Wildfires in Spain and France: 200,000 forced to flee

Wildfires in Spain and France. Tourists watch from the roof of a hotel in Madrid on Friday afternoon, July 24, 2026. Fires are burning both southwest and north of the Spanish capital. Image via Ayana Christensen. “The smell of smoke was strong,” she reported. Used with permission.

Firefighters race to control wildfires in Spain and France

Wildfires raging in Spain and France have caused the evacuation of some 200,000 people, some fleeing by boat. Both Spain and France have recently been experiencing severe heat waves. Extreme temperatures topping 102°F (39°C), combined with hot winds, have fueled the intense wildfires across central Spain (near Madrid and Ávila) and southwestern France (in the Gironde and Landes departments around Bordeaux), leading to the massive evacuations and multiple regional emergency declarations.

AP reported:

Firefighters and authorities in both European countries were caught off guard by the virulence of the fires, which were fueled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change. Firefighters in Spain admitted the fires were so fast and violent that they could not be tackled head on. Some people even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic area on France’s Atlantic coast.

Some 141,000 fled homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in France, the French interior ministry said. In central Spain, 60,000 were forced from their homes, according to the Spanish interior ministry.

Dozens of French firefighters were injured, authorities said, but no deaths were reported in either country despite the scenes of panic as townsfolk fled by car and police went door to door to tell people to leave as large plumes of smoke rose from the neighboring woodlands.

As of this morning, these wildfires in Spain and France aren’t the ‘worst on record,’ as some are claiming on social media. But Spain has declared its first national wildfire emergency, reflecting the exceptional scale and complexity of the crisis. And authorities are describing the ongoing fires as highly unpredictable, fueled by record heat, drought, and strong winds

Fire locations and evacuations

The fires are burning near towns like Navas del Rey and Cenicientos, approximately 50 km (30 miles) southwest of the Spanish capital of Madrid. These blazes have caused smoke to drift directly into Madrid and prompted the temporary shutdown of NASA’s Deep Space Communications Complex in Robledo de Chavela, about 60–65 km (37–40 miles) west of the city center. Staff were fleeing, and fires were threatening the big telescope, as of last night. More about that below.

Meanwhile, roughly 100 km (62 miles) north of Madrid, another major wildfire is burning in the neighboring Guadalajara province.Across both countries, more than 200,000 people have been forced to flee or have been ordered to lock down/shelter in place due to the massive wildfires.

In Spain overall, roughly 60,000 to 63,000 people were evacuated or confined to their homes after the government declared a national emergency due to fierce blazes spreading near Madrid and the Ávila province.

In France, approximately 141,000 people were evacuated across the Gironde and Landes departments (including massive coastal evacuations on the Cap Ferret peninsula near Bordeaux, where thousands had to escape by boat).

Deep Space Network telescope damage being assessed

??? UPDATE: Madrid Wildfires Force Shutdown of NASA Deep Space Communications Complex

The wildfires west of Madrid have reached NASA's Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, prompting the temporary shutdown of one of the agency's key deep-space tracking facilities.

? NASA… pic.twitter.com/YrYJ9s31DY

— Emmanuel – Big Tech & AI Investor (@EmmanuelInvest) July 25, 2026

When was the last time this happened?

While mass wildfire evacuations of this magnitude are rare, evacuations reaching or exceeding 200,000 people have occurred a handful of times in recent history. Here is a breakdown of major historic precedent for mass wildfire evacuations:

1. Southern California Wildfires (October 2007). Largest recorded
Scale: ~900,000 to 1,000,000 people displaced. Fierce Santa Ana winds and extreme dry conditions drove dozens of simultaneous fires across Southern California (including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange counties). It remains the largest single wildfire evacuation in modern global history.

2. Canadian Wildfire Season (summer 2023). Scale: ~185,000+ people total across multiple provinces. During Canada’s record-breaking 2023 fire season, entire capital cities like Yellowknife (20,000 residents) were evacuated. Throughout the season, sequential evacuations across Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories combined to force nearly 200,000 Canadians from their homes.

3. Northern California Wildfires (October 2019 / Kincade Fire).
Scale: ~180,000–200,000 people. When the Kincade Fire ignited in Sonoma County under hurricane-force wind gusts, authorities issued massive precautionary evacuation orders covering large towns like Healdsburg and Santa Rosa to avoid a repeat of the deadly 2017 Tubbs Fire.

4. Alberta, Canada (Fort McMurray Fire, May 2016). Scale: ~88,000 people. While under the 200,000 mark, it is worth noting as the largest single-city wildfire evacuation in North American history, where the entire population of the city was forced onto a single highway as flames engulfed neighboring subdivisions.

Bottom line: Raging wildfires in Spain and France have forced over 200,000 to evacuate or shelter as extreme heat and winds push uncontained blazes across both regions.

The post Wildfires in Spain and France: 200,000 forced to flee first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/DrubqQl

Wildfires in Spain and France. Tourists watch from the roof of a hotel in Madrid on Friday afternoon, July 24, 2026. Fires are burning both southwest and north of the Spanish capital. Image via Ayana Christensen. “The smell of smoke was strong,” she reported. Used with permission.

Firefighters race to control wildfires in Spain and France

Wildfires raging in Spain and France have caused the evacuation of some 200,000 people, some fleeing by boat. Both Spain and France have recently been experiencing severe heat waves. Extreme temperatures topping 102°F (39°C), combined with hot winds, have fueled the intense wildfires across central Spain (near Madrid and Ávila) and southwestern France (in the Gironde and Landes departments around Bordeaux), leading to the massive evacuations and multiple regional emergency declarations.

AP reported:

Firefighters and authorities in both European countries were caught off guard by the virulence of the fires, which were fueled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change. Firefighters in Spain admitted the fires were so fast and violent that they could not be tackled head on. Some people even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic area on France’s Atlantic coast.

Some 141,000 fled homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in France, the French interior ministry said. In central Spain, 60,000 were forced from their homes, according to the Spanish interior ministry.

Dozens of French firefighters were injured, authorities said, but no deaths were reported in either country despite the scenes of panic as townsfolk fled by car and police went door to door to tell people to leave as large plumes of smoke rose from the neighboring woodlands.

As of this morning, these wildfires in Spain and France aren’t the ‘worst on record,’ as some are claiming on social media. But Spain has declared its first national wildfire emergency, reflecting the exceptional scale and complexity of the crisis. And authorities are describing the ongoing fires as highly unpredictable, fueled by record heat, drought, and strong winds

Fire locations and evacuations

The fires are burning near towns like Navas del Rey and Cenicientos, approximately 50 km (30 miles) southwest of the Spanish capital of Madrid. These blazes have caused smoke to drift directly into Madrid and prompted the temporary shutdown of NASA’s Deep Space Communications Complex in Robledo de Chavela, about 60–65 km (37–40 miles) west of the city center. Staff were fleeing, and fires were threatening the big telescope, as of last night. More about that below.

Meanwhile, roughly 100 km (62 miles) north of Madrid, another major wildfire is burning in the neighboring Guadalajara province.Across both countries, more than 200,000 people have been forced to flee or have been ordered to lock down/shelter in place due to the massive wildfires.

In Spain overall, roughly 60,000 to 63,000 people were evacuated or confined to their homes after the government declared a national emergency due to fierce blazes spreading near Madrid and the Ávila province.

In France, approximately 141,000 people were evacuated across the Gironde and Landes departments (including massive coastal evacuations on the Cap Ferret peninsula near Bordeaux, where thousands had to escape by boat).

Deep Space Network telescope damage being assessed

??? UPDATE: Madrid Wildfires Force Shutdown of NASA Deep Space Communications Complex

The wildfires west of Madrid have reached NASA's Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, prompting the temporary shutdown of one of the agency's key deep-space tracking facilities.

? NASA… pic.twitter.com/YrYJ9s31DY

— Emmanuel – Big Tech & AI Investor (@EmmanuelInvest) July 25, 2026

When was the last time this happened?

While mass wildfire evacuations of this magnitude are rare, evacuations reaching or exceeding 200,000 people have occurred a handful of times in recent history. Here is a breakdown of major historic precedent for mass wildfire evacuations:

1. Southern California Wildfires (October 2007). Largest recorded
Scale: ~900,000 to 1,000,000 people displaced. Fierce Santa Ana winds and extreme dry conditions drove dozens of simultaneous fires across Southern California (including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange counties). It remains the largest single wildfire evacuation in modern global history.

2. Canadian Wildfire Season (summer 2023). Scale: ~185,000+ people total across multiple provinces. During Canada’s record-breaking 2023 fire season, entire capital cities like Yellowknife (20,000 residents) were evacuated. Throughout the season, sequential evacuations across Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories combined to force nearly 200,000 Canadians from their homes.

3. Northern California Wildfires (October 2019 / Kincade Fire).
Scale: ~180,000–200,000 people. When the Kincade Fire ignited in Sonoma County under hurricane-force wind gusts, authorities issued massive precautionary evacuation orders covering large towns like Healdsburg and Santa Rosa to avoid a repeat of the deadly 2017 Tubbs Fire.

4. Alberta, Canada (Fort McMurray Fire, May 2016). Scale: ~88,000 people. While under the 200,000 mark, it is worth noting as the largest single-city wildfire evacuation in North American history, where the entire population of the city was forced onto a single highway as flames engulfed neighboring subdivisions.

Bottom line: Raging wildfires in Spain and France have forced over 200,000 to evacuate or shelter as extreme heat and winds push uncontained blazes across both regions.

The post Wildfires in Spain and France: 200,000 forced to flee first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/DrubqQl

Framing The Trojan War As A Trade War Over A Shipping Route

Framing The Trojan War As A Trade War Over A Shipping Route

Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Odyssey officially opened in theatres this week. It retells Homer’s ancient epic of Odysseus’ journey home from the Trojan war.

The Trojan war of Homer’s epics is heavily mythologized. But it is set in a world of seafaring and sea passages that the ancient Greeks knew intimately well.

Interestingly, Nolan’s film has reframed the Trojan war as a trade war over a shipping route. This economic motive is absent from Homer’s original.

Pierre Belon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

But it would have been a highly relevant theme for the Athenians listening to the Homeric epics hundreds of years later, when actual wars hinged on control of a vital shipping route to the Black Sea, passing right by where Odysseus began his mythological journey home: the Dardanelles.

Controlling this waterway – including tolling the ships that traversed it – was crucial to the rise of the Athenian Empire. That has parallels with – and lessons for – today, when placing tolls on crucial shipping routes is again being debated.

A gateway to the Black Sea

The Dardanelles (which the ancient Greeks called Hellespont) is a narrow natural strait situated in modern-day Turkey.

Along with the Sea of Marmara and another strait to the north-east called the Bosphorus, it connects the Aegean Sea (and therefore the Mediterranean Sea) to the Black Sea.

From about 500 BC, the Greek city-states, but especially democratic Athens, began to realize that control of this waterway was crucial to their survival and success.

A couple of decades later, the Persian wars had only reinforced this realisation because Xerxes, the great king of the Persian Empire, had built a pontoon bridge across the Dardanelles to get his invading army into Greece.

 

 

An old engraved illustration of crossing the Hellespont by Xerxes with his huge army. mikroman6/Getty

After the Greeks defeated Xerxes in the Balkans in 480 and 479 BC, one of the first things they did was to secure the Dardanelles and capture other cities to its north in what is now Turkey, especially Byzantium (Istanbul today) and Chalcedon (now Kadıköy).

At the same time, the Athenians, who were now leading the Greek coalition against Persia, also captured three big islands on the approach to the strait: Imbros, Lemnos and Skyros.

This made it safer for their warships and grain ships to traverse the shipping route from Athens to the Dardanelles.

Feeding an empire

Securing this shipping route was soon about more than just warfare. It also allowed the Athenians fully to exploit the trade coming from the Bosporan kingdom, which covered roughly modern-day Crimea and parts of southern Ukraine.

Greece’s climate and terrain were well suited to some crops, and Athens was completely self-sufficient in olive oil. But very dry Attica especially was poorly suited to others – notably grain – so trade with the north was vital to fuelling its rise.

Controlling the Dardanelles and hence the shipping line to the Black Sea allowed the Athenians to secure enormous amounts of cheap food, leading to a huge population boom.

By 431 BC, the Peloponnesian War broke out between Athens and Sparta.

At this point, we know Athens was importing two thirds of its food from overseas, and the bulk of it through the Dardanelles.

Sparta and its allies invaded the territory of Athens repeatedly during the first ten years of this storied 30-year war. In response, the Athenians simply withdrew their population behind their fortifications and relied on the grain coming through the Dardanelles to keep them alive.

A 19th-century engraving depicting the ancient city of Athens at its peak. Wikimedia

Tolls on shipping

In the last ten years of the Peloponnesian War, when Athens started to run out of money, it actually became more heavy-handed in its control of this vital narrow waterway.

Athenian democracy had long had garrisons on either side of the Bosphorus to police what the other Greek city-states were importing through this shipping route.

But, in 413 BC, it introduced a 10% toll on the value of all cargo passing through this strait. The enormous amount of money this toll raised helped Athens hold out against Sparta for another seven years.

How losing control crushed Athens

However, the Spartans ultimately won the Peloponnesian War. In its final decade, they struck a deal with the Persian Empire to build a fleet to challenge Athens at sea.

In 405 BC, very close to modern-day Gallipoli, the Spartan fleet captured almost the entire last fleet of Athens without a battle – close to 200 ships – and executed the captured Athenian sailors.

Without any fleet, Athens lost control of the shipping line and the Spartans stopped the grain ships sailing to Athens from the north.

Athens was quickly starved into submission through a land and sea blockade, and ultimately lost the Peloponnesian War. Losing control of that vital narrow waterway near ancient Troy had thus resulted in the fall of the Athenian Empire.

The pattern repeats

Christopher Nolan’s film is poignant and timeless lesson about the human costs of war and how waging it should be an absolute last resort.

But the ancient history of the narrow waterway on which Troy was situated also holds lessons for understanding the current war between the United States and Iran.

The history of the Dardanelles warns us that states and empires can rise and fall over who controls such a waterway. Prudent states – such as democratic Athens – secure such straits over generations, using all the tools in their diplomatic and military tool kits to do so. To imperil free trade through such waterways or to act recklessly in relation to them can come at a terrible cost.

By David M. Pritchard, Associate Professor of Greek History, The University of Queensland. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

sb admin Thu, 07/16/2026 - 19:13

Categories

Social Sciences

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Framing The Trojan War As A Trade War Over A Shipping Route

Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Odyssey officially opened in theatres this week. It retells Homer’s ancient epic of Odysseus’ journey home from the Trojan war.

The Trojan war of Homer’s epics is heavily mythologized. But it is set in a world of seafaring and sea passages that the ancient Greeks knew intimately well.

Interestingly, Nolan’s film has reframed the Trojan war as a trade war over a shipping route. This economic motive is absent from Homer’s original.

Pierre Belon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

But it would have been a highly relevant theme for the Athenians listening to the Homeric epics hundreds of years later, when actual wars hinged on control of a vital shipping route to the Black Sea, passing right by where Odysseus began his mythological journey home: the Dardanelles.

Controlling this waterway – including tolling the ships that traversed it – was crucial to the rise of the Athenian Empire. That has parallels with – and lessons for – today, when placing tolls on crucial shipping routes is again being debated.

A gateway to the Black Sea

The Dardanelles (which the ancient Greeks called Hellespont) is a narrow natural strait situated in modern-day Turkey.

Along with the Sea of Marmara and another strait to the north-east called the Bosphorus, it connects the Aegean Sea (and therefore the Mediterranean Sea) to the Black Sea.

From about 500 BC, the Greek city-states, but especially democratic Athens, began to realize that control of this waterway was crucial to their survival and success.

A couple of decades later, the Persian wars had only reinforced this realisation because Xerxes, the great king of the Persian Empire, had built a pontoon bridge across the Dardanelles to get his invading army into Greece.

 

 

An old engraved illustration of crossing the Hellespont by Xerxes with his huge army. mikroman6/Getty

After the Greeks defeated Xerxes in the Balkans in 480 and 479 BC, one of the first things they did was to secure the Dardanelles and capture other cities to its north in what is now Turkey, especially Byzantium (Istanbul today) and Chalcedon (now Kadıköy).

At the same time, the Athenians, who were now leading the Greek coalition against Persia, also captured three big islands on the approach to the strait: Imbros, Lemnos and Skyros.

This made it safer for their warships and grain ships to traverse the shipping route from Athens to the Dardanelles.

Feeding an empire

Securing this shipping route was soon about more than just warfare. It also allowed the Athenians fully to exploit the trade coming from the Bosporan kingdom, which covered roughly modern-day Crimea and parts of southern Ukraine.

Greece’s climate and terrain were well suited to some crops, and Athens was completely self-sufficient in olive oil. But very dry Attica especially was poorly suited to others – notably grain – so trade with the north was vital to fuelling its rise.

Controlling the Dardanelles and hence the shipping line to the Black Sea allowed the Athenians to secure enormous amounts of cheap food, leading to a huge population boom.

By 431 BC, the Peloponnesian War broke out between Athens and Sparta.

At this point, we know Athens was importing two thirds of its food from overseas, and the bulk of it through the Dardanelles.

Sparta and its allies invaded the territory of Athens repeatedly during the first ten years of this storied 30-year war. In response, the Athenians simply withdrew their population behind their fortifications and relied on the grain coming through the Dardanelles to keep them alive.

A 19th-century engraving depicting the ancient city of Athens at its peak. Wikimedia

Tolls on shipping

In the last ten years of the Peloponnesian War, when Athens started to run out of money, it actually became more heavy-handed in its control of this vital narrow waterway.

Athenian democracy had long had garrisons on either side of the Bosphorus to police what the other Greek city-states were importing through this shipping route.

But, in 413 BC, it introduced a 10% toll on the value of all cargo passing through this strait. The enormous amount of money this toll raised helped Athens hold out against Sparta for another seven years.

How losing control crushed Athens

However, the Spartans ultimately won the Peloponnesian War. In its final decade, they struck a deal with the Persian Empire to build a fleet to challenge Athens at sea.

In 405 BC, very close to modern-day Gallipoli, the Spartan fleet captured almost the entire last fleet of Athens without a battle – close to 200 ships – and executed the captured Athenian sailors.

Without any fleet, Athens lost control of the shipping line and the Spartans stopped the grain ships sailing to Athens from the north.

Athens was quickly starved into submission through a land and sea blockade, and ultimately lost the Peloponnesian War. Losing control of that vital narrow waterway near ancient Troy had thus resulted in the fall of the Athenian Empire.

The pattern repeats

Christopher Nolan’s film is poignant and timeless lesson about the human costs of war and how waging it should be an absolute last resort.

But the ancient history of the narrow waterway on which Troy was situated also holds lessons for understanding the current war between the United States and Iran.

The history of the Dardanelles warns us that states and empires can rise and fall over who controls such a waterway. Prudent states – such as democratic Athens – secure such straits over generations, using all the tools in their diplomatic and military tool kits to do so. To imperil free trade through such waterways or to act recklessly in relation to them can come at a terrible cost.

By David M. Pritchard, Associate Professor of Greek History, The University of Queensland. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

sb admin Thu, 07/16/2026 - 19:13

Categories

Social Sciences

from ScienceBlogs - Where the world discusses science https://ift.tt/mAhoUWj

Oldest Mars meteorite reveals Mars lost its water early

View larger. | Closeup of the Teghaza 001 Mars meteorite. A new analysis of this ancient piece of the red planet reveals it was starting to lose its water over 4 billion years ago. Image via NASA.

• Teghaza 001 is a meteorite that came from Mars. Prospectors found it in the Sahara Desert in 2022.
• Analysis of this rock suggests Mars began to lose its water very early in its history.
• Plus, it reveals Mars had a crust similar to granite, which is surprising given the planet lacks plate tectonics.

We’ve never needed good science more than we do right now. Support EarthSky in 2026 and help us keep it going strong.

Teghaza 001, the oldest known Mars meteorite

Many pieces of Martian material have been ejected from the red planet and reached Earth as meteorites. And one of the more recently discovered Martian meteorites might be the oldest yet.

That’s what a team of scientists, led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), said on July 16, 2026. Prospectors found the meteorite – named Teghaza 001 – in the Sahara Desert in September 2022. And researchers have identified the piece of Mars’ crust as being over 4.1 billion years old.

The meteorite hints that the planet was already losing its water at that early stage in its life. Plus, it points to a granite-like crust on ancient Mars. That’s surprising, as the formation of granite on Earth is associated with tectonic activity … and Mars lacks plate tectonics.

The not-yet peer-reviewed paper is available as a preprint on the ESS Open Archive (April 14, 2026). Additional papers are also expected.

This meteorite, called Teghaza 001, “will revolutionize the way that we think about early Mars.”Learn more: https://scim.ag/4yDBSYK

— Science Magazine (@science.org) 2026-07-21T22:40:01.528162083Z

A view into Mars’ past

Paper co-author Lee Saper is a geochemist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He gave a talk at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference in Montreal, Canada, on July 14. He said that the meteorite:

… will revolutionize the way that we think about early Mars.

And he’s likely right.

Teghaza 001 is only the second known Martian meteorite from the Martian crust in the earliest period of the planet’s history. The other one is Allan Hills 84001. So now, scientists have two meteorites to work with instead of just one. Lydia Hallis, a planetary scientist at the University of Glasgow, said:

We’ve doubled our old meteorites. There will be a lot of people, including me, who want to get a piece of this.

So what does the meteorite show?

Tegzaza is rich in both zircons and silicon. Zircon minerals contain tiny amounts of uranium. The uranium decays into lead over time. Since it decays at a known rate, scientists can use it to determine the age of the meteorite.

If the zircon minerals melt or are exposed to fluids, though, then their “clocks” are reset to zero. This means that the meteorite might be even older than 4.1 billion years. Christopher Herd, a geologist at the University of Alberta, said:

There’s more of a story to this rock than most other Martian meteorites.

View larger. | NASA’s Perseverance rover found this unusual speckled white rock called Atoko Point last year. It has a granite-like appearance and contains feldspar, one of the key components of granite on Earth. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ ASU/ MSSS/ LiveScience.

Mars meteorite hints at granite-like crust on ancient Mars

But there was another surprise in the meteorite: it contained a lot of silicon. This hinted at granite-like rocks on ancient Mars. As Eva Scheller, a planetary scientist at Stanford University, noted:

It’s very strange; we don’t expect that.

Scientists never expected Mars to have much granite since it lacks plate tectonics (the division of a planet’s upper crust into multiple different pieces, or plates). On Earth, granite forms from cooling magma. And most of that magma is generated by the movement of tectonic plates. Meanwhile, most of Mars’ crust is composed of solid basalt.

But it’s starting to look like Mars did once have at least some granite, or granite-like rock. Impacts from meteorites have exposed some deposits. And last year, the Perseverance rover discovered a rock outcrop, called Plankeholmane, that looks a lot like granite on Earth. It contained quartz, a key component of granite.

And last year, the rover found an odd speckled white rock called Atoko Point that also appeared quite granite-like. It contained pyroxene and feldspar. Feldspar is also a component of granite on Earth.

How was Mars able to produce such deposits without plate tectonics? Scientists don’t know yet. This evidence also points to complex magma systems on early Mars, as does this other recent study.

Yang liu at Caltech is the lead author of the new study about the Teghaza 001 meteorite from Mars. Image via Caltech.

When Mars dried up

The meteorite also provides valuable clues about past water on Mars. Both it and the Allan Hills meteorite show that Mars had more water early in its history. But they also indicate that Mars began to lose its water early on, as the planet’s magnetic field disappeared and the atmosphere thinned and became much colder. Considering that these meteorites are at least 4.1 billion years old, and Mars – like Earth – formed some 4.5 billion years ago, this loss of water seems to have come in the planet’s infancy.

The clues come from the ratios of hydrogen in the meteorites. When Mars began to lose its water, the higher ratio of hydrogen – the primary component of water – to deuterium dropped. Super said:

This is the product of rapid hydrogen loss from the juvenile Martian atmosphere.

The new analysis of Teghaza 001 has provided new clues about Mars’ ancient past. And it also raises new questions. It will be interesting to see what else it and similar Mars meteorites reveal!

Bottom line: A new analysis of the the oldest known Mars meteorite, Teghaza 001, reveals evidence for a granite-like crust and the start of the loss of water on early Mars.

Source: Teghaza 001: An ancient Martian gabbroic diorite derived from previously unsampled Martian crust and mantle

Via Science

Read more: A famous Mars meteorite, now with nitrogen

Read more: Methane in Mars meteorites = life?

The post Oldest Mars meteorite reveals Mars lost its water early first appeared on EarthSky.

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View larger. | Closeup of the Teghaza 001 Mars meteorite. A new analysis of this ancient piece of the red planet reveals it was starting to lose its water over 4 billion years ago. Image via NASA.

• Teghaza 001 is a meteorite that came from Mars. Prospectors found it in the Sahara Desert in 2022.
• Analysis of this rock suggests Mars began to lose its water very early in its history.
• Plus, it reveals Mars had a crust similar to granite, which is surprising given the planet lacks plate tectonics.

We’ve never needed good science more than we do right now. Support EarthSky in 2026 and help us keep it going strong.

Teghaza 001, the oldest known Mars meteorite

Many pieces of Martian material have been ejected from the red planet and reached Earth as meteorites. And one of the more recently discovered Martian meteorites might be the oldest yet.

That’s what a team of scientists, led by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), said on July 16, 2026. Prospectors found the meteorite – named Teghaza 001 – in the Sahara Desert in September 2022. And researchers have identified the piece of Mars’ crust as being over 4.1 billion years old.

The meteorite hints that the planet was already losing its water at that early stage in its life. Plus, it points to a granite-like crust on ancient Mars. That’s surprising, as the formation of granite on Earth is associated with tectonic activity … and Mars lacks plate tectonics.

The not-yet peer-reviewed paper is available as a preprint on the ESS Open Archive (April 14, 2026). Additional papers are also expected.

This meteorite, called Teghaza 001, “will revolutionize the way that we think about early Mars.”Learn more: https://scim.ag/4yDBSYK

— Science Magazine (@science.org) 2026-07-21T22:40:01.528162083Z

A view into Mars’ past

Paper co-author Lee Saper is a geochemist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He gave a talk at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference in Montreal, Canada, on July 14. He said that the meteorite:

… will revolutionize the way that we think about early Mars.

And he’s likely right.

Teghaza 001 is only the second known Martian meteorite from the Martian crust in the earliest period of the planet’s history. The other one is Allan Hills 84001. So now, scientists have two meteorites to work with instead of just one. Lydia Hallis, a planetary scientist at the University of Glasgow, said:

We’ve doubled our old meteorites. There will be a lot of people, including me, who want to get a piece of this.

So what does the meteorite show?

Tegzaza is rich in both zircons and silicon. Zircon minerals contain tiny amounts of uranium. The uranium decays into lead over time. Since it decays at a known rate, scientists can use it to determine the age of the meteorite.

If the zircon minerals melt or are exposed to fluids, though, then their “clocks” are reset to zero. This means that the meteorite might be even older than 4.1 billion years. Christopher Herd, a geologist at the University of Alberta, said:

There’s more of a story to this rock than most other Martian meteorites.

View larger. | NASA’s Perseverance rover found this unusual speckled white rock called Atoko Point last year. It has a granite-like appearance and contains feldspar, one of the key components of granite on Earth. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ ASU/ MSSS/ LiveScience.

Mars meteorite hints at granite-like crust on ancient Mars

But there was another surprise in the meteorite: it contained a lot of silicon. This hinted at granite-like rocks on ancient Mars. As Eva Scheller, a planetary scientist at Stanford University, noted:

It’s very strange; we don’t expect that.

Scientists never expected Mars to have much granite since it lacks plate tectonics (the division of a planet’s upper crust into multiple different pieces, or plates). On Earth, granite forms from cooling magma. And most of that magma is generated by the movement of tectonic plates. Meanwhile, most of Mars’ crust is composed of solid basalt.

But it’s starting to look like Mars did once have at least some granite, or granite-like rock. Impacts from meteorites have exposed some deposits. And last year, the Perseverance rover discovered a rock outcrop, called Plankeholmane, that looks a lot like granite on Earth. It contained quartz, a key component of granite.

And last year, the rover found an odd speckled white rock called Atoko Point that also appeared quite granite-like. It contained pyroxene and feldspar. Feldspar is also a component of granite on Earth.

How was Mars able to produce such deposits without plate tectonics? Scientists don’t know yet. This evidence also points to complex magma systems on early Mars, as does this other recent study.

Yang liu at Caltech is the lead author of the new study about the Teghaza 001 meteorite from Mars. Image via Caltech.

When Mars dried up

The meteorite also provides valuable clues about past water on Mars. Both it and the Allan Hills meteorite show that Mars had more water early in its history. But they also indicate that Mars began to lose its water early on, as the planet’s magnetic field disappeared and the atmosphere thinned and became much colder. Considering that these meteorites are at least 4.1 billion years old, and Mars – like Earth – formed some 4.5 billion years ago, this loss of water seems to have come in the planet’s infancy.

The clues come from the ratios of hydrogen in the meteorites. When Mars began to lose its water, the higher ratio of hydrogen – the primary component of water – to deuterium dropped. Super said:

This is the product of rapid hydrogen loss from the juvenile Martian atmosphere.

The new analysis of Teghaza 001 has provided new clues about Mars’ ancient past. And it also raises new questions. It will be interesting to see what else it and similar Mars meteorites reveal!

Bottom line: A new analysis of the the oldest known Mars meteorite, Teghaza 001, reveals evidence for a granite-like crust and the start of the loss of water on early Mars.

Source: Teghaza 001: An ancient Martian gabbroic diorite derived from previously unsampled Martian crust and mantle

Via Science

Read more: A famous Mars meteorite, now with nitrogen

Read more: Methane in Mars meteorites = life?

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Vulpecula the Fox lies inside the Summer Triangle

In the east on June, July and August evenings, you’ll find the large pattern of the Summer Triangle, made of 3 bright stars. And from a dark sky, you can also spot Vulpecula the Fox inside the triangle. Chart via EarthSky.

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Vulpecula the Fox is not an ancient constellation. Instead, it’s one of many created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Hevelius carved a lot of new constellations out of dim regions of sky next to better-known constellations. Vulpecula is one of the small constellations that lies inside the famous asterism of the Summer Triangle. And it contains two favorite targets of amateur astronomers.

Locating Vulpecula the Fox

Although Vulpecula the Fox is a dim constellation, you can find it easily under dark skies because of its location within the Summer Triangle. Only Vulpecula and Sagitta the Arrow reside within the boundaries of this star pattern.

If you don’t know how to find the Summer Triangle, look for three bright stars rising in the east after dark. These stars are Altair in Aquila the Eagle, Deneb in Cygnus the Swan and Vega in Lyra the Harp. Vulpecula lies near the head of Cygnus the Swan, near the colorful double star Albireo.

Stars in Vulpecula

Vulpecula is small in size (ranking 55th out of 88 constellations) and contains no bright stars of note. But that doesn’t mean it has little to offer!

The star grouping that brings amateur astronomers to Vulpecula is the Coathanger. The Coathanger has a few other names, such as Brocchi’s Cluster and Collinder 399. Although it’s called a cluster, studies have shown that it’s not a cluster in the formal sense – a group of gravitationally connected stars – but instead just a chance alignment of stars. This becomes more clear when you learn that the distances to its 10 or so stars span a vast range, including 218 light-years, 400 light-years, 760 light-years, 901 light-years and 1,132 light-years.

The Coathanger consists of stars of magnitude 5 and 6. They are arranged in a horizontal row with a hook shape sticking out from its middle, meaning they very much resemble a coathanger. You can see this best through binoculars or a low-power telescope. Through binoculars in the Northern Hemisphere, the Coathanger will appear upside down, but through the inverted view of a telescope, it appears right side up. And it’s the opposite for those in the Southern Hemisphere.

You can find the Coathanger about halfway between Albireo and Zeta Aquilae, the wingtip of Aquila the Eagle.

The Coathanger Cluster looks like its namesake. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

The stars of Vulpecula the Fox. Image via IAU.

The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula

The Dumbbell Nebula is another favorite target of amateur astronomers in Vulpecula.

This nebula lies about 8 1/2 degrees east of Albireo. Also known as M27, it glows at magnitude 8.1.

The Dumbbell Nebula became the first known planetary nebula when Charles Messier discovered it in 1764.

You can see the Dumbbell in binoculars, and even a small telescope can bring out its slight hourglass shape. The nebula, which lies about 1,360 light-years away, was created when the central star blew off its envelope of gas at the end of its life.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mario Rana in Hampton, Virginia, captured the Dumbbell Nebula (Messier 27) in the constellation Vulpecula on October 16, 2025. Thank you, Mario!

Bottom line: Vulpecula the Fox is a small constellation that lies inside the Summer Triangle. Amateur astronomers go here to spot the Coathanger Cluster and the Dumbbell Nebula.

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In the east on June, July and August evenings, you’ll find the large pattern of the Summer Triangle, made of 3 bright stars. And from a dark sky, you can also spot Vulpecula the Fox inside the triangle. Chart via EarthSky.

Your support = more science, more stars, more wonder. Donate to EarthSky and be part of something bigger.

Vulpecula the Fox is not an ancient constellation. Instead, it’s one of many created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Hevelius carved a lot of new constellations out of dim regions of sky next to better-known constellations. Vulpecula is one of the small constellations that lies inside the famous asterism of the Summer Triangle. And it contains two favorite targets of amateur astronomers.

Locating Vulpecula the Fox

Although Vulpecula the Fox is a dim constellation, you can find it easily under dark skies because of its location within the Summer Triangle. Only Vulpecula and Sagitta the Arrow reside within the boundaries of this star pattern.

If you don’t know how to find the Summer Triangle, look for three bright stars rising in the east after dark. These stars are Altair in Aquila the Eagle, Deneb in Cygnus the Swan and Vega in Lyra the Harp. Vulpecula lies near the head of Cygnus the Swan, near the colorful double star Albireo.

Stars in Vulpecula

Vulpecula is small in size (ranking 55th out of 88 constellations) and contains no bright stars of note. But that doesn’t mean it has little to offer!

The star grouping that brings amateur astronomers to Vulpecula is the Coathanger. The Coathanger has a few other names, such as Brocchi’s Cluster and Collinder 399. Although it’s called a cluster, studies have shown that it’s not a cluster in the formal sense – a group of gravitationally connected stars – but instead just a chance alignment of stars. This becomes more clear when you learn that the distances to its 10 or so stars span a vast range, including 218 light-years, 400 light-years, 760 light-years, 901 light-years and 1,132 light-years.

The Coathanger consists of stars of magnitude 5 and 6. They are arranged in a horizontal row with a hook shape sticking out from its middle, meaning they very much resemble a coathanger. You can see this best through binoculars or a low-power telescope. Through binoculars in the Northern Hemisphere, the Coathanger will appear upside down, but through the inverted view of a telescope, it appears right side up. And it’s the opposite for those in the Southern Hemisphere.

You can find the Coathanger about halfway between Albireo and Zeta Aquilae, the wingtip of Aquila the Eagle.

The Coathanger Cluster looks like its namesake. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

The stars of Vulpecula the Fox. Image via IAU.

The Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula

The Dumbbell Nebula is another favorite target of amateur astronomers in Vulpecula.

This nebula lies about 8 1/2 degrees east of Albireo. Also known as M27, it glows at magnitude 8.1.

The Dumbbell Nebula became the first known planetary nebula when Charles Messier discovered it in 1764.

You can see the Dumbbell in binoculars, and even a small telescope can bring out its slight hourglass shape. The nebula, which lies about 1,360 light-years away, was created when the central star blew off its envelope of gas at the end of its life.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mario Rana in Hampton, Virginia, captured the Dumbbell Nebula (Messier 27) in the constellation Vulpecula on October 16, 2025. Thank you, Mario!

Bottom line: Vulpecula the Fox is a small constellation that lies inside the Summer Triangle. Amateur astronomers go here to spot the Coathanger Cluster and the Dumbbell Nebula.

The post Vulpecula the Fox lies inside the Summer Triangle first appeared on EarthSky.

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Delta Aquariid meteor shower: All you need to know in 2026

The radiant point for the Delta Aquariid meteor shower – the point in the sky that these meteors seem to fly from – is near the faint star Skat, or Delta Aquarii. It rises in mid-evening, is highest around 2 a.m. and low in the sky by dawn. Use the bright, nearby star Fomalhaut to guide you to the Delta Aquariid radiant point. Find Fomalhaut by drawing a line southward through the stars on the west side of the Great Square of Pegasus. This chart shows a wide area, from overhead to southward, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. From the Southern Hemisphere, the radiant is closer to overhead.

Your support = more science, more stars, more wonder. Donate to EarthSky and be part of something bigger.?

Delta Aquariid meteor shower

Predicted peak: The peak is predicted** for 10 UTC on July 30, 2026. But this shower doesn’t have a noticeable peak. It rambles along steadily from late July through early August, joining forces with the August Perseids.
When to watch: Watch late July through early August, mid-evening to dawn.
Duration of shower: July 18 to August 21.
Radiant: Rises in mid-evening, highest around 2 a.m. and low in the sky by dawn. See chart below.
Nearest moon phase: In 2026, the full moon falls at 14:36 UTC on July 29. Take advantage of the moon-free mornings – after midnight – the week before this date to see the most Delta Aquariids (and early Perseids).
Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: The Delta Aquariids’ maximum hourly rate can reach 15 to 20 meteors in a dark sky with no moon. You’ll typically see plenty of Delta Aquariids mixed in with the Perseids if you’re watching in early August.
Note: Like May’s Eta Aquariids, July’s Delta Aquariids favors the Southern Hemisphere. Skywatchers at high northern latitudes tend to discount it. But the shower can be excellent from latitudes like those in the southern U.S. Delta Aquariid meteors tend to be fainter than Perseid meteors. So a moon-free dark sky is essential. About 5% to 10% of the Delta Aquariid meteors leave persistent trains, or glowing gas trails that last a second or two after the meteor has passed.

Read more: Meteors in moonlight: 6 tips for watching

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

The Delta Aquariid’s parent comet

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

The Delta Aquariid meteor shower’s parent comet comes from the 96P/Machholz Complex.

The 96P/Machholz Complex is a collection of eight meteor showers, including the Delta Aquariids, plus two comet groups (Marsden and Kracht), and at least one asteroid (2003 EH1). These meteor showers, and these comets, appear to share a common origin (although they’ve now diverged slightly in their orbits around the sun).

They are all related to the comet known as 96P/Machholz, which I discovered on May 12, 1986, from Loma Prieta Mountain in California.

At discovery, the comet was magnitude 10 and 2 degrees south of the Andromeda galaxy. I was using my 6-inch homemade binoculars for this find. Read the story of the discovery.

As a matter of fact, scientists had suspected the existence of the 96P/Machholz Complex in 2003. Finally, they fully described it in 2005, after conducting more studies.

A changing orbit

Comet 96P/Machholz orbits the sun every 5.3 years and gets eight times closer to the sun than we are. That is, its perihelion distance is 0.12 astronomical units (AU). One AU is the distance between the Earth and the sun. So, this comet comes well inside the orbit of Mercury. Over the course of 4,000 years, the comet’s orbit changes in shape and tilt, so that it leaves particles throughout the inner solar system. It gets around!

A recent study suggests that the material causing the Delta Aquariid meteor shower left the comet’s nucleus about 20,000 years ago. So, basically, it’s old dust streaking across our skies.

The late, great Don Machholz discovered comet 96P Machholz, the parent of the Delta Aquariid meteor shower, on May 12, 1986. This 2007 image is from the HI-2 camera of the STEREO-A spacecraft. Image via NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.

Perseid? Or Delta Aquariid?

Perseid and Delta Aquariid meteors fly in our skies at the same time of year. How can you tell them apart? This is where the concept of a radiant point comes in handy. If you trace all the Delta Aquariid meteors backward, they appear to radiate from a certain point in front of the constellation Aquarius, which, as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, arcs across the southern sky.

Meanwhile, the Perseids radiate from the constellation Perseus, in the northeast to high in the north between midnight and dawn as seen in Northern Hemisphere skies.

So if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere and watching around midnight or after, meteors coming from the northeast or north will be Perseids. If you see them coming from the south … they are Delta Aquariids. In a particularly rich year for meteors – and if you have a dark sky – you might even see them cross paths!

Delta Aquariid meteor shower photos from the EarthSky community

Submit your photos to EarthSky here

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Bass Seckin in Bursa, Turkey, captured these meteors on July 29, 2020, and wrote: “Bursa is a 3 million populated city located in northwestern Turkey. It’s almost impossible to see meteors there … I went 100 kilometers (60 miles) out eastward for excluding light pollution. Interestingly I had seen only 1 or 2 meteors with unaided eye, but when I checked the frames I saw there were 4 to 6 meteors on a single frame. The reddish spot at the center of the image is Mars, and Delta Aquariids meteors’ traces are from upper right corner toward bottom.” Thank you, Bass!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | James Reynolds in Asheville, North Carolina, captured this image of a meteor on August 11, 2021. He wrote: “I am unsure whether this is a Perseid or a Delta Aquariid, but it is the 2nd largest meteor I’ve captured an image of (1st being what became an EarthSky photo of the day from last year’s Leonid meteor shower). You can see some clouds in this image, and they are going to get thicker where I am over the next few days, so I am glad I spent an hour outside early this morning to observe and photograph the meteor shower, and particularly grateful for this little gift from the universe.” Thank you, James!

Bottom line: The peak of the Delta Aquariid meteor shower is late July. But the shower rambles along steadily in late July and August, intermingling with the Perseids. In 2026, watch in the moon-free mornings – after midnight – the week before the peak to avoid moonlight.

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

Everything you need to know: Perseid meteor shower

Meteor showers: Tips for watching the show

EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

Learn how to shoot photos of meteors

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

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The radiant point for the Delta Aquariid meteor shower – the point in the sky that these meteors seem to fly from – is near the faint star Skat, or Delta Aquarii. It rises in mid-evening, is highest around 2 a.m. and low in the sky by dawn. Use the bright, nearby star Fomalhaut to guide you to the Delta Aquariid radiant point. Find Fomalhaut by drawing a line southward through the stars on the west side of the Great Square of Pegasus. This chart shows a wide area, from overhead to southward, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. From the Southern Hemisphere, the radiant is closer to overhead.

Your support = more science, more stars, more wonder. Donate to EarthSky and be part of something bigger.?

Delta Aquariid meteor shower

Predicted peak: The peak is predicted** for 10 UTC on July 30, 2026. But this shower doesn’t have a noticeable peak. It rambles along steadily from late July through early August, joining forces with the August Perseids.
When to watch: Watch late July through early August, mid-evening to dawn.
Duration of shower: July 18 to August 21.
Radiant: Rises in mid-evening, highest around 2 a.m. and low in the sky by dawn. See chart below.
Nearest moon phase: In 2026, the full moon falls at 14:36 UTC on July 29. Take advantage of the moon-free mornings – after midnight – the week before this date to see the most Delta Aquariids (and early Perseids).
Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: The Delta Aquariids’ maximum hourly rate can reach 15 to 20 meteors in a dark sky with no moon. You’ll typically see plenty of Delta Aquariids mixed in with the Perseids if you’re watching in early August.
Note: Like May’s Eta Aquariids, July’s Delta Aquariids favors the Southern Hemisphere. Skywatchers at high northern latitudes tend to discount it. But the shower can be excellent from latitudes like those in the southern U.S. Delta Aquariid meteors tend to be fainter than Perseid meteors. So a moon-free dark sky is essential. About 5% to 10% of the Delta Aquariid meteors leave persistent trains, or glowing gas trails that last a second or two after the meteor has passed.

Read more: Meteors in moonlight: 6 tips for watching

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

The Delta Aquariid’s parent comet

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

The Delta Aquariid meteor shower’s parent comet comes from the 96P/Machholz Complex.

The 96P/Machholz Complex is a collection of eight meteor showers, including the Delta Aquariids, plus two comet groups (Marsden and Kracht), and at least one asteroid (2003 EH1). These meteor showers, and these comets, appear to share a common origin (although they’ve now diverged slightly in their orbits around the sun).

They are all related to the comet known as 96P/Machholz, which I discovered on May 12, 1986, from Loma Prieta Mountain in California.

At discovery, the comet was magnitude 10 and 2 degrees south of the Andromeda galaxy. I was using my 6-inch homemade binoculars for this find. Read the story of the discovery.

As a matter of fact, scientists had suspected the existence of the 96P/Machholz Complex in 2003. Finally, they fully described it in 2005, after conducting more studies.

A changing orbit

Comet 96P/Machholz orbits the sun every 5.3 years and gets eight times closer to the sun than we are. That is, its perihelion distance is 0.12 astronomical units (AU). One AU is the distance between the Earth and the sun. So, this comet comes well inside the orbit of Mercury. Over the course of 4,000 years, the comet’s orbit changes in shape and tilt, so that it leaves particles throughout the inner solar system. It gets around!

A recent study suggests that the material causing the Delta Aquariid meteor shower left the comet’s nucleus about 20,000 years ago. So, basically, it’s old dust streaking across our skies.

The late, great Don Machholz discovered comet 96P Machholz, the parent of the Delta Aquariid meteor shower, on May 12, 1986. This 2007 image is from the HI-2 camera of the STEREO-A spacecraft. Image via NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.

Perseid? Or Delta Aquariid?

Perseid and Delta Aquariid meteors fly in our skies at the same time of year. How can you tell them apart? This is where the concept of a radiant point comes in handy. If you trace all the Delta Aquariid meteors backward, they appear to radiate from a certain point in front of the constellation Aquarius, which, as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, arcs across the southern sky.

Meanwhile, the Perseids radiate from the constellation Perseus, in the northeast to high in the north between midnight and dawn as seen in Northern Hemisphere skies.

So if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere and watching around midnight or after, meteors coming from the northeast or north will be Perseids. If you see them coming from the south … they are Delta Aquariids. In a particularly rich year for meteors – and if you have a dark sky – you might even see them cross paths!

Delta Aquariid meteor shower photos from the EarthSky community

Submit your photos to EarthSky here

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Bass Seckin in Bursa, Turkey, captured these meteors on July 29, 2020, and wrote: “Bursa is a 3 million populated city located in northwestern Turkey. It’s almost impossible to see meteors there … I went 100 kilometers (60 miles) out eastward for excluding light pollution. Interestingly I had seen only 1 or 2 meteors with unaided eye, but when I checked the frames I saw there were 4 to 6 meteors on a single frame. The reddish spot at the center of the image is Mars, and Delta Aquariids meteors’ traces are from upper right corner toward bottom.” Thank you, Bass!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | James Reynolds in Asheville, North Carolina, captured this image of a meteor on August 11, 2021. He wrote: “I am unsure whether this is a Perseid or a Delta Aquariid, but it is the 2nd largest meteor I’ve captured an image of (1st being what became an EarthSky photo of the day from last year’s Leonid meteor shower). You can see some clouds in this image, and they are going to get thicker where I am over the next few days, so I am glad I spent an hour outside early this morning to observe and photograph the meteor shower, and particularly grateful for this little gift from the universe.” Thank you, James!

Bottom line: The peak of the Delta Aquariid meteor shower is late July. But the shower rambles along steadily in late July and August, intermingling with the Perseids. In 2026, watch in the moon-free mornings – after midnight – the week before the peak to avoid moonlight.

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

Everything you need to know: Perseid meteor shower

Meteor showers: Tips for watching the show

EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

Learn how to shoot photos of meteors

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

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M6 and M7: Open star clusters in the Scorpion’s Tail

In a dark sky, you’ll see 2 famous star clusters – M6 and M7 – in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. In this photo, Messier 7 – aka Ptolemy’s Cluster – is above the tree on the left. Messier 6, the Butterfly Cluster, is a bit smaller, positioned near the center top of the image. And Shaula and Lesath, the stinger stars in Scorpius, are prominent in the lower right. Image via Tom and Jane Wildoner/ Dark Side Observatory/ Flickr. Used with permission.

• The star clusters M6 (Butterfly Cluster) and M7 (Ptolemy’s Cluster) are near the tail of the Scorpion in the constellation Scorpius. Look for them on dark Northern Hemisphere summer nights!
• Both M6 and M7 are open star clusters, which means they are groups of stars that formed together from the same cloud of gas and dust, making them like star siblings.
• You can spot these clusters with your unaided eye on a dark, moonless night, but they look even more beautiful through binoculars.

M6 and M7: Open star clusters in the Scorpion’s Tail

Two spectacular star clusters glitter near Scorpius the Scorpion’s stinger stars, Shaula and Lesath. Messier 6 and Messier 7 – or M6 and M7 – are open star clusters. Each cluster is a group of stars formed from the same huge cloud of gas.

These two clusters are visible on summer evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, or winter evenings in the Southern Hemisphere. They’re best viewed in a dark sky, and are a stunning sight through binoculars.

The constellation Scorpius with the positions of the star clusters M7 and M6 marked. Chart by EarthSky.

We live in uncertain times. But things are always so much more peaceful, looking up. Please help EarthSky keep going!

How to find M6 and M7

These star clusters are easy to spot in a dark sky near the curved tail of the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. Scorpius is shaped like the letter J. And the two stars, Shaula and Lesath – at the end of the curved part of the J – mark the end of the Scorpion’s Tail. They’re known as the Cat’s Eyes, or the stinger of Scorpius.

Plus, if you draw an imaginary line from Lesath through Shaula, you’ll find M7, which is the brighter and larger of the two star clusters. Then from M7, you find M6 only a short hop away.

And although M6 and M7 are visible to the unaided eye on a dark, moonless night, the brilliance and beauty of these deep sky objects is magnificent through binoculars.

If you’re in the northern U.S., Canada or a similar latitude, you’ll need an unobstructed horizon toward the south to find M6 and M7. They are highest in the sky when due south, and even then never climb very high in the sky. Meanwhile, from latitudes like those in the southern U.S., the clusters are easy to spot at their highest in the south, above the Scorpion’s Tail. Generally, Scorpius is much easier to view from the equator and most of the Southern Hemisphere.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Dr Ski captured this image from the Philippines and wrote: “The Scorpion’s stinger is comprised of Shaula and Lesath. These stars point the way to magnificent Ptolemy’s Open Cluster (M7). Just 3 degrees to the northwest is the Butterfly Cluster (M6). Binoculars will show you these clusters, along with all the dark nebulae snaking around this region!” Thank you, Dr Ski!

Best time to view

Consequently, in mid-June, these clusters are visible in the sky around midnight (1 a.m. daylight saving time in the U.S.). And keep in mind that all the stars (and star clusters) return to the same place in the sky some four minutes earlier with each passing day, or two hours earlier with each passing month. Therefore, M6 and M7 appear highest in the sky at about 10 p.m. (11 p.m. daylight saving time) in mid-July, and 8 p.m. (9 p.m. daylight saving time) in mid-August.

M6 and M7 science

Even though M6 (Butterfly Cluster) and M7 (Ptolemy’s Cluster) appear close together on the sky’s dome, they are far apart in space. Indeed, M6 is about 1,600 light-years away and shines at magnitude 4.2. M7 is about 980 light-years and shines at magnitude 3.3. So, the clusters are not related to each other, but only appear near each other along our line of sight.

But, within each cluster, the stars are related. Each cluster was born from a single interstellar cloud of gas and dust. The hundreds of stars in each cluster are indeed sibling stars, in that they are gravitationally bound to one another and travel in the same direction through space. Therefore, astronomers call such a collection of stars an open star cluster.

Messier 6 through a wide field telescope and camera. Image via Fred Espenak. Used with permission.

Messier 7 through a wide field telescope and camera. Image via Fred Espenak. Used with permission.

The clusters are in the thick of the Milky Way

M6 and M7 reside near the galactic equator, the region on the sky’s dome rich with star clusters, star clouds and nebulae. Once you find M6 and M7, try locating other deep-sky binocular doubles, such as M8 and M20. And also check out M16 and M17. These deep-sky wonders loom farther away. Also, M6 and M7 are open star clusters. But M8 and M20, and M16 and M17, are nebulae where stars are forming.

Bottom line: Messier 6 and Messier 7 are striking star clusters near the tail of Scorpius. M6 and M7 are best in dark sky conditions through binoculars.

The post M6 and M7: Open star clusters in the Scorpion’s Tail first appeared on EarthSky.

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In a dark sky, you’ll see 2 famous star clusters – M6 and M7 – in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. In this photo, Messier 7 – aka Ptolemy’s Cluster – is above the tree on the left. Messier 6, the Butterfly Cluster, is a bit smaller, positioned near the center top of the image. And Shaula and Lesath, the stinger stars in Scorpius, are prominent in the lower right. Image via Tom and Jane Wildoner/ Dark Side Observatory/ Flickr. Used with permission.

• The star clusters M6 (Butterfly Cluster) and M7 (Ptolemy’s Cluster) are near the tail of the Scorpion in the constellation Scorpius. Look for them on dark Northern Hemisphere summer nights!
• Both M6 and M7 are open star clusters, which means they are groups of stars that formed together from the same cloud of gas and dust, making them like star siblings.
• You can spot these clusters with your unaided eye on a dark, moonless night, but they look even more beautiful through binoculars.

M6 and M7: Open star clusters in the Scorpion’s Tail

Two spectacular star clusters glitter near Scorpius the Scorpion’s stinger stars, Shaula and Lesath. Messier 6 and Messier 7 – or M6 and M7 – are open star clusters. Each cluster is a group of stars formed from the same huge cloud of gas.

These two clusters are visible on summer evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, or winter evenings in the Southern Hemisphere. They’re best viewed in a dark sky, and are a stunning sight through binoculars.

The constellation Scorpius with the positions of the star clusters M7 and M6 marked. Chart by EarthSky.

We live in uncertain times. But things are always so much more peaceful, looking up. Please help EarthSky keep going!

How to find M6 and M7

These star clusters are easy to spot in a dark sky near the curved tail of the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. Scorpius is shaped like the letter J. And the two stars, Shaula and Lesath – at the end of the curved part of the J – mark the end of the Scorpion’s Tail. They’re known as the Cat’s Eyes, or the stinger of Scorpius.

Plus, if you draw an imaginary line from Lesath through Shaula, you’ll find M7, which is the brighter and larger of the two star clusters. Then from M7, you find M6 only a short hop away.

And although M6 and M7 are visible to the unaided eye on a dark, moonless night, the brilliance and beauty of these deep sky objects is magnificent through binoculars.

If you’re in the northern U.S., Canada or a similar latitude, you’ll need an unobstructed horizon toward the south to find M6 and M7. They are highest in the sky when due south, and even then never climb very high in the sky. Meanwhile, from latitudes like those in the southern U.S., the clusters are easy to spot at their highest in the south, above the Scorpion’s Tail. Generally, Scorpius is much easier to view from the equator and most of the Southern Hemisphere.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Dr Ski captured this image from the Philippines and wrote: “The Scorpion’s stinger is comprised of Shaula and Lesath. These stars point the way to magnificent Ptolemy’s Open Cluster (M7). Just 3 degrees to the northwest is the Butterfly Cluster (M6). Binoculars will show you these clusters, along with all the dark nebulae snaking around this region!” Thank you, Dr Ski!

Best time to view

Consequently, in mid-June, these clusters are visible in the sky around midnight (1 a.m. daylight saving time in the U.S.). And keep in mind that all the stars (and star clusters) return to the same place in the sky some four minutes earlier with each passing day, or two hours earlier with each passing month. Therefore, M6 and M7 appear highest in the sky at about 10 p.m. (11 p.m. daylight saving time) in mid-July, and 8 p.m. (9 p.m. daylight saving time) in mid-August.

M6 and M7 science

Even though M6 (Butterfly Cluster) and M7 (Ptolemy’s Cluster) appear close together on the sky’s dome, they are far apart in space. Indeed, M6 is about 1,600 light-years away and shines at magnitude 4.2. M7 is about 980 light-years and shines at magnitude 3.3. So, the clusters are not related to each other, but only appear near each other along our line of sight.

But, within each cluster, the stars are related. Each cluster was born from a single interstellar cloud of gas and dust. The hundreds of stars in each cluster are indeed sibling stars, in that they are gravitationally bound to one another and travel in the same direction through space. Therefore, astronomers call such a collection of stars an open star cluster.

Messier 6 through a wide field telescope and camera. Image via Fred Espenak. Used with permission.

Messier 7 through a wide field telescope and camera. Image via Fred Espenak. Used with permission.

The clusters are in the thick of the Milky Way

M6 and M7 reside near the galactic equator, the region on the sky’s dome rich with star clusters, star clouds and nebulae. Once you find M6 and M7, try locating other deep-sky binocular doubles, such as M8 and M20. And also check out M16 and M17. These deep-sky wonders loom farther away. Also, M6 and M7 are open star clusters. But M8 and M20, and M16 and M17, are nebulae where stars are forming.

Bottom line: Messier 6 and Messier 7 are striking star clusters near the tail of Scorpius. M6 and M7 are best in dark sky conditions through binoculars.

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Have we found the first exomoon … around a brown dwarf?

Astronomers have discovered an object orbiting a brown dwarf or “failed star”. Is it the first exomoon, or moon outside our solar system? Astronomers are debating what to call it. Why? Because moons orbit planets … And this exomoon is orbiting a brown dwarf, which is an object that’s too massive to be a planet but not massive enough to shine like a star. Video via ESO.

Did we find an exomoon around a brown dwarf?

Exomoons are moons that exist outside our own solar system. We’ve yet to definitively find a single one! That’s because they are small and dim, circling exoplanets that are also small and dim, hidden in the glare of the stars they orbit. But on July 22, 2026, the European Southern Observatory said astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile believe they have detected an exomoon.

Only, there’s one problem: it doesn’t orbit a planet. Instead, it orbits a brown dwarf. A brown dwarf is an object that’s too massive to be considered a planet, but not massive enough to ignite and shine like a star. And this particular brown dwarf orbits a star, named CD-35 2722. So astronomers are debating what to call the newly discovered object. Is it the first discovered exomoon, or something else?

The researchers published their peer-reviewed paper on July 22, 2026, in the journal Nature.

A ‘super weird’ system

Not all brown dwarfs orbit stars, but this one does. The star in this system is named CD-35 2722, and it’s about half the mass of our sun. But even though the brown dwarf orbits this star, it’s not a planet, because it’s too massive. Brown dwarfs are so massive compared to planets that they’re sometimes called “failed stars”. Though far heavier than the objects we call planets, they aren’t quite massive enough to begin nuclear fusion and shine like a star does.

And then we have the newly discovered object, which orbits the brown dwarf. Normally we think of a moon as something that orbits a planet, which orbits a star. So what orbits a brown dwarf? Is it an exomoon? That’s what astronomers are having to decide: the semantics of the system. In any case, the lead author of the new study, Kevin Hoy, an ESO student in Chile, calls it:

super weird.

Right now, the team is calling the object an exosatellite. The object is at least as massive as Jupiter. Meanwhile, the brown dwarf it orbits is about 30 times as massive as Jupiter. Hoy said:

This system is somewhat hard to define using solar-system-based words like ‘planet’ and ‘moon’. The exosatellite is clearly massive enough to be a planet, but it does not orbit a star, though it orbits an object that orbits a star. Being the third wheel in this system makes us want to call it a moon, even if it is nothing like the small, rocky moons we have in our system.

This is an artist’s concept of the star system CD-35 2722. The star, about half the mass of our sun, is on the left. The large object on the right is the brown dwarf that orbits the star. And at center is the newly discovered object orbiting the brown dwarf. Should it be called an exomoon, even though it doesn’t orbit a planet? It’s massive enough to be a planet, but planets orbit stars, not brown dwarfs. Image via ESO/M. Kornmesser.

The name game

Humans have a need to neatly categorize the things they encounter in the world. But nature is not so rigid. Pluto itself did not change when its classification changed from planet to dwarf planet. And asteroids, comets and meteors are all leftover material from the formation of our solar system under different names.

But naming things – or nomenclature – is part of the scientific process. It’s just not always easy to do. Co-author Alice Zurlo of Universidad Diego Portales said:

We have a clear delineation between the planets and the sun in the solar system, so defining things like moons is simple. In the CD-35 2722 system, where we are blurring the lines between stars, planets and moons, the whole thing becomes more complicated to describe.

Exomoons around exoplanets

Astronomers didn’t confirm the first exoplanet – or planet around a star other than the sun – until 1992. Because they are so small and dim compared to their parent star, they are particularly hard to find. But astronomers long thought they were there. And now we’ve confirmed some 6,000 exoplanets.

So far, it’s been a similar story with exomoons. Astronomers assume there are many exomoons in other stellar systems, just as there are many moons in our solar system. It’s simply a challenge to find them. Astronomers have found exomoon candidates around distant exoplanets, but no confirmation yet.

This candidate exomoon – if it ends up with that label – has strong evidence. It’s causing the brown dwarf that it orbits to wobble. And those wobbles show up in the brown dwarf’s spectra. Zurlo said:

As exotic as it is, this system is truly unique and represents a breakthrough: the first plausible detection of an exosatellite.

Bottom line: Have astronomers found the first exomoon? We think of moons as objects that orbit planets. So what do we call this object, which orbits a brown dwarf?

Source: Planetary-Mass Exosatellite Detected Around a Star’s Substellar Companion

Via ESO

The post Have we found the first exomoon … around a brown dwarf? first appeared on EarthSky.

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Astronomers have discovered an object orbiting a brown dwarf or “failed star”. Is it the first exomoon, or moon outside our solar system? Astronomers are debating what to call it. Why? Because moons orbit planets … And this exomoon is orbiting a brown dwarf, which is an object that’s too massive to be a planet but not massive enough to shine like a star. Video via ESO.

Did we find an exomoon around a brown dwarf?

Exomoons are moons that exist outside our own solar system. We’ve yet to definitively find a single one! That’s because they are small and dim, circling exoplanets that are also small and dim, hidden in the glare of the stars they orbit. But on July 22, 2026, the European Southern Observatory said astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile believe they have detected an exomoon.

Only, there’s one problem: it doesn’t orbit a planet. Instead, it orbits a brown dwarf. A brown dwarf is an object that’s too massive to be considered a planet, but not massive enough to ignite and shine like a star. And this particular brown dwarf orbits a star, named CD-35 2722. So astronomers are debating what to call the newly discovered object. Is it the first discovered exomoon, or something else?

The researchers published their peer-reviewed paper on July 22, 2026, in the journal Nature.

A ‘super weird’ system

Not all brown dwarfs orbit stars, but this one does. The star in this system is named CD-35 2722, and it’s about half the mass of our sun. But even though the brown dwarf orbits this star, it’s not a planet, because it’s too massive. Brown dwarfs are so massive compared to planets that they’re sometimes called “failed stars”. Though far heavier than the objects we call planets, they aren’t quite massive enough to begin nuclear fusion and shine like a star does.

And then we have the newly discovered object, which orbits the brown dwarf. Normally we think of a moon as something that orbits a planet, which orbits a star. So what orbits a brown dwarf? Is it an exomoon? That’s what astronomers are having to decide: the semantics of the system. In any case, the lead author of the new study, Kevin Hoy, an ESO student in Chile, calls it:

super weird.

Right now, the team is calling the object an exosatellite. The object is at least as massive as Jupiter. Meanwhile, the brown dwarf it orbits is about 30 times as massive as Jupiter. Hoy said:

This system is somewhat hard to define using solar-system-based words like ‘planet’ and ‘moon’. The exosatellite is clearly massive enough to be a planet, but it does not orbit a star, though it orbits an object that orbits a star. Being the third wheel in this system makes us want to call it a moon, even if it is nothing like the small, rocky moons we have in our system.

This is an artist’s concept of the star system CD-35 2722. The star, about half the mass of our sun, is on the left. The large object on the right is the brown dwarf that orbits the star. And at center is the newly discovered object orbiting the brown dwarf. Should it be called an exomoon, even though it doesn’t orbit a planet? It’s massive enough to be a planet, but planets orbit stars, not brown dwarfs. Image via ESO/M. Kornmesser.

The name game

Humans have a need to neatly categorize the things they encounter in the world. But nature is not so rigid. Pluto itself did not change when its classification changed from planet to dwarf planet. And asteroids, comets and meteors are all leftover material from the formation of our solar system under different names.

But naming things – or nomenclature – is part of the scientific process. It’s just not always easy to do. Co-author Alice Zurlo of Universidad Diego Portales said:

We have a clear delineation between the planets and the sun in the solar system, so defining things like moons is simple. In the CD-35 2722 system, where we are blurring the lines between stars, planets and moons, the whole thing becomes more complicated to describe.

Exomoons around exoplanets

Astronomers didn’t confirm the first exoplanet – or planet around a star other than the sun – until 1992. Because they are so small and dim compared to their parent star, they are particularly hard to find. But astronomers long thought they were there. And now we’ve confirmed some 6,000 exoplanets.

So far, it’s been a similar story with exomoons. Astronomers assume there are many exomoons in other stellar systems, just as there are many moons in our solar system. It’s simply a challenge to find them. Astronomers have found exomoon candidates around distant exoplanets, but no confirmation yet.

This candidate exomoon – if it ends up with that label – has strong evidence. It’s causing the brown dwarf that it orbits to wobble. And those wobbles show up in the brown dwarf’s spectra. Zurlo said:

As exotic as it is, this system is truly unique and represents a breakthrough: the first plausible detection of an exosatellite.

Bottom line: Have astronomers found the first exomoon? We think of moons as objects that orbit planets. So what do we call this object, which orbits a brown dwarf?

Source: Planetary-Mass Exosatellite Detected Around a Star’s Substellar Companion

Via ESO

The post Have we found the first exomoon … around a brown dwarf? first appeared on EarthSky.

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