Meet Omega Centauri, a giant globular star cluster

The globular cluster Omega Centauri – with as many as 10 million stars – shows all its splendor in this image captured with ESO’s La Silla Observatory. Image via ESO/ Wikimedia Commons.

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Omega Centauri is a monster globular star cluster

Omega Centauri is the largest known globular star cluster of the Milky Way. This behemoth, also known as NGC 5139, contains about 10 million stars, and has a diameter of about 150 light-years. That makes it 10 times more massive than a typical globular cluster.

It’s not only Omega Centauri’s great size that sets it apart from other globular star clusters. While most globular clusters are made of stars of a similar age and composition, Omega Centauri is different. It holds stellar populations that formed at various periods of time. It may be that Omega Centauri is something other than a globular cluster. Instead, it might be a remnant of a small galaxy absorbed by our Milky Way galaxy in the distant past!

Despite all its stars, scientists have said Omega Centauri is probably not home to life. Why? Stars are packed so tightly inside Omega Centauri that the average distance between stars in the cluster’s core is 0.1 light-years. That’s much closer than the sun’s nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, at 4.25 light-years. So scientists suspect that stars in Omega Centauri would gravitationally interact with each other too frequently to harbor stable habitable planets.

What’s a globular star cluster?

The symmetrical, round appearance of Omega Centauri distinguishes it from star clusters such as the Pleiades and Hyades. These are examples of what astronomers call open star clusters.

An open star cluster is a loose gathering of dozens to hundreds of young stars that formed together within the disk of the Milky Way galaxy. Open clusters are weakly held together by gravity, and tend to disperse after several hundreds of millions of years.

Globular clusters, on the other hand, orbit the Milky Way outside the galactic disk. They harbor tens of thousands to millions of stars. Tightly bound by gravity, globular clusters remain intact for billions of years.

Omega Centauri in infrared light captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Image via NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.

How to see Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri is the most luminous of all globular star clusters, making it a great object for stargazers. It sits far to the south on the sky’s dome. It’s visible from the southern half of the United States, or south of 40 degrees north latitude (the latitude of Denver, Colorado and Beijing, China).

However, it’s been said that Canadians can spot Omega Centauri from as far north as Point Pelee (42 degrees north latitude). When seeing conditions are just right, they say they can catch Omega Centauri skimming along the surface of Lake Erie.

On the other hand, from the Southern Hemisphere, Omega Centauri appears much higher in the sky and is a glorious sight.

From the Southern Hemisphere, use the bright constellation Crux as a guide to find Centaurus and Omega Centauri.

It’s visible to the unaided eye

At about 16,000 light-years away, Omega Centauri is one of the few of our galaxy’s 150 or so globular clusters that is visible to the unaided eye.

It shines at +3.9 magnitude. It looks like a faint, fuzzy star. Like any globular cluster, Omega Centauri is best viewed with a telescope. Even a small scope will reveal a delicate, glittering ball of stars that becomes almost impossibly dense toward the center.

Finding Omega Centauri from the Northern Hemisphere

From some northerly latitudes, Omega Centauri is never visible. But it can be seen in more southerly parts of the Nothern Hemisphere. To see if it’s visible where you are, try inputting your location in Stellarium.

If you’re in part of the Northern Hemisphere that can see this cluster, know that it can only be seen at certain times of the year. It’s best seen in the evening sky from the Northern Hemisphere late on April, May and June evenings.

So around mid-May, this wondrous star cluster is highest up and due south around 11 p.m. your local daylight-saving time.

Then, by mid-June, Omega Centauri is highest up and due south around 10 p.m. your local daylight-saving time.

Some Northern Hemisphere residents can see Omega Centauri from January through April as well, but they must be willing to stay up past midnight or get up before dawn.

Use the bright blue-white star Spica to locate the large Omega Centauri star cluster on Northern Hemisphere spring evenings. This chart shows the view from 35 degrees north latitude. Image via Stellarium.

Use the Big Dipper to find Spica

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden, serves as your guide star to Omega Centauri.

When Spica and Omega Centauri transit – appear due south and reach the highest point in the sky – they do so in unison. However, Omega Centauri transits about 35 degrees south of (or below) sparkling blue-white Spica. For reference, your fist at arm’s length is roughly 10 degrees on the sky. Find Spica by following the arc in the handle of the Big Dipper.

Use the Big Dipper to locate the stars Arcturus and Spica.

Photos from our EarthSky community

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Giuseppe Pappa from Sicily, Italy, used a remote telescope in Namibia to capture this view of globular cluster Omega Centauri on May 22, 2025. Giuseppe wrote: “Omega Centauri taken remotely from Namibia. For me it is one of the most beautiful and exotic objects in the sky. Where I live in Sicily, in this period, is visible very low above the horizon. This time I photographed it from Namibia with a remotely-controlled telescope.” Thank you, Giuseppe!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Scott Smith of Palmetto, Florida, captured this image on March 3 2025. Scott wrote: “Omega Centauri (NGC 5139 or Caldwell 80) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus. Located at a distance of 17,090 light-years, it is the largest known globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years. It is estimated to contain approximately 10 million stars, making it the most massive known globular cluster in the Milky Way.” Thank you, Scott!

Bottom line: The Milky Way’s largest globular star cluster, Omega Centauri, contains about 10 million stars. It’s visible from the Southern Hemisphere as well as parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

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The globular cluster Omega Centauri – with as many as 10 million stars – shows all its splendor in this image captured with ESO’s La Silla Observatory. Image via ESO/ Wikimedia Commons.

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

Omega Centauri is a monster globular star cluster

Omega Centauri is the largest known globular star cluster of the Milky Way. This behemoth, also known as NGC 5139, contains about 10 million stars, and has a diameter of about 150 light-years. That makes it 10 times more massive than a typical globular cluster.

It’s not only Omega Centauri’s great size that sets it apart from other globular star clusters. While most globular clusters are made of stars of a similar age and composition, Omega Centauri is different. It holds stellar populations that formed at various periods of time. It may be that Omega Centauri is something other than a globular cluster. Instead, it might be a remnant of a small galaxy absorbed by our Milky Way galaxy in the distant past!

Despite all its stars, scientists have said Omega Centauri is probably not home to life. Why? Stars are packed so tightly inside Omega Centauri that the average distance between stars in the cluster’s core is 0.1 light-years. That’s much closer than the sun’s nearest neighbor, Proxima Centauri, at 4.25 light-years. So scientists suspect that stars in Omega Centauri would gravitationally interact with each other too frequently to harbor stable habitable planets.

What’s a globular star cluster?

The symmetrical, round appearance of Omega Centauri distinguishes it from star clusters such as the Pleiades and Hyades. These are examples of what astronomers call open star clusters.

An open star cluster is a loose gathering of dozens to hundreds of young stars that formed together within the disk of the Milky Way galaxy. Open clusters are weakly held together by gravity, and tend to disperse after several hundreds of millions of years.

Globular clusters, on the other hand, orbit the Milky Way outside the galactic disk. They harbor tens of thousands to millions of stars. Tightly bound by gravity, globular clusters remain intact for billions of years.

Omega Centauri in infrared light captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Image via NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.

How to see Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri is the most luminous of all globular star clusters, making it a great object for stargazers. It sits far to the south on the sky’s dome. It’s visible from the southern half of the United States, or south of 40 degrees north latitude (the latitude of Denver, Colorado and Beijing, China).

However, it’s been said that Canadians can spot Omega Centauri from as far north as Point Pelee (42 degrees north latitude). When seeing conditions are just right, they say they can catch Omega Centauri skimming along the surface of Lake Erie.

On the other hand, from the Southern Hemisphere, Omega Centauri appears much higher in the sky and is a glorious sight.

From the Southern Hemisphere, use the bright constellation Crux as a guide to find Centaurus and Omega Centauri.

It’s visible to the unaided eye

At about 16,000 light-years away, Omega Centauri is one of the few of our galaxy’s 150 or so globular clusters that is visible to the unaided eye.

It shines at +3.9 magnitude. It looks like a faint, fuzzy star. Like any globular cluster, Omega Centauri is best viewed with a telescope. Even a small scope will reveal a delicate, glittering ball of stars that becomes almost impossibly dense toward the center.

Finding Omega Centauri from the Northern Hemisphere

From some northerly latitudes, Omega Centauri is never visible. But it can be seen in more southerly parts of the Nothern Hemisphere. To see if it’s visible where you are, try inputting your location in Stellarium.

If you’re in part of the Northern Hemisphere that can see this cluster, know that it can only be seen at certain times of the year. It’s best seen in the evening sky from the Northern Hemisphere late on April, May and June evenings.

So around mid-May, this wondrous star cluster is highest up and due south around 11 p.m. your local daylight-saving time.

Then, by mid-June, Omega Centauri is highest up and due south around 10 p.m. your local daylight-saving time.

Some Northern Hemisphere residents can see Omega Centauri from January through April as well, but they must be willing to stay up past midnight or get up before dawn.

Use the bright blue-white star Spica to locate the large Omega Centauri star cluster on Northern Hemisphere spring evenings. This chart shows the view from 35 degrees north latitude. Image via Stellarium.

Use the Big Dipper to find Spica

For those in the Northern Hemisphere, Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden, serves as your guide star to Omega Centauri.

When Spica and Omega Centauri transit – appear due south and reach the highest point in the sky – they do so in unison. However, Omega Centauri transits about 35 degrees south of (or below) sparkling blue-white Spica. For reference, your fist at arm’s length is roughly 10 degrees on the sky. Find Spica by following the arc in the handle of the Big Dipper.

Use the Big Dipper to locate the stars Arcturus and Spica.

Photos from our EarthSky community

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Giuseppe Pappa from Sicily, Italy, used a remote telescope in Namibia to capture this view of globular cluster Omega Centauri on May 22, 2025. Giuseppe wrote: “Omega Centauri taken remotely from Namibia. For me it is one of the most beautiful and exotic objects in the sky. Where I live in Sicily, in this period, is visible very low above the horizon. This time I photographed it from Namibia with a remotely-controlled telescope.” Thank you, Giuseppe!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Scott Smith of Palmetto, Florida, captured this image on March 3 2025. Scott wrote: “Omega Centauri (NGC 5139 or Caldwell 80) is a globular cluster in the constellation of Centaurus. Located at a distance of 17,090 light-years, it is the largest known globular cluster in the Milky Way at a diameter of roughly 150 light-years. It is estimated to contain approximately 10 million stars, making it the most massive known globular cluster in the Milky Way.” Thank you, Scott!

Bottom line: The Milky Way’s largest globular star cluster, Omega Centauri, contains about 10 million stars. It’s visible from the Southern Hemisphere as well as parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

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1st American in space, 65 years ago today

Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. was the 1st American in space. Here he is in his silver pressure suit with the helmet visor closed, preparing for his historic flight into space. Date of photo: April 20, 1961. Image via NASA.

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Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space

May 5, 1961. Just 23 days after Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the first person in space, NASA launched astronaut Alan Shepard aboard the Freedom 7 capsule powered by a Redstone booster to become the first American in space. His historic flight began from Cape Canaveral in Florida and, notably, lasted 15 minutes and 28 seconds before a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

During the rocket’s acceleration, Shepard experienced 6.3 g (g-forces), or 6.3 times his normal weight, just before shutdown of the Redstone engine two minutes and 22 seconds after liftoff. Soon after, America’s first space traveler got sight of the Earth from above and became the first astronaut to say:

What a beautiful view.

Splashdown: Mission success!

His spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, 302 miles (486 kilometers) from Cape Canaveral. Subsequently, a helicopter recovered him and Freedom 7 and transported them to the waiting aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain. After his flight, the astronaut joked:

It’s a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one’s safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract.

A serviceman hoists Alan Shepard out of the ocean and onto an awaiting helicopter in 1961. Image via NASA.

Project Mercury put the 1st American in space

Alan Shepard was one of 110 test flight pilots who volunteered for NASA’s manned space flight program – Project Mercury – in 1959. Later, NASA selected him and six other pilots to be part of the project. All of the pilots went through a rigorous training regimen before NASA made a final selection. Of these magnificent seven, America’s first astronauts, NASA chose Shepard to become the first American to travel into space.

Meanwhile, the first American to orbit Earth was John Glenn, aboard Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962.

Click here for an early NASA film showing the type of training undergone by the first astronauts

Trajectory of Alan Shepard’s flight aboard Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961. Image via NASA.

Competing against the Soviet Union during the Cold War

NASA launched Alan Shepard into space against a backdrop of the Cold War. The Soviet Union had launched Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, aboard a spacecraft named Vostok (Russian for East). Gagarin completed a single orbit of the Earth, landing after a flight of one hour and 29 minutes. Consequently, he became a hero in the Soviet Union and around the world.

Then three weeks later, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard flew aboard a Mercury spacecraft, which he had named Freedom 7. Kurt Debus, who was NASA’s Launch Operations director at the time and who would go on to serve as the first director of the Kennedy Space Center, said years later:

We knew we were in a competitive situation. But, we never permitted the pressure to make us take risks that might endanger Shepard’s life or the success of the mission.

The Space Race heats up

Just weeks after Shepard’s flight, the Space Race began to heat up. Significantly, on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave a stirring speech before a joint session of Congress, in which he declared his intention to focus U.S. efforts on landing humans on the moon within a decade. Among other things, he said:

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

In due time, the first human footsteps on the moon took place on July 20, 1969. On that date, Apollo 11’s lunar module – named the Eagle – successfully landed on the moon.

Read more: Return to the moon: Artemis 2

The New Shepard crew capsule – named for Alan Shepard – separates from its propulsion module during an October 5, 2016, in-flight test. New Shepard is a reusable launch system – a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing suborbital manned rocket – being developed by Blue Origin as a commercial system for suborbital space tourism. Image via Blue Origin/ SpaceNews.com.

Bottom line: Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961. His suborbital flight took place just three weeks after the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth.

Read more: 7 weird things space does to the human body

The post 1st American in space, 65 years ago today first appeared on EarthSky.

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Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. was the 1st American in space. Here he is in his silver pressure suit with the helmet visor closed, preparing for his historic flight into space. Date of photo: April 20, 1961. Image via NASA.

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

Alan Shepard becomes 1st American in space

May 5, 1961. Just 23 days after Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the first person in space, NASA launched astronaut Alan Shepard aboard the Freedom 7 capsule powered by a Redstone booster to become the first American in space. His historic flight began from Cape Canaveral in Florida and, notably, lasted 15 minutes and 28 seconds before a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

During the rocket’s acceleration, Shepard experienced 6.3 g (g-forces), or 6.3 times his normal weight, just before shutdown of the Redstone engine two minutes and 22 seconds after liftoff. Soon after, America’s first space traveler got sight of the Earth from above and became the first astronaut to say:

What a beautiful view.

Splashdown: Mission success!

His spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, 302 miles (486 kilometers) from Cape Canaveral. Subsequently, a helicopter recovered him and Freedom 7 and transported them to the waiting aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain. After his flight, the astronaut joked:

It’s a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one’s safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract.

A serviceman hoists Alan Shepard out of the ocean and onto an awaiting helicopter in 1961. Image via NASA.

Project Mercury put the 1st American in space

Alan Shepard was one of 110 test flight pilots who volunteered for NASA’s manned space flight program – Project Mercury – in 1959. Later, NASA selected him and six other pilots to be part of the project. All of the pilots went through a rigorous training regimen before NASA made a final selection. Of these magnificent seven, America’s first astronauts, NASA chose Shepard to become the first American to travel into space.

Meanwhile, the first American to orbit Earth was John Glenn, aboard Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962.

Click here for an early NASA film showing the type of training undergone by the first astronauts

Trajectory of Alan Shepard’s flight aboard Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961. Image via NASA.

Competing against the Soviet Union during the Cold War

NASA launched Alan Shepard into space against a backdrop of the Cold War. The Soviet Union had launched Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, aboard a spacecraft named Vostok (Russian for East). Gagarin completed a single orbit of the Earth, landing after a flight of one hour and 29 minutes. Consequently, he became a hero in the Soviet Union and around the world.

Then three weeks later, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard flew aboard a Mercury spacecraft, which he had named Freedom 7. Kurt Debus, who was NASA’s Launch Operations director at the time and who would go on to serve as the first director of the Kennedy Space Center, said years later:

We knew we were in a competitive situation. But, we never permitted the pressure to make us take risks that might endanger Shepard’s life or the success of the mission.

The Space Race heats up

Just weeks after Shepard’s flight, the Space Race began to heat up. Significantly, on May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave a stirring speech before a joint session of Congress, in which he declared his intention to focus U.S. efforts on landing humans on the moon within a decade. Among other things, he said:

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

In due time, the first human footsteps on the moon took place on July 20, 1969. On that date, Apollo 11’s lunar module – named the Eagle – successfully landed on the moon.

Read more: Return to the moon: Artemis 2

The New Shepard crew capsule – named for Alan Shepard – separates from its propulsion module during an October 5, 2016, in-flight test. New Shepard is a reusable launch system – a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing suborbital manned rocket – being developed by Blue Origin as a commercial system for suborbital space tourism. Image via Blue Origin/ SpaceNews.com.

Bottom line: Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961. His suborbital flight took place just three weeks after the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth.

Read more: 7 weird things space does to the human body

The post 1st American in space, 65 years ago today first appeared on EarthSky.

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Archaeologists recreate Pompeii victim using AI technology

Archaeologists used AI to create this image of a man fleeing in ancient Pompeii, which was destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. So the image is fake … but the man was real. His skeleton was found holding a bowl over his head as he fled. Image via Pompeii Archaeological Park/ University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory/ Ministry of Culture.

Archaeologists recreate Pompeii victim using AI technology

In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted above Pompeii, Italy, filling the air with flying rocks. A man ran through the streets of the Porta Stabia neighborhood, holding a terracotta bowl over his head for protection from the heavy shower of volcanic ash. But it wasn’t enough. He didn’t escape the devastation.

In 2024, archaeologists unearthed the skeleton of this man just outside one of Pompeii’s busiest gates. They found him curled up with the fractured terracotta bowl near his head. He also carried a ceramic lamp in an attempt to see through the ash-darkened streets. And he wore a small iron ring on his left little finger and carried 10 bronze coins.

On April 27, 2026, the Pompeii Archaeological Park in Italy said that, for the first time, it has reconstructed the moments just before the man’s ultimate fate, using AI digital technology.

Researchers used artificial intelligence software and photo editing techniques to create the image above. They wanted to present a scientifically sound image that was still accessible to the general public.

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

Archaeology and AI

The Pompeii Archaeological Park, in collaboration with the University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory and the Ministry of Culture, created the AI reconstruction based on the skeleton and nearby materials. Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli talked about the intersection of excavations and AI. Giuli said:

The investigations conducted with these excavations demonstrate that innovative methodologies, used rigorously, can offer us new historical perspectives.

Pompeii’s director Gabriel Zuchtriegel added:

The vastness of archaeological data at Pompeii and beyond is now such that only with the help of artificial intelligence will we be able to adequately protect and enhance it. If used well, AI can contribute to a renewal of classical studies, narrating the classical world in a more immersive way.

And Jacopo Bonetto of the University of Padua said:

The project opens a broader debate on the use of AI in archaeology: a technology that can contribute to the production of interpretative models and the improvement of communication tools, but which requires controlled and methodologically sound use, always in integration with the work of specialists.

Reconstructing the last moments

Luciano Floridi is the founding director of the Digital Ethics Center at Yale. Floridi said:

The man of Pompeii fled with a mortar on his head, a lamp in his hand, and ten coins: he carried whatever he thought was useful for orienting himself in the darkness. Two thousand years later, AI is helping us reconstruct his last moments.

AI does not replace the archaeologist. Under its control, it expands and deepens his potential and makes accessible to many what was previously accessible only to a few. Without AI, much of the heritage risks remaining unexplored for those who practice archaeology, and silent for those who love it …

AI produces hypotheses, not truths. Hypotheses must be reviewed, discussed, corrected, integrated, approved. Scientific responsibility cannot be delegated. But the risk is not that AI makes mistakes: it’s that we stop thinking by using it. The humanities teach us precisely this, to distinguish reconstruction from fantasy. Pompeii, once again, is the great laboratory that teaches us.

Pliny the Younger

The story of this man who ran for his life while trying to protect his head echoes the stories told by an eyewitness. Pliny the Younger wrote two accounts of the eruption at Pompeii. In them, he described people trying to protect their heads with objects, including tying pillows to their heads.

Photos from the excavation

The skeleton of the man was near a large terracotta bowl that had a fracture. Image via Pompeii Archaeological Park/ University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory/ Ministry of Culture.

Archaeologists also found a ceramic lamp near the skeleton of the man who was trying to protect his head. Image via Pompeii Archaeological Park/ University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory/ Ministry of Culture.

There was a second victim uncovered close to the man with the bowl protecting his head. This victim was a bit younger and likely died some hours after the first man. Archaeologists think he was overcome as he tried to run from the pyroclastic flow. A pyroclastic flow is fast-moving gas and ash that sweeps down from an eruption. These flows kill via incineration and asphyxiation. Image via Pompeii Archaeological Park/ University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory/ Ministry of Culture.

Bottom line: Archaeologists have used AI technology to recreate a Pompeii victim. The man fled the volcano while trying to protect his head with a terracotta bowl.

Via Pompeii Archaeological Park

The post Archaeologists recreate Pompeii victim using AI technology first appeared on EarthSky.

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Archaeologists used AI to create this image of a man fleeing in ancient Pompeii, which was destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. So the image is fake … but the man was real. His skeleton was found holding a bowl over his head as he fled. Image via Pompeii Archaeological Park/ University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory/ Ministry of Culture.

Archaeologists recreate Pompeii victim using AI technology

In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted above Pompeii, Italy, filling the air with flying rocks. A man ran through the streets of the Porta Stabia neighborhood, holding a terracotta bowl over his head for protection from the heavy shower of volcanic ash. But it wasn’t enough. He didn’t escape the devastation.

In 2024, archaeologists unearthed the skeleton of this man just outside one of Pompeii’s busiest gates. They found him curled up with the fractured terracotta bowl near his head. He also carried a ceramic lamp in an attempt to see through the ash-darkened streets. And he wore a small iron ring on his left little finger and carried 10 bronze coins.

On April 27, 2026, the Pompeii Archaeological Park in Italy said that, for the first time, it has reconstructed the moments just before the man’s ultimate fate, using AI digital technology.

Researchers used artificial intelligence software and photo editing techniques to create the image above. They wanted to present a scientifically sound image that was still accessible to the general public.

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

Archaeology and AI

The Pompeii Archaeological Park, in collaboration with the University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory and the Ministry of Culture, created the AI reconstruction based on the skeleton and nearby materials. Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli talked about the intersection of excavations and AI. Giuli said:

The investigations conducted with these excavations demonstrate that innovative methodologies, used rigorously, can offer us new historical perspectives.

Pompeii’s director Gabriel Zuchtriegel added:

The vastness of archaeological data at Pompeii and beyond is now such that only with the help of artificial intelligence will we be able to adequately protect and enhance it. If used well, AI can contribute to a renewal of classical studies, narrating the classical world in a more immersive way.

And Jacopo Bonetto of the University of Padua said:

The project opens a broader debate on the use of AI in archaeology: a technology that can contribute to the production of interpretative models and the improvement of communication tools, but which requires controlled and methodologically sound use, always in integration with the work of specialists.

Reconstructing the last moments

Luciano Floridi is the founding director of the Digital Ethics Center at Yale. Floridi said:

The man of Pompeii fled with a mortar on his head, a lamp in his hand, and ten coins: he carried whatever he thought was useful for orienting himself in the darkness. Two thousand years later, AI is helping us reconstruct his last moments.

AI does not replace the archaeologist. Under its control, it expands and deepens his potential and makes accessible to many what was previously accessible only to a few. Without AI, much of the heritage risks remaining unexplored for those who practice archaeology, and silent for those who love it …

AI produces hypotheses, not truths. Hypotheses must be reviewed, discussed, corrected, integrated, approved. Scientific responsibility cannot be delegated. But the risk is not that AI makes mistakes: it’s that we stop thinking by using it. The humanities teach us precisely this, to distinguish reconstruction from fantasy. Pompeii, once again, is the great laboratory that teaches us.

Pliny the Younger

The story of this man who ran for his life while trying to protect his head echoes the stories told by an eyewitness. Pliny the Younger wrote two accounts of the eruption at Pompeii. In them, he described people trying to protect their heads with objects, including tying pillows to their heads.

Photos from the excavation

The skeleton of the man was near a large terracotta bowl that had a fracture. Image via Pompeii Archaeological Park/ University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory/ Ministry of Culture.

Archaeologists also found a ceramic lamp near the skeleton of the man who was trying to protect his head. Image via Pompeii Archaeological Park/ University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory/ Ministry of Culture.

There was a second victim uncovered close to the man with the bowl protecting his head. This victim was a bit younger and likely died some hours after the first man. Archaeologists think he was overcome as he tried to run from the pyroclastic flow. A pyroclastic flow is fast-moving gas and ash that sweeps down from an eruption. These flows kill via incineration and asphyxiation. Image via Pompeii Archaeological Park/ University of Padua – Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory/ Ministry of Culture.

Bottom line: Archaeologists have used AI technology to recreate a Pompeii victim. The man fled the volcano while trying to protect his head with a terracotta bowl.

Via Pompeii Archaeological Park

The post Archaeologists recreate Pompeii victim using AI technology first appeared on EarthSky.

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Arcturus, brightest star of the northern sky

The bright star Arcturus is easy to identify. Just follow the arc in the handle of the Big Dipper. In other words, follow the arc to Arcturus. Image via EarthSky.

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Follow the arc to Arcturus

Arcturus is a red giant star. So it’s huge and only 36.7 light-years away.

As a result, Arcturus is the 4th-brightest star in Earth’s sky. It’s the brightest star in the northern half of the sky. It’s far enough north on the sky’s dome that – for Northern Hemisphere observers – it’s visible during some part of the night throughout most of the year.

Look for Arcturus on spring evenings in the Northern Hemisphere. There’s an easy mnemonic for finding it. Just remember the phrase follow the arc to Arcturus. So you’ll follow the arc in the Big Dipper’s handle – just draw that line outward, in your mind – until you reach this bright orange star.

Arcturus is the alpha star of a cone-shaped constellation called Boötes the Herdsman. It’s tough to see a herdsman in these stars. But you might see a kite! See the chart below.

Arcturus is in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman. Boötes has the shape of a kite, and Arcturus is at the point where you’d attach a tail. You can see it on spring evenings in the Northern Hemisphere.

It’s the brightest star in the northern half of the sky

When astronomers speak of the celestial sphere, they’re talking about the imaginary sphere of stars surrounding Earth.

Imagine Earth’s equator projected onto the sky. A line drawn all the way around the sky – above Earth’s equator – is called the celestial equator. It divides the sky into northern and southern hemispheres, much as the earthly equator does for Earth.

The three brightest stars of the sky – Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri – are all south of this celestial equator.

And, meanwhile, Arcturus is north of the celestial equator. That makes Arcturus the brightest star in the northern part of the sky. But it’s only marginally brighter than the north celestial sphere’s 2nd-brightest star, blue-white Vega.

By the way … did you know? Some people think Polaris, the North Star, is the brightest star. But it’s not. It’s about the 50th brightest star! It’s famous for being located near the celestial north pole. Read about Polaris here.

History and mythology of Bootes and Arcturus

Arcturus’ constellation Boötes the Herdsman is sometimes pictured as guarding the Great Bear, or Ursa Major, which contains the Big Dipper asterism. We sometimes hear Arcturus called the Bear Guard.

In China, Arcturus’ constellation is also called the Dragon.

In some classical Greek stories, Boötes was Icarus, who flew too close to the sun.

Because it passes directly over the Hawaiian islands, Arcturus – brightest light in Bootes – was a particularly important navigational star to the islands’ indigenous inhabitants and other Polynesians.

The translation may be questioned, but Arcturus is among the few stars mentioned in the Bible. (“Which maketh Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south” – Job 9:9, KJV, and “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?” – Job 38:32, KJV.)

Arcturus is so bright, it’s can be seen in daytime

In 1635, less than three decades after the invention of the telescope, Jean-Baptiste Morin of France observed Arcturus in the daytime with a telescope.

It was the first time that any star, besides the sun and a rare supernova, had been seen telescopically during daylight hours.

You can also observe Arcturus with the unaided eye during the day. There’s an explanatioin on how to do it in this reprint of a science paper from 1911.

1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago

One interesting story about Arcturus relates to the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Its promoters wanted a flashy way to open the show. And somebody figured out that the light from Arcturus could start it.

At 9:15 pm on May 27, 1933, four telescopes located in different observatories captured the light from the star and focused it into photoelectric cells. The photocells in turn worked as the switch that turned on the main spotlights to open the exhibition. It’s a good thing it wasn’t cloudy!

How did this idea come about? There’d also been a World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, 40 years earlier. And, at the time, astronomers thought that Arcturus was 40 light-years away. If so, that light left Arcturus at the end of the 1893 fair and traveled for 40 years through space, like an Olympic torch bearer, to open the 1933 show.

It was a good idea. But today’s astronomers place the distance to Arcturus at just less than 37 light-years. Oh well. Progress!

The red giant Arcturus is roughly 25 times the diameter of our sun. But it’s not the largest of the red giants, as this diagram shows. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Arcturus compared to our sun

Arcturus is a more evolved star than our sun. Billions of years from now, our sun will be a red giant star, much as Arcturus is now.

Arcturus’ diameter is roughly 25 times greater than our sun. Because of its larger size, it radiates more than 100 times the light of our sun, in visible light. If you consider infrared and other frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, Arcturus is about 200 times more powerful than our sun. But its mass is only slightly greater than the sun’s.

The reddish or orange color of Arcturus signifies its temperature, which is about 7,300 degrees Fahrenheit (around 4,000 degrees Celsius). That makes it several thousand degrees cooler than the surface of our sun.

Arcturus is flying southward

Generally speaking, the stars are fixed. They are all moving through space, but we don’t see them move because they’re so far away. But Arcturus has a large proper motion, or sideways motion, on the dome of Earth’s sky. Among the 1st-magnitude (or bright) stars in our stellar neighborhood, only Alpha Centauri – our sun’s nearest neighbor among the stars – has a higher proper motion.

And of course, the large proper motion of Alpha Centauri stems from the fact that it’s so close to us.

But what does the proper motion of Arcturus tell us?

It tells us that Arcturus is moving at a tremendous speed (76 miles/s or 122 km/s) relative to our solar system. Arcturus is thought to be an old star. It appears to be moving with a group of at least 52 other such stars, known as the Arcturus stream or Arcturus moving group.

Scientists think these stars weren’t part of our Milky Way galaxy, originally. Instead, they might have come from a dwarf satellite galaxy that assimilated into the Milky Way.

From the vantage point of Earth, Arcturus is rapidly moving in a southerly direction at a rate of 3.9 arcminutes per century. It’s now at about its closest point to Earth. As it moves away, it’ll someday vanish from visibility to the unaided eye.

This will happen when it reaches the border of the southern constellations Carina and Vela … in about 150,000 years.

The position of Arcturus is RA: 14h 15 m 39.7s, dec: +19° 10′ 56″

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cecille Kennedy captured this image on May 1, 2025, from Oregon and wrote: “The Big Dipper, Arcturus and Polaris, the North Star, shine brightly with the other stars in the still of the blue midnight. The 2 front stars of the Big Dipper are called Pointers because they point to Polaris, the North Star. Polaris, is the brightest star in the Little Dipper and the closest bright star to the north celestial pole. When you are looking at Polaris, you are facing north. Arcturus is a 1st-magnitude star and stands right behind the Big Dipper. Arcturus is the brightest star of the constellation Boötes the Herdsman.” Thank you, Cecille!

Bottom line: Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern half of the sky. It’s easy to find in spring in the Northern Hemisphere near the handle of the Big Dipper.

The post Arcturus, brightest star of the northern sky first appeared on EarthSky.

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The bright star Arcturus is easy to identify. Just follow the arc in the handle of the Big Dipper. In other words, follow the arc to Arcturus. Image via EarthSky.

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Follow the arc to Arcturus

Arcturus is a red giant star. So it’s huge and only 36.7 light-years away.

As a result, Arcturus is the 4th-brightest star in Earth’s sky. It’s the brightest star in the northern half of the sky. It’s far enough north on the sky’s dome that – for Northern Hemisphere observers – it’s visible during some part of the night throughout most of the year.

Look for Arcturus on spring evenings in the Northern Hemisphere. There’s an easy mnemonic for finding it. Just remember the phrase follow the arc to Arcturus. So you’ll follow the arc in the Big Dipper’s handle – just draw that line outward, in your mind – until you reach this bright orange star.

Arcturus is the alpha star of a cone-shaped constellation called Boötes the Herdsman. It’s tough to see a herdsman in these stars. But you might see a kite! See the chart below.

Arcturus is in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman. Boötes has the shape of a kite, and Arcturus is at the point where you’d attach a tail. You can see it on spring evenings in the Northern Hemisphere.

It’s the brightest star in the northern half of the sky

When astronomers speak of the celestial sphere, they’re talking about the imaginary sphere of stars surrounding Earth.

Imagine Earth’s equator projected onto the sky. A line drawn all the way around the sky – above Earth’s equator – is called the celestial equator. It divides the sky into northern and southern hemispheres, much as the earthly equator does for Earth.

The three brightest stars of the sky – Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri – are all south of this celestial equator.

And, meanwhile, Arcturus is north of the celestial equator. That makes Arcturus the brightest star in the northern part of the sky. But it’s only marginally brighter than the north celestial sphere’s 2nd-brightest star, blue-white Vega.

By the way … did you know? Some people think Polaris, the North Star, is the brightest star. But it’s not. It’s about the 50th brightest star! It’s famous for being located near the celestial north pole. Read about Polaris here.

History and mythology of Bootes and Arcturus

Arcturus’ constellation Boötes the Herdsman is sometimes pictured as guarding the Great Bear, or Ursa Major, which contains the Big Dipper asterism. We sometimes hear Arcturus called the Bear Guard.

In China, Arcturus’ constellation is also called the Dragon.

In some classical Greek stories, Boötes was Icarus, who flew too close to the sun.

Because it passes directly over the Hawaiian islands, Arcturus – brightest light in Bootes – was a particularly important navigational star to the islands’ indigenous inhabitants and other Polynesians.

The translation may be questioned, but Arcturus is among the few stars mentioned in the Bible. (“Which maketh Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south” – Job 9:9, KJV, and “Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?” – Job 38:32, KJV.)

Arcturus is so bright, it’s can be seen in daytime

In 1635, less than three decades after the invention of the telescope, Jean-Baptiste Morin of France observed Arcturus in the daytime with a telescope.

It was the first time that any star, besides the sun and a rare supernova, had been seen telescopically during daylight hours.

You can also observe Arcturus with the unaided eye during the day. There’s an explanatioin on how to do it in this reprint of a science paper from 1911.

1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago

One interesting story about Arcturus relates to the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Its promoters wanted a flashy way to open the show. And somebody figured out that the light from Arcturus could start it.

At 9:15 pm on May 27, 1933, four telescopes located in different observatories captured the light from the star and focused it into photoelectric cells. The photocells in turn worked as the switch that turned on the main spotlights to open the exhibition. It’s a good thing it wasn’t cloudy!

How did this idea come about? There’d also been a World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, 40 years earlier. And, at the time, astronomers thought that Arcturus was 40 light-years away. If so, that light left Arcturus at the end of the 1893 fair and traveled for 40 years through space, like an Olympic torch bearer, to open the 1933 show.

It was a good idea. But today’s astronomers place the distance to Arcturus at just less than 37 light-years. Oh well. Progress!

The red giant Arcturus is roughly 25 times the diameter of our sun. But it’s not the largest of the red giants, as this diagram shows. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Arcturus compared to our sun

Arcturus is a more evolved star than our sun. Billions of years from now, our sun will be a red giant star, much as Arcturus is now.

Arcturus’ diameter is roughly 25 times greater than our sun. Because of its larger size, it radiates more than 100 times the light of our sun, in visible light. If you consider infrared and other frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, Arcturus is about 200 times more powerful than our sun. But its mass is only slightly greater than the sun’s.

The reddish or orange color of Arcturus signifies its temperature, which is about 7,300 degrees Fahrenheit (around 4,000 degrees Celsius). That makes it several thousand degrees cooler than the surface of our sun.

Arcturus is flying southward

Generally speaking, the stars are fixed. They are all moving through space, but we don’t see them move because they’re so far away. But Arcturus has a large proper motion, or sideways motion, on the dome of Earth’s sky. Among the 1st-magnitude (or bright) stars in our stellar neighborhood, only Alpha Centauri – our sun’s nearest neighbor among the stars – has a higher proper motion.

And of course, the large proper motion of Alpha Centauri stems from the fact that it’s so close to us.

But what does the proper motion of Arcturus tell us?

It tells us that Arcturus is moving at a tremendous speed (76 miles/s or 122 km/s) relative to our solar system. Arcturus is thought to be an old star. It appears to be moving with a group of at least 52 other such stars, known as the Arcturus stream or Arcturus moving group.

Scientists think these stars weren’t part of our Milky Way galaxy, originally. Instead, they might have come from a dwarf satellite galaxy that assimilated into the Milky Way.

From the vantage point of Earth, Arcturus is rapidly moving in a southerly direction at a rate of 3.9 arcminutes per century. It’s now at about its closest point to Earth. As it moves away, it’ll someday vanish from visibility to the unaided eye.

This will happen when it reaches the border of the southern constellations Carina and Vela … in about 150,000 years.

The position of Arcturus is RA: 14h 15 m 39.7s, dec: +19° 10′ 56″

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cecille Kennedy captured this image on May 1, 2025, from Oregon and wrote: “The Big Dipper, Arcturus and Polaris, the North Star, shine brightly with the other stars in the still of the blue midnight. The 2 front stars of the Big Dipper are called Pointers because they point to Polaris, the North Star. Polaris, is the brightest star in the Little Dipper and the closest bright star to the north celestial pole. When you are looking at Polaris, you are facing north. Arcturus is a 1st-magnitude star and stands right behind the Big Dipper. Arcturus is the brightest star of the constellation Boötes the Herdsman.” Thank you, Cecille!

Bottom line: Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern half of the sky. It’s easy to find in spring in the Northern Hemisphere near the handle of the Big Dipper.

The post Arcturus, brightest star of the northern sky first appeared on EarthSky.

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Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are thunderheads spawned by fires

This isn’t an ordinary cloud. It’s a fire-generated thunderstorm, as seen from an airplane in 2019. Weather-watchers call this a pyrocumulonimbus cloud. Lightning strikes, strong winds, and even fire tornadoes spawned by pyrocumulonimbus clouds can, in turn, make wildfires worse. Image via NOAA.

What are pyrocumulonimbus clouds?

Most people have heard of cumulonimbus clouds, those towering thunderheads that bring storms with lightning, thunder, heavy rain, hail and sometimes tornadoes. Pyro is a prefix meaning fire. And pyrocumulonimbus clouds are thunderheads that form due to fires.

So when wildfires grow large and intense, they can create their own weather. The heat and smoke from fires can rise into the atmosphere like the updraft in a thunderstorm. As the hot air ascends, it carries smoke, ash and water vapor high into the atmosphere.

If conditions are right – especially if the atmosphere is unstable – the rising plume can grow into a towering thunderstorm cloud. These clouds look quite similar to cumulonimbus clouds that produce lightning and heavy rain, except for brownish colors at their base. But pyrocumulonimbus clouds are fueled by fire rather than typical atmospheric processes.

Some pyrocumulonimbus clouds can reach heights of 30,000 to 50,000 feet (9 to 15 km)! That’s far above the height most airplanes fly. They can punch through the troposphere (the layer of air closest to Earth where we live) to the stratosphere. They can also spread out into anvil-shaped tops.

And the higher these clouds reach, the more these fires can spread smoke. It’s partly thanks to pyrocumulonimbus clouds that the smoke from wildfires can travel thousands of miles away.

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

A storm born of fire

Before there are pyrocumulonimbus clouds, they might be ordinary pyrocumulus clouds. This smaller version of a fire-generated cloud will have a darker, brown-tinged base. Sometimes you can see the fire beneath it, but sometimes the fire is hidden by haze or the terrain.

But as the fire grows, so can the cloud. Eventually the rising air and heat causes moisture to condense on particles, in this case, usually smoke particles. The formation of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud can bring rain. But, unfortunately, by that time the cloud has often drifted downwind. So the rain typically falls outside the fire.

And here’s an especially pernicious aspect of pyrocumulonimbus clouds. They can create lightning and thus spark new areas of fire nearby. Plus, the storms can generate strong winds that make the fire situation worse.

In fact, if the conditions are right, the storms that occur with pyrocumulonimbus clouds can even generate a fire tornado. Also known as a fire whirl, fire swirl, fire devil, firenado or fire twister, a fire tornado is a whirlwind induced by a fire and often (at least partially) composed of flame or ash.

In 2018, a firefighter was tragically killed in California when the Carr fire spawned a fire tornado. Read about it here. Or watch incredible video in the news report below.

Smoke in the upper atmosphere can last for months

In 2023, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a study of pyrocumumlonimbus clouds’ effect on Earth’s atmosphere. The study showed that that smoke injected into the upper atmosphere via these clouds can stick around for months. A fire in 2017 in the Pacific Northwest put so much smoke into the atmosphere that remote sensing instruments around the globe monitored it for more than eight months.

Fires that year forced also black carbon and organic carbon into the lower stratosphere. This carbon affected our climate and temporarily cooled the planet.

Joshua Schwarz, a NOAA scientist, said in 2023:

These fire clouds are growing larger and more frequent.

Lead author Joe Katich, who now works for BAE Systems, said that same year:

Pyrocumulonimbus clouds contribute more to the stratospheric makeup than we thought. They act in different ways than we thought and stick around longer than we thought. This finding is important on its own. But it will also help us understand the long-term implications of solar geoengineering with aerosols. [Editor’s note: Geoengineering refers to a range of different activities that humans might undertake with the goal of cooling the Earth or removing certain gases from the atmosphere.]

Bottom line: Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are fire-driven thunderstorms. The storms can produce lightning and strong winds that make the fire situation worse.

The post Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are thunderheads spawned by fires first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/gh9JLFE

This isn’t an ordinary cloud. It’s a fire-generated thunderstorm, as seen from an airplane in 2019. Weather-watchers call this a pyrocumulonimbus cloud. Lightning strikes, strong winds, and even fire tornadoes spawned by pyrocumulonimbus clouds can, in turn, make wildfires worse. Image via NOAA.

What are pyrocumulonimbus clouds?

Most people have heard of cumulonimbus clouds, those towering thunderheads that bring storms with lightning, thunder, heavy rain, hail and sometimes tornadoes. Pyro is a prefix meaning fire. And pyrocumulonimbus clouds are thunderheads that form due to fires.

So when wildfires grow large and intense, they can create their own weather. The heat and smoke from fires can rise into the atmosphere like the updraft in a thunderstorm. As the hot air ascends, it carries smoke, ash and water vapor high into the atmosphere.

If conditions are right – especially if the atmosphere is unstable – the rising plume can grow into a towering thunderstorm cloud. These clouds look quite similar to cumulonimbus clouds that produce lightning and heavy rain, except for brownish colors at their base. But pyrocumulonimbus clouds are fueled by fire rather than typical atmospheric processes.

Some pyrocumulonimbus clouds can reach heights of 30,000 to 50,000 feet (9 to 15 km)! That’s far above the height most airplanes fly. They can punch through the troposphere (the layer of air closest to Earth where we live) to the stratosphere. They can also spread out into anvil-shaped tops.

And the higher these clouds reach, the more these fires can spread smoke. It’s partly thanks to pyrocumulonimbus clouds that the smoke from wildfires can travel thousands of miles away.

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

A storm born of fire

Before there are pyrocumulonimbus clouds, they might be ordinary pyrocumulus clouds. This smaller version of a fire-generated cloud will have a darker, brown-tinged base. Sometimes you can see the fire beneath it, but sometimes the fire is hidden by haze or the terrain.

But as the fire grows, so can the cloud. Eventually the rising air and heat causes moisture to condense on particles, in this case, usually smoke particles. The formation of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud can bring rain. But, unfortunately, by that time the cloud has often drifted downwind. So the rain typically falls outside the fire.

And here’s an especially pernicious aspect of pyrocumulonimbus clouds. They can create lightning and thus spark new areas of fire nearby. Plus, the storms can generate strong winds that make the fire situation worse.

In fact, if the conditions are right, the storms that occur with pyrocumulonimbus clouds can even generate a fire tornado. Also known as a fire whirl, fire swirl, fire devil, firenado or fire twister, a fire tornado is a whirlwind induced by a fire and often (at least partially) composed of flame or ash.

In 2018, a firefighter was tragically killed in California when the Carr fire spawned a fire tornado. Read about it here. Or watch incredible video in the news report below.

Smoke in the upper atmosphere can last for months

In 2023, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a study of pyrocumumlonimbus clouds’ effect on Earth’s atmosphere. The study showed that that smoke injected into the upper atmosphere via these clouds can stick around for months. A fire in 2017 in the Pacific Northwest put so much smoke into the atmosphere that remote sensing instruments around the globe monitored it for more than eight months.

Fires that year forced also black carbon and organic carbon into the lower stratosphere. This carbon affected our climate and temporarily cooled the planet.

Joshua Schwarz, a NOAA scientist, said in 2023:

These fire clouds are growing larger and more frequent.

Lead author Joe Katich, who now works for BAE Systems, said that same year:

Pyrocumulonimbus clouds contribute more to the stratospheric makeup than we thought. They act in different ways than we thought and stick around longer than we thought. This finding is important on its own. But it will also help us understand the long-term implications of solar geoengineering with aerosols. [Editor’s note: Geoengineering refers to a range of different activities that humans might undertake with the goal of cooling the Earth or removing certain gases from the atmosphere.]

Bottom line: Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are fire-driven thunderstorms. The storms can produce lightning and strong winds that make the fire situation worse.

The post Pyrocumulonimbus clouds are thunderheads spawned by fires first appeared on EarthSky.

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May birthstone: The magnificent green emerald

The May birthstone is the emerald. Image via Mauro Cateb/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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The emerald, May’s birthstone

The emerald belongs to the beryl family of minerals. This family also includes aquamarine (one of March’s birthstones). And it includes heliodor, aka golden or yellow beryl. It also includes morganite, which has an orange-pink color.

Beryl is a six-sided symmetrical crystal. Chemically, it contains beryllium, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen.

Emeralds vary in color from light to deep green. And it’s commonly thought that an emerald’s color derives from the presence of chromium and/or vanadium replacing some of the aluminum in the mineral’s structure.

Emeralds are known to lose their color when heated strongly.

They’re most frequently found inside a form of shale, a fine-grained sedimentary rock. Emerald-bearing shale has undergone recrystallization pressure and/or temperature changes.

A 5-carat emerald crystal. Image via Rob Lavinsky/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).

History of emeralds

Knowledge of emeralds date back to antiquity. The name emerald derives from the Greek word smaragdos, a term applied to several kinds of green stones.

Royalty wore them in ancient Babylon and Egypt. For example, Queen Cleopatra is known to have worn emeralds, during her reign in Egypt from 51–30 BCE. It’s said her emeralds probably originated from mines in southern Egypt, near the Red Sea.

And the emerald mines of ancient Egypt had tools dating back much farther, to the reign of Ramesses II. He ruled for 66 years, between 1279 and 1213 BCE. (one of the longest reigns in ancient history).

Emeralds in South America

Emeralds weren’t just a part of the “old world.” When the conquistadors first arrived in South America from Spain in the late 1400s, they saw indigenous rulers wearing emeralds.

And today, among the famous historical artifacts containing emeralds is the Crown of the Andes, made from emeralds worn by Atahualpa, the last Inca (king) of Peru. The crown is set with about 450 emeralds, collectively weighing 10 ounces (1523 carats).

The Spanish conquerors later stole large quantities of emeralds from the Peruvians. But it took them decades to discover the source of the emeralds.

It wasn’t until 1537 that the Spaniards found Chivor in Colombia, now the location of an important emerald mine. They also took over the Muzo mine in Colombia, following the defeat of the Muzo Indians. Mining operations at Muzo have continued almost uninterrupted since the Spanish invasion. It’s perhaps the most famous emerald mine in Colombia and is said to produce the world’s best emeralds.

Emeralds in Russia and elsewhere

In 1830, a Russian peasant charcoal-burner named Maxim Kozhevnikov found several green crystals in the exposed roots of a fallen tree along the banks of the Tokovaya River in the Ural Mountains of Russia. He brought the stones to the Royal Lapidary Factory in Yekaterinburg, where the director, Yakov Kokovin, identified them as high-quality emeralds. This find sparked an immediate gem rush and the establishment of official state-run mining operations in early 1831.

Today, North Carolina – in the United States – is a source for emeralds.

Around the world, they also occur in Zambia, Brazil, Pakistan, Norway, Austria, India, Madagascar, and Australia.

German chemists began making synthetic emeralds shortly before World War II. Then, growing synthetic stones of fine quality began in the United States in 1946. Also, there are excellent imitation emeralds on the market made of colored cut glass.

Rough emerald. Image via Gem Rock Auctions. Used with permission.

Find out about the birthstones for the other months of the year

January birthstone
February birthstone
March birthstone
April birthstone
May birthstone
June birthstone
July birthstone
August birthstone
September birthstone
October birthstone
November birthstone
December birthstone

Bottom line: Happy birthday, May babies! The May birthstone is the emerald, a stone once worn by royalty in ancient Babylon and Egypt. Perfect emeralds are among the rarest of all gemstones.

The post May birthstone: The magnificent green emerald first appeared on EarthSky.

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The May birthstone is the emerald. Image via Mauro Cateb/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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

The emerald, May’s birthstone

The emerald belongs to the beryl family of minerals. This family also includes aquamarine (one of March’s birthstones). And it includes heliodor, aka golden or yellow beryl. It also includes morganite, which has an orange-pink color.

Beryl is a six-sided symmetrical crystal. Chemically, it contains beryllium, aluminum, silicon, and oxygen.

Emeralds vary in color from light to deep green. And it’s commonly thought that an emerald’s color derives from the presence of chromium and/or vanadium replacing some of the aluminum in the mineral’s structure.

Emeralds are known to lose their color when heated strongly.

They’re most frequently found inside a form of shale, a fine-grained sedimentary rock. Emerald-bearing shale has undergone recrystallization pressure and/or temperature changes.

A 5-carat emerald crystal. Image via Rob Lavinsky/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).

History of emeralds

Knowledge of emeralds date back to antiquity. The name emerald derives from the Greek word smaragdos, a term applied to several kinds of green stones.

Royalty wore them in ancient Babylon and Egypt. For example, Queen Cleopatra is known to have worn emeralds, during her reign in Egypt from 51–30 BCE. It’s said her emeralds probably originated from mines in southern Egypt, near the Red Sea.

And the emerald mines of ancient Egypt had tools dating back much farther, to the reign of Ramesses II. He ruled for 66 years, between 1279 and 1213 BCE. (one of the longest reigns in ancient history).

Emeralds in South America

Emeralds weren’t just a part of the “old world.” When the conquistadors first arrived in South America from Spain in the late 1400s, they saw indigenous rulers wearing emeralds.

And today, among the famous historical artifacts containing emeralds is the Crown of the Andes, made from emeralds worn by Atahualpa, the last Inca (king) of Peru. The crown is set with about 450 emeralds, collectively weighing 10 ounces (1523 carats).

The Spanish conquerors later stole large quantities of emeralds from the Peruvians. But it took them decades to discover the source of the emeralds.

It wasn’t until 1537 that the Spaniards found Chivor in Colombia, now the location of an important emerald mine. They also took over the Muzo mine in Colombia, following the defeat of the Muzo Indians. Mining operations at Muzo have continued almost uninterrupted since the Spanish invasion. It’s perhaps the most famous emerald mine in Colombia and is said to produce the world’s best emeralds.

Emeralds in Russia and elsewhere

In 1830, a Russian peasant charcoal-burner named Maxim Kozhevnikov found several green crystals in the exposed roots of a fallen tree along the banks of the Tokovaya River in the Ural Mountains of Russia. He brought the stones to the Royal Lapidary Factory in Yekaterinburg, where the director, Yakov Kokovin, identified them as high-quality emeralds. This find sparked an immediate gem rush and the establishment of official state-run mining operations in early 1831.

Today, North Carolina – in the United States – is a source for emeralds.

Around the world, they also occur in Zambia, Brazil, Pakistan, Norway, Austria, India, Madagascar, and Australia.

German chemists began making synthetic emeralds shortly before World War II. Then, growing synthetic stones of fine quality began in the United States in 1946. Also, there are excellent imitation emeralds on the market made of colored cut glass.

Rough emerald. Image via Gem Rock Auctions. Used with permission.

Find out about the birthstones for the other months of the year

January birthstone
February birthstone
March birthstone
April birthstone
May birthstone
June birthstone
July birthstone
August birthstone
September birthstone
October birthstone
November birthstone
December birthstone

Bottom line: Happy birthday, May babies! The May birthstone is the emerald, a stone once worn by royalty in ancient Babylon and Egypt. Perfect emeralds are among the rarest of all gemstones.

The post May birthstone: The magnificent green emerald first appeared on EarthSky.

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2026 Eta Aquariid meteor shower best before dawn on May 5

The radiant point of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower is near the star Eta Aquarii in the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer. The radiant rises in the wee hours after midnight and is still climbing toward its highest point at dawn. That highest point is in the south as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, closer to overhead for the Southern Hemisphere. That’s why the Southern Hemisphere sees more meteors (the radiant is higher up), and it’s why – for all of us around the globe – the hours before dawn are best for this shower.

May 2026 meteors … the Eta Aquariids

When to watch: The best morning to watch is May 5, 2026, in the hours before dawn. The American Meteor Society is listing 3:51 UTC on May 5 as the shower’s predicted** peak time. The fact is that the peak of this shower stretches out over several days. So you can expect elevated numbers of meteors a few days before and after the peak time. The mornings of both May 4 and May 6 are also good times to watch!
Nearest moon phase: The last quarter moon will fall at 21:10 UTC on May 9. So, there will be a waning gibbous moon in the post-midnight sky, that sets after sunrise. So the sky before dawn on the mornings around the predicted peak for the 2025 Eta Aquariids will compete with a bright gibbous moon. Find a way to block out the moon for a better view of the sky.
The radiant: will rise in the wee hours, climbing toward its highest point at dawn. That’s why the hours before dawn will be the best time to watch this shower.
Duration of shower: April 15 to May 27. This time period is when we’re passing through the Eta Aquariid meteor stream in space!
Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: The zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) of this shower (the rate at the shower’s peak, under a dark sky, with no moon, when the radiant is high in the sky) is 60. In 2026, a waning gibbous moon will severely affect this shower, reducing hourly rates. And be aware that the shower is best for latitudes like those in the southern half of the U.S. or even farther south, in the Southern Hemisphere. These are swift meteors that produce a high percentage of persistent trains.
Note: The Eta Aquariids’ radiant will be on the ecliptic, which will ride low in the sky on spring mornings as seen from far northerly latitudes. This shower favors more southerly latitudes (like those in the southern U.S. or the Southern Hemisphere), where the radiant appears higher in the morning sky. It’s often the Southern Hemisphere’s best meteor shower of the year.

Read more: Meteors in moonlight: 6 tips for watching

More about this shower’s radiant

If you trace the paths of the Eta Aquariid meteors backward, they all seem to radiate from a point in the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer. This point on the sky’s dome is called the radiant of the meteor shower. It nearly aligns with the faint star Eta Aquarii, and the meteor shower takes its name from this star.

Eta Aquarii is one of the four stars making up the Y-shaped Water Jar asterism in the northern part of Aquarius. If you can find the Water Jar in the constellation Aquarius, you’ve located the radiant point for the Eta Aquariid meteors. The alignment of the radiant and the star is, of course, coincidental. Eta Aquarii is some 170 light-years away – trillions upon trillions of miles away – while the Eta Aquariid meteors burn up nearby – only 60 miles (100 km) above Earth’s surface.

Meteor shower radiants are sometimes misunderstood by casual meteor-watchers. You don’t need to know where they are to watch a meteor shower. That’s because the meteors fly every way across the sky, in front of numerous constellations. However, the higher a shower’s radiant appears in your sky, the more meteors you’re likely to see. For the Eta Aquariids, the radiant soars highest in the nighttime sky just before dawn. That’s one of the reasons why you can expect to see the most meteors in the wee morning hours.

How to view a meteor shower

As with all meteors in annual showers, no special equipment is required to watch the Eta Aquariids. But a little luck always helps.

Find a dark, open sky away from artificial lights, and sprawl out on a reclining lawn chair.

Make yourself comfortable with a hot flask of your favorite beverage. Keep warm but not so snug that you fall asleep!

Meteor watching is a lot like fishing. Sometimes you catch a good number of them, and sometimes you don’t.

Meteor showers: Tips for watching the show

The Eta Aquariids’ parent comet

This section is by the late, great Don Machholz (1952-2022), who discovered 12 comets …

The object responsible for the Eta Aquariid meteor shower – that is, its parent comet – is the famous Halley’s comet. This comet is in a retrograde orbit around the sun. That means it runs around the sun in the opposite direction from Earth and all the other planets. As a result, we pass near its path twice, one time along the outbound portion of the comet’s orbit. That happens every early May, causing the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. The other time is along the inbound portion of the comet’s orbit, and that passage causes the Orionid meteor shower in late October of each year.

Halley’s comet orbits the sun on an average of every 76 years (the range is from 74 through 79 years due to perturbations of the planets). So, in most years, the comet is nowhere near when we sweep through its orbit, and when debris left behind by the comet enters our atmosphere to create Halley’s two meteor showers.

Perhaps you saw Halley’s comet when it returned last, in 1985/86. It has been observed since the year 240 BCE. Presently, the comet is traveling heading back toward the sun at about 0.6 miles a second (0.9 km/sec).

In December of 2023, the comet reached its farthest point from the sun, which binds it in orbit. Then – pulled inexorably by the sun’s gravity – it curved around and is heading back toward the inner solar system again. Halley’s comet will be back in 2061.

While waiting for Halley’s comet to return, watch for the next best thing: the Eta Aquariid meteor shower in early May.

Halley’s comet, the parent of the May Eta Aquariid and October Orionid meteor showers. Dust from this comet will light the night as Eta Aquariid meteors on the morning of May 5. Image via NASA.

Eta Aquariid meteor shower photos from EarthSky’s community

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Christoph Stopka captured some Eta Aquariid meteors on May 5, 2024, near Westcliffe, Colorado, and said: “I kept my camera pointed towards the Milky Way, hoping for a meteor streaking by. And finally, it was showtime: I saw a greenish flash to the left of the Milky Way and knew instantly I had a winner! Sure enough, when I checked my last 15 seconds exposure on the screen of the camera, I could clearly identify a good size meteor in the image. But to my big surprise, I saw that there was actually a SECOND, smaller meteor below the one I had noticed!” Thank you, Christoph!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, captured this photo of an Eta Aquariid meteor on May 5, 2021. He wrote: “1:48 am on peak night. The radiant is still below the horizon, resulting in this long-trail meteor with the beautiful green, typical of Halley’s comet-derived meteors. My backyard view.” Thank you, Eliot!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mary Jo Machnica in Hamburg, New York, captured this photo of an Eta Aquariid on May 6, 2021. She wrote: “I knew that the Eta Aquariids meteor shower was going to peak this morning. I knew there was going to be a ton of light pollution. But, it didn’t matter. I just needed to be under the stars. Needing to feel small. Getting there right before 3 a.m. I set up my camera. Super damp out! Glad I have my lens warmer. With everything set up. I just keep taking photo after photo hoping to capture a glimpse of a meteor. I see a couple meteors with my eyes, but they don’t show up in the photo … That’s ok. I keep snapping away.” Thank you!

Bottom line: May’s Eta Aquariid meteor shower is best in 2026 on the morning of May 5. Be sure to watch in the hours before dawn. Find a way to block out the waning gibbous moon.

Read more: Why the Eta Aquariids are best from the Southern Hemisphere.

Visit EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

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

Learn how to shoot photos of meteors

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

The post 2026 Eta Aquariid meteor shower best before dawn on May 5 first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/q1tLhSX

The radiant point of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower is near the star Eta Aquarii in the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer. The radiant rises in the wee hours after midnight and is still climbing toward its highest point at dawn. That highest point is in the south as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, closer to overhead for the Southern Hemisphere. That’s why the Southern Hemisphere sees more meteors (the radiant is higher up), and it’s why – for all of us around the globe – the hours before dawn are best for this shower.

May 2026 meteors … the Eta Aquariids

When to watch: The best morning to watch is May 5, 2026, in the hours before dawn. The American Meteor Society is listing 3:51 UTC on May 5 as the shower’s predicted** peak time. The fact is that the peak of this shower stretches out over several days. So you can expect elevated numbers of meteors a few days before and after the peak time. The mornings of both May 4 and May 6 are also good times to watch!
Nearest moon phase: The last quarter moon will fall at 21:10 UTC on May 9. So, there will be a waning gibbous moon in the post-midnight sky, that sets after sunrise. So the sky before dawn on the mornings around the predicted peak for the 2025 Eta Aquariids will compete with a bright gibbous moon. Find a way to block out the moon for a better view of the sky.
The radiant: will rise in the wee hours, climbing toward its highest point at dawn. That’s why the hours before dawn will be the best time to watch this shower.
Duration of shower: April 15 to May 27. This time period is when we’re passing through the Eta Aquariid meteor stream in space!
Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: The zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) of this shower (the rate at the shower’s peak, under a dark sky, with no moon, when the radiant is high in the sky) is 60. In 2026, a waning gibbous moon will severely affect this shower, reducing hourly rates. And be aware that the shower is best for latitudes like those in the southern half of the U.S. or even farther south, in the Southern Hemisphere. These are swift meteors that produce a high percentage of persistent trains.
Note: The Eta Aquariids’ radiant will be on the ecliptic, which will ride low in the sky on spring mornings as seen from far northerly latitudes. This shower favors more southerly latitudes (like those in the southern U.S. or the Southern Hemisphere), where the radiant appears higher in the morning sky. It’s often the Southern Hemisphere’s best meteor shower of the year.

Read more: Meteors in moonlight: 6 tips for watching

More about this shower’s radiant

If you trace the paths of the Eta Aquariid meteors backward, they all seem to radiate from a point in the constellation Aquarius the Water Bearer. This point on the sky’s dome is called the radiant of the meteor shower. It nearly aligns with the faint star Eta Aquarii, and the meteor shower takes its name from this star.

Eta Aquarii is one of the four stars making up the Y-shaped Water Jar asterism in the northern part of Aquarius. If you can find the Water Jar in the constellation Aquarius, you’ve located the radiant point for the Eta Aquariid meteors. The alignment of the radiant and the star is, of course, coincidental. Eta Aquarii is some 170 light-years away – trillions upon trillions of miles away – while the Eta Aquariid meteors burn up nearby – only 60 miles (100 km) above Earth’s surface.

Meteor shower radiants are sometimes misunderstood by casual meteor-watchers. You don’t need to know where they are to watch a meteor shower. That’s because the meteors fly every way across the sky, in front of numerous constellations. However, the higher a shower’s radiant appears in your sky, the more meteors you’re likely to see. For the Eta Aquariids, the radiant soars highest in the nighttime sky just before dawn. That’s one of the reasons why you can expect to see the most meteors in the wee morning hours.

How to view a meteor shower

As with all meteors in annual showers, no special equipment is required to watch the Eta Aquariids. But a little luck always helps.

Find a dark, open sky away from artificial lights, and sprawl out on a reclining lawn chair.

Make yourself comfortable with a hot flask of your favorite beverage. Keep warm but not so snug that you fall asleep!

Meteor watching is a lot like fishing. Sometimes you catch a good number of them, and sometimes you don’t.

Meteor showers: Tips for watching the show

The Eta Aquariids’ parent comet

This section is by the late, great Don Machholz (1952-2022), who discovered 12 comets …

The object responsible for the Eta Aquariid meteor shower – that is, its parent comet – is the famous Halley’s comet. This comet is in a retrograde orbit around the sun. That means it runs around the sun in the opposite direction from Earth and all the other planets. As a result, we pass near its path twice, one time along the outbound portion of the comet’s orbit. That happens every early May, causing the Eta Aquariid meteor shower. The other time is along the inbound portion of the comet’s orbit, and that passage causes the Orionid meteor shower in late October of each year.

Halley’s comet orbits the sun on an average of every 76 years (the range is from 74 through 79 years due to perturbations of the planets). So, in most years, the comet is nowhere near when we sweep through its orbit, and when debris left behind by the comet enters our atmosphere to create Halley’s two meteor showers.

Perhaps you saw Halley’s comet when it returned last, in 1985/86. It has been observed since the year 240 BCE. Presently, the comet is traveling heading back toward the sun at about 0.6 miles a second (0.9 km/sec).

In December of 2023, the comet reached its farthest point from the sun, which binds it in orbit. Then – pulled inexorably by the sun’s gravity – it curved around and is heading back toward the inner solar system again. Halley’s comet will be back in 2061.

While waiting for Halley’s comet to return, watch for the next best thing: the Eta Aquariid meteor shower in early May.

Halley’s comet, the parent of the May Eta Aquariid and October Orionid meteor showers. Dust from this comet will light the night as Eta Aquariid meteors on the morning of May 5. Image via NASA.

Eta Aquariid meteor shower photos from EarthSky’s community

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Christoph Stopka captured some Eta Aquariid meteors on May 5, 2024, near Westcliffe, Colorado, and said: “I kept my camera pointed towards the Milky Way, hoping for a meteor streaking by. And finally, it was showtime: I saw a greenish flash to the left of the Milky Way and knew instantly I had a winner! Sure enough, when I checked my last 15 seconds exposure on the screen of the camera, I could clearly identify a good size meteor in the image. But to my big surprise, I saw that there was actually a SECOND, smaller meteor below the one I had noticed!” Thank you, Christoph!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman in Tucson, Arizona, captured this photo of an Eta Aquariid meteor on May 5, 2021. He wrote: “1:48 am on peak night. The radiant is still below the horizon, resulting in this long-trail meteor with the beautiful green, typical of Halley’s comet-derived meteors. My backyard view.” Thank you, Eliot!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mary Jo Machnica in Hamburg, New York, captured this photo of an Eta Aquariid on May 6, 2021. She wrote: “I knew that the Eta Aquariids meteor shower was going to peak this morning. I knew there was going to be a ton of light pollution. But, it didn’t matter. I just needed to be under the stars. Needing to feel small. Getting there right before 3 a.m. I set up my camera. Super damp out! Glad I have my lens warmer. With everything set up. I just keep taking photo after photo hoping to capture a glimpse of a meteor. I see a couple meteors with my eyes, but they don’t show up in the photo … That’s ok. I keep snapping away.” Thank you!

Bottom line: May’s Eta Aquariid meteor shower is best in 2026 on the morning of May 5. Be sure to watch in the hours before dawn. Find a way to block out the waning gibbous moon.

Read more: Why the Eta Aquariids are best from the Southern Hemisphere.

Visit EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

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

Learn how to shoot photos of meteors

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

The post 2026 Eta Aquariid meteor shower best before dawn on May 5 first appeared on EarthSky.

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