New clues to how infectious fungus Candida auris resists antifungals

Resilient infectious fungus Candida auris is currently challenging global healthcare systems. But new research is helping to uncover how it resists antifungal drugs. Image via Pexels.

The fungus Candida auris has spread to more than 60 countries. It’s a growing concern because it can cause serious infections in already hospitalized patients. Now, researchers at the University of Exeter and City St George’s, University of London, have discovered mechanisms that help explain how the fungus survives certain antifungal treatments. The findings could help guide the development of new strategies to combat this pathogen.

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

A fungus that is difficult to eliminate

First identified in 2008, Candida auris has become a global public health concern. It can live on the skin and persist on surfaces and medical equipment, making it easier to spread in hospitals. Those most at risk are people who are already seriously ill, particularly patients in intensive care units. If the fungus enters the bloodstream, the infection can be fatal.

But controlling it is not always easy. Some infections persist despite treatment, even when initial laboratory tests suggest that the fungus should respond to the medication.

To understand why this happens, the researchers studied how Candida auris responds to echinocandins, a class of antifungal drugs used to treat serious infections. These drugs work by weakening the fungal cell wall.

Fungus Candida auris changes its cell wall to resist treatment

During one experiment, a researcher accidentally left some samples incubating longer than intended. When the researcher returned to examine them, they found something unexpected: some cells had survived the treatment and started growing again.

One mechanism that could explain how these cells survived involves the cell wall, the structure that protects the fungus. Echinocandins work by blocking an enzyme the fungus needs to produce beta-glucan, one of the main components of its cell wall. By interfering with its production, the drugs weaken the structure that protects the cells.

However, the researchers observed that Candida auris responded by changing the composition of its cell wall. The fungus increased the amount of chitin, another component of the wall, and thickened its inner layer.

By increasing chitin levels and thickening this inner layer, the fungus may be able to compensate for some of the weakening caused by the disruption of beta-glucan production.

Genetic changes help the fungus adapt

In addition to modifying its cell wall, the researchers discovered that Candida auris had extra copies of certain sections of its genetic material. Having multiple copies may allow changes to occur in one of them. If one of these changes helps the fungus resist the antifungal drug, the cells carrying it may be more likely to survive and multiply.

To better understand how these findings relate to drug resistance, the researchers compared the cells that had survived treatment. They found that some formed small colonies and grew slowly, while others formed larger colonies and grew more quickly.

Different populations respond differently to treatment

Although both populations showed resistance to the antifungal drug and shared changes in their cell walls, the researchers found differences in their genetic material.

The cells that formed larger colonies and grew faster had accumulated more changes in a gene involved in the stress response and the maintenance of the cell wall. These changes were associated with even greater resistance to the antifungal drug.

The findings suggest a possible progression: changes in the cell wall may help the fungus withstand the initial effects of treatment, while the accumulation of certain genetic changes may contribute to the emergence of cells that can resist the drug more effectively and grow faster.

New clues for fighting the fungus Candida auris

Although Candida auris remains a significant challenge, learning more about how it resists antifungal drugs is an important step toward combating it. These findings open up new avenues for research and could help guide the development of more effective treatments.

The research team is already investigating combinations of antifungal drugs in the hope of using this knowledge to find new ways to fight the fungus.

Bottom line: Scientists have identified new resistance mechanisms used by the fungus Candida auris, paving the way for advances in antifungal treatments.

Source: FKS1/2-variant independent mechanisms underlying the emergence of resistance in echinocandin-refractory Candida auris infections.

Via University of Exeter

Read more: Fungus kills millions of bats

Read more: Frog saunas could help frogs threatened by fungus

The post New clues to how infectious fungus Candida auris resists antifungals first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/CsXRdy9

Resilient infectious fungus Candida auris is currently challenging global healthcare systems. But new research is helping to uncover how it resists antifungal drugs. Image via Pexels.

The fungus Candida auris has spread to more than 60 countries. It’s a growing concern because it can cause serious infections in already hospitalized patients. Now, researchers at the University of Exeter and City St George’s, University of London, have discovered mechanisms that help explain how the fungus survives certain antifungal treatments. The findings could help guide the development of new strategies to combat this pathogen.

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

A fungus that is difficult to eliminate

First identified in 2008, Candida auris has become a global public health concern. It can live on the skin and persist on surfaces and medical equipment, making it easier to spread in hospitals. Those most at risk are people who are already seriously ill, particularly patients in intensive care units. If the fungus enters the bloodstream, the infection can be fatal.

But controlling it is not always easy. Some infections persist despite treatment, even when initial laboratory tests suggest that the fungus should respond to the medication.

To understand why this happens, the researchers studied how Candida auris responds to echinocandins, a class of antifungal drugs used to treat serious infections. These drugs work by weakening the fungal cell wall.

Fungus Candida auris changes its cell wall to resist treatment

During one experiment, a researcher accidentally left some samples incubating longer than intended. When the researcher returned to examine them, they found something unexpected: some cells had survived the treatment and started growing again.

One mechanism that could explain how these cells survived involves the cell wall, the structure that protects the fungus. Echinocandins work by blocking an enzyme the fungus needs to produce beta-glucan, one of the main components of its cell wall. By interfering with its production, the drugs weaken the structure that protects the cells.

However, the researchers observed that Candida auris responded by changing the composition of its cell wall. The fungus increased the amount of chitin, another component of the wall, and thickened its inner layer.

By increasing chitin levels and thickening this inner layer, the fungus may be able to compensate for some of the weakening caused by the disruption of beta-glucan production.

Genetic changes help the fungus adapt

In addition to modifying its cell wall, the researchers discovered that Candida auris had extra copies of certain sections of its genetic material. Having multiple copies may allow changes to occur in one of them. If one of these changes helps the fungus resist the antifungal drug, the cells carrying it may be more likely to survive and multiply.

To better understand how these findings relate to drug resistance, the researchers compared the cells that had survived treatment. They found that some formed small colonies and grew slowly, while others formed larger colonies and grew more quickly.

Different populations respond differently to treatment

Although both populations showed resistance to the antifungal drug and shared changes in their cell walls, the researchers found differences in their genetic material.

The cells that formed larger colonies and grew faster had accumulated more changes in a gene involved in the stress response and the maintenance of the cell wall. These changes were associated with even greater resistance to the antifungal drug.

The findings suggest a possible progression: changes in the cell wall may help the fungus withstand the initial effects of treatment, while the accumulation of certain genetic changes may contribute to the emergence of cells that can resist the drug more effectively and grow faster.

New clues for fighting the fungus Candida auris

Although Candida auris remains a significant challenge, learning more about how it resists antifungal drugs is an important step toward combating it. These findings open up new avenues for research and could help guide the development of more effective treatments.

The research team is already investigating combinations of antifungal drugs in the hope of using this knowledge to find new ways to fight the fungus.

Bottom line: Scientists have identified new resistance mechanisms used by the fungus Candida auris, paving the way for advances in antifungal treatments.

Source: FKS1/2-variant independent mechanisms underlying the emergence of resistance in echinocandin-refractory Candida auris infections.

Via University of Exeter

Read more: Fungus kills millions of bats

Read more: Frog saunas could help frogs threatened by fungus

The post New clues to how infectious fungus Candida auris resists antifungals first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/CsXRdy9

Orionid meteor shower 2026: All you need to know

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | James McCue of Jemez Springs, New Mexico, captured this Orionid meteor on October 22, 2023, and wrote: “I was shooting through the night, following Orion, hoping to catch a full spectrum Orionid. I was not disappointed. Many of my shots have been of faint or partially out of frame meteors. This one landed perfectly.” Thank you, James!

Don’t miss the next unmissable night sky event. Sign up to EarthSky’s free newsletter for daily night sky updates.

The Orionid meteor shower

Predicted peak: According to the RASC Observer’s Handbook, the predicted peak is 18 UTC on October 21, 2026. But the Orionids are known to have a broad, plateau-like maximum lasting several nights. So several mornings around October 21 would potentially show you some meteors. Note that you’ll be competing with a bright, waxing moon — up for most of the night. It’ll be encroaching on your sky darkness more with each passing day. Full moon falls on the night of October 25-26. Still, don’t let that bright moon in early evening fool you! You will have a dark window before dawn for watching the Orionids around the peak mornings.
When to watch: In 2026, be sure to watch for Orionid meteors in the hours before dawn. Otherwise, you’ll be watching in bright moonlight.
Overall duration of shower: September 26 to November 22. This time period is when we’re passing through the meteor stream in space!
Radiant: The radiant rises before midnight and is highest in the sky around 6 a.m. See chart below.
Nearest moon phase: The full moon falls at 4:12 UTC on October 26. So, during the Orionids’ peak, there’ll be a bright waxing gibbous moon visible after midnight. But the moon will set several hours before dawn on the peak mornings. So the best time to watch is during the dark hours before dawn.
Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: The American Meteor Society says, “In exceptional years, such as 2006–2009, peak rates were comparable to the Perseids, at 50–75 per hour. Recent displays have produced low to average activity.” What should you expect for 2026? No way to know. Best to expect about 10 to 20 meteors per hour — and be delighted if you get more. That’s under a dark sky with no moon. Before dawn is the ticket in 2026!
Note: These fast-moving meteors occasionally leave persistent trains. The Orionids sometimes produce bright fireballs.

Report a fireball (very bright meteor) to the American Meteor Society: it’s fun and easy!

Orionid meteor shower peaks near a full moon

As for most meteor showers, the hours between midnight and dawn are best for the Orionids. A bright waxing gibbous moon will result in moonlit skies during the peak times of the Orionids in 2026. Luckily, the moon will set a few hours before dawn. If you watch before the moon sets, the best bet to catch the most meteors is to place yourself in the moon’s shadow while watching for meteors.

The term meteor shower might give you the idea of a rain shower. But few meteor showers resemble showers of rain. And the Orionids aren’t the year’s strongest shower, anyway. Plus they’re not particularly known for storming (producing unexpected, very rich displays). From a dark location you might see 10 to 20 Orionids per hour at their peak. There’s always the element of uncertainty and possible surprise when it comes to meteor showers, though.

Orionids zip through the sky

If you do see any Orionids, note that they’re known to be extremely fast meteors, plummeting into Earth’s atmosphere at about 41 miles per second (66 km/s or 91 mph). But they leave trains, or ionized gas trails, that last for a few seconds after the meteor itself has gone. Maybe half of the Orionid meteors leave persistent trains. Also, sometimes, an Orionid meteor can be exceptionally bright and break up into fragments.

Generally speaking, the Orionids aren’t especially colorful compared to some other showers (like the Perseids or Geminids). They tend to appear white or faintly yellow, since their particles are very small and moving extremely fast. That speed produces bright, sharp flashes, but not a wide range of colors.

That said, occasional Orionids can show a green or orange tint, depending on their composition and how deeply they penetrate the atmosphere. Green hints at nickel or magnesium. Orange/yellow suggests sodium or iron. A few bright fireballs may even show a brief sequence of colors – as the one below does – as they break apart. So while most Orionids look like white streaks of light, now and then you might catch one with a flash of color: a little extra “magic” from Halley’s comet.

Orionid meteors radiate from constellation Orion

How will you know if the meteor you see is an Orionid? You’ll know because it’ll come from the shower’s radiant point. Meteors in annual showers are named for the point in our sky from which they appear to radiate. The radiant point for the Orionids is in the direction of the famous constellation Orion the Hunter, which you’ll find ascending in the east in the hours after midnight during October. Hence the name Orionids.

You don’t need to know Orion, or be staring toward it, to see the meteors. The meteors often don’t become visible until they are 30 degrees or so from their radiant point. And, remember, they are streaking out from the radiant in all directions. They will appear in all parts of the sky.

But if you do see a meteor – and trace its path backward – you might see that it comes from Orion. And, if so, that meteor will be an Orionid. You might know Orion’s bright, ruddy star Betelgeuse. The radiant is north of Betelgeuse.

So … in which direction do you look? No particular direction. It’s best to find a wide-open viewing area. Sometimes friends like to watch together, facing different directions. When somebody sees one, that person can call out meteor!

The Orionids radiate from a point near the upraised club of the constellation Orion the Hunter. The bright star near the radiant point is reddish Betelgeuse. You might catch an Orionid meteor any time between about September 26 to November 22. In 2026, they peak is on October 21. Chart via EarthSky.

The parent comet of the Orionid meteor shower

From the late, great Don Machholz (1952-2022), who discovered 12 comets …

The Orionid meteors that we observe come from Halley’s comet. This comet orbits the sun every 76 years or so, and like steam coming from a locomotive, dust particles are expelled from the comet’s nucleus and are left behind in its path. We intercept this path in late October each year. The nucleus of the comet loses between 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 meters) of material on each passage through the inner solar system. Measuring 5 by 9 miles (8 by 14 kilometers) in size, it can handle eons of orbits around the sun.

The official name for Halley’s comet is 1P/Halley. It was the first comet to have its return predicted, and Edmond Halley was the one who made that calculation. The comet typically gets bright enough to be easily visible with recorded observations since 240 CE. It is one of only a few comets named not after its discoverer but after the person who calculated its orbit.

Unlike most solar system objects, Halley’s comet orbits the sun in a retrograde orbit, going around the sun in the opposite direction than we do. Its orbit is also tilted a bit to ours, and it spends most of its time below the plane of our path. Presently, it is at its farthest point from the sun, near the head of the constellation Hydra the Water Snake, too faint to be seen.

Two meteor showers

The Orionids are produced from Halley’s comet’s particles on its inbound leg. They are moving in one direction, we are moving in nearly the opposite direction, and the combined speeds produce fast-moving meteors. But we also encounter its particles from its outbound leg when it’s leaving the inner solar system. We reach that point in early May. They produce the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. So this comet generates two meteor showers.

Halley’s comet was last here in 1986 and will return in 2061. But the Orionids never go away. They’re here every October. Go out and see some pieces of this famous comet.

Perhaps the most famous of all comets, Halley’s comet is the parent object of both October’s Orionid meteor shower and May’s Eta Aquariid meteor shower. Comets are fragile, icy bodies. And this comet, like all comets, litters its orbit with icy debris. The bits of cometary debris enter our atmosphere to create a meteor shower. Image via NASA.

Bottom line: In 2026, the Orionid meteor shower should rain down its greatest number of meteors on the morning of October 21. The bright gibbous moon will light up the sky when the radiant is highest in the sky, but it will set a few hours before dawn. So the best time to watch for meteors is in the dark hours before dawn.

**Predicted peak times and dates for meteor showers are from the American Meteor Society. Note that meteor shower peak times can vary.

EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

Meteor showers: Tips for watching the show

Learn how to shoot photos of meteors

The post Orionid meteor shower 2026: All you need to know first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/I3tWdfP

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | James McCue of Jemez Springs, New Mexico, captured this Orionid meteor on October 22, 2023, and wrote: “I was shooting through the night, following Orion, hoping to catch a full spectrum Orionid. I was not disappointed. Many of my shots have been of faint or partially out of frame meteors. This one landed perfectly.” Thank you, James!

Don’t miss the next unmissable night sky event. Sign up to EarthSky’s free newsletter for daily night sky updates.

The Orionid meteor shower

Predicted peak: According to the RASC Observer’s Handbook, the predicted peak is 18 UTC on October 21, 2026. But the Orionids are known to have a broad, plateau-like maximum lasting several nights. So several mornings around October 21 would potentially show you some meteors. Note that you’ll be competing with a bright, waxing moon — up for most of the night. It’ll be encroaching on your sky darkness more with each passing day. Full moon falls on the night of October 25-26. Still, don’t let that bright moon in early evening fool you! You will have a dark window before dawn for watching the Orionids around the peak mornings.
When to watch: In 2026, be sure to watch for Orionid meteors in the hours before dawn. Otherwise, you’ll be watching in bright moonlight.
Overall duration of shower: September 26 to November 22. This time period is when we’re passing through the meteor stream in space!
Radiant: The radiant rises before midnight and is highest in the sky around 6 a.m. See chart below.
Nearest moon phase: The full moon falls at 4:12 UTC on October 26. So, during the Orionids’ peak, there’ll be a bright waxing gibbous moon visible after midnight. But the moon will set several hours before dawn on the peak mornings. So the best time to watch is during the dark hours before dawn.
Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: The American Meteor Society says, “In exceptional years, such as 2006–2009, peak rates were comparable to the Perseids, at 50–75 per hour. Recent displays have produced low to average activity.” What should you expect for 2026? No way to know. Best to expect about 10 to 20 meteors per hour — and be delighted if you get more. That’s under a dark sky with no moon. Before dawn is the ticket in 2026!
Note: These fast-moving meteors occasionally leave persistent trains. The Orionids sometimes produce bright fireballs.

Report a fireball (very bright meteor) to the American Meteor Society: it’s fun and easy!

Orionid meteor shower peaks near a full moon

As for most meteor showers, the hours between midnight and dawn are best for the Orionids. A bright waxing gibbous moon will result in moonlit skies during the peak times of the Orionids in 2026. Luckily, the moon will set a few hours before dawn. If you watch before the moon sets, the best bet to catch the most meteors is to place yourself in the moon’s shadow while watching for meteors.

The term meteor shower might give you the idea of a rain shower. But few meteor showers resemble showers of rain. And the Orionids aren’t the year’s strongest shower, anyway. Plus they’re not particularly known for storming (producing unexpected, very rich displays). From a dark location you might see 10 to 20 Orionids per hour at their peak. There’s always the element of uncertainty and possible surprise when it comes to meteor showers, though.

Orionids zip through the sky

If you do see any Orionids, note that they’re known to be extremely fast meteors, plummeting into Earth’s atmosphere at about 41 miles per second (66 km/s or 91 mph). But they leave trains, or ionized gas trails, that last for a few seconds after the meteor itself has gone. Maybe half of the Orionid meteors leave persistent trains. Also, sometimes, an Orionid meteor can be exceptionally bright and break up into fragments.

Generally speaking, the Orionids aren’t especially colorful compared to some other showers (like the Perseids or Geminids). They tend to appear white or faintly yellow, since their particles are very small and moving extremely fast. That speed produces bright, sharp flashes, but not a wide range of colors.

That said, occasional Orionids can show a green or orange tint, depending on their composition and how deeply they penetrate the atmosphere. Green hints at nickel or magnesium. Orange/yellow suggests sodium or iron. A few bright fireballs may even show a brief sequence of colors – as the one below does – as they break apart. So while most Orionids look like white streaks of light, now and then you might catch one with a flash of color: a little extra “magic” from Halley’s comet.

Orionid meteors radiate from constellation Orion

How will you know if the meteor you see is an Orionid? You’ll know because it’ll come from the shower’s radiant point. Meteors in annual showers are named for the point in our sky from which they appear to radiate. The radiant point for the Orionids is in the direction of the famous constellation Orion the Hunter, which you’ll find ascending in the east in the hours after midnight during October. Hence the name Orionids.

You don’t need to know Orion, or be staring toward it, to see the meteors. The meteors often don’t become visible until they are 30 degrees or so from their radiant point. And, remember, they are streaking out from the radiant in all directions. They will appear in all parts of the sky.

But if you do see a meteor – and trace its path backward – you might see that it comes from Orion. And, if so, that meteor will be an Orionid. You might know Orion’s bright, ruddy star Betelgeuse. The radiant is north of Betelgeuse.

So … in which direction do you look? No particular direction. It’s best to find a wide-open viewing area. Sometimes friends like to watch together, facing different directions. When somebody sees one, that person can call out meteor!

The Orionids radiate from a point near the upraised club of the constellation Orion the Hunter. The bright star near the radiant point is reddish Betelgeuse. You might catch an Orionid meteor any time between about September 26 to November 22. In 2026, they peak is on October 21. Chart via EarthSky.

The parent comet of the Orionid meteor shower

From the late, great Don Machholz (1952-2022), who discovered 12 comets …

The Orionid meteors that we observe come from Halley’s comet. This comet orbits the sun every 76 years or so, and like steam coming from a locomotive, dust particles are expelled from the comet’s nucleus and are left behind in its path. We intercept this path in late October each year. The nucleus of the comet loses between 3 to 10 feet (1 to 3 meters) of material on each passage through the inner solar system. Measuring 5 by 9 miles (8 by 14 kilometers) in size, it can handle eons of orbits around the sun.

The official name for Halley’s comet is 1P/Halley. It was the first comet to have its return predicted, and Edmond Halley was the one who made that calculation. The comet typically gets bright enough to be easily visible with recorded observations since 240 CE. It is one of only a few comets named not after its discoverer but after the person who calculated its orbit.

Unlike most solar system objects, Halley’s comet orbits the sun in a retrograde orbit, going around the sun in the opposite direction than we do. Its orbit is also tilted a bit to ours, and it spends most of its time below the plane of our path. Presently, it is at its farthest point from the sun, near the head of the constellation Hydra the Water Snake, too faint to be seen.

Two meteor showers

The Orionids are produced from Halley’s comet’s particles on its inbound leg. They are moving in one direction, we are moving in nearly the opposite direction, and the combined speeds produce fast-moving meteors. But we also encounter its particles from its outbound leg when it’s leaving the inner solar system. We reach that point in early May. They produce the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. So this comet generates two meteor showers.

Halley’s comet was last here in 1986 and will return in 2061. But the Orionids never go away. They’re here every October. Go out and see some pieces of this famous comet.

Perhaps the most famous of all comets, Halley’s comet is the parent object of both October’s Orionid meteor shower and May’s Eta Aquariid meteor shower. Comets are fragile, icy bodies. And this comet, like all comets, litters its orbit with icy debris. The bits of cometary debris enter our atmosphere to create a meteor shower. Image via NASA.

Bottom line: In 2026, the Orionid meteor shower should rain down its greatest number of meteors on the morning of October 21. The bright gibbous moon will light up the sky when the radiant is highest in the sky, but it will set a few hours before dawn. So the best time to watch for meteors is in the dark hours before dawn.

**Predicted peak times and dates for meteor showers are from the American Meteor Society. Note that meteor shower peak times can vary.

EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

Meteor showers: Tips for watching the show

Learn how to shoot photos of meteors

The post Orionid meteor shower 2026: All you need to know first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/I3tWdfP

See brightest star, Sirius, in your morning sky

No matter when you see it in the sky, Orion’s Belt always points to the sky’s brightest star, Sirius. On northern autumn mornings – or southern spring mornings – Sirius and Orion can be found in the south before dawn. Chart via EarthSky.

Watch for the brightest star, Sirius

Bright Jupiter outshines all the stars in the morning sky right now, but our brightest star is there too.

At this time of the year we always get questions about another bright object in the dawn sky. Andy wrote:

Early this morning, looking south, I saw a beautiful star, bright and multicolored … Can you identify it for me?

And Paula wrote:

This morning two of us got up early. We found a pulsing star straight down the sky below Orion’s Belt. It was pulsing the colors of green, yellow, blue and red like a strobe light. I will search for it every morning as it was so enchanting.

So if you’re up before daybreak, take a moment to look for Sirius, which is the sky’s brightest star. It’s so brilliant that you can even see it from a light-polluted city. And you can see it if you stay up late, too! It’s rising in the middle of the night now, as seen from around the globe, and is high in the sky – at its best – by dawn.

Want a specific view from your location on the globe? Visit Stellarium and enter your location.

What is that bright twinkling star?

This star is enchanting, so much so that – every year, beginning in Northern Hemisphere autumn – we get many, many questions about a multicolored star twinkling in the southeastern to southern sky after midnight. This star typically turns out to be Sirius, which is in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog and is sometimes called the Dog Star.

Why does Sirius twinkle so much?

Sirius appears to flash different colors when it’s low in the sky. Really, all the stars are flashing different colors, because light is composed of all the colors of a rainbow, and the journey through our atmosphere breaks starlight into its component colors via refraction.

But you don’t notice the colors of the other stars much, because they’re not as bright as Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star visible from anywhere on Earth.

Since our atmosphere is causing the light to break into its colors, and since Sirius is often seen low in the sky now (where you are peering at it through a thicker layer of atmosphere than when it’s overhead), the flashing colors of Sirius are very obvious. When Sirius is higher in the sky – which it is close to dawn in the month of October and November – or in the evening sky in January and February – you’ll find that Sirius shines with a steadier, whiter light.

So, on these October and November mornings, watch as Sirius winks at you in the wee hours before dawn!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sergei Timofeevski shared this image from November 13, 2023. Sergei wrote: “The constellation Orion the Hunter and the star Sirius rising just above the eastern horizon in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.” Thank you, Sergei! Note bright Sirius is on the bottom, and Orion’s Belt pointing to it.

Bottom line: We get many questions about a bright, colorful, twinkling star on these October mornings. It’s the brightest star, Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major. You’ll know it’s Sirius, because Orion’s Belt always points to it.

Read more: Flashing star in autumn? Here are 3 candidates

Is Sirius the most luminous star in the sky?

The post See brightest star, Sirius, in your morning sky first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/6diXvjz

No matter when you see it in the sky, Orion’s Belt always points to the sky’s brightest star, Sirius. On northern autumn mornings – or southern spring mornings – Sirius and Orion can be found in the south before dawn. Chart via EarthSky.

Watch for the brightest star, Sirius

Bright Jupiter outshines all the stars in the morning sky right now, but our brightest star is there too.

At this time of the year we always get questions about another bright object in the dawn sky. Andy wrote:

Early this morning, looking south, I saw a beautiful star, bright and multicolored … Can you identify it for me?

And Paula wrote:

This morning two of us got up early. We found a pulsing star straight down the sky below Orion’s Belt. It was pulsing the colors of green, yellow, blue and red like a strobe light. I will search for it every morning as it was so enchanting.

So if you’re up before daybreak, take a moment to look for Sirius, which is the sky’s brightest star. It’s so brilliant that you can even see it from a light-polluted city. And you can see it if you stay up late, too! It’s rising in the middle of the night now, as seen from around the globe, and is high in the sky – at its best – by dawn.

Want a specific view from your location on the globe? Visit Stellarium and enter your location.

What is that bright twinkling star?

This star is enchanting, so much so that – every year, beginning in Northern Hemisphere autumn – we get many, many questions about a multicolored star twinkling in the southeastern to southern sky after midnight. This star typically turns out to be Sirius, which is in the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog and is sometimes called the Dog Star.

Why does Sirius twinkle so much?

Sirius appears to flash different colors when it’s low in the sky. Really, all the stars are flashing different colors, because light is composed of all the colors of a rainbow, and the journey through our atmosphere breaks starlight into its component colors via refraction.

But you don’t notice the colors of the other stars much, because they’re not as bright as Sirius. Sirius is the brightest star visible from anywhere on Earth.

Since our atmosphere is causing the light to break into its colors, and since Sirius is often seen low in the sky now (where you are peering at it through a thicker layer of atmosphere than when it’s overhead), the flashing colors of Sirius are very obvious. When Sirius is higher in the sky – which it is close to dawn in the month of October and November – or in the evening sky in January and February – you’ll find that Sirius shines with a steadier, whiter light.

So, on these October and November mornings, watch as Sirius winks at you in the wee hours before dawn!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sergei Timofeevski shared this image from November 13, 2023. Sergei wrote: “The constellation Orion the Hunter and the star Sirius rising just above the eastern horizon in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.” Thank you, Sergei! Note bright Sirius is on the bottom, and Orion’s Belt pointing to it.

Bottom line: We get many questions about a bright, colorful, twinkling star on these October mornings. It’s the brightest star, Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major. You’ll know it’s Sirius, because Orion’s Belt always points to it.

Read more: Flashing star in autumn? Here are 3 candidates

Is Sirius the most luminous star in the sky?

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New dinosaur species identified from fossil stashed in drawer for a century

Artist’s concept of the new dinosaur species Invictibellatrix amberina, along with the fossil from which it was identified. The fossil had been sitting in a drawer for 100 years, until researchers pulled it out and became curious. Image via Sergey Krasovskiy and Pedro Salas/ Natural History Museum London.

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More than 100 years ago on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, amateur paleontologist Reginald Walter Tooley found a dinosaur fossil. And, in 1924 — after Tooley’s death — the fossil came to the Natural History Museum in London. It was one of a batch of some 1,000 unstudied specimens. The fossil then sat in a drawer for a century. No one knew it would bring to light a new dinosaur species.

Fast forward 100 years. Two paleontologists — Cassius Morrison and his student Charlie Scherer of University College London Earth Sciences — pulled the long-overlooked specimen out of storage. They wondered if it could be reevaluated using modern diagnostic techniques.

The researchers used CT scanning to get a better understanding of the fossil. And they used 3D modeling to show what this dinosaur would have been like when it roamed what’s now the Isle of Wight some 120 million years ago.

They published their peer-reviewed research in the journal Royal Society Open Science on October 14, 2026. They said they’d named this newly recognized dinosaur species Invictibellatrix amberina.

Morrison commented:

It’s a real mystery that this fossil was overlooked for so long, sitting in a drawer for nearly 100 years. Lots of bones are found on the Isle of Wight. Who knows what else is waiting to be discovered.

Meet Charlie Scherer and Cassius Morrison of UCL Earth Sciences, authors of the study about the new dinosaur species. Morrison holds the fossil that led to the discovery. Image via UCL.

What’s in a name?

The word amberina primarily honors the amber embedded within the plant debris beds of the Wessex Formation on the Isle of Wight, where the 120-million-year-old fossil was originally collected.

Invictibellatrix, meanwhle, translates from Latin as unconquered female warrior.

The researchers said this dinosaur would have been about as tall as a human. It stood on two legs, ate meat, and likely had feathers, they said.  It would have used its arms and giant claws to attack smaller prey. such as smaller dinos, lizards and mammals.

They found that the skull has an oval hole where the brain and spinal cord would have met. The hour-glass-shaped crest was also distinctive; this crest was what led to the classification as a new species.

This is the fossil that led to the discovery of a new dinosaur species. The hole at the top is where the dinosaur’s brain would have been. Image via UCL.

It might have been gigantic, but wasn’t

The new dinosaur species belonged to a group of two-legged dinos called the megaraptorans. A species of megaraptoran had never been discovered to exist in Europe until now.

Megaraptorans could be gigantic, as big as a T-rex. But the new human-sized dinosaur is the smallest megaraptoran yet found. While it would have stood around the height of a human, at about 5 feet (1.5 meters), it would have been long from its head to its tail, spanning about 10-13 feet (3-4 meters). And those large, curved claws were likely around 4-8 inches (10-20 cm). These estimates are based on what we know of Invictibellatrix‘s closest relatives, the scientists said.

Cassius Morrison said:

It would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals, occupying a similar role in the food chain to the hyena today.

And while humans didn’t yet exist while Invictibellatrix was on Earth, Morrison said:

It was not the apex predator of its time, but for humans this dinosaur would have been more dangerous than a T. rex. We would have been perfectly sized prey, about 1/3 of their body weight. They definitely would have chased us. A T. rex would not have bothered, as we would have been too small.

Where might the new dinosaur species have lived?

Invictibellatrix amberina is the first member of the megaraptoran family known to live in Europe. Researchers think megaraptorans originated in Asia. Later, they traveled through Europe. The larger carnivorous species became apex predators in areas of what is today Africa, South America and Antarctica. Scherer commented:

This new species is the first proof we have that megaraptorans were also present in Europe and that they reached Gondwana this way rather than island-hopping further south.

The larger megaraptorans came later and lived farther south. Researchers think the smaller megaraptorans who lived farther north died out earlier.

Bottom line: Researchers have identified a new dinosaur species from a fossil found on Isle of Wight in the U.K. The carnivorous dino would have stood about as tall as a human.

Source: A new megaraptoran dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation, UK, and its implications for theropod evolution and biogeography

Via Natural History Museum, London

Read more: The night sky in the time of the dinosaurs

The post New dinosaur species identified from fossil stashed in drawer for a century first appeared on EarthSky.

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Artist’s concept of the new dinosaur species Invictibellatrix amberina, along with the fossil from which it was identified. The fossil had been sitting in a drawer for 100 years, until researchers pulled it out and became curious. Image via Sergey Krasovskiy and Pedro Salas/ Natural History Museum London.

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More than 100 years ago on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, amateur paleontologist Reginald Walter Tooley found a dinosaur fossil. And, in 1924 — after Tooley’s death — the fossil came to the Natural History Museum in London. It was one of a batch of some 1,000 unstudied specimens. The fossil then sat in a drawer for a century. No one knew it would bring to light a new dinosaur species.

Fast forward 100 years. Two paleontologists — Cassius Morrison and his student Charlie Scherer of University College London Earth Sciences — pulled the long-overlooked specimen out of storage. They wondered if it could be reevaluated using modern diagnostic techniques.

The researchers used CT scanning to get a better understanding of the fossil. And they used 3D modeling to show what this dinosaur would have been like when it roamed what’s now the Isle of Wight some 120 million years ago.

They published their peer-reviewed research in the journal Royal Society Open Science on October 14, 2026. They said they’d named this newly recognized dinosaur species Invictibellatrix amberina.

Morrison commented:

It’s a real mystery that this fossil was overlooked for so long, sitting in a drawer for nearly 100 years. Lots of bones are found on the Isle of Wight. Who knows what else is waiting to be discovered.

Meet Charlie Scherer and Cassius Morrison of UCL Earth Sciences, authors of the study about the new dinosaur species. Morrison holds the fossil that led to the discovery. Image via UCL.

What’s in a name?

The word amberina primarily honors the amber embedded within the plant debris beds of the Wessex Formation on the Isle of Wight, where the 120-million-year-old fossil was originally collected.

Invictibellatrix, meanwhle, translates from Latin as unconquered female warrior.

The researchers said this dinosaur would have been about as tall as a human. It stood on two legs, ate meat, and likely had feathers, they said.  It would have used its arms and giant claws to attack smaller prey. such as smaller dinos, lizards and mammals.

They found that the skull has an oval hole where the brain and spinal cord would have met. The hour-glass-shaped crest was also distinctive; this crest was what led to the classification as a new species.

This is the fossil that led to the discovery of a new dinosaur species. The hole at the top is where the dinosaur’s brain would have been. Image via UCL.

It might have been gigantic, but wasn’t

The new dinosaur species belonged to a group of two-legged dinos called the megaraptorans. A species of megaraptoran had never been discovered to exist in Europe until now.

Megaraptorans could be gigantic, as big as a T-rex. But the new human-sized dinosaur is the smallest megaraptoran yet found. While it would have stood around the height of a human, at about 5 feet (1.5 meters), it would have been long from its head to its tail, spanning about 10-13 feet (3-4 meters). And those large, curved claws were likely around 4-8 inches (10-20 cm). These estimates are based on what we know of Invictibellatrix‘s closest relatives, the scientists said.

Cassius Morrison said:

It would have eaten small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals, occupying a similar role in the food chain to the hyena today.

And while humans didn’t yet exist while Invictibellatrix was on Earth, Morrison said:

It was not the apex predator of its time, but for humans this dinosaur would have been more dangerous than a T. rex. We would have been perfectly sized prey, about 1/3 of their body weight. They definitely would have chased us. A T. rex would not have bothered, as we would have been too small.

Where might the new dinosaur species have lived?

Invictibellatrix amberina is the first member of the megaraptoran family known to live in Europe. Researchers think megaraptorans originated in Asia. Later, they traveled through Europe. The larger carnivorous species became apex predators in areas of what is today Africa, South America and Antarctica. Scherer commented:

This new species is the first proof we have that megaraptorans were also present in Europe and that they reached Gondwana this way rather than island-hopping further south.

The larger megaraptorans came later and lived farther south. Researchers think the smaller megaraptorans who lived farther north died out earlier.

Bottom line: Researchers have identified a new dinosaur species from a fossil found on Isle of Wight in the U.K. The carnivorous dino would have stood about as tall as a human.

Source: A new megaraptoran dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation, UK, and its implications for theropod evolution and biogeography

Via Natural History Museum, London

Read more: The night sky in the time of the dinosaurs

The post New dinosaur species identified from fossil stashed in drawer for a century first appeared on EarthSky.

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The MMX mission launches to Mars’ moons on Monday

Artist’s illustration of Japan’s MMX spacecraft at Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two small moons. MMX will land on Phobos, collect a soil sample and bring it back to Earth in 2031. Image via ESA/JAXA.

• Japan plans to launch its MMX mission to Mars’ moons on October 19.
• The spacecraft will explore Phobos and Deimos and collect a sample from Phobos.
• The mission aims to return the sample to Earth in 2031.

MMX mission will travel to Phobos and bring a sample home

Japan is about to launch a new mission to Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, on October 19. Its main goal is to collect soil from Phobos and bring it back to Earth, where scientists hope it will reveal where the moons came from.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is preparing to launch its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 19:41 UTC (2:41 p.m. CDT) on October 19, 2026. That’s 4:41 a.m. Japan Standard Time on October 20.

After a journey of about 10 months, the spacecraft will reach Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. There, the mission will deploy a rover to land on and explore Phobos. After taking a sample of Phobos’ soil, it will return to Earth in 2031, depositing its precious cargo in Australia for retrieval.

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The 2 moons of Mars

Phobos — which means fear — and Deimos — which means terror — are the only two known moons of Mars, which takes its name from the Roman god of war. Astronomers long assumed these potato-shaped moons were captured asteroids that veered too close to Mars. However, astronomers have recently wondered if these nuggets are pieces of Mars that an impact flung into space. In fact, some think Phobos might once have been a ring around Mars … and it might one day break apart to become a ring once again.

How MMX will reach and sample Phobos

These graphics show the major phases in the MMX mission from launch in October 2026 to samples returning to Earth in 2031. Images via X/ ESA.

The components of the MMX mission

The MMX spacecraft has three parts. The propulsion module is what will get the spacecraft to Mars. Once there, the exploration module will visit Phobos’ surface with a rover and do soil sampling. Finally, the return module will journey back toward Earth and release a capsule that will target Australia.

Japan modeled the MMX mission after the highly successful Hayabusa2 mission that visited the asteroid Ryugu and returned samples to Earth. The Hayabusa2 mission discovered that Ryugu’s soil contained the building blocks of life.

We can’t wait to see what MMX discovers.

Bottom line: The MMX mission launches October 19 to explore Mars’ two moons. It will land on Phobos, collect a sample and bring it back to Earth in 2031.

Via JAXA

Via ESA

The post The MMX mission launches to Mars’ moons on Monday first appeared on EarthSky.

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Artist’s illustration of Japan’s MMX spacecraft at Phobos, the larger of Mars’ two small moons. MMX will land on Phobos, collect a soil sample and bring it back to Earth in 2031. Image via ESA/JAXA.

• Japan plans to launch its MMX mission to Mars’ moons on October 19.
• The spacecraft will explore Phobos and Deimos and collect a sample from Phobos.
• The mission aims to return the sample to Earth in 2031.

MMX mission will travel to Phobos and bring a sample home

Japan is about to launch a new mission to Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, on October 19. Its main goal is to collect soil from Phobos and bring it back to Earth, where scientists hope it will reveal where the moons came from.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is preparing to launch its Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 19:41 UTC (2:41 p.m. CDT) on October 19, 2026. That’s 4:41 a.m. Japan Standard Time on October 20.

After a journey of about 10 months, the spacecraft will reach Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos. There, the mission will deploy a rover to land on and explore Phobos. After taking a sample of Phobos’ soil, it will return to Earth in 2031, depositing its precious cargo in Australia for retrieval.

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

The 2 moons of Mars

Phobos — which means fear — and Deimos — which means terror — are the only two known moons of Mars, which takes its name from the Roman god of war. Astronomers long assumed these potato-shaped moons were captured asteroids that veered too close to Mars. However, astronomers have recently wondered if these nuggets are pieces of Mars that an impact flung into space. In fact, some think Phobos might once have been a ring around Mars … and it might one day break apart to become a ring once again.

How MMX will reach and sample Phobos

These graphics show the major phases in the MMX mission from launch in October 2026 to samples returning to Earth in 2031. Images via X/ ESA.

The components of the MMX mission

The MMX spacecraft has three parts. The propulsion module is what will get the spacecraft to Mars. Once there, the exploration module will visit Phobos’ surface with a rover and do soil sampling. Finally, the return module will journey back toward Earth and release a capsule that will target Australia.

Japan modeled the MMX mission after the highly successful Hayabusa2 mission that visited the asteroid Ryugu and returned samples to Earth. The Hayabusa2 mission discovered that Ryugu’s soil contained the building blocks of life.

We can’t wait to see what MMX discovers.

Bottom line: The MMX mission launches October 19 to explore Mars’ two moons. It will land on Phobos, collect a sample and bring it back to Earth in 2031.

Via JAXA

Via ESA

The post The MMX mission launches to Mars’ moons on Monday first appeared on EarthSky.

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Inferior conjunction — Venus! October 23-24, 2026

Venus in inferior conjunction

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Be sure to view this one larger! It’s a beautiful closeup of a colorful sundog, or parhelion, with a thin crescent Venus in its midst. See Venus? It’s in the blue patch in the upper left. EarthSky friend Paolo Palma caught it from Rome, Italy, last week. What a feat, Paolo! Thank you. He wrote: “The image captures one of those rare moments when the planet of love, peeking out from behind the white, wind-swept clouds, appears alongside tufts of cirrus clouds fleetingly colored by atmospheric refraction.” Venus has been in our evening sky. But it’s now just a week away from becoming a morning planet.

Venus travels one step inward from Earth in orbit around the sun. Its orbit is smaller than Earth’s. It has less distance to cover. And it moves faster in orbit (about 35 km/s or 78,300 mph in contrast to about 30 km/s or 67,000 mph for Earth). So – because Earth travels fast, too – Venus manages to gain a lap on us, going between us and the sun, about every 19.5 months. And, at such times, earthly astronomers say Venus is in inferior conjunction with the sun. Venus reaches inferior conjunction in 2026 at 4 UTC on Saturday, October 24, 2026. That’s 11 p.m. on October 23 CDT.

Will you see Venus on the day of inferior conjunction? It’s not likely, unless you’re an extremely careful and experienced telescopic and/or photographic observer. After all, on the day of inferior conjunction, Venus will be crossing the sky – as a slender crescent – with the sun during the day. And sometimes it’s closer to the sun than others. Please do not attempt to observe Venus near the sun unless you’re an experienced sun observer.

Venus moves to the morning sky

So, in a casual way, we say Venus goes between us and the sun on October 24, 2026. But it doesn’t go directly between. If it did, there’d be a transit of Venus. Venus – our closest planetary neighbor and the brightest planet in our sky – passes between the Earth and the sun about every 19 months (1.6 years). So inferior conjunction for Venus happens that often.

But transits of Venus are rare. And they happen in pairs. The last transits of Venus were on June 8, 2004 … and June 5-6, 2012. The previous pair of transits were in December 1874 and December 1882. The next transits of Venus will take place on December 10-11, 2117, and December 8, 2125.

The phases of Venus – and its locations at inferior conjunction and superior conjunction – as viewed from Earth. Adapted from an image by NASA/ Chmee2/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The 2026 inferior conjunction of Venus

In 2026 – moving through the constellation Virgo the Maiden – Venus will pass south of the sun in our sky at the moment of inferior conjunction, at a distance of 6.6 degrees.

At the moment of inferior conjunction, Venus will officially shift from the evening to the morning sky for all observers on Earth.

View larger. | As seen from the north side of the solar system, Venus (and all the planets) travel counterclockwise around the sun. Inferior conjunction – when Venus sweeps between the sun and Earth – happened last on March 23, 2025. It happens in 2026 on October 24 (UTC). And it happens next on June 2, 2028 (UTC). Illustration by EarthSky.

When will you next see Venus?

So, when you can expect to see Venus come back to the morning sky? Around mid-month in November, look east about 20-30 minutes before sunrise. Since Venus is the brightest planet, you’ll be able to spot it low in the east, near the sunrise point, not long before the sun comes up. Venus will surprise you with its brightness so low in the sky! It’ll quickly become a bright morning “star” in November. In fact, by the middle of November, Venus will be heading for another greatest brilliancy around November 29.

Cycles of Venus

The 1.6-year period – after which the position of Venus relative to the sun repeats, as seen from Earth – is called its synodic period.

Notice that five synodic periods of Venus add up to eight years (just 2 1/2 days short). And so we have a cycle: inferior conjunctions of Venus that are eight years apart happen at the same time of year, in the same part of the sky, with Venus at a similar angular distance from the sun, that is, the same apparent distance from the sun on the sky’s dome. Over time, this 2 1/2-day variance will accumulate, so that the conjunctions “jump” into the previous month.

So inferior conjunctions of Venus strongly resemble each other on an 8-year cycle.

In early March 2025, Venus was going, going … almost gone between us and the sun. Astronomers call this an inferior conjunction of Venus. And Aurelian Neacsu of Romania captured this image on March 4, 2025, of Venus through a telescope. Its lighted face was turned mostly away from us in this photo, and Venus – the brightest planet seen from Earth – appeared as a waning crescent. It got thinner and thinner each day as it raced toward inferior conjunction. View at EarthSky Community Photos. Thank you, Aurelian!

June transits of Venus

The June 3, 2020, passage of Venus nearly between us and the sun was quite dramatic. Venus appeared in our sky within “touching distance” of our star. Venus missed the solar disk in 2020 by only a quarter of a degree.

So, in 2020, Venus fell short of transiting, or crossing, the solar disk as it had done eight years earlier, on June 5, 2012 (and also eight years before that, on June 8, 2004).

With the conjunctions of 2004 and 2012 resulting in transits, and the one in 2020 resulting in a near-miss, one could correctly conclude that the angular distance from the sun during these (currently) June series of inferior conjunctions is slowly but steadily increasing. And so they are. The June-May inferior conjunctions of Venus will not result in any more transits for many centuries.

Angular distances from Venus to the ecliptic (sun’s path in our sky) during June-May series of inferior conjunctions of Venus between years 1996 and 2132. The distances are shown in degrees. Bars with a “T” mark the transits of Venus in 2004 and 2012. You can see that, in the June-May series, the angular distance between Venus and the sun is increasing. Hence there will be no Venus transits to expect in June or May for centuries to come. Image via Milan B.

January transits of Venus

The last inferior conjunction on January 8-9, 2022, did not carry the drama of its predecessor in June 2020.

During the previous January inferior conjunction on January 10, 2014, Venus was around 1/3 of a degree farther from the sun than it was at the January 8-9, 2022, event. The next January conjunction, in 2030, will fall even closer than 2022, at just 4.5 degrees. So one might assume that this January series is slowly inching (in astronomical terms) towards the sun.

And that would be a correct assumption. Venus is currently getting closer and closer to the sun on the sky’s dome at the January inferior conjunctions.

What’s more, as the conjunction of 2022 fell on the 8th day of January, the 2 1/2 day shift will cause this January series to shift into December relatively soon, in 2045. From that moment, the now-December series will result in closer and closer approaches to the sun in the second half of the century and in the early 22nd century. The angular distance with the sun at the December inferior conjunction series will have decreased so much that it will bring us another pair of transits in years 2117 and 2125.

Some children alive today will likely live to see the Venus transits of the early 22nd century.

Angular distances from Venus to the ecliptic (sun’s path in our sky) during the January-December series of inferior conjunctions of Venus between years 1998 and 2133. The distances are shown in degrees. The bar marked “IC” indicates the last inferior conjunction on January 8-9, 2022. “T” bars mark upcoming transits of Venus in 2117 and 2125. Image via Milan B.

For experts, seeing Venus at inferior conjunction

Please do not attempt to observe Venus near the sun unless you’re an experienced sun observer.

Keen observers – depending on your location – might be able to see Venus through a telescope at – or near inferior conjunction – when it passes 6.6 degrees south of the sun on October 23-24, 2026. It’ll shine at -3.9 magnitude. And it’ll be a razor-thin crescent, only 61.12 arcseconds across.

To see a precise view from your location, try Stellarium Online.

One day before inferior conjunction – Venus in true color showing it has an atmosphere pic.twitter.com/RVmcFTQPoB

— Space Porn (@redditSpacePorn) January 9, 2022

Bottom line: Venus reaches inferior conjunction – passing between Earth and the sun – in 2026 at 4 UTC on October 24. Then Venus emerges in the morning sky.

The post Inferior conjunction — Venus! October 23-24, 2026 first appeared on EarthSky.

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Venus in inferior conjunction

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Be sure to view this one larger! It’s a beautiful closeup of a colorful sundog, or parhelion, with a thin crescent Venus in its midst. See Venus? It’s in the blue patch in the upper left. EarthSky friend Paolo Palma caught it from Rome, Italy, last week. What a feat, Paolo! Thank you. He wrote: “The image captures one of those rare moments when the planet of love, peeking out from behind the white, wind-swept clouds, appears alongside tufts of cirrus clouds fleetingly colored by atmospheric refraction.” Venus has been in our evening sky. But it’s now just a week away from becoming a morning planet.

Venus travels one step inward from Earth in orbit around the sun. Its orbit is smaller than Earth’s. It has less distance to cover. And it moves faster in orbit (about 35 km/s or 78,300 mph in contrast to about 30 km/s or 67,000 mph for Earth). So – because Earth travels fast, too – Venus manages to gain a lap on us, going between us and the sun, about every 19.5 months. And, at such times, earthly astronomers say Venus is in inferior conjunction with the sun. Venus reaches inferior conjunction in 2026 at 4 UTC on Saturday, October 24, 2026. That’s 11 p.m. on October 23 CDT.

Will you see Venus on the day of inferior conjunction? It’s not likely, unless you’re an extremely careful and experienced telescopic and/or photographic observer. After all, on the day of inferior conjunction, Venus will be crossing the sky – as a slender crescent – with the sun during the day. And sometimes it’s closer to the sun than others. Please do not attempt to observe Venus near the sun unless you’re an experienced sun observer.

Venus moves to the morning sky

So, in a casual way, we say Venus goes between us and the sun on October 24, 2026. But it doesn’t go directly between. If it did, there’d be a transit of Venus. Venus – our closest planetary neighbor and the brightest planet in our sky – passes between the Earth and the sun about every 19 months (1.6 years). So inferior conjunction for Venus happens that often.

But transits of Venus are rare. And they happen in pairs. The last transits of Venus were on June 8, 2004 … and June 5-6, 2012. The previous pair of transits were in December 1874 and December 1882. The next transits of Venus will take place on December 10-11, 2117, and December 8, 2125.

The phases of Venus – and its locations at inferior conjunction and superior conjunction – as viewed from Earth. Adapted from an image by NASA/ Chmee2/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The 2026 inferior conjunction of Venus

In 2026 – moving through the constellation Virgo the Maiden – Venus will pass south of the sun in our sky at the moment of inferior conjunction, at a distance of 6.6 degrees.

At the moment of inferior conjunction, Venus will officially shift from the evening to the morning sky for all observers on Earth.

View larger. | As seen from the north side of the solar system, Venus (and all the planets) travel counterclockwise around the sun. Inferior conjunction – when Venus sweeps between the sun and Earth – happened last on March 23, 2025. It happens in 2026 on October 24 (UTC). And it happens next on June 2, 2028 (UTC). Illustration by EarthSky.

When will you next see Venus?

So, when you can expect to see Venus come back to the morning sky? Around mid-month in November, look east about 20-30 minutes before sunrise. Since Venus is the brightest planet, you’ll be able to spot it low in the east, near the sunrise point, not long before the sun comes up. Venus will surprise you with its brightness so low in the sky! It’ll quickly become a bright morning “star” in November. In fact, by the middle of November, Venus will be heading for another greatest brilliancy around November 29.

Cycles of Venus

The 1.6-year period – after which the position of Venus relative to the sun repeats, as seen from Earth – is called its synodic period.

Notice that five synodic periods of Venus add up to eight years (just 2 1/2 days short). And so we have a cycle: inferior conjunctions of Venus that are eight years apart happen at the same time of year, in the same part of the sky, with Venus at a similar angular distance from the sun, that is, the same apparent distance from the sun on the sky’s dome. Over time, this 2 1/2-day variance will accumulate, so that the conjunctions “jump” into the previous month.

So inferior conjunctions of Venus strongly resemble each other on an 8-year cycle.

In early March 2025, Venus was going, going … almost gone between us and the sun. Astronomers call this an inferior conjunction of Venus. And Aurelian Neacsu of Romania captured this image on March 4, 2025, of Venus through a telescope. Its lighted face was turned mostly away from us in this photo, and Venus – the brightest planet seen from Earth – appeared as a waning crescent. It got thinner and thinner each day as it raced toward inferior conjunction. View at EarthSky Community Photos. Thank you, Aurelian!

June transits of Venus

The June 3, 2020, passage of Venus nearly between us and the sun was quite dramatic. Venus appeared in our sky within “touching distance” of our star. Venus missed the solar disk in 2020 by only a quarter of a degree.

So, in 2020, Venus fell short of transiting, or crossing, the solar disk as it had done eight years earlier, on June 5, 2012 (and also eight years before that, on June 8, 2004).

With the conjunctions of 2004 and 2012 resulting in transits, and the one in 2020 resulting in a near-miss, one could correctly conclude that the angular distance from the sun during these (currently) June series of inferior conjunctions is slowly but steadily increasing. And so they are. The June-May inferior conjunctions of Venus will not result in any more transits for many centuries.

Angular distances from Venus to the ecliptic (sun’s path in our sky) during June-May series of inferior conjunctions of Venus between years 1996 and 2132. The distances are shown in degrees. Bars with a “T” mark the transits of Venus in 2004 and 2012. You can see that, in the June-May series, the angular distance between Venus and the sun is increasing. Hence there will be no Venus transits to expect in June or May for centuries to come. Image via Milan B.

January transits of Venus

The last inferior conjunction on January 8-9, 2022, did not carry the drama of its predecessor in June 2020.

During the previous January inferior conjunction on January 10, 2014, Venus was around 1/3 of a degree farther from the sun than it was at the January 8-9, 2022, event. The next January conjunction, in 2030, will fall even closer than 2022, at just 4.5 degrees. So one might assume that this January series is slowly inching (in astronomical terms) towards the sun.

And that would be a correct assumption. Venus is currently getting closer and closer to the sun on the sky’s dome at the January inferior conjunctions.

What’s more, as the conjunction of 2022 fell on the 8th day of January, the 2 1/2 day shift will cause this January series to shift into December relatively soon, in 2045. From that moment, the now-December series will result in closer and closer approaches to the sun in the second half of the century and in the early 22nd century. The angular distance with the sun at the December inferior conjunction series will have decreased so much that it will bring us another pair of transits in years 2117 and 2125.

Some children alive today will likely live to see the Venus transits of the early 22nd century.

Angular distances from Venus to the ecliptic (sun’s path in our sky) during the January-December series of inferior conjunctions of Venus between years 1998 and 2133. The distances are shown in degrees. The bar marked “IC” indicates the last inferior conjunction on January 8-9, 2022. “T” bars mark upcoming transits of Venus in 2117 and 2125. Image via Milan B.

For experts, seeing Venus at inferior conjunction

Please do not attempt to observe Venus near the sun unless you’re an experienced sun observer.

Keen observers – depending on your location – might be able to see Venus through a telescope at – or near inferior conjunction – when it passes 6.6 degrees south of the sun on October 23-24, 2026. It’ll shine at -3.9 magnitude. And it’ll be a razor-thin crescent, only 61.12 arcseconds across.

To see a precise view from your location, try Stellarium Online.

One day before inferior conjunction – Venus in true color showing it has an atmosphere pic.twitter.com/RVmcFTQPoB

— Space Porn (@redditSpacePorn) January 9, 2022

Bottom line: Venus reaches inferior conjunction – passing between Earth and the sun – in 2026 at 4 UTC on October 24. Then Venus emerges in the morning sky.

The post Inferior conjunction — Venus! October 23-24, 2026 first appeared on EarthSky.

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Space is getting crowded. Here’s the latest satellite report

Earth orbit is getting more crowded, and the consequences could be serious. The European Space Agency’s 2026 Space Environment Report warns that debris collisions could trigger a runaway chain reaction, making some orbital regions unsafe or unusable. Space hazards expert Jonathan McDowell joins EarthSky to explain what the report reveals, how dangerous conditions in space have become, and what we can do about it. Watch in the player above.

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

Space is getting crowded. Let’s look at the numbers

In September 2026, ESA’s Space Debris Office published its annual Space Environment Report. And, as you might suspect, the news is that space — in particular low Earth orbit — is getting more crowded. Here’s a look at the basic numbers as of October 2026 from OrbitalRadar.com:

• 31,000+ total tracked objects in low Earth orbit
• 18,600+ payloads in orbit, working and nonworking
• 15,800+ of those are working satellites
• 10,000+ of the working satellites are Starlink

And, according to ESA, the only place those numbers are going to go is up. ESA, which based its report on data through 2025, outlined some of the biggest concerns:

• The number and scale of commercial satellite constellations continue to increase each year.  
• Not enough satellites leave heavily congested orbits at the end of their lives, creating a growing collision risk. The expected number of objects and collisions in low-Earth orbit are skyrocketing in a runaway effect. (Read more: The Kessler syndrome) 
• More than three intact satellites or rocket bodies are reentering every day. Plus, 10 new payloads are launched daily. (Read more: 1 to 2 Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth each day)
• In 2026, ESA added an on-ground casualty risk of reentries. While the risk is still very low, the chance is still increasing every year due to increased traffic.  

Let’s visualize the numbers

Here are some graphics from ESA to help us visualize the numbers of satellites in orbit and being added to orbit.

This graph from ESA shows how in the last 5 years the number of satellites launched into low Earth orbit has skyrocketed. Image via ESA.

According to ESA, the overall number of objects in low Earth orbit is rapidly increasing. That includes working payloads along with nonworking satellites and debris from collisions. Image via ESA.

The pluses and minuses of reentry

Because there are now so many satellites in low Earth orbit, it’s important that they get removed from orbit when they’ve reached the end of their lives. And one of the positive findings of ESA’s 2026 report was that there are more controlled reentries now. That means companies and governments are conducting planned end-of-life disposal of their satellites.

But reentries have drawbacks. As they burn up in our atmosphere, they deposit heavy metals. There are many issues this deposit could lead to, include damaging the ozone layer, affecting the climate and altering the atmosphere’s natural chemistry.

And then, of course, there’s the new metric ESA introduced this year: the risk of casualties on the ground. While you are still much more likely to be injured or killed in a car or on a staircase, the risk of harm from satellite reentry has naturally gone up as the number of reentering satellites goes up. More controlled reentries would help to mitigate this risk.

What goes up must come down … eventually. This ESA graph shows how the number of reentering satellites has sharply increased in the last few years. Image via ESA.

While the risk of death or injury from a reentering satellite or rocket body that lifted the satellite into orbit is still extremely low, the numbers are rising nonetheless. Image via ESA.

Space is getting crowded: What are the real risks?

The biggest immediate concern, as we send more and more satellites into low Earth orbit, is that the rising population seems unstoppable. That is, until collisions cascade into more collisions and make the environment unusable.

This idea that satellites will collide and create debris that produces more collisions until we have a runaway cascading effect is called the Kessler syndrome.

As recently as October 5, 2026, LeoLabs detected a satellite breakup in a crowded low-Earth environment. LeoLabs spotted multiple objects near the inactive Meteor 2-7 satellite after it passed over a radar station in Western Australia. Followup observations from other radars confirmed that a debris-generating event occurred. The company called it a:

… worrying trend for space safety and security.

But ESA — along with other space organizations — is working on ways to reduce the risk. This will involve cleaning up orbits and working toward a zero debris solution.

Bottom line: ESA has put out an annual report documenting the state of low Earth orbit. The number of satellites in orbit is skyrocketing, along with the chance for collisions and on-ground casualties.

Via ESA

The post Space is getting crowded. Here’s the latest satellite report first appeared on EarthSky.

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Earth orbit is getting more crowded, and the consequences could be serious. The European Space Agency’s 2026 Space Environment Report warns that debris collisions could trigger a runaway chain reaction, making some orbital regions unsafe or unusable. Space hazards expert Jonathan McDowell joins EarthSky to explain what the report reveals, how dangerous conditions in space have become, and what we can do about it. Watch in the player above.

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

Space is getting crowded. Let’s look at the numbers

In September 2026, ESA’s Space Debris Office published its annual Space Environment Report. And, as you might suspect, the news is that space — in particular low Earth orbit — is getting more crowded. Here’s a look at the basic numbers as of October 2026 from OrbitalRadar.com:

• 31,000+ total tracked objects in low Earth orbit
• 18,600+ payloads in orbit, working and nonworking
• 15,800+ of those are working satellites
• 10,000+ of the working satellites are Starlink

And, according to ESA, the only place those numbers are going to go is up. ESA, which based its report on data through 2025, outlined some of the biggest concerns:

• The number and scale of commercial satellite constellations continue to increase each year.  
• Not enough satellites leave heavily congested orbits at the end of their lives, creating a growing collision risk. The expected number of objects and collisions in low-Earth orbit are skyrocketing in a runaway effect. (Read more: The Kessler syndrome) 
• More than three intact satellites or rocket bodies are reentering every day. Plus, 10 new payloads are launched daily. (Read more: 1 to 2 Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth each day)
• In 2026, ESA added an on-ground casualty risk of reentries. While the risk is still very low, the chance is still increasing every year due to increased traffic.  

Let’s visualize the numbers

Here are some graphics from ESA to help us visualize the numbers of satellites in orbit and being added to orbit.

This graph from ESA shows how in the last 5 years the number of satellites launched into low Earth orbit has skyrocketed. Image via ESA.

According to ESA, the overall number of objects in low Earth orbit is rapidly increasing. That includes working payloads along with nonworking satellites and debris from collisions. Image via ESA.

The pluses and minuses of reentry

Because there are now so many satellites in low Earth orbit, it’s important that they get removed from orbit when they’ve reached the end of their lives. And one of the positive findings of ESA’s 2026 report was that there are more controlled reentries now. That means companies and governments are conducting planned end-of-life disposal of their satellites.

But reentries have drawbacks. As they burn up in our atmosphere, they deposit heavy metals. There are many issues this deposit could lead to, include damaging the ozone layer, affecting the climate and altering the atmosphere’s natural chemistry.

And then, of course, there’s the new metric ESA introduced this year: the risk of casualties on the ground. While you are still much more likely to be injured or killed in a car or on a staircase, the risk of harm from satellite reentry has naturally gone up as the number of reentering satellites goes up. More controlled reentries would help to mitigate this risk.

What goes up must come down … eventually. This ESA graph shows how the number of reentering satellites has sharply increased in the last few years. Image via ESA.

While the risk of death or injury from a reentering satellite or rocket body that lifted the satellite into orbit is still extremely low, the numbers are rising nonetheless. Image via ESA.

Space is getting crowded: What are the real risks?

The biggest immediate concern, as we send more and more satellites into low Earth orbit, is that the rising population seems unstoppable. That is, until collisions cascade into more collisions and make the environment unusable.

This idea that satellites will collide and create debris that produces more collisions until we have a runaway cascading effect is called the Kessler syndrome.

As recently as October 5, 2026, LeoLabs detected a satellite breakup in a crowded low-Earth environment. LeoLabs spotted multiple objects near the inactive Meteor 2-7 satellite after it passed over a radar station in Western Australia. Followup observations from other radars confirmed that a debris-generating event occurred. The company called it a:

… worrying trend for space safety and security.

But ESA — along with other space organizations — is working on ways to reduce the risk. This will involve cleaning up orbits and working toward a zero debris solution.

Bottom line: ESA has put out an annual report documenting the state of low Earth orbit. The number of satellites in orbit is skyrocketing, along with the chance for collisions and on-ground casualties.

Via ESA

The post Space is getting crowded. Here’s the latest satellite report first appeared on EarthSky.

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