areas of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. While the night sky seems calm and unchanging to the casual viewer, it’s actually alive with motion and transformation. Each alert signals something that has changed in the sky since Rubin last looked. That may be a new source of light, a star that brightened or dimmed, or an object that moved.
With Rubin’s alerts, scientists will have a greater ability to catch supernovas in their earliest moments, discover and track asteroids to assess potential threats to Earth and spot rare interstellar objects as they race through the solar system. Scientists can then use these data to better understand the nature of dark matter, dark energy and other unknown aspects of the universe.
Eric Bellm, Alert Production Pipeline Group Lead for Rubin Data Management from NSF NOIRLab and the University of Washington, said:
Rubin’s alert system was designed to allow anyone to identify interesting astronomical events with enough notice to rapidly obtain time-critical follow-up observations. Enabling real-time discovery on 10 terabytes of images nightly has required years of technical innovation in image processing algorithms, databases and data orchestration. We can’t wait to see the exciting science that comes from these data.
The near-real-time public nature of Rubin’s alert system will enable scientists using other ground and space-based telescopes around the world to coordinate follow-up observations like never before. This collaboration will enable fast and detailed studies of unfolding phenomena.
The first Rubin Observatory alerts distributed to researchers worldwide were generated on the night of February 24. The alerts contained the flares of new supernovas and the flickers of stars, actively feeding black holes in distant galaxies and asteroids cruising through our solar system.
The Rubin Observatory
Located in Chile, the Rubin Observatory is jointly operated by NSF NOIRLab and DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The telescope is equipped with the LSST Camera, the largest digital camera ever built. With 3200 megapixels, Rubin is capable of detecting faint and distant objects in the universe.
Every 40 seconds during nighttime observations, Rubin captures a new region of the sky. It then sends the data on a seconds-long journey from Chile to the U.S. Data Facility (USDF) at SLAC in California for initial processing. Rubin’s data management system automatically compares it to a template made from previous images of the same region. This comparison allows it to detect the slightest variations.
With every change, such as the appearance of a new point of light, an object’s movement or a change in brightness, the system generates a public alert within a record two-minute interval. With such a large and sensitive camera and the ability to quickly process historic amounts of data, Rubin can produce up to 7 million alerts each night.
Hsin-Fang Chiang, a SLAC software developer leading operations for data processing at the USDF, said:
The scale and speed of the alerts are unprecedented. After generating hundreds of thousands of test alerts in the last few months, we are now able to say, within minutes, with each image, ‘here is everything’ and ‘go’.
Using machine learning to process the data
To interpret the immense flow of data from the Rubin alert stream, scientists rely on a network of intelligent software platforms known as brokers. These systems use machine learning algorithms to filter, sort and classify the alerts before distributing them to scientific teams and observatories.
Tom Matheson is Interim Director of the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), a Program of NSF NOIRLab, and head of Time-Domain Services, which developed the ANTARES alert broker. Matheson said:
The extraordinary number of alerts that Rubin will produce presents an exciting challenge for both astronomers and software engineers. The broker teams have built systems that operate rapidly at scale so that scientists can find all of the objects of interest to them, as well as things we’ve never seen before.
Brokers also cross-reference alerts with data from multi-wavelength astronomical catalogs. Some of them specialize in specific types of objects and events. These events include early identification of supernovas and solar system objects. Identifying these events early allows scientists to provide tailored analysis and respond more quickly.
Rosaria Bonito is a researcher at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Palermo, Italy, and co-chair of the Rubin LSST Transients and Variable Stars (TVS) science collaboration. Bonito said:
What’s revolutionary about Rubin is its ability to capture both rapid changes and long-term evolution in the sky. Young stars, for example, are highly dynamic and can experience sudden bursts of brightness caused by infalling matter. These events are often short-lived and scientists can easily miss them without continuous monitoring. Rubin will allow us to detect these changes as they happen right there, right now, and also to track the evolution of stars over a decade.
Public data
Rubin’s alerts are public to the world. That means anyone – from professional researchers to students and citizen scientists – can access and explore them. You can access alerts through any of the seven official community brokers, as well as two downstream services. These services form an international network that enables prompt, real-time data exploration from anywhere on Earth. Additionally, through collaborations with platforms like Zooniverse, Rubin will empower the global community to classify cosmic events and contribute directly to discovery.
As new images are taken, Rubin Observatory’s sophisticated software automatically compares each one with a template image. Then the template image is subtracted from the new image, leaving only the changes. Each change triggers an alert within minutes of image capture. The vast majority of these alerts are supernovas, variable stars, active galactic nuclei and solar system objects, such as asteroids. In these examples, the left shows the template image, the center shows the new image and the right shows the subtracted, or difference, image. Image via NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/ NOIRLab/ SLAC/ AURA.
Bottom line: The Rubin Observatory is now sending out real-time alerts of its discoveries. These alerts include objects such as newly discovered supernovas, asteroids and more.
This artist’s illustration represents the start of the alert stream from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. The summit facility is on a rocky ridge with the Milky Way above. The multiple alert pings in the sky represent individual alerts from Rubin that something in the sky has changed in brightness or position. Different icons represent various types of alerts, including asteroids, supernovas, active galactic nuclei and variable stars. Image via NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/ NOIRLab /SLAC /AURA /P. Marenfeld/ J. Pinto.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has launched a near-real-time discovery machine for monitoring the night sky. Its alert system will enable scientists around the world to coordinate follow-up observations like never before.
The observatory will document events as they unfold, from new supernovas to asteroid discoveries and variable stars to the active black holes at the centers of distant galaxies.
The public nature of Rubin’s alert system will allow scientists using other ground and space-based telescopes around the world to coordinate follow-up observations. This collaboration will enable fast and detailed studies of unfolding phenomena.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, has released its first alerts documenting astronomical events spotted by the observatory. Rubin issued 800,000 alerts the night of February 24. These alerts called scientists’ attention to new asteroids, exploding stars and other changes in the night sky. This milestone marks the launch of a system expected to eventually produce up to 7 million alerts per night.
Among the first alerts are detections of supernovas, variable stars, active galactic nuclei and objects whizzing around our solar system, such as asteroids. The beginning of scientific alerts is one of the last major milestones before Rubin Observatory begins its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) later this year.
During the LSST, Rubin will scan the Southern Hemisphere sky nightly for 10 years to precisely capture every visible change using the largest digital camera ever made. These alerts will chronicle the treasure trove of scientific discoveries that Rubin will make through its time-lapse record of the universe. In the first year of the LSST, Rubin is expected to capture images of more objects than all other optical observatories combined in human history.
Luca Rizzi, a program director for research infrastructure at NSF, said:
By connecting scientists to a vast and continuous stream of information, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory will make it possible to follow the universe’s events as they unfold, from the explosive to the most faint and fleeting.
Kathy Turner, program manager in the High Energy Physics program in the DOE’s Office of Science, said:
Rubin Observatory’s groundbreaking capabilities are revealing untold astrophysical treasures and expanding scientists’ access to the ever-changing cosmos.
Alerts from the universe
Rubin’s alerts will power discoveries in many areas of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. While the night sky seems calm and unchanging to the casual viewer, it’s actually alive with motion and transformation. Each alert signals something that has changed in the sky since Rubin last looked. That may be a new source of light, a star that brightened or dimmed, or an object that moved.
With Rubin’s alerts, scientists will have a greater ability to catch supernovas in their earliest moments, discover and track asteroids to assess potential threats to Earth and spot rare interstellar objects as they race through the solar system. Scientists can then use these data to better understand the nature of dark matter, dark energy and other unknown aspects of the universe.
Eric Bellm, Alert Production Pipeline Group Lead for Rubin Data Management from NSF NOIRLab and the University of Washington, said:
Rubin’s alert system was designed to allow anyone to identify interesting astronomical events with enough notice to rapidly obtain time-critical follow-up observations. Enabling real-time discovery on 10 terabytes of images nightly has required years of technical innovation in image processing algorithms, databases and data orchestration. We can’t wait to see the exciting science that comes from these data.
The near-real-time public nature of Rubin’s alert system will enable scientists using other ground and space-based telescopes around the world to coordinate follow-up observations like never before. This collaboration will enable fast and detailed studies of unfolding phenomena.
The first Rubin Observatory alerts distributed to researchers worldwide were generated on the night of February 24. The alerts contained the flares of new supernovas and the flickers of stars, actively feeding black holes in distant galaxies and asteroids cruising through our solar system.
The Rubin Observatory
Located in Chile, the Rubin Observatory is jointly operated by NSF NOIRLab and DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The telescope is equipped with the LSST Camera, the largest digital camera ever built. With 3200 megapixels, Rubin is capable of detecting faint and distant objects in the universe.
Every 40 seconds during nighttime observations, Rubin captures a new region of the sky. It then sends the data on a seconds-long journey from Chile to the U.S. Data Facility (USDF) at SLAC in California for initial processing. Rubin’s data management system automatically compares it to a template made from previous images of the same region. This comparison allows it to detect the slightest variations.
With every change, such as the appearance of a new point of light, an object’s movement or a change in brightness, the system generates a public alert within a record two-minute interval. With such a large and sensitive camera and the ability to quickly process historic amounts of data, Rubin can produce up to 7 million alerts each night.
Hsin-Fang Chiang, a SLAC software developer leading operations for data processing at the USDF, said:
The scale and speed of the alerts are unprecedented. After generating hundreds of thousands of test alerts in the last few months, we are now able to say, within minutes, with each image, ‘here is everything’ and ‘go’.
Using machine learning to process the data
To interpret the immense flow of data from the Rubin alert stream, scientists rely on a network of intelligent software platforms known as brokers. These systems use machine learning algorithms to filter, sort and classify the alerts before distributing them to scientific teams and observatories.
Tom Matheson is Interim Director of the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), a Program of NSF NOIRLab, and head of Time-Domain Services, which developed the ANTARES alert broker. Matheson said:
The extraordinary number of alerts that Rubin will produce presents an exciting challenge for both astronomers and software engineers. The broker teams have built systems that operate rapidly at scale so that scientists can find all of the objects of interest to them, as well as things we’ve never seen before.
Brokers also cross-reference alerts with data from multi-wavelength astronomical catalogs. Some of them specialize in specific types of objects and events. These events include early identification of supernovas and solar system objects. Identifying these events early allows scientists to provide tailored analysis and respond more quickly.
Rosaria Bonito is a researcher at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Palermo, Italy, and co-chair of the Rubin LSST Transients and Variable Stars (TVS) science collaboration. Bonito said:
What’s revolutionary about Rubin is its ability to capture both rapid changes and long-term evolution in the sky. Young stars, for example, are highly dynamic and can experience sudden bursts of brightness caused by infalling matter. These events are often short-lived and scientists can easily miss them without continuous monitoring. Rubin will allow us to detect these changes as they happen right there, right now, and also to track the evolution of stars over a decade.
Public data
Rubin’s alerts are public to the world. That means anyone – from professional researchers to students and citizen scientists – can access and explore them. You can access alerts through any of the seven official community brokers, as well as two downstream services. These services form an international network that enables prompt, real-time data exploration from anywhere on Earth. Additionally, through collaborations with platforms like Zooniverse, Rubin will empower the global community to classify cosmic events and contribute directly to discovery.
As new images are taken, Rubin Observatory’s sophisticated software automatically compares each one with a template image. Then the template image is subtracted from the new image, leaving only the changes. Each change triggers an alert within minutes of image capture. The vast majority of these alerts are supernovas, variable stars, active galactic nuclei and solar system objects, such as asteroids. In these examples, the left shows the template image, the center shows the new image and the right shows the subtracted, or difference, image. Image via NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/ NOIRLab/ SLAC/ AURA.
Bottom line: The Rubin Observatory is now sending out real-time alerts of its discoveries. These alerts include objects such as newly discovered supernovas, asteroids and more.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | JD Smith in Clay County Minnesota caught this beautiful image on November 12, 2025. Thank you, JD! Aurora appears more frequently around the equinoxes. But why? Read about the aurora season below.
When is aurora season?
Yes, there is an aurora season, which comes around the fall and spring equinox each year. This pattern in nature – auroras increasing twice a year – is one of the earliest patterns ever to be observed and recorded by scientists.
We know that storms and eruptions on the sun cause disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field called geomagnetic storms. And we know the sun itself has cycles, including the famous 11-year solar cycle. In fact, that cycle is quite active right now. That is why we’re having more solar activity now than a few years ago. But an 11-year cycle is not a twice-yearly cycle. Why would geomagnetic storms increase twice a year?
As it turns out, it’s all about magnetism and geometry.
And it’s something nature-watchers have studied for a long time. Aloysius Cortie, an English Jesuit astronomer who conducted sun studies around the turn of the last century, published the first notable journal paper on the link between equinoxes and auroras in the year 1912.
Then, in 1940, the mathematician Sydney Chapman and his German colleague Julius Bartels included another discussion of the twice-yearly aurora season in their classic book Geomagnetism. This book became the standard textbook on Earth’s magnetism for several decades.
Later, a solar physicist – David Hathaway of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama – created an updated plot showing the same seasonal pattern. Hathaway’s plot is below:
David Hathaway of NASA created an updated plot showing a seasonal variation in Earth’s magnetic storms, similar to the one that had been published in 1940. This one shows geomagnetic activity from 1932 to 2002. Like the plot above, it shows a twice-a-year increase in the geomagnetic storms that cause auroras. Image via David Hathaway. Used with permission.
Although their model explaining the seasonal variation in aurora frequency didn’t explain everything perfectly, it did show a physical connection between the geometry of Earth’s magnetic field and the magnetic field carried to Earth from the sun by the solar wind. And that is why, since the 1973 paper, the term Russell-McPherron effect has been used for seasonal auroras.
The Bz component. You know how a magnet always comes with two poles: a north pole and a south pole? Solar magnetic fields – carried to Earth via the solar wind – also have a north and south pole. Russell and McPherron showed that the “north-south” component of the sun’s magnetic field – called the Bz component by solar physicists – goes up and down over the year, in a way corresponding to the wobbling of Earth’s axis. They showed these fluctuations are largest during the equinoxes. Geomagnetic storms – and therefore auroras – happen most often when the “north-south” component of the solar wind is more or less opposite the “north-south” component of Earth’s own magnetic field.
It happens because – just as when two bar magnets oriented oppositely attract one another – so opposite Bz components attract. They open up a hole in Earth’s magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to flow more easily toward Earth’s magnetic poles.
Sun on the left, Earth on the right. Not to scale. The sun’s magnetic field – carried by the solar wind – is between them. Note that the Bx and By components are oriented parallel to the ecliptic (Earth-sun plane). The 3rd component, called the Bz component, is perpendicular to the ecliptic. Geomagnetic storms – and therefore auroras – happen most often when the Bz component of the solar wind is more or less opposite the Bz component of Earth’s own magnetic field. The tilt of the Earth in relationship to the Earth-sun plane – around the time of an equinox – is what causes them to be opposite. Image via EarthSky.
The equinoctial effect
There is another factor that comes into place that also increases aurora activity during equinoxes. It’s called the equinoctial effect. Equinoctial just means happening at or near the time of an equinox.
Many of the competing models to that of Russell and McPherron are based on the equinoctial effect. It’s not as strong as the effect mentioned above, but it does add to the equinox-aurora connection.
Here’s how it works. During equinoxes, Earth’s magnetic poles (north and south) are at right angles to the flowing solar wind two times a day. During these times, the solar wind is effectively stronger, enhancing magnetic storms. As the seasons change, the poles either point more toward or away from the sun reducing this effect.
See what we mean? Magnetism … and the geometry of objects in space.
So there is a reason why auroras are more frequent around the equinoxes. Researchers have been studying the phenomenon for over 100 years and still are studying it. They might not agree on all the details, but they do agree that the cause relates to the magnetic fields of both the sun and the Earth, working in conjunction with the sun-Earth geometry at a given time of year, as Earth moves in its orbit.
It is not just a coincidence that these two beautiful phenomena have a relationship.
Aurora season photos from the EarthSky community
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Cox captured this beautiful view of auroras over Deep River, Ontario, on September 14, 2025, after an unexpected strong (G3) geomagnetic storm. Thank you, David!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | EarthSky’s Marcy Curran in Cheyenne, Wyoming, took this photo on September 14, 2025, and wrote: “We’ve got an allsky camera at our house and I noticed green on the northern horizon. I knew it had to be aurora, so I headed outside and could see a glow to the north. My cell phone picked up more detail and color. Stunning! Thank you, Marcy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Thea Schenk in Eidsfjord, Norway, captured this aurora in the form of curtains or drapes on October 1, 2025. Thank you, Thea!
More aurora photos
View at EarthSky Community Photos | Earll Johnson took this photo of the auroras. Earll captured this beautiful photo of auroral display on October 19, 2025 from a plane over Davis Strait in Greenland and wrote: I used the native smart phone camera. I pulled down the shade to minimize reflections. Beautiful photo Earll! Many thanks! View at EarthSky Community Photos | Steven Karsh in Kananaskis, Alberta sent us this photo of the auroras. Steven captured this beautiful photo of auroral display on October 1, 2025. He took it with his iPhone 15 Beautiful photo Steve! Many thanks!
Bottom line: There’s an aurora season around the March and September equinoxes each year, due to the way the magnetic fields of the sun and the Earth work in conjunction with sun-Earth geometry.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | JD Smith in Clay County Minnesota caught this beautiful image on November 12, 2025. Thank you, JD! Aurora appears more frequently around the equinoxes. But why? Read about the aurora season below.
When is aurora season?
Yes, there is an aurora season, which comes around the fall and spring equinox each year. This pattern in nature – auroras increasing twice a year – is one of the earliest patterns ever to be observed and recorded by scientists.
We know that storms and eruptions on the sun cause disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field called geomagnetic storms. And we know the sun itself has cycles, including the famous 11-year solar cycle. In fact, that cycle is quite active right now. That is why we’re having more solar activity now than a few years ago. But an 11-year cycle is not a twice-yearly cycle. Why would geomagnetic storms increase twice a year?
As it turns out, it’s all about magnetism and geometry.
And it’s something nature-watchers have studied for a long time. Aloysius Cortie, an English Jesuit astronomer who conducted sun studies around the turn of the last century, published the first notable journal paper on the link between equinoxes and auroras in the year 1912.
Then, in 1940, the mathematician Sydney Chapman and his German colleague Julius Bartels included another discussion of the twice-yearly aurora season in their classic book Geomagnetism. This book became the standard textbook on Earth’s magnetism for several decades.
Later, a solar physicist – David Hathaway of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama – created an updated plot showing the same seasonal pattern. Hathaway’s plot is below:
David Hathaway of NASA created an updated plot showing a seasonal variation in Earth’s magnetic storms, similar to the one that had been published in 1940. This one shows geomagnetic activity from 1932 to 2002. Like the plot above, it shows a twice-a-year increase in the geomagnetic storms that cause auroras. Image via David Hathaway. Used with permission.
Although their model explaining the seasonal variation in aurora frequency didn’t explain everything perfectly, it did show a physical connection between the geometry of Earth’s magnetic field and the magnetic field carried to Earth from the sun by the solar wind. And that is why, since the 1973 paper, the term Russell-McPherron effect has been used for seasonal auroras.
The Bz component. You know how a magnet always comes with two poles: a north pole and a south pole? Solar magnetic fields – carried to Earth via the solar wind – also have a north and south pole. Russell and McPherron showed that the “north-south” component of the sun’s magnetic field – called the Bz component by solar physicists – goes up and down over the year, in a way corresponding to the wobbling of Earth’s axis. They showed these fluctuations are largest during the equinoxes. Geomagnetic storms – and therefore auroras – happen most often when the “north-south” component of the solar wind is more or less opposite the “north-south” component of Earth’s own magnetic field.
It happens because – just as when two bar magnets oriented oppositely attract one another – so opposite Bz components attract. They open up a hole in Earth’s magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to flow more easily toward Earth’s magnetic poles.
Sun on the left, Earth on the right. Not to scale. The sun’s magnetic field – carried by the solar wind – is between them. Note that the Bx and By components are oriented parallel to the ecliptic (Earth-sun plane). The 3rd component, called the Bz component, is perpendicular to the ecliptic. Geomagnetic storms – and therefore auroras – happen most often when the Bz component of the solar wind is more or less opposite the Bz component of Earth’s own magnetic field. The tilt of the Earth in relationship to the Earth-sun plane – around the time of an equinox – is what causes them to be opposite. Image via EarthSky.
The equinoctial effect
There is another factor that comes into place that also increases aurora activity during equinoxes. It’s called the equinoctial effect. Equinoctial just means happening at or near the time of an equinox.
Many of the competing models to that of Russell and McPherron are based on the equinoctial effect. It’s not as strong as the effect mentioned above, but it does add to the equinox-aurora connection.
Here’s how it works. During equinoxes, Earth’s magnetic poles (north and south) are at right angles to the flowing solar wind two times a day. During these times, the solar wind is effectively stronger, enhancing magnetic storms. As the seasons change, the poles either point more toward or away from the sun reducing this effect.
See what we mean? Magnetism … and the geometry of objects in space.
So there is a reason why auroras are more frequent around the equinoxes. Researchers have been studying the phenomenon for over 100 years and still are studying it. They might not agree on all the details, but they do agree that the cause relates to the magnetic fields of both the sun and the Earth, working in conjunction with the sun-Earth geometry at a given time of year, as Earth moves in its orbit.
It is not just a coincidence that these two beautiful phenomena have a relationship.
Aurora season photos from the EarthSky community
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Cox captured this beautiful view of auroras over Deep River, Ontario, on September 14, 2025, after an unexpected strong (G3) geomagnetic storm. Thank you, David!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | EarthSky’s Marcy Curran in Cheyenne, Wyoming, took this photo on September 14, 2025, and wrote: “We’ve got an allsky camera at our house and I noticed green on the northern horizon. I knew it had to be aurora, so I headed outside and could see a glow to the north. My cell phone picked up more detail and color. Stunning! Thank you, Marcy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Thea Schenk in Eidsfjord, Norway, captured this aurora in the form of curtains or drapes on October 1, 2025. Thank you, Thea!
More aurora photos
View at EarthSky Community Photos | Earll Johnson took this photo of the auroras. Earll captured this beautiful photo of auroral display on October 19, 2025 from a plane over Davis Strait in Greenland and wrote: I used the native smart phone camera. I pulled down the shade to minimize reflections. Beautiful photo Earll! Many thanks! View at EarthSky Community Photos | Steven Karsh in Kananaskis, Alberta sent us this photo of the auroras. Steven captured this beautiful photo of auroral display on October 1, 2025. He took it with his iPhone 15 Beautiful photo Steve! Many thanks!
Bottom line: There’s an aurora season around the March and September equinoxes each year, due to the way the magnetic fields of the sun and the Earth work in conjunction with sun-Earth geometry.
During a lunar eclipse, you’ll see the Earth’s shadow creeping across the moon’s face. The shadow appears dark, shaped like a bite out of a cookie, until the shadow completely covers the moon. Then, during the breathtaking time of totality, the shadow on the moon’s face appears red, rusty orange or copper-colored. Why?
The reason stems from the air we breathe. During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth lies directly between the sun and the moon. Earth casts its shadow on the moon as a result. If Earth didn’t have an atmosphere, then, when the moon is entirely within Earth’s shadow, the moon would appear black, perhaps even invisible.
However, something much more subtle and beautiful actually happens, thanks to Earth’s atmosphere.
Earth’s atmosphere extends about 50 miles (80 km) above Earth’s surface. During a total lunar eclipse, with the moon submerged in Earth’s shadow, there’s a circular ring around Earth, the ring of our atmosphere. The sun’s rays pass through this ring.
Sunlight contains a range of frequencies
White sunlight consists of a range of different colors, or frequencies. As sunlight passes through our atmosphere, the green to violet portion of the light (electromagnetic) spectrum is, essentially, filtered out. This same effect, by the way, is why our sky is blue during the day. Meanwhile, the reddish portion of the spectrum is least affected.
What’s more, when this reddish light first enters our atmosphere, it’s bent (refracted) toward the Earth’s surface. And it’s bent again when it exits on the other side of Earth. This double bending sends the reddish light onto the moon during a total lunar eclipse. It also explains why sunrises and sunsets look red.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sergio Garcia Rill captured these lunar eclipse images on May 15-16, 2022, over the San Jacinto Monument in La Porte, Texas. He wrote: “I took individual images at 850mm of the phases of the moon. And later I resized them (downsized), and re-arranged and overlaid with an HDR processed image of the monument, using Photoshop.” Thank you, Sergio!
The brightness and color of a lunar eclipse
Depending on the conditions of our atmosphere at the time of the eclipse (dust, humidity, smoke, temperature and so on can all make a difference), the surviving light illuminates the moon with a color that ranges from copper-colored to deep red.
A moon in total eclipse never appears as bright as a full moon, but how dark it gets varies. The totally eclipsed moon was barely visible in December 1992, not long after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, due to so much dust in Earth’s atmosphere.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Kathy Hunter caught these views of the lunar eclipse on March 14, 2025, from West Virginia. Kathy wrote: “My first composite!” Thank you, Kathy.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cecille Kennedy in Depoe Bay, Oregon, wrote: “The forecast was rainy, and the clouds were thick. We didn’t see the moonrise. Hours later, there was a clearing on the other side and a few stars became visible. I went outside to see the most beautiful blood red moon playing hide and seek with the clouds. I managed to take a few shots before dark clouds covered the night, and the rains came.” Thank you, Cecille!
All total lunar eclipses do not look alike
Can anyone know in advance how red or dark the moon will appear during a total lunar eclipse? Not really. Before an eclipse takes place, you’ll hear people speculate about it. That uncertainty is part of the fun of eclipses, so enjoy! And watch for the red moon during a lunar eclipse.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Petr Horálek captured these full moons from the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. Petr wrote: “I made it happen (with no sleep yet) to finalize today’s lunar eclipse triplet, as the eclipse was truly beautiful over the CTIO Cerro Tololo observatory, Chile. Colors in the Earth’s shadow were vivid, including the turquoise effect at the start and even end of the eclipse (where primarily the ozone layer causes a bluish tint, referring to Richard Keen’s explanation from 2007). The effect was easily capturable on camera, but also nicely visible to binoculars.” Amazing, thank you! Image via Petr Horálek/ CTIO (Cerro Tololo Observatory)/ AURA/ NFS/ NOIRLab.
What about that blue band?
Another color to watch for at the beginning and end of totality is a blue band of light along the limb (edge) of the moon. This blue band is light passing through our ozone layer – which absorbs red light – that allows blue light to come through. The blue band is frequently caught in photos but may be hard to see visually.
In a lunar eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon line up, with the Earth in the middle. Image via NASA.
Bottom line: Coming up … the total lunar eclipse of March 2-3, 2026. At maximum eclipse, the moon will look red. But why? Earth’s atmosphere is the key.
During a lunar eclipse, you’ll see the Earth’s shadow creeping across the moon’s face. The shadow appears dark, shaped like a bite out of a cookie, until the shadow completely covers the moon. Then, during the breathtaking time of totality, the shadow on the moon’s face appears red, rusty orange or copper-colored. Why?
The reason stems from the air we breathe. During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth lies directly between the sun and the moon. Earth casts its shadow on the moon as a result. If Earth didn’t have an atmosphere, then, when the moon is entirely within Earth’s shadow, the moon would appear black, perhaps even invisible.
However, something much more subtle and beautiful actually happens, thanks to Earth’s atmosphere.
Earth’s atmosphere extends about 50 miles (80 km) above Earth’s surface. During a total lunar eclipse, with the moon submerged in Earth’s shadow, there’s a circular ring around Earth, the ring of our atmosphere. The sun’s rays pass through this ring.
Sunlight contains a range of frequencies
White sunlight consists of a range of different colors, or frequencies. As sunlight passes through our atmosphere, the green to violet portion of the light (electromagnetic) spectrum is, essentially, filtered out. This same effect, by the way, is why our sky is blue during the day. Meanwhile, the reddish portion of the spectrum is least affected.
What’s more, when this reddish light first enters our atmosphere, it’s bent (refracted) toward the Earth’s surface. And it’s bent again when it exits on the other side of Earth. This double bending sends the reddish light onto the moon during a total lunar eclipse. It also explains why sunrises and sunsets look red.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sergio Garcia Rill captured these lunar eclipse images on May 15-16, 2022, over the San Jacinto Monument in La Porte, Texas. He wrote: “I took individual images at 850mm of the phases of the moon. And later I resized them (downsized), and re-arranged and overlaid with an HDR processed image of the monument, using Photoshop.” Thank you, Sergio!
The brightness and color of a lunar eclipse
Depending on the conditions of our atmosphere at the time of the eclipse (dust, humidity, smoke, temperature and so on can all make a difference), the surviving light illuminates the moon with a color that ranges from copper-colored to deep red.
A moon in total eclipse never appears as bright as a full moon, but how dark it gets varies. The totally eclipsed moon was barely visible in December 1992, not long after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, due to so much dust in Earth’s atmosphere.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Kathy Hunter caught these views of the lunar eclipse on March 14, 2025, from West Virginia. Kathy wrote: “My first composite!” Thank you, Kathy.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cecille Kennedy in Depoe Bay, Oregon, wrote: “The forecast was rainy, and the clouds were thick. We didn’t see the moonrise. Hours later, there was a clearing on the other side and a few stars became visible. I went outside to see the most beautiful blood red moon playing hide and seek with the clouds. I managed to take a few shots before dark clouds covered the night, and the rains came.” Thank you, Cecille!
All total lunar eclipses do not look alike
Can anyone know in advance how red or dark the moon will appear during a total lunar eclipse? Not really. Before an eclipse takes place, you’ll hear people speculate about it. That uncertainty is part of the fun of eclipses, so enjoy! And watch for the red moon during a lunar eclipse.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Petr Horálek captured these full moons from the Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. Petr wrote: “I made it happen (with no sleep yet) to finalize today’s lunar eclipse triplet, as the eclipse was truly beautiful over the CTIO Cerro Tololo observatory, Chile. Colors in the Earth’s shadow were vivid, including the turquoise effect at the start and even end of the eclipse (where primarily the ozone layer causes a bluish tint, referring to Richard Keen’s explanation from 2007). The effect was easily capturable on camera, but also nicely visible to binoculars.” Amazing, thank you! Image via Petr Horálek/ CTIO (Cerro Tololo Observatory)/ AURA/ NFS/ NOIRLab.
What about that blue band?
Another color to watch for at the beginning and end of totality is a blue band of light along the limb (edge) of the moon. This blue band is light passing through our ozone layer – which absorbs red light – that allows blue light to come through. The blue band is frequently caught in photos but may be hard to see visually.
In a lunar eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon line up, with the Earth in the middle. Image via NASA.
Bottom line: Coming up … the total lunar eclipse of March 2-3, 2026. At maximum eclipse, the moon will look red. But why? Earth’s atmosphere is the key.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | EarthSky’s own Claudia Crowley snapped this daffodil in her front yard in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 19, 2026. Claudia wrote: “They’ve come up! It’s spring here. We left the leaves over the winter as habitat for hibernating insects.” Thank you, Claudia. When’s the first day of spring? That depends on if you ask an astronomer or a meteorologist, because you’ll get 2 different answers! We explain the difference, below.
If you ask a Northern Hemisphere astronomer when the first day of spring will be this year, they’ll likely say spring arrives at 14:46 UTC (9:46 a.m. CDT) on March 20, 2026. But a meteorologist or climatologist would give you a different answer. They’d likely say spring starts on March 1.
Are there two different spring seasons? Read on to find out why astronomical spring and meteorological spring start at different times.
Astronomical spring
Earth has a 23.5-degree tilt as it orbits the sun. This tilt toward or away from the sun determines the seasons we feel across the globe. The spring (or vernal) equinox occurs when the sun passes over the equator from south to north and marks the start of warmer months across the Northern Hemisphere.
Because astronomical spring is tied to the rotation of Earth and the exact moment the sun crosses the equator, the first day of the spring season can shift by a day from year to year. This also means the length of the spring season can vary. Likewise, the autumnal equinox, or start of fall, can also have different start dates.
Meteorological spring
Meteorological spring starts on March 1 and runs through May 31 every year, regardless of the exact moment of the vernal equinox. This allows the seasons to be more consistent, which is important when looking at weather data, especially temperatures. With more consistent seasons, meteorologists and climatologists are able to better analyze temperature trends and precipitation patterns across a set period of time. Calculating a seasonal average is much easier when that season starts and ends on the same day year after year.
Comparing astronomical seasons with meteorological seasons. Image via NOAA.Image via Pexels.
Spring weather
Spring is a transition season in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s as simple as it sounds. During the spring season we are transitioning out of the colder winter months into the warmer months of spring and eventually summer. This also means our weather tends to be more active. The dramatic changes from cold to warm can create chaos, with severe weather outbreaks and late-season snowstorms. Plus, frosts and freezes well into the spring growing season can have an impact on sensitive crops.
As temperatures start to warm across North America, colder air from the Arctic can still spill down with dips in the jet stream. (The jet stream is the band of strong winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere that separates the warm and cold air.) This class of colder air colliding with warm, moist air can create an environment in which severe storms can develop.
Severe storms (and those capable of producing tornadoes) can happen in any season. But they’re most common in the spring and summer months as temperatures warm. Severe storms that produce tornadoes are more common in spring across the Gulf Coast. But across the plains of the United States, the typical tornado season is from late spring into early summer.
An Oklahoma thunderstorm. Image via Branden Stephenson/ Pexels.
First day of spring is a reminder of thunderstorm and tornado safety
Early spring is a great time to remember severe weather safety! Only 10% of all thunderstorms in the United States go on to become severe. A severe thunderstorm is defined as one with winds of more than 58 miles per hour (93 kph) and/or hail 1 inch (2.5 cm) or greater in diameter. But all thunderstorms are dangerous due to the presence of lightning. If you can hear thunder, the storm is close enough for you to be struck by lightning. As soon as a storm is nearby, go inside a building or vehicle to wait out the storm, and wait at least 30 minutes from the last lightning strike to resume any outdoor activities.
In the event of a tornado, time is vital. As soon as a tornado warning is issued, go to the lowest level and most central part of your home or building. An interior closet or bathroom away from outside walls and windows is best.
If you live in a mobile home, you need to get out and find another place to shelter. The strong winds of a tornado can pick mobile homes up off the ground. If there is a risk of tornadoes and you live in a mobile home, contact a trusted neighbor or family member who has a basement or shelter of some kind that you can stay in until the threat of tornadoes has passed.
It’s the same for those out on the road: You are not safe in a car during a tornado. Get off the road and find a business or shelter to wait out the tornado.
So what will this spring bring us? In general: a good portion of the country will have higher chances of above-normal temperatures. As for precipitation, the Great Lakes will have higher chances of being wetter than normal, while the southwest will have a lower chance of precipitation.
Bottom line: While astronomical spring doesn’t start until March 20, meteorologists and climatologists use March 1 as the start of spring for consistency.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | EarthSky’s own Claudia Crowley snapped this daffodil in her front yard in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 19, 2026. Claudia wrote: “They’ve come up! It’s spring here. We left the leaves over the winter as habitat for hibernating insects.” Thank you, Claudia. When’s the first day of spring? That depends on if you ask an astronomer or a meteorologist, because you’ll get 2 different answers! We explain the difference, below.
If you ask a Northern Hemisphere astronomer when the first day of spring will be this year, they’ll likely say spring arrives at 14:46 UTC (9:46 a.m. CDT) on March 20, 2026. But a meteorologist or climatologist would give you a different answer. They’d likely say spring starts on March 1.
Are there two different spring seasons? Read on to find out why astronomical spring and meteorological spring start at different times.
Astronomical spring
Earth has a 23.5-degree tilt as it orbits the sun. This tilt toward or away from the sun determines the seasons we feel across the globe. The spring (or vernal) equinox occurs when the sun passes over the equator from south to north and marks the start of warmer months across the Northern Hemisphere.
Because astronomical spring is tied to the rotation of Earth and the exact moment the sun crosses the equator, the first day of the spring season can shift by a day from year to year. This also means the length of the spring season can vary. Likewise, the autumnal equinox, or start of fall, can also have different start dates.
Meteorological spring
Meteorological spring starts on March 1 and runs through May 31 every year, regardless of the exact moment of the vernal equinox. This allows the seasons to be more consistent, which is important when looking at weather data, especially temperatures. With more consistent seasons, meteorologists and climatologists are able to better analyze temperature trends and precipitation patterns across a set period of time. Calculating a seasonal average is much easier when that season starts and ends on the same day year after year.
Comparing astronomical seasons with meteorological seasons. Image via NOAA.Image via Pexels.
Spring weather
Spring is a transition season in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s as simple as it sounds. During the spring season we are transitioning out of the colder winter months into the warmer months of spring and eventually summer. This also means our weather tends to be more active. The dramatic changes from cold to warm can create chaos, with severe weather outbreaks and late-season snowstorms. Plus, frosts and freezes well into the spring growing season can have an impact on sensitive crops.
As temperatures start to warm across North America, colder air from the Arctic can still spill down with dips in the jet stream. (The jet stream is the band of strong winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere that separates the warm and cold air.) This class of colder air colliding with warm, moist air can create an environment in which severe storms can develop.
Severe storms (and those capable of producing tornadoes) can happen in any season. But they’re most common in the spring and summer months as temperatures warm. Severe storms that produce tornadoes are more common in spring across the Gulf Coast. But across the plains of the United States, the typical tornado season is from late spring into early summer.
An Oklahoma thunderstorm. Image via Branden Stephenson/ Pexels.
First day of spring is a reminder of thunderstorm and tornado safety
Early spring is a great time to remember severe weather safety! Only 10% of all thunderstorms in the United States go on to become severe. A severe thunderstorm is defined as one with winds of more than 58 miles per hour (93 kph) and/or hail 1 inch (2.5 cm) or greater in diameter. But all thunderstorms are dangerous due to the presence of lightning. If you can hear thunder, the storm is close enough for you to be struck by lightning. As soon as a storm is nearby, go inside a building or vehicle to wait out the storm, and wait at least 30 minutes from the last lightning strike to resume any outdoor activities.
In the event of a tornado, time is vital. As soon as a tornado warning is issued, go to the lowest level and most central part of your home or building. An interior closet or bathroom away from outside walls and windows is best.
If you live in a mobile home, you need to get out and find another place to shelter. The strong winds of a tornado can pick mobile homes up off the ground. If there is a risk of tornadoes and you live in a mobile home, contact a trusted neighbor or family member who has a basement or shelter of some kind that you can stay in until the threat of tornadoes has passed.
It’s the same for those out on the road: You are not safe in a car during a tornado. Get off the road and find a business or shelter to wait out the tornado.
So what will this spring bring us? In general: a good portion of the country will have higher chances of above-normal temperatures. As for precipitation, the Great Lakes will have higher chances of being wetter than normal, while the southwest will have a lower chance of precipitation.
Bottom line: While astronomical spring doesn’t start until March 20, meteorologists and climatologists use March 1 as the start of spring for consistency.
Aquamarine – also called the “poor man’s diamond” – is a form of the mineral beryl that also includes other gemstones such as the emerald, morganite, and heliodor. Beryl consists of four elements: beryllium, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. Beryl occurs as free six-sided crystals in rock veins, and is a relatively hard gem, ranking after the diamond, sapphire, ruby, alexandrite, and topaz.
Aquamarines vary in color from deep blue to blue-green of different intensities. Traces of iron in the beryl crystal cause these color variations. Naturally occurring deep blue stones are the most prized – and most expensive – because they are rare. However, you can heat yellow beryl stones to change them to blue aquamarines.
The best commercial source of aquamarines is Brazil. Also, you can find high quality stones in Colombia, the Ural Mountains of Russia, the island of Malagasy, and India. In the United States, Colorado, Maine, and North Carolina are the best sources.
An aquamarine gemstone. Image via Gem Rock auctions. Used with permission.
Aquamarine lore
The Romans derived the name aquamarine from the words “aqua,” meaning water, and “mare,” meaning sea, because it looked like sea water. Aquamarines were believed to have originated from the jewel caskets of sirens, washed ashore from the depths of the sea. They were considered sacred to Neptune, Roman god of the sea. This association with the sea made it the sailors’ gem, promising prosperous and safe voyages, as well as protection against perils and monsters of the sea. The Greeks first documented its use between 480-300 BCE. They wore aquamarine amulets engraved with Poseidon (the Greek god of the sea) on a chariot.
Supposedly Emperor Nero used aquamarine as an eyeglass 2,000 years ago. Much later, aquamarines were used as glasses in Germany to correct shortsightedness. In fact, the German name for eyeglasses today is “brille,” derived from the word for beryl.
Romans believed aquamarines possessed medicinal and healing powers, curing ailments of the stomach, liver, jaws, and throat. During the Middle Ages, the aquamarine supposedly acted as an antidote against poison. Soothsayers, who called it the “magic mirror,” used it for telling fortunes and answering questions about the future.
March birthstone 2: bloodstone
Rough bloodstone, also known as heliotrope, a form of chalcedony. Image via James St. John/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
The second birthstone for March is the bloodstone. Bloodstone – also known as heliotrope – is a form of the abundant mineral quartz. This particular form of quartz, known as cryptocrystalline quartz, exists as a mass of tiny quartz crystals formed together in large lumps that show no external crystal form, yet each of the component crystals that make up the mass is a genuine crystal. This quartz variety is also called chalcedony. Green chalcedony spotted with flecks of red is known as bloodstone. Bloodstone is found embedded in rocks or as pebbles in riverbeds. The best sources of this stone are India, Brazil, and Australia.
The bloodstone is a favored material for carving religious subjects. The Italian Matteo del Nassaro made a particularly famous carving around 1525. In “The Descent from the Cross,” the sculptor carefully crafted the piece so that spots of red on the bloodstone represented the wounds of Christ and his drops of blood. According to legend, bloodstone formed during the crucifixion of Christ. A Roman soldier-guard thrust his spear into Christ’s side and drops of blood fell on some pieces of dark green jasper lying at the foot of the cross, and the bloodstone was created.
Babylonians used this stone to make seals and amulets, and it was also a favorite with Roman gladiators. In the Middle Ages, bloodstone was believed to hold healing powers, particularly for stopping nosebleeds. Powdered and mixed with honey and white of egg, it was believed to cure tumors and stop all types of hemorrhage. Ancient alchemists used it to treat blood disorders, including blood poisoning and the flow of blood from a wound. Bloodstone was also believed to draw out the venom of snakes.
Find out about the birthstones for the other months of the year.
Aquamarine – also called the “poor man’s diamond” – is a form of the mineral beryl that also includes other gemstones such as the emerald, morganite, and heliodor. Beryl consists of four elements: beryllium, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. Beryl occurs as free six-sided crystals in rock veins, and is a relatively hard gem, ranking after the diamond, sapphire, ruby, alexandrite, and topaz.
Aquamarines vary in color from deep blue to blue-green of different intensities. Traces of iron in the beryl crystal cause these color variations. Naturally occurring deep blue stones are the most prized – and most expensive – because they are rare. However, you can heat yellow beryl stones to change them to blue aquamarines.
The best commercial source of aquamarines is Brazil. Also, you can find high quality stones in Colombia, the Ural Mountains of Russia, the island of Malagasy, and India. In the United States, Colorado, Maine, and North Carolina are the best sources.
An aquamarine gemstone. Image via Gem Rock auctions. Used with permission.
Aquamarine lore
The Romans derived the name aquamarine from the words “aqua,” meaning water, and “mare,” meaning sea, because it looked like sea water. Aquamarines were believed to have originated from the jewel caskets of sirens, washed ashore from the depths of the sea. They were considered sacred to Neptune, Roman god of the sea. This association with the sea made it the sailors’ gem, promising prosperous and safe voyages, as well as protection against perils and monsters of the sea. The Greeks first documented its use between 480-300 BCE. They wore aquamarine amulets engraved with Poseidon (the Greek god of the sea) on a chariot.
Supposedly Emperor Nero used aquamarine as an eyeglass 2,000 years ago. Much later, aquamarines were used as glasses in Germany to correct shortsightedness. In fact, the German name for eyeglasses today is “brille,” derived from the word for beryl.
Romans believed aquamarines possessed medicinal and healing powers, curing ailments of the stomach, liver, jaws, and throat. During the Middle Ages, the aquamarine supposedly acted as an antidote against poison. Soothsayers, who called it the “magic mirror,” used it for telling fortunes and answering questions about the future.
March birthstone 2: bloodstone
Rough bloodstone, also known as heliotrope, a form of chalcedony. Image via James St. John/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
The second birthstone for March is the bloodstone. Bloodstone – also known as heliotrope – is a form of the abundant mineral quartz. This particular form of quartz, known as cryptocrystalline quartz, exists as a mass of tiny quartz crystals formed together in large lumps that show no external crystal form, yet each of the component crystals that make up the mass is a genuine crystal. This quartz variety is also called chalcedony. Green chalcedony spotted with flecks of red is known as bloodstone. Bloodstone is found embedded in rocks or as pebbles in riverbeds. The best sources of this stone are India, Brazil, and Australia.
The bloodstone is a favored material for carving religious subjects. The Italian Matteo del Nassaro made a particularly famous carving around 1525. In “The Descent from the Cross,” the sculptor carefully crafted the piece so that spots of red on the bloodstone represented the wounds of Christ and his drops of blood. According to legend, bloodstone formed during the crucifixion of Christ. A Roman soldier-guard thrust his spear into Christ’s side and drops of blood fell on some pieces of dark green jasper lying at the foot of the cross, and the bloodstone was created.
Babylonians used this stone to make seals and amulets, and it was also a favorite with Roman gladiators. In the Middle Ages, bloodstone was believed to hold healing powers, particularly for stopping nosebleeds. Powdered and mixed with honey and white of egg, it was believed to cure tumors and stop all types of hemorrhage. Ancient alchemists used it to treat blood disorders, including blood poisoning and the flow of blood from a wound. Bloodstone was also believed to draw out the venom of snakes.
Find out about the birthstones for the other months of the year.
The last leap year was 2024. So 2028 will be our next leap year, a 366-day-long year, with an extra day added to our calendar (February 29). We’ll call that extra day a leap day. It’ll help synchronize our human-created calendars with Earth’s orbit around the sun and with the passing of the seasons. Why do we need the extra day? Blame Earth’s orbit. Our planet takes approximately 365.25 days to orbit the sun once. It’s that .25 that creates the need for a leap year every four years.
During non-leap years, aka common years – like 2026 – the calendar doesn’t take into account the extra quarter of a day required by Earth to complete a single orbit. In essence, the calendar year, which is a human artifact, is faster than the solar year, the 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds that our planet requires to orbit the sun once.
Over time and without correction, the calendar year would drift away from the solar year. And the drift would add up quickly. For example, without correction the calendar year would be off by about one day after four years. It’d be off by about 25 days after 100 years. You can see that, if even more time were to pass without the leap year as a calendar correction, eventually February would be a summer month in the Northern Hemisphere.
Christopher Clavius (1538-1612). This German mathematician and astronomer figured out how and where to place leap years in the Gregorian calendar. Image via Wikipedia.
Leap years and the Gregorian calendar
Leap days were first added to the Julian Calendar in 46 BCE by Julius Caesar at the advice of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar by creating the Gregorian calendar with the assistance of Christopher Clavius, a German mathematician and astronomer. The Gregorian calendar stated that leap days should not be added in years ending in “00” unless that year is also divisible by 400. This additional correction was added to stabilize the calendar over a period of thousands of years and was necessary because solar years are actually slightly less than 365.25 days. In fact, a solar year occurs over a period of 365.2422 days.
When are leap years?
So, according to the rules set forth in the Gregorian calendar, leap years have occurred or will occur during the following years:
Notice that 2000 was a leap year because it is divisible by 400, but that 1900 was not a leap year.
Since 1582, the Gregorian calendar has been gradually adopted as a “civil” international standard for many countries around the world.
Leap year lore
In medieval Ireland and Scotland, women were allowed to propose marriage to men on February 29 of any leap year. A man who rejected the proposal owed a fine to the woman.
Children born on Leap Day have a true birthday every four years. They generally will celebrate their birth on February 28 or March 1.
Some cultures consider a leap year unlucky – for people or animals – all year long.
A view of the sun above the limb of the Earth, from Earth orbit. Image via NASA.
Bottom line: 2026 isn’t a leap year. But 2028 will be. Why do we have leap years?
The last leap year was 2024. So 2028 will be our next leap year, a 366-day-long year, with an extra day added to our calendar (February 29). We’ll call that extra day a leap day. It’ll help synchronize our human-created calendars with Earth’s orbit around the sun and with the passing of the seasons. Why do we need the extra day? Blame Earth’s orbit. Our planet takes approximately 365.25 days to orbit the sun once. It’s that .25 that creates the need for a leap year every four years.
During non-leap years, aka common years – like 2026 – the calendar doesn’t take into account the extra quarter of a day required by Earth to complete a single orbit. In essence, the calendar year, which is a human artifact, is faster than the solar year, the 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 46 seconds that our planet requires to orbit the sun once.
Over time and without correction, the calendar year would drift away from the solar year. And the drift would add up quickly. For example, without correction the calendar year would be off by about one day after four years. It’d be off by about 25 days after 100 years. You can see that, if even more time were to pass without the leap year as a calendar correction, eventually February would be a summer month in the Northern Hemisphere.
Christopher Clavius (1538-1612). This German mathematician and astronomer figured out how and where to place leap years in the Gregorian calendar. Image via Wikipedia.
Leap years and the Gregorian calendar
Leap days were first added to the Julian Calendar in 46 BCE by Julius Caesar at the advice of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar by creating the Gregorian calendar with the assistance of Christopher Clavius, a German mathematician and astronomer. The Gregorian calendar stated that leap days should not be added in years ending in “00” unless that year is also divisible by 400. This additional correction was added to stabilize the calendar over a period of thousands of years and was necessary because solar years are actually slightly less than 365.25 days. In fact, a solar year occurs over a period of 365.2422 days.
When are leap years?
So, according to the rules set forth in the Gregorian calendar, leap years have occurred or will occur during the following years:
Notice that 2000 was a leap year because it is divisible by 400, but that 1900 was not a leap year.
Since 1582, the Gregorian calendar has been gradually adopted as a “civil” international standard for many countries around the world.
Leap year lore
In medieval Ireland and Scotland, women were allowed to propose marriage to men on February 29 of any leap year. A man who rejected the proposal owed a fine to the woman.
Children born on Leap Day have a true birthday every four years. They generally will celebrate their birth on February 28 or March 1.
Some cultures consider a leap year unlucky – for people or animals – all year long.
A view of the sun above the limb of the Earth, from Earth orbit. Image via NASA.
Bottom line: 2026 isn’t a leap year. But 2028 will be. Why do we have leap years?
