Mammatus clouds are pouch-like protrusions hanging from the undersides of clouds. You’ll usually find them under thunderstorm anvil clouds, but you might see them under other clouds as well. They’re composed primarily of ice. And groups of them can extend hundreds of miles in any direction. But they’re fleeting, remaining visible in your local sky for perhaps 10 or 15 minutes at a time.
Most clouds are formed by rising air. But mammatus clouds are formed by sinking air. They appear ominous.
People associate these cloud pouches with severe weather. And it’s true; they typically appear before or after a storm. But, in a way that’s so common in nature, their dangerous aspect goes hand-in-hand with a magnificent beauty. Enjoy the pictures below.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Deb King in Moundridge, Kansas, took this spectacular photo of mammatus clouds on June 10, 2026. Thank you, Deb!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Vermont Jr. Coronel captured this photo from the Philippines on May 28, 2026, and wrote: “Mammatus clouds after the sudden thunderstorm on a very hot late afternoon. Thunderstorms are prevalent now in the Philippines during afternoon. A sign that the rainy season is about to begin.” Thank you, Vermont!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Aaron Watson captured this image on July 17, 2025, from Colorado and wrote: “Interesting mammatus clouds this morning. It looked like long, deep grooves across the sky.” Thank you, Aaron!
More from our Community photos
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Michael O’Connor captured this image on July 12, 2025, from Michigan and wrote: “Mammatus clouds. First time ever seeing them.” Thank you, Michael!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Lina Tomlin in Texarkana, Texas, photographed these mammatus clouds on April 29, 2024. Lina wrote: “Stepped outside and my jaw dropped. I loved watching this massive storm cell roll by. I saw more ‘bubble’ clouds appear, and as the sun went down they lit up. I’ve never been this close to clouds like that. Thrilling!” Thank you, Lina!
Bottom line: Mammatus clouds look like bubbling, low-hanging clouds. They’re often associated with thunderstorms. Learn more about them and see photos here.
Mammatus clouds are pouch-like protrusions hanging from the undersides of clouds. You’ll usually find them under thunderstorm anvil clouds, but you might see them under other clouds as well. They’re composed primarily of ice. And groups of them can extend hundreds of miles in any direction. But they’re fleeting, remaining visible in your local sky for perhaps 10 or 15 minutes at a time.
Most clouds are formed by rising air. But mammatus clouds are formed by sinking air. They appear ominous.
People associate these cloud pouches with severe weather. And it’s true; they typically appear before or after a storm. But, in a way that’s so common in nature, their dangerous aspect goes hand-in-hand with a magnificent beauty. Enjoy the pictures below.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Deb King in Moundridge, Kansas, took this spectacular photo of mammatus clouds on June 10, 2026. Thank you, Deb!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Vermont Jr. Coronel captured this photo from the Philippines on May 28, 2026, and wrote: “Mammatus clouds after the sudden thunderstorm on a very hot late afternoon. Thunderstorms are prevalent now in the Philippines during afternoon. A sign that the rainy season is about to begin.” Thank you, Vermont!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Aaron Watson captured this image on July 17, 2025, from Colorado and wrote: “Interesting mammatus clouds this morning. It looked like long, deep grooves across the sky.” Thank you, Aaron!
More from our Community photos
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Michael O’Connor captured this image on July 12, 2025, from Michigan and wrote: “Mammatus clouds. First time ever seeing them.” Thank you, Michael!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Lina Tomlin in Texarkana, Texas, photographed these mammatus clouds on April 29, 2024. Lina wrote: “Stepped outside and my jaw dropped. I loved watching this massive storm cell roll by. I saw more ‘bubble’ clouds appear, and as the sun went down they lit up. I’ve never been this close to clouds like that. Thrilling!” Thank you, Lina!
Bottom line: Mammatus clouds look like bubbling, low-hanging clouds. They’re often associated with thunderstorms. Learn more about them and see photos here.
The hottest days occur after the summer solstice. Image via Quang Nguyen Vinh/ Pexels.
It might seem logical for the hottest days in the Northern Hemisphere to fall around the June solstice, when the sun reaches its northernmost point for the year. But the hottest days in the north actually come a month or two after the solstice. And in the Southern Hemisphere, the coldest weather doesn’t arrive until a month or two after the June solstice. Why? It’s down to a phenomenon known as the lag of the seasons.
Why the north’s hottest days follow the solstice
You can understand this phenomenon if you’ve ever visited a beach in June. On Northern Hemisphere beaches around now, you’ll notice how cold the ocean feels. Or think about mountaintops in June, which can often still be blanketed by ice and snow. The summer sun still hasn’t had time to melt the ice and warm the oceans.
So that’s why the hot weather lags behind the year’s longest day and highest sun.
By August, ocean water on that same beach will be much warmer. And the snow line will have crept up the mountaintops. That’s why the hottest weather comes some months after the year’s longest day. The land and oceans simply need those extra months to warm up – to store heat – after the cold of winter.
And in the Southern Hemisphere
In the Southern Hemisphere now, the same phenomenon is occurring but in reverse. There, the lag of the seasons is delaying the year’s coldest weather. The June solstice, for the Southern Hemisphere, is the winter solstice. The coldest weather comes in July and August because the land and oceans in that part of the world take some extra weeks to give up their stored heat.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cecille Kennedy captured this spectacular wave in Oregon on December 14, 2024. It takes a few months for the ocean to warm up in summer and cool down in winter, contributing to the so-called lag of the seasons. Thank you, Cecille!
Bottom line: The June solstice marks the height of the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, but the hottest weather comes a month or two later. The phenomenon is called the lag of the seasons, and the same process occurs in reverse in the Southern Hemisphere.
The hottest days occur after the summer solstice. Image via Quang Nguyen Vinh/ Pexels.
It might seem logical for the hottest days in the Northern Hemisphere to fall around the June solstice, when the sun reaches its northernmost point for the year. But the hottest days in the north actually come a month or two after the solstice. And in the Southern Hemisphere, the coldest weather doesn’t arrive until a month or two after the June solstice. Why? It’s down to a phenomenon known as the lag of the seasons.
Why the north’s hottest days follow the solstice
You can understand this phenomenon if you’ve ever visited a beach in June. On Northern Hemisphere beaches around now, you’ll notice how cold the ocean feels. Or think about mountaintops in June, which can often still be blanketed by ice and snow. The summer sun still hasn’t had time to melt the ice and warm the oceans.
So that’s why the hot weather lags behind the year’s longest day and highest sun.
By August, ocean water on that same beach will be much warmer. And the snow line will have crept up the mountaintops. That’s why the hottest weather comes some months after the year’s longest day. The land and oceans simply need those extra months to warm up – to store heat – after the cold of winter.
And in the Southern Hemisphere
In the Southern Hemisphere now, the same phenomenon is occurring but in reverse. There, the lag of the seasons is delaying the year’s coldest weather. The June solstice, for the Southern Hemisphere, is the winter solstice. The coldest weather comes in July and August because the land and oceans in that part of the world take some extra weeks to give up their stored heat.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Cecille Kennedy captured this spectacular wave in Oregon on December 14, 2024. It takes a few months for the ocean to warm up in summer and cool down in winter, contributing to the so-called lag of the seasons. Thank you, Cecille!
Bottom line: The June solstice marks the height of the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, but the hottest weather comes a month or two later. The phenomenon is called the lag of the seasons, and the same process occurs in reverse in the Southern Hemisphere.
The constellation Boötes the Herdsman is an excellent target for June nights. Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation. Chart via EarthSky.
Boötes the Herdsman is a Northern Hemisphere constellation best seen in the late spring or early summer. It’s one of the largest constellations in the sky, ranking 13th out of 88. Boötes is most famous for its bright star Arcturus, which is the 4th-brightest star in the night sky.
Locating the constellation Boötes
You can find Boötes south of Ursa Major the Great Bear, off the handle of the Big Dipper. Boötes’ brightest star, Arcturus, is part of a mnemonic device used to orient people to the night sky. The saying goes, Arc to Arcturus, speed on to Spica. This means that as you follow the curve in the dipper’s handle away from Ursa Major, you will run into a bright star: Arcturus in Boötes. Continue the curve along and you’ll find Spica, which is a part of Virgo.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Prateek Pandey in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, captured this photo of Boötes, Virgo and Corona Borealis on March 5, 2021. He wrote: “Spring constellations twinkling in the eastern horizon.” Thank you, Prateek!
Tracing out the shape of Boötes
Boötes is supposed to be the figure of a man, which is somewhat recognizable with its tall diamond shape and two stick legs jutting out at the bottom.
The point at which the tall diamond shape and stick legs intersect is the star Arcturus. In addition, the Herdsman also appears to have his left arm raised over his head. Some say it’s easy to pick out as a kite-shaped group of stars.
The stars in the Herdsman
Arcturus, the brightest star in Boötes, shines at magnitude -0.04, making it the 4th-brightest star in the night sky.
The name Arcturus means bear watcher or bear guard, referring to its closeness to the Great Bear, Ursa Major. Lying 37 light-years away from Earth, Arcturus glows with a faint orange hue.
The second brightest star in Boötes lies on the left side of the diamond shape. It’s called Izar, or Epsilon Boötis, and is 10 degrees up from Arcturus. It’s a magnitude 2.37 star lying 203 light-years away.
The third brightest star in Boötes is his left knee, which is found to the lower right of Arcturus. This star is Muphrid, or Eta Boötis, at magnitude 2.68. Muphrid lies 37 light-years away.
The other stars in the body of the Herdsman are all of comparable brightness. Starting above Izar and working up, around and back toward Arcturus are the stars Delta Boötis, Beta Boötis aka Nekkar (consider this Boötes’ neck), Gamma Boötis (or Seginus) and Rho Boötis.
Delta Boötis shines at magnitude 3.46 at a distance of 121 light-years. Nekkar shines at magnitude 3.49 and lies 219 light-years distant. Seginus has the brightest magnitude of these four stars, at 3.04. It is also the closest of the four at 84 light-years. Finally, Rho Boötis, which lies almost even with Izar, shines at magnitude 3.57 and lies 149 light-years away.
Arcturus shows large proper motion
The bright orange star Arcturus is especially noteworthy for its large proper motion, or sideways motion as seen on the dome of Earth’s sky.
Arcturus is actually moving at a tremendous speed (122 km/s or 76 miles/s) relative to our solar system. And from the vantage point of Earth, Arcturus is rapidly moving in a southerly direction at a rate of 3.9 arcminutes per century.
Its closest point to Earth will be about 4,000 years from now. Then as it moves away, it will vanish from visibility to the unaided eye in about 500,000 years.
Why does it move so much faster than the other stars in Boötes? It’s because Arcturus is much closer to us than the constellation’s other stars. That’s also why it’s so much brighter than its companions.
The constellation Boötes the Herdsman is an excellent target for June nights. Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation. Chart via EarthSky.
Boötes the Herdsman is a Northern Hemisphere constellation best seen in the late spring or early summer. It’s one of the largest constellations in the sky, ranking 13th out of 88. Boötes is most famous for its bright star Arcturus, which is the 4th-brightest star in the night sky.
Locating the constellation Boötes
You can find Boötes south of Ursa Major the Great Bear, off the handle of the Big Dipper. Boötes’ brightest star, Arcturus, is part of a mnemonic device used to orient people to the night sky. The saying goes, Arc to Arcturus, speed on to Spica. This means that as you follow the curve in the dipper’s handle away from Ursa Major, you will run into a bright star: Arcturus in Boötes. Continue the curve along and you’ll find Spica, which is a part of Virgo.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Prateek Pandey in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, captured this photo of Boötes, Virgo and Corona Borealis on March 5, 2021. He wrote: “Spring constellations twinkling in the eastern horizon.” Thank you, Prateek!
Tracing out the shape of Boötes
Boötes is supposed to be the figure of a man, which is somewhat recognizable with its tall diamond shape and two stick legs jutting out at the bottom.
The point at which the tall diamond shape and stick legs intersect is the star Arcturus. In addition, the Herdsman also appears to have his left arm raised over his head. Some say it’s easy to pick out as a kite-shaped group of stars.
The stars in the Herdsman
Arcturus, the brightest star in Boötes, shines at magnitude -0.04, making it the 4th-brightest star in the night sky.
The name Arcturus means bear watcher or bear guard, referring to its closeness to the Great Bear, Ursa Major. Lying 37 light-years away from Earth, Arcturus glows with a faint orange hue.
The second brightest star in Boötes lies on the left side of the diamond shape. It’s called Izar, or Epsilon Boötis, and is 10 degrees up from Arcturus. It’s a magnitude 2.37 star lying 203 light-years away.
The third brightest star in Boötes is his left knee, which is found to the lower right of Arcturus. This star is Muphrid, or Eta Boötis, at magnitude 2.68. Muphrid lies 37 light-years away.
The other stars in the body of the Herdsman are all of comparable brightness. Starting above Izar and working up, around and back toward Arcturus are the stars Delta Boötis, Beta Boötis aka Nekkar (consider this Boötes’ neck), Gamma Boötis (or Seginus) and Rho Boötis.
Delta Boötis shines at magnitude 3.46 at a distance of 121 light-years. Nekkar shines at magnitude 3.49 and lies 219 light-years distant. Seginus has the brightest magnitude of these four stars, at 3.04. It is also the closest of the four at 84 light-years. Finally, Rho Boötis, which lies almost even with Izar, shines at magnitude 3.57 and lies 149 light-years away.
Arcturus shows large proper motion
The bright orange star Arcturus is especially noteworthy for its large proper motion, or sideways motion as seen on the dome of Earth’s sky.
Arcturus is actually moving at a tremendous speed (122 km/s or 76 miles/s) relative to our solar system. And from the vantage point of Earth, Arcturus is rapidly moving in a southerly direction at a rate of 3.9 arcminutes per century.
Its closest point to Earth will be about 4,000 years from now. Then as it moves away, it will vanish from visibility to the unaided eye in about 500,000 years.
Why does it move so much faster than the other stars in Boötes? It’s because Arcturus is much closer to us than the constellation’s other stars. That’s also why it’s so much brighter than its companions.
On June 21, 2026, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida in preparation for its August launch. Image via NASA/Amber Jean Notvest.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrives at KSC
On June 21, 2026, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida ahead of its launch this summer. The new telescope completed testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before being loaded on NASA’s Pegasus barge for its shipment to Florida. Amazingly, the space telescope is eight months ahead of schedule! Currently, NASA said the schedule for launch is no earlier than Sunday, August 30. That launch will be on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at KSC.
What’s next for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope? Roman still has more testing ahead. Those tests will include work on its solar panels, insulation and thermal blankets. Eventually, workers will load about 290 gallons of hydrazine fuel into the spacecraft’s tanks.
After launch, the next stop for Roman will be L2, or the second sun-Earth Lagrange point. You may already be familiar with this location because the James Webb Space Telescope is also here, sending back infrared images of the universe. The Roman telescope also has infrared eyes. NASA said:
Roman’s wide field of view and rapid survey capabilities will reveal billions of galaxies, hundreds of thousands of new exoplanets, hundreds of blackholes, and will provide vast volumes of daily data for astronomers to study.
With Roman’s construction complete, we are poised at the brink of unfathomable scientific discovery. In the mission’s first five years, it’s expected to unveil more than 100,000 distant worlds, hundreds of millions of stars, and billions of galaxies. We stand to learn a tremendous amount of new information about the universe very rapidly after Roman launches.
Remember what astronomical images were like before we had the Hubble space telescope? Hubble was the first large optical telescope to be launched into space, above Earth’s obscuring atmosphere. And it fundamentally changed our view of the cosmos. Astronomers say the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will do that, too, giving us a view of the universe we’ve never had before. The telescope will have a primary mirror of 7.9 feet in diameter (2.4 meters). That’s the same size as Hubble. But a single image from the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will equal the sky coverage of 100 Hubble images.
Scientists expect the telescope to answer fundamental questions about distant planets orbiting stars in our Milky Way galaxy, about the dark energy we haven’t yet detected directly but believe makes up a substantial portion of our cosmos … and about what astronomers call the cosmic dawn.
The telescope’s Wide Field Instrument, its primary instrument, will have a field of view 100 times greater than Hubble’s infrared instrument. Roman’s large field of view means it can capture more sky in less time. The Wide Field Instrument will scan the Milky Way for exoplanets, or planets orbiting distant stars. Over the past 30 years, since the early 1990s until now, we’ve discovered more than 5,000 exoplanets. The Nancy Grace Roman space telescope is expected to increase that number to some 100,000 exoplanets in the next five years.
Roman’s other instrument is the Coronagraph Instrument. The Coronagraph Instrument will perform high contrast imaging and spectroscopy to gather more knowledge of individual exoplanets. More on the coronagraph below.
Interview with Néstor Espinoza
Watch this 52-second clip of astronomer Néstor Espinoza of the Space Telescope Science Institute talking with EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd. Néstor told us this telescope should increase the number of known exoplanets – or planets orbiting distant suns – from 5,000 now to 100,000 in just 5 years!
The Roman telescope’s 100,000 new exoplanets
The Roman space telescope will survey our galaxy, taking observations every 15 minutes for more than a year. What a mass of data it’ll collect in just that first year! The data will enable astronomers to track the brightness changes in stars, which could lead to discoveries of exoplanets, rogue planets, isolated black holes and more.
So how will the Roman space telescope find its 100,000 exoplanets? With the aid of the Roman Coronagraph, the first high-contrast active wavefront-control coronagraph to fly in space. NASA said:
The Roman Coronagraph will advance scientists’ ability to directly image planets and disks around other stars. Coronagraphs work by blocking light from a bright object, like a star, so that the observer can more easily see a faint object, like a planet [next to the bright object].
The Roman Coronagraph is designed to detect planets 100 million times fainter than their stars, or 100 to 1,000 times better than existing space-based coronagraphs.
The Roman Coronagraph will be capable of directly imaging reflected starlight from a planet akin to Jupiter in size, temperature and distance from its parent star.
An artist’s concept of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Image via NASA.
The Roman telescope and the cosmic dawn
After the Big Bang that set our universe into motion, the cosmos was dark for some 380,000 to 200 million years. Yes, dark. Even though stars had already begun to shine, neutral atoms would absorb their light, leaving the cosmos in a kind of obscuring fog. Then neutral atoms began to break apart, and the fog began to lift. The light of stars broke through and began traveling throughout space. Astronomers call this transition from dark to light the cosmic dawn. Takahiro Morishita of Caltech said:
Roman will excel at finding the building blocks of cosmic structures like galaxy clusters that later form. It will quickly identify the densest regions, where more ‘fog’ is being cleared, making Roman a key mission to probe early galaxy evolution and the cosmic dawn.
Roman’s wide field of view will help determine how common quasars are and whether certain types of galaxies played a larger role in clearing the fog. It will also look for “cosmic daybreakers” that illuminated our universe.
Artist’s concept of the cosmic dawn. This is how the universe may have looked at less than a billion years old. Image via NASA/ ESA/ and A. Schaller (for STScI).
The Roman space telescope and dark energy
Dark energy is a mysterious force that makes up about 68% of the total energy content of our universe. Dark energy is responsible for the acceleration of our expanding universe. Roman will help astronomers understand just what dark energy is by taking a closer look at how the universe has evolved. Roman’s wide field will allow us a bigger picture of the universe. Mapping the distribution of matter and measuring distant supernovae will help show how dark energy might have changed over time.
In the universe’s past, expansion occurred at a slower rate than what we see in our universe today. Dark energy is behind the accelerated expansion. Image via NASA Scientific Visualization Studio.
Who was Nancy Grace Roman?
Nancy Grace Roman has the honorary title of Mother of the Hubble Space Telescope. Born in 1925, Roman became one of the few female astronomers in a male-dominated science. Among other accomplishments, she became the first female executive at NASA and NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy. She earned her nickname by helping get the Hubble Space Telescope approved by Congress. Roman was most excited for Hubble’s discoveries on dark energy. The telescope that will now bear Roman’s name will increase our understanding of dark energy, the universe and our place in it.
Nancy Grace Roman, “mother of the Hubble space telescope,” during her career at NASA. Image via NASA.
Bottom line: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has now arrived at Kennedy Space Center. It will be prepped for launch this summer, eight months ahead of schedule.
On June 21, 2026, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida in preparation for its August launch. Image via NASA/Amber Jean Notvest.
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrives at KSC
On June 21, 2026, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida ahead of its launch this summer. The new telescope completed testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before being loaded on NASA’s Pegasus barge for its shipment to Florida. Amazingly, the space telescope is eight months ahead of schedule! Currently, NASA said the schedule for launch is no earlier than Sunday, August 30. That launch will be on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at KSC.
What’s next for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope? Roman still has more testing ahead. Those tests will include work on its solar panels, insulation and thermal blankets. Eventually, workers will load about 290 gallons of hydrazine fuel into the spacecraft’s tanks.
After launch, the next stop for Roman will be L2, or the second sun-Earth Lagrange point. You may already be familiar with this location because the James Webb Space Telescope is also here, sending back infrared images of the universe. The Roman telescope also has infrared eyes. NASA said:
Roman’s wide field of view and rapid survey capabilities will reveal billions of galaxies, hundreds of thousands of new exoplanets, hundreds of blackholes, and will provide vast volumes of daily data for astronomers to study.
With Roman’s construction complete, we are poised at the brink of unfathomable scientific discovery. In the mission’s first five years, it’s expected to unveil more than 100,000 distant worlds, hundreds of millions of stars, and billions of galaxies. We stand to learn a tremendous amount of new information about the universe very rapidly after Roman launches.
Remember what astronomical images were like before we had the Hubble space telescope? Hubble was the first large optical telescope to be launched into space, above Earth’s obscuring atmosphere. And it fundamentally changed our view of the cosmos. Astronomers say the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will do that, too, giving us a view of the universe we’ve never had before. The telescope will have a primary mirror of 7.9 feet in diameter (2.4 meters). That’s the same size as Hubble. But a single image from the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will equal the sky coverage of 100 Hubble images.
Scientists expect the telescope to answer fundamental questions about distant planets orbiting stars in our Milky Way galaxy, about the dark energy we haven’t yet detected directly but believe makes up a substantial portion of our cosmos … and about what astronomers call the cosmic dawn.
The telescope’s Wide Field Instrument, its primary instrument, will have a field of view 100 times greater than Hubble’s infrared instrument. Roman’s large field of view means it can capture more sky in less time. The Wide Field Instrument will scan the Milky Way for exoplanets, or planets orbiting distant stars. Over the past 30 years, since the early 1990s until now, we’ve discovered more than 5,000 exoplanets. The Nancy Grace Roman space telescope is expected to increase that number to some 100,000 exoplanets in the next five years.
Roman’s other instrument is the Coronagraph Instrument. The Coronagraph Instrument will perform high contrast imaging and spectroscopy to gather more knowledge of individual exoplanets. More on the coronagraph below.
Interview with Néstor Espinoza
Watch this 52-second clip of astronomer Néstor Espinoza of the Space Telescope Science Institute talking with EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd. Néstor told us this telescope should increase the number of known exoplanets – or planets orbiting distant suns – from 5,000 now to 100,000 in just 5 years!
The Roman telescope’s 100,000 new exoplanets
The Roman space telescope will survey our galaxy, taking observations every 15 minutes for more than a year. What a mass of data it’ll collect in just that first year! The data will enable astronomers to track the brightness changes in stars, which could lead to discoveries of exoplanets, rogue planets, isolated black holes and more.
So how will the Roman space telescope find its 100,000 exoplanets? With the aid of the Roman Coronagraph, the first high-contrast active wavefront-control coronagraph to fly in space. NASA said:
The Roman Coronagraph will advance scientists’ ability to directly image planets and disks around other stars. Coronagraphs work by blocking light from a bright object, like a star, so that the observer can more easily see a faint object, like a planet [next to the bright object].
The Roman Coronagraph is designed to detect planets 100 million times fainter than their stars, or 100 to 1,000 times better than existing space-based coronagraphs.
The Roman Coronagraph will be capable of directly imaging reflected starlight from a planet akin to Jupiter in size, temperature and distance from its parent star.
An artist’s concept of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Image via NASA.
The Roman telescope and the cosmic dawn
After the Big Bang that set our universe into motion, the cosmos was dark for some 380,000 to 200 million years. Yes, dark. Even though stars had already begun to shine, neutral atoms would absorb their light, leaving the cosmos in a kind of obscuring fog. Then neutral atoms began to break apart, and the fog began to lift. The light of stars broke through and began traveling throughout space. Astronomers call this transition from dark to light the cosmic dawn. Takahiro Morishita of Caltech said:
Roman will excel at finding the building blocks of cosmic structures like galaxy clusters that later form. It will quickly identify the densest regions, where more ‘fog’ is being cleared, making Roman a key mission to probe early galaxy evolution and the cosmic dawn.
Roman’s wide field of view will help determine how common quasars are and whether certain types of galaxies played a larger role in clearing the fog. It will also look for “cosmic daybreakers” that illuminated our universe.
Artist’s concept of the cosmic dawn. This is how the universe may have looked at less than a billion years old. Image via NASA/ ESA/ and A. Schaller (for STScI).
The Roman space telescope and dark energy
Dark energy is a mysterious force that makes up about 68% of the total energy content of our universe. Dark energy is responsible for the acceleration of our expanding universe. Roman will help astronomers understand just what dark energy is by taking a closer look at how the universe has evolved. Roman’s wide field will allow us a bigger picture of the universe. Mapping the distribution of matter and measuring distant supernovae will help show how dark energy might have changed over time.
In the universe’s past, expansion occurred at a slower rate than what we see in our universe today. Dark energy is behind the accelerated expansion. Image via NASA Scientific Visualization Studio.
Who was Nancy Grace Roman?
Nancy Grace Roman has the honorary title of Mother of the Hubble Space Telescope. Born in 1925, Roman became one of the few female astronomers in a male-dominated science. Among other accomplishments, she became the first female executive at NASA and NASA’s first Chief of Astronomy. She earned her nickname by helping get the Hubble Space Telescope approved by Congress. Roman was most excited for Hubble’s discoveries on dark energy. The telescope that will now bear Roman’s name will increase our understanding of dark energy, the universe and our place in it.
Nancy Grace Roman, “mother of the Hubble space telescope,” during her career at NASA. Image via NASA.
Bottom line: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has now arrived at Kennedy Space Center. It will be prepped for launch this summer, eight months ahead of schedule.
Artist’s illustration of the Pink Planet, also known as GJ504b. New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope show that this “cold” planet has salty clouds. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ Northwestern University.
GJ504b is a gas giant exoplanet about 57 light-years from Earth. It’s called the Pink Planet due to its rosy color.
The Pink Planet’s exotic atmosphere has clouds composed of salt, new Webb space telescope observations have revealed.
The Pink Planet lies near the boundary between planets and brown dwarfs. Scientists still aren’t sure how it formed.
GJ504b is a gas giant planet orbiting a sun-like star about 57 light-years from Earth. It is huge, 25 times the mass of Jupiter. And it has a rosy color, leading astronomers to nickname it the Pink Planet.
The Pink Planet has been difficult for astronomers to study. It’s cold and dim, meaning it appears as just a very faint dot in most telescopes. But now, the James Webb Space Telescope has taken a closer look and found something surprising.
A team of researchers said on June 18, 2026, that salty clouds wrap around this world. Scientists had theorized that salty clouds could exist in the atmospheres of cold planets like this one. But this is some of the first direct evidence.
Cold planets like GJ504b are too dim to study with ground-based telescopes. So these new observations are an important step in being able to find out more about them.
The researchers published their peer-reviewed results in The Astronomical Journal on June 18, 2026.
Is the Pink Planet really a planet?
Astronomers first discovered the Pink Planet back in 2013. But is it really a planet? At 25 times the mass of Jupiter, it’s so massive that it comes close to the dividing line between planets and brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are typically larger than planets, but smaller than stars. They are called “failed stars” because they don’t have quite enough nuclear energy inside to ignite into actual stars.
Because of this, astronomers technically refer to the Pink Planet as a “planetary-mass companion.”
The Pink Planet is a cold world
The planet is dim due to its distance from Earth and its temperature. Hot planets, like hot Jupiters, are easier to directly image. And so far, most directly imaged exoplanets have been about 1,000 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (540 to 1,100 degrees Celsius). But the Pink Planet is much cooler, only about 550 degrees Fahrenheit (290 degrees Celsius). That’s still hot by human standards, of course, but a lot cooler than the other hot planets.
In fact, the Pink Planet is the coldest exoplanet ever found so far by ground-based telescopes. Lead author Aneesh Baburaj at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said:
The Pink Planet is the coldest companion ever discovered using ground-based instruments. Many teams all around the world performed follow-up observations to study its light, but it was too faint for ground-based instruments. That made it a perfect target for JWST. When we finally obtained its spectrum, it immediately looked interesting. But once we started digging deeper into the data, we realized it was not like anything we have analyzed before.
Why is the Pink Planet so relatively cold? Scientists say it’s its age. Hot giant planets like this are born scorching hot. But they cool down as they get older. And scientists estimate that the Pink Planet is between 2.5 billion and 4 billion years old. Plenty of time to cool down.
A direct image of the Pink Planet (upper right), which the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii obtained in May 2011. It is still just a faint dot due to its distance and coldness. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ NOAJ.
How do you reveal a world so faint?
So studying the Pink Planet with ground-based telescopes is not an easy task. But that’s where the James Webb Space Telescope comes in. It is much better at gathering the faint light from the planet. The glare from its nearby star still gets in the way though. So the researchers used advanced data-processing techniques to remove much of that glare.
By doing so, scientists could finally see the spectrum of the planet’s atmosphere. That’s where light is broken down into its individual component colors. Each color indicates a different element in the atmosphere. The results were way better than any previous attempts to analyze the Pink Planet’s atmosphere. Baburaj said:
In the past, other astronomers observed the companion for an entire night with some of the biggest telescopes in the world to obtain a spectrum. And they could not see the object. With JWST, our entire observation took around two hours, and we were successful.
When they analyzed the atmosphere of the Pink Planet, the researchers found something unexpected. It has clouds composed of salt. The first results showed evidence for water vapor, methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and other molecules. But that didn’t fully match the atmosphere that the computer simulations came up with. The simulations matched the observations only when there were other “physically implausible features” in the atmosphere. Why?
The reason was clouds. The researchers tried adding clouds to the computer model of the atmosphere. They added three different kinds of clouds, and found that the “unusual features” vanished. They were no longer needed to explain the observations. But what did explain them was clouds, and one type of cloud in particular: salt. As Baburaj explained:
We ran simulations with clouds, and the results aligned with what we know about cold planets. We tried three different types of clouds, and salt clouds fit best. When we accounted for salt clouds, it subdued the signature of molecules hidden deeper in the companion’s atmosphere. Then, the results became physically possible.
This is the first time we’ve found that salt clouds are critical to explaining the spectrum of an object. It’s a good reminder to account for clouds in our models.
Metals and the origin of the Pink Planet
Another finding is that the planet’s atmosphere is unusually rich in heavy elements, or metals.
The salt clouds explain the atmospheric observations. But they still don’t explain how the Pink Planet formed. Did it form like a planet or a small star? Only additional observations of this exotic pink world will help to answer that question.
Bottom line: New observations by the Webb space telescope of the giant exoplanet GJ504b – aka the Pink Planet – show that it has clouds made of salt.
Artist’s illustration of the Pink Planet, also known as GJ504b. New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope show that this “cold” planet has salty clouds. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ Northwestern University.
GJ504b is a gas giant exoplanet about 57 light-years from Earth. It’s called the Pink Planet due to its rosy color.
The Pink Planet’s exotic atmosphere has clouds composed of salt, new Webb space telescope observations have revealed.
The Pink Planet lies near the boundary between planets and brown dwarfs. Scientists still aren’t sure how it formed.
GJ504b is a gas giant planet orbiting a sun-like star about 57 light-years from Earth. It is huge, 25 times the mass of Jupiter. And it has a rosy color, leading astronomers to nickname it the Pink Planet.
The Pink Planet has been difficult for astronomers to study. It’s cold and dim, meaning it appears as just a very faint dot in most telescopes. But now, the James Webb Space Telescope has taken a closer look and found something surprising.
A team of researchers said on June 18, 2026, that salty clouds wrap around this world. Scientists had theorized that salty clouds could exist in the atmospheres of cold planets like this one. But this is some of the first direct evidence.
Cold planets like GJ504b are too dim to study with ground-based telescopes. So these new observations are an important step in being able to find out more about them.
The researchers published their peer-reviewed results in The Astronomical Journal on June 18, 2026.
Is the Pink Planet really a planet?
Astronomers first discovered the Pink Planet back in 2013. But is it really a planet? At 25 times the mass of Jupiter, it’s so massive that it comes close to the dividing line between planets and brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are typically larger than planets, but smaller than stars. They are called “failed stars” because they don’t have quite enough nuclear energy inside to ignite into actual stars.
Because of this, astronomers technically refer to the Pink Planet as a “planetary-mass companion.”
The Pink Planet is a cold world
The planet is dim due to its distance from Earth and its temperature. Hot planets, like hot Jupiters, are easier to directly image. And so far, most directly imaged exoplanets have been about 1,000 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (540 to 1,100 degrees Celsius). But the Pink Planet is much cooler, only about 550 degrees Fahrenheit (290 degrees Celsius). That’s still hot by human standards, of course, but a lot cooler than the other hot planets.
In fact, the Pink Planet is the coldest exoplanet ever found so far by ground-based telescopes. Lead author Aneesh Baburaj at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said:
The Pink Planet is the coldest companion ever discovered using ground-based instruments. Many teams all around the world performed follow-up observations to study its light, but it was too faint for ground-based instruments. That made it a perfect target for JWST. When we finally obtained its spectrum, it immediately looked interesting. But once we started digging deeper into the data, we realized it was not like anything we have analyzed before.
Why is the Pink Planet so relatively cold? Scientists say it’s its age. Hot giant planets like this are born scorching hot. But they cool down as they get older. And scientists estimate that the Pink Planet is between 2.5 billion and 4 billion years old. Plenty of time to cool down.
A direct image of the Pink Planet (upper right), which the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii obtained in May 2011. It is still just a faint dot due to its distance and coldness. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center/ NOAJ.
How do you reveal a world so faint?
So studying the Pink Planet with ground-based telescopes is not an easy task. But that’s where the James Webb Space Telescope comes in. It is much better at gathering the faint light from the planet. The glare from its nearby star still gets in the way though. So the researchers used advanced data-processing techniques to remove much of that glare.
By doing so, scientists could finally see the spectrum of the planet’s atmosphere. That’s where light is broken down into its individual component colors. Each color indicates a different element in the atmosphere. The results were way better than any previous attempts to analyze the Pink Planet’s atmosphere. Baburaj said:
In the past, other astronomers observed the companion for an entire night with some of the biggest telescopes in the world to obtain a spectrum. And they could not see the object. With JWST, our entire observation took around two hours, and we were successful.
When they analyzed the atmosphere of the Pink Planet, the researchers found something unexpected. It has clouds composed of salt. The first results showed evidence for water vapor, methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and other molecules. But that didn’t fully match the atmosphere that the computer simulations came up with. The simulations matched the observations only when there were other “physically implausible features” in the atmosphere. Why?
The reason was clouds. The researchers tried adding clouds to the computer model of the atmosphere. They added three different kinds of clouds, and found that the “unusual features” vanished. They were no longer needed to explain the observations. But what did explain them was clouds, and one type of cloud in particular: salt. As Baburaj explained:
We ran simulations with clouds, and the results aligned with what we know about cold planets. We tried three different types of clouds, and salt clouds fit best. When we accounted for salt clouds, it subdued the signature of molecules hidden deeper in the companion’s atmosphere. Then, the results became physically possible.
This is the first time we’ve found that salt clouds are critical to explaining the spectrum of an object. It’s a good reminder to account for clouds in our models.
Metals and the origin of the Pink Planet
Another finding is that the planet’s atmosphere is unusually rich in heavy elements, or metals.
The salt clouds explain the atmospheric observations. But they still don’t explain how the Pink Planet formed. Did it form like a planet or a small star? Only additional observations of this exotic pink world will help to answer that question.
Bottom line: New observations by the Webb space telescope of the giant exoplanet GJ504b – aka the Pink Planet – show that it has clouds made of salt.
Johannes Hevelius drew the constellation Draco the Dragon in Uranographia, his celestial catalog, in 1690. He plotted the sky in reverse, as if seen from above, facing down toward Earth. Note the circle around the Dragon and the star where the Dragon’s Tail intersects the circle. That star is Thuban, a former pole star. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Under a dark sky tonight, you’ll be able to pick out the constellation Draco the Dragon winding around the star Polaris. Polaris is Earth’s northern pole star today … but it hasn’t always been.
The image at the top of this post shows Draco as depicted in an old star atlas by Johannes Hevelius in 1690. See the circle? It indicates the changing position of the north celestial pole over a cycle of 26,000 years.
The 26,000-year cycle is known as precession. Basically, it’s a slow, smooth wobble that causes a change in the orientation of Earth’s axis over time. Precession causes Earth’s axis to trace out a circle among the stars. Thus, over time, Earth’s north pole points to various stars, and the identity of our North Star changes.
So to our ancient ancestors, the star we now call Polaris was an unremarkable star called Phoenice. And a star in Draco, called Thuban, was the pole star when the Egyptians built the pyramids some 4,500 years ago.
Precession of the Earth's Rotation Axis and North Star. The Earth's rotation axis is not fixed in space. Like a rotating toy top, the direction of the rotation axis executes a slow precession with a period of 26,000 years. https://t.co/h7nS1BCuOlpic.twitter.com/SRVQGQDYP0
The 26,000-year precession cycle causes the north celestial pole to move counterclockwise relative to the background stars. So, whichever star is closest to the north celestial pole is called the North Star. Image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5).
Draco winds between the Big and Little Dippers
The famous Big Dipper can help guide you to Draco and its star Thuban. Just remember … the entire Dragon requires a dark sky to see. You’ll find the Big Dipper high in the north on June evenings. The two outer stars in the Dipper’s bowl point to our modern-day Polaris, the North Star, which marks the end of the Little Dipper’s handle.
The Little Dipper is relatively faint. If you can find both Dippers, then your sky is probably pretty dark. And you’ll need that dark sky to see Draco. You’ll have to let your eyes and imagination drift a bit to see the entire winding shape of the Dragon in the northern heavens.
See how the tail of Draco winds between the Big and Little Dippers on the chart below?
During the northern summer, if you can find the Big and Little Dippers, you can find the constellation Draco the Dragon. The star Thuban lies between the Dippers. Chart via EarthSky.
And here’s Draco the Dragon and the Little Dipper. The four stars that make up Draco’s head usually are the easiest pattern to pick out.
Eltanin and Rastaban mark the head of Draco the Dragon. You’ll find these stars in the northern sky. Chart via EarthSky.
Our charts are mostly set for mid-latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. To see a precise view – and time – from your location, try Stellarium Online.
Ex-pole star Thuban is easy to find
If you can find both Dippers, and if your sky is relatively dark, you can easily pick out Thuban. The star is four times fainter than Polaris, but it’s easy to find by looking between the Dippers.
Thuban is famous for having served as a pole star around 3000 BCE. This date coincides with the beginning of the building of the pyramids in Egypt. In fact, it’s said that the descending passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Gizeh was built to point directly at Thuban. So, our ancestors knew and celebrated this star. Now, the descending path points toward Polaris, the current North Star.
Overall, Thuban reigned as the pole star for more than a thousand years. It was closest to the pole in the year 2830 BCE, at a distance of only 10 arcminutes, or 1/6 of a degree. This easily beats Polaris, which will get no closer than 27 arcminutes to true north next century.
Thuban was within 1 degree of true north for 200 years. It’s reign as North Star is long over, but it will get its turn again in the year 20,346 CE. Don’t wait up for it!
Through a telescope, Thuban is a blue-white star, magnitude 3.67. It is located 303 light-years away, is about five times larger than our sun and shines 240 times brighter. It also has a companion, but it is too close to the primary star to observe.
The reign of Polaris
And Polaris? Its reign as North Star began in 1547 when Gemma Frisius first referred to it as “that star which is called polar.” In July 2016, the International Astronomical Union‘s (IAU) Working Group on Star Names made the name Polaris official.
In a few thousand years, Polaris will no longer be the North Star. Perhaps then the IAU will assemble the Working Group of Star Names and change the name back to Phoenice. (P.S. Dear Pluto, there is hope!)
The slow wobble of Earth’s axis affects the Southern Hemisphere, too. Today, southern skywatchers have no bright equivalent to Polaris. The faint star Sigma Octantis lies closest to the south celestial pole, but it is so dim (around magnitude 5.5) that many observers struggle to find it. As a result, the southern sky currently lacks an obvious pole star.
But that won’t always be the case. As we’ve seen with Polaris and Thuban, Earth’s 26,000-year cycle of precession means that different stars take turns marking the celestial poles. Around the year 9,250 CE, the star Delta Velorum in the constellation Vela will pass within just 0.2 degrees of the south celestial pole, making it an even more accurate pole star than Polaris is today.
Looking much farther into the future, the brightest star in the night sky will briefly claim the title. Around the year 66,270 CE, Sirius, the dazzling Dog Star in the constellation Canis Major, will pass within 1.6 degrees of the south celestial pole. Although not as precise a marker as Delta Velorum, Sirius will be far more conspicuous. For the first time in tens of thousands of years, southern observers will have an exceptionally bright star close to the celestial pole, serving as a prominent guide to the south.
Sirius is relatively close to Earth, at just 8.6 light-years away. This closeness means it has a noticeable motion across our sky. And because of this motion, Sirius does not return to the same position relative to the celestial poles every precessional cycle. It was not a southern pole star in the distant past, and after its future reign near the south celestial pole, it will continue drifting onward through the Milky Way, making its role as a southern pole star a unique and temporary chapter in the long story of Earth’s changing skies.
Bottom line: Tonight, look for the winding shape of Draco the Dragon in the northern sky. This constellation contains Thuban, a former pole star.
Johannes Hevelius drew the constellation Draco the Dragon in Uranographia, his celestial catalog, in 1690. He plotted the sky in reverse, as if seen from above, facing down toward Earth. Note the circle around the Dragon and the star where the Dragon’s Tail intersects the circle. That star is Thuban, a former pole star. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Under a dark sky tonight, you’ll be able to pick out the constellation Draco the Dragon winding around the star Polaris. Polaris is Earth’s northern pole star today … but it hasn’t always been.
The image at the top of this post shows Draco as depicted in an old star atlas by Johannes Hevelius in 1690. See the circle? It indicates the changing position of the north celestial pole over a cycle of 26,000 years.
The 26,000-year cycle is known as precession. Basically, it’s a slow, smooth wobble that causes a change in the orientation of Earth’s axis over time. Precession causes Earth’s axis to trace out a circle among the stars. Thus, over time, Earth’s north pole points to various stars, and the identity of our North Star changes.
So to our ancient ancestors, the star we now call Polaris was an unremarkable star called Phoenice. And a star in Draco, called Thuban, was the pole star when the Egyptians built the pyramids some 4,500 years ago.
Precession of the Earth's Rotation Axis and North Star. The Earth's rotation axis is not fixed in space. Like a rotating toy top, the direction of the rotation axis executes a slow precession with a period of 26,000 years. https://t.co/h7nS1BCuOlpic.twitter.com/SRVQGQDYP0
The 26,000-year precession cycle causes the north celestial pole to move counterclockwise relative to the background stars. So, whichever star is closest to the north celestial pole is called the North Star. Image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5).
Draco winds between the Big and Little Dippers
The famous Big Dipper can help guide you to Draco and its star Thuban. Just remember … the entire Dragon requires a dark sky to see. You’ll find the Big Dipper high in the north on June evenings. The two outer stars in the Dipper’s bowl point to our modern-day Polaris, the North Star, which marks the end of the Little Dipper’s handle.
The Little Dipper is relatively faint. If you can find both Dippers, then your sky is probably pretty dark. And you’ll need that dark sky to see Draco. You’ll have to let your eyes and imagination drift a bit to see the entire winding shape of the Dragon in the northern heavens.
See how the tail of Draco winds between the Big and Little Dippers on the chart below?
During the northern summer, if you can find the Big and Little Dippers, you can find the constellation Draco the Dragon. The star Thuban lies between the Dippers. Chart via EarthSky.
And here’s Draco the Dragon and the Little Dipper. The four stars that make up Draco’s head usually are the easiest pattern to pick out.
Eltanin and Rastaban mark the head of Draco the Dragon. You’ll find these stars in the northern sky. Chart via EarthSky.
Our charts are mostly set for mid-latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. To see a precise view – and time – from your location, try Stellarium Online.
Ex-pole star Thuban is easy to find
If you can find both Dippers, and if your sky is relatively dark, you can easily pick out Thuban. The star is four times fainter than Polaris, but it’s easy to find by looking between the Dippers.
Thuban is famous for having served as a pole star around 3000 BCE. This date coincides with the beginning of the building of the pyramids in Egypt. In fact, it’s said that the descending passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Gizeh was built to point directly at Thuban. So, our ancestors knew and celebrated this star. Now, the descending path points toward Polaris, the current North Star.
Overall, Thuban reigned as the pole star for more than a thousand years. It was closest to the pole in the year 2830 BCE, at a distance of only 10 arcminutes, or 1/6 of a degree. This easily beats Polaris, which will get no closer than 27 arcminutes to true north next century.
Thuban was within 1 degree of true north for 200 years. It’s reign as North Star is long over, but it will get its turn again in the year 20,346 CE. Don’t wait up for it!
Through a telescope, Thuban is a blue-white star, magnitude 3.67. It is located 303 light-years away, is about five times larger than our sun and shines 240 times brighter. It also has a companion, but it is too close to the primary star to observe.
The reign of Polaris
And Polaris? Its reign as North Star began in 1547 when Gemma Frisius first referred to it as “that star which is called polar.” In July 2016, the International Astronomical Union‘s (IAU) Working Group on Star Names made the name Polaris official.
In a few thousand years, Polaris will no longer be the North Star. Perhaps then the IAU will assemble the Working Group of Star Names and change the name back to Phoenice. (P.S. Dear Pluto, there is hope!)
The slow wobble of Earth’s axis affects the Southern Hemisphere, too. Today, southern skywatchers have no bright equivalent to Polaris. The faint star Sigma Octantis lies closest to the south celestial pole, but it is so dim (around magnitude 5.5) that many observers struggle to find it. As a result, the southern sky currently lacks an obvious pole star.
But that won’t always be the case. As we’ve seen with Polaris and Thuban, Earth’s 26,000-year cycle of precession means that different stars take turns marking the celestial poles. Around the year 9,250 CE, the star Delta Velorum in the constellation Vela will pass within just 0.2 degrees of the south celestial pole, making it an even more accurate pole star than Polaris is today.
Looking much farther into the future, the brightest star in the night sky will briefly claim the title. Around the year 66,270 CE, Sirius, the dazzling Dog Star in the constellation Canis Major, will pass within 1.6 degrees of the south celestial pole. Although not as precise a marker as Delta Velorum, Sirius will be far more conspicuous. For the first time in tens of thousands of years, southern observers will have an exceptionally bright star close to the celestial pole, serving as a prominent guide to the south.
Sirius is relatively close to Earth, at just 8.6 light-years away. This closeness means it has a noticeable motion across our sky. And because of this motion, Sirius does not return to the same position relative to the celestial poles every precessional cycle. It was not a southern pole star in the distant past, and after its future reign near the south celestial pole, it will continue drifting onward through the Milky Way, making its role as a southern pole star a unique and temporary chapter in the long story of Earth’s changing skies.
Bottom line: Tonight, look for the winding shape of Draco the Dragon in the northern sky. This constellation contains Thuban, a former pole star.
Pinocchio frogs are named after the famous fictional character. Why? Because they have miraculously extending nose-like snouts! Watch this video to discover interesting facts about these fascinating amphibians. Image via Noppe Herlinde/ Shutterstock.
Pinocchio frogs seem straight out of a fairy tale
If you like the story of a wooden puppet whose nose grows whenever he tells a lie, you’re going to love Pinocchio frogs. But in their case, their noses don’t grow because they’re lying … they grow to help them flirt!
These tiny male amphibians call out to attract a mate, and when a female comes closer, she gets a look at that cute, quirky nose. Some birds show off their feathers, other animals perform elaborate dances … And Pinocchio frogs proudly show off their noses.
How cute is that little nose? Image via Ramdanimam/ iNaturalist.
Masterpieces of rainforest camouflage
Pinocchio frogs (Litoria pinocchio) are tiny creatures, usually around 2–3 inches (5–7 cm) in length. And they are arboreal. This means they live high in the canopy and only go to the ground occasionally. Their skin patterns combine browns, greens and mottled textures that match moss, bark and wet leaves, allowing them to camouflage in their habitat, the rainforests of New Guinea.
But sometimes they can appear more yellowish depending on light and humidity. In dense rainforests, sunlight filters through the branches and leaves. That yellowish color can also help them blend into their surroundings. This reflects how easily perception can change in rainforest conditions.
Despite their small size, Pinocchio frogs are highly adapted to life in the rainforest, using their cryptic coloration to remain hidden among moss, bark and leaves. Environmental conditions such as light and humidity can subtly influence how their colors are perceived. Image via Varhan Rifka/ iNaturalist.
The mystery of the shifting snout
Male frogs develop a flexible rostral extension made of soft tissue. The frog can partially erect this structure, which changes shape with activity: it becomes more visible and pronounced during calling and shrinks back when the frog rests. Females do not develop this structure, which strongly suggests a role linked to reproduction.
Scientists think that the nasal projection plays a role in visual signaling during mating interactions, working alongside vocal calls. While calls carry over distance, the nasal structure may function as a close-range display, helping individuals stand out once they are near each other. In that sense, it could act as a visual courtship signal, similar to how a peacock’s tail signals quality during courtship.
Male Pinocchio frogs develop a distinctive soft-tissue nasal projection that becomes more prominent when they call. Together with their inflated vocal sac, this feature may help attract mates through a combination of visual and acoustic signals. Image via Tangsign studio/ Shutterstock.
Survival in a vertical world
Remote mountain forests in New Guinea have revealed many previously unknown species over time. These discoveries come from multiple expeditions rather than a single moment, reflecting how little-accessible these ecosystems remain.
Within this environment, the frogs spend most of their time on vegetation above the forest floor. Sticky toe pads allow them to move across wet leaves and narrow branches, while their compact bodies help them navigate the tangled structure of the rainforest. Like many tree frogs, they feed on small insects and other invertebrates, which they capture during their nocturnal activity.
Remote mountain forests in New Guinea have yielded many previously unknown species, highlighting how little explored these ecosystems remain. These frogs live high on vegetation, using sticky toe pads to move and hunt at night. Image via Cahyo Lewar/ iNaturalist.
Life cycles in the clouds
Reproduction depends strongly on moisture. Females lay eggs in damp, protected locations close to water, where humidity prevents drying. The tadpoles begin life in water before gradually transforming into adult frogs.
Because rainfall in these forests fluctuates, breeding is closely tied to wetter periods. This dependence on microclimate conditions makes successful reproduction sensitive to environmental changes, even in relatively undisturbed habitats.
Breeding is closely linked to wetter periods, making this animal sensitive to changes in local climate conditions. Image via Tangsign studio/ Shutterstock.
Pinocchio frogs’ conservation status
There is not enough information to assign a precise conservation category to this frog. Its habitat in New Guinea is still partly remote and relatively intact, but other areas are increasingly affected by logging and land conversion.
The real uncertainty lies in what is still unknown: how many populations exist, how connected they are and how they respond to gradual environmental change. For now, much of its future remains hidden in the same forests where it does.
The so-called Pinocchio frog still appears and disappears between leaves and shadows, like something from a fairy tale that has quietly turned real in the forest.
The Pinocchio frog is often seen only in brief glimpses among the foliage, moving quietly through the forest canopy and blending into light and shadow. In a place still full of undiscovered life, it is a reminder of how much of the natural world remains hidden just out of sight. Image via Ramdanimam/ iNaturalist.
Bottom line: Pinocchio frogs use a shifting nose for courtship displays, blending fairy-tale looks with real rainforest survival strategies.
Pinocchio frogs are named after the famous fictional character. Why? Because they have miraculously extending nose-like snouts! Watch this video to discover interesting facts about these fascinating amphibians. Image via Noppe Herlinde/ Shutterstock.
Pinocchio frogs seem straight out of a fairy tale
If you like the story of a wooden puppet whose nose grows whenever he tells a lie, you’re going to love Pinocchio frogs. But in their case, their noses don’t grow because they’re lying … they grow to help them flirt!
These tiny male amphibians call out to attract a mate, and when a female comes closer, she gets a look at that cute, quirky nose. Some birds show off their feathers, other animals perform elaborate dances … And Pinocchio frogs proudly show off their noses.
How cute is that little nose? Image via Ramdanimam/ iNaturalist.
Masterpieces of rainforest camouflage
Pinocchio frogs (Litoria pinocchio) are tiny creatures, usually around 2–3 inches (5–7 cm) in length. And they are arboreal. This means they live high in the canopy and only go to the ground occasionally. Their skin patterns combine browns, greens and mottled textures that match moss, bark and wet leaves, allowing them to camouflage in their habitat, the rainforests of New Guinea.
But sometimes they can appear more yellowish depending on light and humidity. In dense rainforests, sunlight filters through the branches and leaves. That yellowish color can also help them blend into their surroundings. This reflects how easily perception can change in rainforest conditions.
Despite their small size, Pinocchio frogs are highly adapted to life in the rainforest, using their cryptic coloration to remain hidden among moss, bark and leaves. Environmental conditions such as light and humidity can subtly influence how their colors are perceived. Image via Varhan Rifka/ iNaturalist.
The mystery of the shifting snout
Male frogs develop a flexible rostral extension made of soft tissue. The frog can partially erect this structure, which changes shape with activity: it becomes more visible and pronounced during calling and shrinks back when the frog rests. Females do not develop this structure, which strongly suggests a role linked to reproduction.
Scientists think that the nasal projection plays a role in visual signaling during mating interactions, working alongside vocal calls. While calls carry over distance, the nasal structure may function as a close-range display, helping individuals stand out once they are near each other. In that sense, it could act as a visual courtship signal, similar to how a peacock’s tail signals quality during courtship.
Male Pinocchio frogs develop a distinctive soft-tissue nasal projection that becomes more prominent when they call. Together with their inflated vocal sac, this feature may help attract mates through a combination of visual and acoustic signals. Image via Tangsign studio/ Shutterstock.
Survival in a vertical world
Remote mountain forests in New Guinea have revealed many previously unknown species over time. These discoveries come from multiple expeditions rather than a single moment, reflecting how little-accessible these ecosystems remain.
Within this environment, the frogs spend most of their time on vegetation above the forest floor. Sticky toe pads allow them to move across wet leaves and narrow branches, while their compact bodies help them navigate the tangled structure of the rainforest. Like many tree frogs, they feed on small insects and other invertebrates, which they capture during their nocturnal activity.
Remote mountain forests in New Guinea have yielded many previously unknown species, highlighting how little explored these ecosystems remain. These frogs live high on vegetation, using sticky toe pads to move and hunt at night. Image via Cahyo Lewar/ iNaturalist.
Life cycles in the clouds
Reproduction depends strongly on moisture. Females lay eggs in damp, protected locations close to water, where humidity prevents drying. The tadpoles begin life in water before gradually transforming into adult frogs.
Because rainfall in these forests fluctuates, breeding is closely tied to wetter periods. This dependence on microclimate conditions makes successful reproduction sensitive to environmental changes, even in relatively undisturbed habitats.
Breeding is closely linked to wetter periods, making this animal sensitive to changes in local climate conditions. Image via Tangsign studio/ Shutterstock.
Pinocchio frogs’ conservation status
There is not enough information to assign a precise conservation category to this frog. Its habitat in New Guinea is still partly remote and relatively intact, but other areas are increasingly affected by logging and land conversion.
The real uncertainty lies in what is still unknown: how many populations exist, how connected they are and how they respond to gradual environmental change. For now, much of its future remains hidden in the same forests where it does.
The so-called Pinocchio frog still appears and disappears between leaves and shadows, like something from a fairy tale that has quietly turned real in the forest.
The Pinocchio frog is often seen only in brief glimpses among the foliage, moving quietly through the forest canopy and blending into light and shadow. In a place still full of undiscovered life, it is a reminder of how much of the natural world remains hidden just out of sight. Image via Ramdanimam/ iNaturalist.
Bottom line: Pinocchio frogs use a shifting nose for courtship displays, blending fairy-tale looks with real rainforest survival strategies.
