On August 7, 2027, Earth will have a close encounter with the mountain-sized asteroid 1999 AN10. In this chart, the red ellipse marks the orbit of 1999 AN10 in 2027. Stalks on this line are at the beginnings of months. Chart via Guy Ottewell. Used with permission.
Mountain-sized asteroid to pass close to Earth on August 7, 2027
A space rock around 800 to 1,800 meters wide (about 0.5 to 1.1 miles) is set to soar close by Earth on August 7, 2027.
The asteroid — named 1999 AN10 — has been labelled potentially hazardous by NASA, but there is no chance of it impacting Earth in 2027. It will safely pass us in August with a separation of about 389,855 kilometers (242,240 miles), or roughly the same distance away as the moon.
If the asteroid is not going to hit us, why is it labeled a potentially hazardous asteroid? A potentially hazardous asteroid is any space rock that comes as close as 0.05 astronomical units (AU) from Earth and that’s larger than 140 meters (460 feet) in diameter. The label reflects the potential that at some point in the future — if this large space rock gets nudged by another passing object — its orbit could be altered in a way that would cause it to hit Earth. Currently, 1999 AN10 has a zero chance of hitting Earth during its 2027 flyby.
So this isn’t something to be scared of. But it is something to get excited about! The asteroid is so big and will come so close that you’ll be able to spot it with binoculars as it glides by. 1999 AN10 will peak around magnitude 7.3 as it passes through the night sky over North and South America. Its closest approach is at 7:12:05 UTC on August 7, 2027. That would be 2:12:05 am CDT on August 7 for the Americas.
Overnight on August 7, 2027, asteroid 1999 AN10 will pass through the constellations Taurus, Aries, Pisces and Pegasus.
The potentially hazardous asteroid 1999 AN10 will pass through the constellations Taurus, Aries, Pisces and Pegasus overnight on August 7, 2027, as it whizzes by Earth. Simulation via Tony Dunn.
Will asteroid 1999 AN10 hit the moon?
If the asteroid will pass about 1 lunar distance from Earth, does that mean it could hit the moon? How close will it get to the moon?
Well, moon lovers, don’t worry. The closest the asteroid will come to the moon is 763,391 km, or 474,349 miles. That’s about twice as far as it will get from Earth! So, as you might have guessed, it means the asteroid will pass Earth on the opposite side to the moon at that time.
If asteroid 1999 AN10 is going to pass Earth at about 1 lunar distance, is there a chance it will hit the moon? No, because at the time of passage, the moon will be on the other side of Earth. Simulation via Tony Dunn.
More about potentially hazardous asteroids
Astronomers discovered 1999 AN10 on January 13, 1999, at the Lincoln Laboratory Experimental Test Site in New Mexico. It’s an Apollo-class asteroid, meaning its orbit crosses Earth’s orbit around the sun.
The asteroid travels around the sun once every 643 days, following an elongated orbit that takes it from inside Earth’s orbit to well beyond Mars’ orbit.
It’s a potentially hazardous asteroid because of its large size. NASA says any impactor larger than 1 to 2 kilometers (.6 to 1.2 miles) in size would have worldwide effects. It could blast massive amounts of dust into the atmosphere, dimming sunlight for months and threatening global civilization.
Astronomers have cataloged roughly 2,500 known potentially hazardous asteroids. But they estimate that’s only about half of the population. However, they believe they have found 90% of the biggest potentially hazardous asteroids.
This illustration shows an asteroid on one side of Earth with the moon on the other side. Image via Batman111 from Pixabay.
Distance: About 32,000 km (20,000 miles) above Earth’s surface
Size: Approximately 375 meters (1,230 feet)
Apophis will pass closer to Earth than many geostationary satellites. Scientists once worried about a possible future collision, but additional observations ruled out an impact risk for at least 100 years. NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft will study it after the encounter.
Impact odds: Approximately 1 in 2,700 for that date, according to NASA’s 2021 orbital analysis.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission collected a sample from Bennu and returned it to Earth in 2023. Scientists are studying the sample to learn about the early solar system.
Distance: About 929,000 km (577,000 miles) from Earth
Size: Approximately 700 meters (0.43 mile)
This asteroid attracted considerable attention after its discovery in 1997. Early calculations suggested a possible future collision. Better observations ruled that out.
Bottom line: Asteroid 1999 AN10, which might be a mile wide, will pass Earth on August 7, 2027, about 1 lunar distance away. The encounter poses no danger.
On August 7, 2027, Earth will have a close encounter with the mountain-sized asteroid 1999 AN10. In this chart, the red ellipse marks the orbit of 1999 AN10 in 2027. Stalks on this line are at the beginnings of months. Chart via Guy Ottewell. Used with permission.
Mountain-sized asteroid to pass close to Earth on August 7, 2027
A space rock around 800 to 1,800 meters wide (about 0.5 to 1.1 miles) is set to soar close by Earth on August 7, 2027.
The asteroid — named 1999 AN10 — has been labelled potentially hazardous by NASA, but there is no chance of it impacting Earth in 2027. It will safely pass us in August with a separation of about 389,855 kilometers (242,240 miles), or roughly the same distance away as the moon.
If the asteroid is not going to hit us, why is it labeled a potentially hazardous asteroid? A potentially hazardous asteroid is any space rock that comes as close as 0.05 astronomical units (AU) from Earth and that’s larger than 140 meters (460 feet) in diameter. The label reflects the potential that at some point in the future — if this large space rock gets nudged by another passing object — its orbit could be altered in a way that would cause it to hit Earth. Currently, 1999 AN10 has a zero chance of hitting Earth during its 2027 flyby.
So this isn’t something to be scared of. But it is something to get excited about! The asteroid is so big and will come so close that you’ll be able to spot it with binoculars as it glides by. 1999 AN10 will peak around magnitude 7.3 as it passes through the night sky over North and South America. Its closest approach is at 7:12:05 UTC on August 7, 2027. That would be 2:12:05 am CDT on August 7 for the Americas.
Overnight on August 7, 2027, asteroid 1999 AN10 will pass through the constellations Taurus, Aries, Pisces and Pegasus.
The potentially hazardous asteroid 1999 AN10 will pass through the constellations Taurus, Aries, Pisces and Pegasus overnight on August 7, 2027, as it whizzes by Earth. Simulation via Tony Dunn.
Will asteroid 1999 AN10 hit the moon?
If the asteroid will pass about 1 lunar distance from Earth, does that mean it could hit the moon? How close will it get to the moon?
Well, moon lovers, don’t worry. The closest the asteroid will come to the moon is 763,391 km, or 474,349 miles. That’s about twice as far as it will get from Earth! So, as you might have guessed, it means the asteroid will pass Earth on the opposite side to the moon at that time.
If asteroid 1999 AN10 is going to pass Earth at about 1 lunar distance, is there a chance it will hit the moon? No, because at the time of passage, the moon will be on the other side of Earth. Simulation via Tony Dunn.
More about potentially hazardous asteroids
Astronomers discovered 1999 AN10 on January 13, 1999, at the Lincoln Laboratory Experimental Test Site in New Mexico. It’s an Apollo-class asteroid, meaning its orbit crosses Earth’s orbit around the sun.
The asteroid travels around the sun once every 643 days, following an elongated orbit that takes it from inside Earth’s orbit to well beyond Mars’ orbit.
It’s a potentially hazardous asteroid because of its large size. NASA says any impactor larger than 1 to 2 kilometers (.6 to 1.2 miles) in size would have worldwide effects. It could blast massive amounts of dust into the atmosphere, dimming sunlight for months and threatening global civilization.
Astronomers have cataloged roughly 2,500 known potentially hazardous asteroids. But they estimate that’s only about half of the population. However, they believe they have found 90% of the biggest potentially hazardous asteroids.
This illustration shows an asteroid on one side of Earth with the moon on the other side. Image via Batman111 from Pixabay.
Distance: About 32,000 km (20,000 miles) above Earth’s surface
Size: Approximately 375 meters (1,230 feet)
Apophis will pass closer to Earth than many geostationary satellites. Scientists once worried about a possible future collision, but additional observations ruled out an impact risk for at least 100 years. NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft will study it after the encounter.
Impact odds: Approximately 1 in 2,700 for that date, according to NASA’s 2021 orbital analysis.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission collected a sample from Bennu and returned it to Earth in 2023. Scientists are studying the sample to learn about the early solar system.
Distance: About 929,000 km (577,000 miles) from Earth
Size: Approximately 700 meters (0.43 mile)
This asteroid attracted considerable attention after its discovery in 1997. Early calculations suggested a possible future collision. Better observations ruled that out.
Bottom line: Asteroid 1999 AN10, which might be a mile wide, will pass Earth on August 7, 2027, about 1 lunar distance away. The encounter poses no danger.
Here is the Great Square of Pegasus, connected to the constellation Andromeda via the star Alpheratz. See Mirach? You can find the Andromeda galaxy (M31) – the large spiral galaxy next door to our Milky Way – by star-hopping with Mirach.
Mirach, also known as Beta Andromedae, is a star in the constellation Andromeda. It’s only moderately bright. But it’s an important star to stargazers, as it can act as a signpost to three galaxies: the Andromeda galaxy (M31), the Triangulum galaxy (M33) and a galaxy known as Mirach’s Ghost (NGC 404).
Mirach is what’s known as a red giant star, a star in the final stages of its evolution whose outer layers have expanded. It has about three to four times the sun’s mass and 100 times the sun’s diameter. It shines with about 1,900 times our sun’s total brightness. But Mirach is rather far away, at 200 light-years distant. That’s why it shines in our sky at only 2nd magnitude, a respectable brightness but not as bright as many other stars.
But it’s bright enough to be a useful signpost to three galaxies. Read on to find out how to spot them.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Newport, Oregon, captured this telescopic view of the Andromeda galaxy on September 10, 2026. Jeremy wrote: “The numbers are mind-numbing. 2.5 million light years? One trillion stars? This week we had a run of clear, dark skies. My target: M31, the Andromeda galaxy. Our nearest galactic neighbor.” Thank you, Jeremy!
Finding the Andromeda galaxy with Mirach
Draw an imaginary line from Mirach to the star Mu (µ) Andromedae (see below). Then, continue extending that line for about the same distance between those two stars to reach the Andromeda Galaxy.
Under dark, moonless skies, the Andromeda galaxy appears as a smudge in the sky to the unaided eye. Even if the moon is out or under skies with moderate light pollution (like the suburbs), you can see it through binoculars. At about 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda galaxy is the nearest large spiral galaxy to our Milky Way. And it’s the most distant thing you can easily see with your eye alone.
A star map of the constellation Andromeda showing the locations of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33). Image via IAU.
Finding the Triangulum galaxy (M33)
The Triangulum Galaxy, in the constellation Triangulum, is much fainter than the Andromeda Galaxy. Some people with excellent eyesight have been able to see it unaided by telescopes or binoculars, in extraordinarily good viewing conditions. Even so, it can still be a challenge to find M33 with binoculars and small telescopes.
To find Triangulum, you’ll use the same two stars as above, but star-hop in the opposite direction. Follow an imaginary line from the star Mu (µ) Andromedae to Mirach, then continue to draw that line past Mirach, for twice the distance between Mu Andromedae and Mirach, to reach the Triangulum Galaxy.
Here are 2 of the 3 galaxies you can find via the star Mirach in the constellation Andromeda. M31 is easy to find on a dark night, from a rural location. M33 is tougher to spot. Chart via IAU.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan imaged this galaxy on October 29. 2025, from Colorado. Andy wrote: “Triangulum is the second closest galaxy to our own and located near the 1st closest, Andromeda, in the night sky.” Thank you, Andy!
Finding Mirach’s Ghost (NGC 404)
When you look at Mirach, you’re looking almost exactly in the direction of the galaxy labeled NGC 404 but known affectionately among astronomers as Mirach’s Ghost. That’s because the remote, fuzzy galaxy lies right next to the moderately bright star, just 1/10 degree from Mirach. A full moon is 1/2 degree wide, so you can see that’s very close.
Mirach’s Ghost is faint, just magnitude 11 in brightness. Many amateur astronomers try to spot it with their small telescopes, but due to its proximity to the brighter 2nd-magnitude Mirach, seeing the galaxy is not easy.
NGC 404 is located about 10 million light-years away, just beyond our Local Group of galaxies. The Local Group is a cluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way, Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies. NGC 404 does not appear gravitationally bound to our Local Group.
NGC 404, also known as Mirach’s Ghost, is the bluish-white object next to orange-colored Mirach. This image was taken by Tom Wildoner using a camera attached to a 4.7 inch (120 mm) refractor telescope. Image via Tom Wildoner. Used with permission.
Bottom line: Stargazers use Mirach, a moderately bright star in the constellation Andromeda, to locate three galaxies. It can help you find the Andromeda Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy and a galaxy known as Mirach’s Ghost (NGC 404).
Here is the Great Square of Pegasus, connected to the constellation Andromeda via the star Alpheratz. See Mirach? You can find the Andromeda galaxy (M31) – the large spiral galaxy next door to our Milky Way – by star-hopping with Mirach.
Mirach, also known as Beta Andromedae, is a star in the constellation Andromeda. It’s only moderately bright. But it’s an important star to stargazers, as it can act as a signpost to three galaxies: the Andromeda galaxy (M31), the Triangulum galaxy (M33) and a galaxy known as Mirach’s Ghost (NGC 404).
Mirach is what’s known as a red giant star, a star in the final stages of its evolution whose outer layers have expanded. It has about three to four times the sun’s mass and 100 times the sun’s diameter. It shines with about 1,900 times our sun’s total brightness. But Mirach is rather far away, at 200 light-years distant. That’s why it shines in our sky at only 2nd magnitude, a respectable brightness but not as bright as many other stars.
But it’s bright enough to be a useful signpost to three galaxies. Read on to find out how to spot them.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Newport, Oregon, captured this telescopic view of the Andromeda galaxy on September 10, 2026. Jeremy wrote: “The numbers are mind-numbing. 2.5 million light years? One trillion stars? This week we had a run of clear, dark skies. My target: M31, the Andromeda galaxy. Our nearest galactic neighbor.” Thank you, Jeremy!
Finding the Andromeda galaxy with Mirach
Draw an imaginary line from Mirach to the star Mu (µ) Andromedae (see below). Then, continue extending that line for about the same distance between those two stars to reach the Andromeda Galaxy.
Under dark, moonless skies, the Andromeda galaxy appears as a smudge in the sky to the unaided eye. Even if the moon is out or under skies with moderate light pollution (like the suburbs), you can see it through binoculars. At about 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda galaxy is the nearest large spiral galaxy to our Milky Way. And it’s the most distant thing you can easily see with your eye alone.
A star map of the constellation Andromeda showing the locations of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33). Image via IAU.
Finding the Triangulum galaxy (M33)
The Triangulum Galaxy, in the constellation Triangulum, is much fainter than the Andromeda Galaxy. Some people with excellent eyesight have been able to see it unaided by telescopes or binoculars, in extraordinarily good viewing conditions. Even so, it can still be a challenge to find M33 with binoculars and small telescopes.
To find Triangulum, you’ll use the same two stars as above, but star-hop in the opposite direction. Follow an imaginary line from the star Mu (µ) Andromedae to Mirach, then continue to draw that line past Mirach, for twice the distance between Mu Andromedae and Mirach, to reach the Triangulum Galaxy.
Here are 2 of the 3 galaxies you can find via the star Mirach in the constellation Andromeda. M31 is easy to find on a dark night, from a rural location. M33 is tougher to spot. Chart via IAU.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Andy Dungan imaged this galaxy on October 29. 2025, from Colorado. Andy wrote: “Triangulum is the second closest galaxy to our own and located near the 1st closest, Andromeda, in the night sky.” Thank you, Andy!
Finding Mirach’s Ghost (NGC 404)
When you look at Mirach, you’re looking almost exactly in the direction of the galaxy labeled NGC 404 but known affectionately among astronomers as Mirach’s Ghost. That’s because the remote, fuzzy galaxy lies right next to the moderately bright star, just 1/10 degree from Mirach. A full moon is 1/2 degree wide, so you can see that’s very close.
Mirach’s Ghost is faint, just magnitude 11 in brightness. Many amateur astronomers try to spot it with their small telescopes, but due to its proximity to the brighter 2nd-magnitude Mirach, seeing the galaxy is not easy.
NGC 404 is located about 10 million light-years away, just beyond our Local Group of galaxies. The Local Group is a cluster of galaxies that includes the Milky Way, Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies. NGC 404 does not appear gravitationally bound to our Local Group.
NGC 404, also known as Mirach’s Ghost, is the bluish-white object next to orange-colored Mirach. This image was taken by Tom Wildoner using a camera attached to a 4.7 inch (120 mm) refractor telescope. Image via Tom Wildoner. Used with permission.
Bottom line: Stargazers use Mirach, a moderately bright star in the constellation Andromeda, to locate three galaxies. It can help you find the Andromeda Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy and a galaxy known as Mirach’s Ghost (NGC 404).
View larger. | A slice of the Martian meteorite Teghaza 001. A new analysis of the 4.1-billion-year-old meteorite provides new clues about Mars’ wet and habitable past, including large amounts of manganese oxide. On Earth, manganese oxide is a common byproduct of microbial life. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.
Teghaza 001 is a rare Martian meteorite that is 4.1 billion years old. It was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Mali in 2022.
The meteorite contains large amounts of manganese oxide, a common byproduct of microbes on Earth.
The rare piece of Martian crust also provides more clues about water and habitable conditions on ancient Mars.
Does this rare Martian meteorite hold clues to ancient life on Mars?
A rare 4.1-billion-year-old Martian meteorite has given us new clues about ancient Mars. And some of this new information hints at the possibility of ancient microbial Martian life, back when conditions on the red planet were very different.
The meteorite, called Teghaza 001, was found in the Sahara Desert in Mali in 2022. It’s one of the oldest Martian meteorites ever found.
The researchers said on October 29, 2026, that when they examined the meteorite more closely in the lab, they found something interesting. It contains large amounts of manganese oxide. Why’s that interesting? Because on Earth, manganese oxide is a common byproduct of microbial life.
This isn’t proof of ancient life on Mars, but it’s certainly tantalizing. The meteorite also provides more clues about how wet and how potentially habitable Mars was billions of years ago.
Lead author Yang Liu at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said:
It was only after we started looking closely that we realized this meteorite is really unique. One of the paper’s reviewers called it a Rosetta Stone for Mars.
One of the things that makes Teghaza 001 unique is the high levels of manganese oxide within it. On Earth, manganese oxide is a common byproduct of microbial life.
Although this finding does not prove the existence of ancient life on Mars, it remains intriguing.
Carl Agee, director and curator at UNM’s Institute of Meteoritics, and colleague Karen Ziegler, a scientist and research professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico, examined the meteorite more closely. Agee said:
I realized that this one was a little bit like Black Beauty, not exactly, but it resembled it in the oxygen isotope values. I looked at it microscopically and found domains within it that had high levels of manganese oxide, a compound being looked for on Mars by the rovers as an indicator of environments conducive to life.
13 possible locations for the origin of meteorite Teghaza 001. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ USGS.
Rare Martian meteorite is one of the oldest
Teghaza 001 is one of the oldest Martian meteorites ever found so far. The researchers discovered tiny zircon crystals in the meteorite. They allow age-dating of igneous rocks that form from the cooling of molten magma. The team used uranium-lead age analyses to date the tiny crystals, and Teghaza 001 turned out to be 4.1 billion years old. That makes it one of the oldest known Martian meteorites. Agee said:
There are a few parts to Black Beauty that are around that age, but that whole meteorite itself is a conglomeration of many different rock types. Teghaza 001 is just one unadulterated rock type, and it’s 4.1 billion years or older, so that was a big surprise. It’s the oldest Martian igneous rock ever found by a huge margin, but in addition to that, it seemed to have these clues in its composition that suggested it had been in an environment that had fluids and water coursing through it.
More evidence for ancient water
The meteorite also provided yet more evidence for liquid water billions of years ago on Mars. The clues come from unusual oxygen isotope compositions and altered minerals. Like other previous studies, they point to a warmer and much wetter ancient Mars. As Agee explained:
We also had these anomalous oxygen isotopes, and these domains that had high manganese levels. All of that was consistent with it being from a time on Mars, from the very, very beginning when the Martian environment was different from the time in which most of the Martian meteorites that we see were formed and erupted a few 100 million years ago when Mars was a dry desert, just like it is now. This sample probably came from an environment on Mars that was more Earth-like.
This period of time on Mars is called the Pre-Noachian period. It’s the oldest geological epoch, approximately 4.5 to 4.1 billion years ago.
Going back in time
Being able to study this meteorite is like going back in time, Agee said:
This is just one single meteorite. It’s like going out, going back in time and chipping off a hunk of an outcrop, 4 billion years ago on Mars, and then we have this example of what was actually happening. That is why it’s such a valuable sample. We’ve never found one like this before.
The most exciting part about this find is its age, plus the alteration in the meteorite that indicates it has been in what I would call an Earth-like environment, with fluids coursing over the surface and volcanoes creating hydrothermal systems.
There are surface waters and so on. And that’s all reflected in the way that the meteorite has been sort of altered from its original state.
It’s not like this is very common so not only is it ancient and samples a different type of environment in a different time on Mars, but we don’t have any other samples like it. Chances are very slim or next to impossible, that we’ll get another one, like this anytime soon.
Yang Liu at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labotratory is the lead author of the new study about the Martian meteorite Teghaza 001. Image via NASA/ JPL.
Life on the surface of Mars?
This is also the time when life on Mars’ surface would have been the most possible, as Agee noted:
If there was ever abundant life on Mars, on the surface, not sequestered away in some subsurface, that would be the time that you would be looking at the Pre-Noachian period. It’s the very earliest time, and that was when maybe Mars still had a magnetic field, and it was shielded from radiation, and there were surface waters.
There was a denser atmosphere. If primitive life was abundant in Mars. That is the time that is most likely for it to have down happened.
Origin of rare Martian meteorite Teghaza 001
We know that Teghaza 001 came from Mars. But where exactly on Mars? The researchers don’t know for sure yet, but they narrowed it down to 13 primary possible locations. Several are in the Southern Highlands region.
If scientists can identify the exact location, it could help in the planning of future rovers and where to send them.
Bottom line: A rare 4.1-billion-year-old Martian meteorite, Teghaza 001, provides new clues about Mars’ ancient and more habitable past.
View larger. | A slice of the Martian meteorite Teghaza 001. A new analysis of the 4.1-billion-year-old meteorite provides new clues about Mars’ wet and habitable past, including large amounts of manganese oxide. On Earth, manganese oxide is a common byproduct of microbial life. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.
Teghaza 001 is a rare Martian meteorite that is 4.1 billion years old. It was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Mali in 2022.
The meteorite contains large amounts of manganese oxide, a common byproduct of microbes on Earth.
The rare piece of Martian crust also provides more clues about water and habitable conditions on ancient Mars.
Does this rare Martian meteorite hold clues to ancient life on Mars?
A rare 4.1-billion-year-old Martian meteorite has given us new clues about ancient Mars. And some of this new information hints at the possibility of ancient microbial Martian life, back when conditions on the red planet were very different.
The meteorite, called Teghaza 001, was found in the Sahara Desert in Mali in 2022. It’s one of the oldest Martian meteorites ever found.
The researchers said on October 29, 2026, that when they examined the meteorite more closely in the lab, they found something interesting. It contains large amounts of manganese oxide. Why’s that interesting? Because on Earth, manganese oxide is a common byproduct of microbial life.
This isn’t proof of ancient life on Mars, but it’s certainly tantalizing. The meteorite also provides more clues about how wet and how potentially habitable Mars was billions of years ago.
Lead author Yang Liu at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said:
It was only after we started looking closely that we realized this meteorite is really unique. One of the paper’s reviewers called it a Rosetta Stone for Mars.
One of the things that makes Teghaza 001 unique is the high levels of manganese oxide within it. On Earth, manganese oxide is a common byproduct of microbial life.
Although this finding does not prove the existence of ancient life on Mars, it remains intriguing.
Carl Agee, director and curator at UNM’s Institute of Meteoritics, and colleague Karen Ziegler, a scientist and research professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico, examined the meteorite more closely. Agee said:
I realized that this one was a little bit like Black Beauty, not exactly, but it resembled it in the oxygen isotope values. I looked at it microscopically and found domains within it that had high levels of manganese oxide, a compound being looked for on Mars by the rovers as an indicator of environments conducive to life.
13 possible locations for the origin of meteorite Teghaza 001. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ USGS.
Rare Martian meteorite is one of the oldest
Teghaza 001 is one of the oldest Martian meteorites ever found so far. The researchers discovered tiny zircon crystals in the meteorite. They allow age-dating of igneous rocks that form from the cooling of molten magma. The team used uranium-lead age analyses to date the tiny crystals, and Teghaza 001 turned out to be 4.1 billion years old. That makes it one of the oldest known Martian meteorites. Agee said:
There are a few parts to Black Beauty that are around that age, but that whole meteorite itself is a conglomeration of many different rock types. Teghaza 001 is just one unadulterated rock type, and it’s 4.1 billion years or older, so that was a big surprise. It’s the oldest Martian igneous rock ever found by a huge margin, but in addition to that, it seemed to have these clues in its composition that suggested it had been in an environment that had fluids and water coursing through it.
More evidence for ancient water
The meteorite also provided yet more evidence for liquid water billions of years ago on Mars. The clues come from unusual oxygen isotope compositions and altered minerals. Like other previous studies, they point to a warmer and much wetter ancient Mars. As Agee explained:
We also had these anomalous oxygen isotopes, and these domains that had high manganese levels. All of that was consistent with it being from a time on Mars, from the very, very beginning when the Martian environment was different from the time in which most of the Martian meteorites that we see were formed and erupted a few 100 million years ago when Mars was a dry desert, just like it is now. This sample probably came from an environment on Mars that was more Earth-like.
This period of time on Mars is called the Pre-Noachian period. It’s the oldest geological epoch, approximately 4.5 to 4.1 billion years ago.
Going back in time
Being able to study this meteorite is like going back in time, Agee said:
This is just one single meteorite. It’s like going out, going back in time and chipping off a hunk of an outcrop, 4 billion years ago on Mars, and then we have this example of what was actually happening. That is why it’s such a valuable sample. We’ve never found one like this before.
The most exciting part about this find is its age, plus the alteration in the meteorite that indicates it has been in what I would call an Earth-like environment, with fluids coursing over the surface and volcanoes creating hydrothermal systems.
There are surface waters and so on. And that’s all reflected in the way that the meteorite has been sort of altered from its original state.
It’s not like this is very common so not only is it ancient and samples a different type of environment in a different time on Mars, but we don’t have any other samples like it. Chances are very slim or next to impossible, that we’ll get another one, like this anytime soon.
Yang Liu at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labotratory is the lead author of the new study about the Martian meteorite Teghaza 001. Image via NASA/ JPL.
Life on the surface of Mars?
This is also the time when life on Mars’ surface would have been the most possible, as Agee noted:
If there was ever abundant life on Mars, on the surface, not sequestered away in some subsurface, that would be the time that you would be looking at the Pre-Noachian period. It’s the very earliest time, and that was when maybe Mars still had a magnetic field, and it was shielded from radiation, and there were surface waters.
There was a denser atmosphere. If primitive life was abundant in Mars. That is the time that is most likely for it to have down happened.
Origin of rare Martian meteorite Teghaza 001
We know that Teghaza 001 came from Mars. But where exactly on Mars? The researchers don’t know for sure yet, but they narrowed it down to 13 primary possible locations. Several are in the Southern Highlands region.
If scientists can identify the exact location, it could help in the planning of future rovers and where to send them.
Bottom line: A rare 4.1-billion-year-old Martian meteorite, Teghaza 001, provides new clues about Mars’ ancient and more habitable past.
As the sun sets over the stark Martian landscape, stars come into view. Is there a North Star for Mars? Image via Spirit Mars rover on May 19, 2005/ NASA.
The North Star for Earth is Polaris. Does our next-door neighbor planet, Mars, have the same North Star as Earth? If not, does Mars have a star located more or less above its north pole?
Let’s talk about what we mean by North Star. Every planet in our solar system spins on its axis. Earth’s spin is what defines the length of our day of approximately 24 hours. If you continue the imaginary line of a planet’s axis out into space, it might point to a star that’s visible to the eye.
We call such stars pole stars. On Earth, the northern pole star — less than a degree from the north celestial pole — is the beloved star Polaris. Scouts and hikers know you can use Polaris to find the direction north when compasses or GPS fails.
However, Earth’s Southern Hemisphere doesn’t have a comparable South Star. The nearest visible star to the south celestial pole of Earth is about 9 degrees away.
Artist’s illustration of the relative tilts of the orbits of Earth and Mars, Earth doesn’t orbit exactly upright with respect to our orbit around the sun. Instead, Earth’s tilt is about 23 1/2 degrees. Meanwhile, Mars’ tilt is about 25 degrees. What’s more, the orbits of Earth and Mars aren’t tilted in the same direction, as in this illustration. For both reasons — different amount of tilt and different direction of tilt — Mars doesn’t have the same North Star as Earth. Image via NASA.
A North Star for Mars?
So, does Mars have a North or South Star? The answer is … not in any satisfying way. There’s no bright North Star, and only a modestly-bright South Star, for Mars.
In the northern sky as seen from Mars, the best candidate for a North Star is located on Mars’ sky dome about 1/2 degree from Mars’ north celestial pole. That’s closer than Polaris is to Earth’s north celestial pole. So what’s the problem? Well, while Polaris is relatively bright (47th brightest of all stars in the night sky), the star near Mars’ north celestial pole is faint.
In fact, this star is barely within the limit of visibility to the eye alone. That makes it a poor candidate for a North Star.
Mars’ north pole points to a spot in the sky that’s about midway between Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, and Alderamin, the brightest star in the constellation Cepheus the King. See a chart of the position of Mars’ north celestial pole between the constellations Cygnus and Cepheus.
The southern sky view from Mars
Meanwhile, in the southern sky as seen from Mars, Kappa Velorum is only about 3 degrees from the Martian south celestial pole. That’s not as close as Polaris is to Earth’s north celestial pole, plus this star is only modestly bright, not nearly as bright as Polaris.
Future Mars colonists aren’t going to have a bright North Star — like our Polaris — to guide them.
On the other hand, if you were standing outside at night on the surface of Mars, you’d see some other cool stuff!
Earth and moon, as seen from Mars by the Curiosity rover in 2014. From Mars, you’d see both the Earth and moon with the eye alone. Image via NASA.
Can you see the moon orbiting Earth from Mars?
As seen from Mars, you could see Earth’s moon orbiting around Earth. From Earth, we can’t see any other planets’ satellites with the unaided eye, but this amazing sight on Mars would be visible to the eye alone. Both the Earth and the moon would appear starlike.
In general, the Earth as seen from Mars would somewhat mimic our view of Venus as seen from Earth. By that we mean that — like Venus in relationship to Earth — Earth in relationship to Mars is an inner planet. It orbits closer to the sun than Mars. Thus, Earth as seen from Mars would constantly shift from a morning to an evening “star” and back, just as Venus does as seen from our world.
And although both Earth and the moon would appear as stars to the unaided eye, observers on Mars with telescopes would sometimes see them as crescent worlds, just as we see Venus.
So … no North Star for Mars. But Martian stargazers wouldn’t lack for things to see!
This series of images shows the Martian moon Phobos as it crossed in front of the sun, as seen by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 (Sol 2359). Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.
Bottom line: Does planet Mars have a North Star akin to Earth’s North Star Polaris? No, there is not a Mars North Star. But Martian stargazers wouldn’t lack for things to see!
As the sun sets over the stark Martian landscape, stars come into view. Is there a North Star for Mars? Image via Spirit Mars rover on May 19, 2005/ NASA.
The North Star for Earth is Polaris. Does our next-door neighbor planet, Mars, have the same North Star as Earth? If not, does Mars have a star located more or less above its north pole?
Let’s talk about what we mean by North Star. Every planet in our solar system spins on its axis. Earth’s spin is what defines the length of our day of approximately 24 hours. If you continue the imaginary line of a planet’s axis out into space, it might point to a star that’s visible to the eye.
We call such stars pole stars. On Earth, the northern pole star — less than a degree from the north celestial pole — is the beloved star Polaris. Scouts and hikers know you can use Polaris to find the direction north when compasses or GPS fails.
However, Earth’s Southern Hemisphere doesn’t have a comparable South Star. The nearest visible star to the south celestial pole of Earth is about 9 degrees away.
Artist’s illustration of the relative tilts of the orbits of Earth and Mars, Earth doesn’t orbit exactly upright with respect to our orbit around the sun. Instead, Earth’s tilt is about 23 1/2 degrees. Meanwhile, Mars’ tilt is about 25 degrees. What’s more, the orbits of Earth and Mars aren’t tilted in the same direction, as in this illustration. For both reasons — different amount of tilt and different direction of tilt — Mars doesn’t have the same North Star as Earth. Image via NASA.
A North Star for Mars?
So, does Mars have a North or South Star? The answer is … not in any satisfying way. There’s no bright North Star, and only a modestly-bright South Star, for Mars.
In the northern sky as seen from Mars, the best candidate for a North Star is located on Mars’ sky dome about 1/2 degree from Mars’ north celestial pole. That’s closer than Polaris is to Earth’s north celestial pole. So what’s the problem? Well, while Polaris is relatively bright (47th brightest of all stars in the night sky), the star near Mars’ north celestial pole is faint.
In fact, this star is barely within the limit of visibility to the eye alone. That makes it a poor candidate for a North Star.
Mars’ north pole points to a spot in the sky that’s about midway between Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, and Alderamin, the brightest star in the constellation Cepheus the King. See a chart of the position of Mars’ north celestial pole between the constellations Cygnus and Cepheus.
The southern sky view from Mars
Meanwhile, in the southern sky as seen from Mars, Kappa Velorum is only about 3 degrees from the Martian south celestial pole. That’s not as close as Polaris is to Earth’s north celestial pole, plus this star is only modestly bright, not nearly as bright as Polaris.
Future Mars colonists aren’t going to have a bright North Star — like our Polaris — to guide them.
On the other hand, if you were standing outside at night on the surface of Mars, you’d see some other cool stuff!
Earth and moon, as seen from Mars by the Curiosity rover in 2014. From Mars, you’d see both the Earth and moon with the eye alone. Image via NASA.
Can you see the moon orbiting Earth from Mars?
As seen from Mars, you could see Earth’s moon orbiting around Earth. From Earth, we can’t see any other planets’ satellites with the unaided eye, but this amazing sight on Mars would be visible to the eye alone. Both the Earth and the moon would appear starlike.
In general, the Earth as seen from Mars would somewhat mimic our view of Venus as seen from Earth. By that we mean that — like Venus in relationship to Earth — Earth in relationship to Mars is an inner planet. It orbits closer to the sun than Mars. Thus, Earth as seen from Mars would constantly shift from a morning to an evening “star” and back, just as Venus does as seen from our world.
And although both Earth and the moon would appear as stars to the unaided eye, observers on Mars with telescopes would sometimes see them as crescent worlds, just as we see Venus.
So … no North Star for Mars. But Martian stargazers wouldn’t lack for things to see!
This series of images shows the Martian moon Phobos as it crossed in front of the sun, as seen by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 (Sol 2359). Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.
Bottom line: Does planet Mars have a North Star akin to Earth’s North Star Polaris? No, there is not a Mars North Star. But Martian stargazers wouldn’t lack for things to see!
Taurid meteors consist of 2 streams, the South Taurids and North Taurids. Both streams radiate from the constellation Taurus the Bull, not far from the bright star Aldebaran and the tiny, misty, dipper-shaped Pleiades. Taurus is high in the sky in the middle of the night now. So the hours around midnight are a good time to watch for Taurid meteors and fireballs, as they appear to originate from the constellation Taurus. In October and November, this constellation is highest in the sky in the middle of the night.
You might see South Taurid meteors any time from about September 10 to November 20. The North Taurids stem from a nearby but slightly different stream. They’re active from about October 20 to December 10. Both showers produce about five meteors per hour (10 total when they overlap) and some of them are fireballs.
Predicted peak: According the the RASC Observer’s Guide, the South Taurids’ predicted peak is for 19 UTC on November 5, 2026. The North Taurids’ predicted peak is for 18 UTC on November 12, 2026. Both the South and North Taurids don’t have very definite peaks. They ramble along in October and November and are especially noticeable from late October into early November, when they overlap. When to watch: Best around midnight when the radiant is highest in the sky. Overall duration of shower: The South Taurids run from about September 23 to November 12. This time period is when we’re passing through the Southern Taurid meteor stream in space. North Taurids are active from about October 13 to December 2. And this time period is when we’re passing through the Northern Taurid meteor stream in space. Radiant: Rises in early evening, highest in the sky around midnight. See chart below. Nearest moon phases: In 2026, the new moon falls at 7:02 UTC on November 9. So moonlight will not interfere with Taurid meteors in 2026. You’ll catch Taurid meteors throughout October and November. Visit Sunrise Sunset Calendars to see moon rising times for your location. Be sure to check the moon rising time box. Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: Under dark skies with no moon, both the South and North Taurid meteor showers produce about five meteors per hour (10 total when they overlap). Also, watch for fireballs. In most years, only 1% of all Taurid meteors are fireballs. In exceptional years, when the Earth passes through a concentrated field of debris, the percentage can be as high as 7%. Note: Taurid meteors tend to be slow-moving but sometimes very bright. The showers sometimes produce fireballs, which made their cyclical reappearance in 2008, 2015 and 2022. The next predicted swarm or outburst of Taurid fireballs is in 2032.
The object responsible for the Northern Taurid meteor shower is believed to be an asteroid. And that asteroid is related to a comet.
The asteroid is named 2004 TG10. The Spacewatch program discovered it on October 8, 2004. Its orbit around the sun closely matches that of periodic Comet Encke (officially known as 2P/Encke). Scientists believe this asteroid was once part of a much larger object known as the Encke Complex.
The most widely accepted theory is that about 20,000 years ago, a much larger object broke up, creating Comet Encke and several asteroids and meteor showers. Scientists named this group of resultant objects after the most prominent member of the group: Comet Encke. Hence, the Encke Complex.
No single asteroid produces Taurid meteors
A recent study indicates that the asteroid 2004 TG10 is only one of 10 related asteroids that may be responsible for this meteor shower. If that is true, then no single asteroid is producing the material causing the Northern Taurid meteors.
How is a mystery like this solved? Time and teamwork. Special nighttime video cameras record incoming meteors, and computers calculate the orbit almost immediately. Scientists compare these orbits to known objects, such as comets and asteroids. A direct match is unlikely, because any piece of material ejected from a comet or asteroid — perhaps hundreds of years ago — has been subjected to solar radiation and planetary perturbations that change its path around the sun. So, its final orbit, just before it enters our atmosphere, is likely different than the orbit it originated from. Astronomers who specialize in celestial mechanics will be the ones to bring us the solution.
Cameras and computers are likely to give us a better picture and a more thorough understanding of the Northern Taurids meteor shower.
The material we see as meteors from the Southern Taurids radiant comes from the comet known as Encke’s Comet. Officially known as 2P/Encke, this comet was discovered four times before it received its name.
The French comet hunter Pierre Mechian discovered it on January 17, 1786. He observed the comet for only three days and did not calculate its orbit. Next up was Caroline Herschel of England, who found it on November 7, 1795, 10 years later. She tracked it for 23 days but did not calculate an accurate orbit. Ten years later, Frenchman Jean-Louis Pons, the greatest visual comet hunter of all time, picked it up on October 20, 1805. Within hours of Pons’ discovery, Hofrath Huth of Germany and Alexis Bouvard in Paris picked it up too. This time they followed it for 32 days.
Enter Johann Franz Encke. Using these positions, he calculated an orbit for this comet and predicted that it would return. End of story? No, because he predicted it would return in 12.12 years. And it didn’t.
Tracking a new comet
Then, on November 26, 1818, Pons picked up a comet and tracked it for 48 days. Encke calculated an orbit for this one, and using some new computing techniques, came up with an orbital solution suggesting the comet takes only 3.3 years to go around the sun once. After six weeks of work, he was also able to link this comet to the comets of 1786, 1795 and 1805. He then correctly predicted that it would return in 1822. Based upon his work correctly calculating the comet’s orbit, the comet received the name Encke.
Comet Encke has the shortest orbital period of any major comet in our solar system. At its closest, it gets as close to the sun as does the planet Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. The orbit is stable, and the comet has probably been in the same orbit for thousands of years.
Was Comet Encke once part of a larger comet?
A recent theory is that Comet Encke was once part of a larger comet that broke up about 20,000 years ago. This event produced several small asteroids and the debris that now forms this meteor shower. And there are more. Scientists attribute at least three other meteor showers to Comet Encke. One stream of material might have delivered the object responsible for the Tunguska meteor event of 1908. This whole system is known as the Encke Complex.
Comet Encke, parent of the Taurid meteor showers. Image via NASA.
The next return of Comet Encke will be in July 2030.
What about Taurid fireballs?
Astronomers studying the Taurids found that Earth encounters a concentration of larger-than-normal debris at intervals of three or seven years resulting in a higher rate of fireballs.
Taurid fireballs — visible in Earth’s skies in October and November — are often colorful. They often fragment as they streak slowly through the sky. In most years, only 1% of all Taurid meteors are fireballs. In exceptional years, when the Earth passes through a concentrated field of debris, the percentage can be as high as 7%. So visual observers and astrophotographers might see several fireballs each night instead of the normal rate of one every 20 hours.
And they were right! There were lots of fireball sightings in 2022.
The next predicted Taurid swarm is in 2032 and appears to be an exceptional year, as the moon will be new and Earth will pass very close to the center of the swarm.
The story of the predicted peaks for the Taurids — which vary from place to place across the internet — is interesting. And a big reason is that astronomers are always learning new things.
For the most part, we count on the American Meteor Society and the Observer’s Handbook from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada to provide us with the peak dates for the year’s major meteor showers.
So predicted peaks will vary. It’s nature! We don’t have it entirely pinned down.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Joel Weatherly in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, created this composite from images captured on the morning of November 11, 2020. He wrote, “This is a composite image featuring Taurus and 4 meteors that I observed while out for the Northern Taurids meteor shower. The 2 brightest meteors left behind dust trails.” Thank you, Joel!
Bottom line: You might see a South Taurid meteor any time from about September 10 to November 20. That’s when Earth is plowing through the meteor stream – the stream of comet debris in space – that creates this meteor shower. The North Taurids stem from a nearby, but slightly different stream. They’re active from about October 20 to December 10. Both showers produce about five meteors per hour (10 total when they overlap).
**Predicted peak times and dates for meteor showers are from the American Meteor Society. Note that meteor shower peak times can vary.
Taurid meteors consist of 2 streams, the South Taurids and North Taurids. Both streams radiate from the constellation Taurus the Bull, not far from the bright star Aldebaran and the tiny, misty, dipper-shaped Pleiades. Taurus is high in the sky in the middle of the night now. So the hours around midnight are a good time to watch for Taurid meteors and fireballs, as they appear to originate from the constellation Taurus. In October and November, this constellation is highest in the sky in the middle of the night.
You might see South Taurid meteors any time from about September 10 to November 20. The North Taurids stem from a nearby but slightly different stream. They’re active from about October 20 to December 10. Both showers produce about five meteors per hour (10 total when they overlap) and some of them are fireballs.
Predicted peak: According the the RASC Observer’s Guide, the South Taurids’ predicted peak is for 19 UTC on November 5, 2026. The North Taurids’ predicted peak is for 18 UTC on November 12, 2026. Both the South and North Taurids don’t have very definite peaks. They ramble along in October and November and are especially noticeable from late October into early November, when they overlap. When to watch: Best around midnight when the radiant is highest in the sky. Overall duration of shower: The South Taurids run from about September 23 to November 12. This time period is when we’re passing through the Southern Taurid meteor stream in space. North Taurids are active from about October 13 to December 2. And this time period is when we’re passing through the Northern Taurid meteor stream in space. Radiant: Rises in early evening, highest in the sky around midnight. See chart below. Nearest moon phases: In 2026, the new moon falls at 7:02 UTC on November 9. So moonlight will not interfere with Taurid meteors in 2026. You’ll catch Taurid meteors throughout October and November. Visit Sunrise Sunset Calendars to see moon rising times for your location. Be sure to check the moon rising time box. Expected meteors at peak, under ideal conditions: Under dark skies with no moon, both the South and North Taurid meteor showers produce about five meteors per hour (10 total when they overlap). Also, watch for fireballs. In most years, only 1% of all Taurid meteors are fireballs. In exceptional years, when the Earth passes through a concentrated field of debris, the percentage can be as high as 7%. Note: Taurid meteors tend to be slow-moving but sometimes very bright. The showers sometimes produce fireballs, which made their cyclical reappearance in 2008, 2015 and 2022. The next predicted swarm or outburst of Taurid fireballs is in 2032.
The object responsible for the Northern Taurid meteor shower is believed to be an asteroid. And that asteroid is related to a comet.
The asteroid is named 2004 TG10. The Spacewatch program discovered it on October 8, 2004. Its orbit around the sun closely matches that of periodic Comet Encke (officially known as 2P/Encke). Scientists believe this asteroid was once part of a much larger object known as the Encke Complex.
The most widely accepted theory is that about 20,000 years ago, a much larger object broke up, creating Comet Encke and several asteroids and meteor showers. Scientists named this group of resultant objects after the most prominent member of the group: Comet Encke. Hence, the Encke Complex.
No single asteroid produces Taurid meteors
A recent study indicates that the asteroid 2004 TG10 is only one of 10 related asteroids that may be responsible for this meteor shower. If that is true, then no single asteroid is producing the material causing the Northern Taurid meteors.
How is a mystery like this solved? Time and teamwork. Special nighttime video cameras record incoming meteors, and computers calculate the orbit almost immediately. Scientists compare these orbits to known objects, such as comets and asteroids. A direct match is unlikely, because any piece of material ejected from a comet or asteroid — perhaps hundreds of years ago — has been subjected to solar radiation and planetary perturbations that change its path around the sun. So, its final orbit, just before it enters our atmosphere, is likely different than the orbit it originated from. Astronomers who specialize in celestial mechanics will be the ones to bring us the solution.
Cameras and computers are likely to give us a better picture and a more thorough understanding of the Northern Taurids meteor shower.
The material we see as meteors from the Southern Taurids radiant comes from the comet known as Encke’s Comet. Officially known as 2P/Encke, this comet was discovered four times before it received its name.
The French comet hunter Pierre Mechian discovered it on January 17, 1786. He observed the comet for only three days and did not calculate its orbit. Next up was Caroline Herschel of England, who found it on November 7, 1795, 10 years later. She tracked it for 23 days but did not calculate an accurate orbit. Ten years later, Frenchman Jean-Louis Pons, the greatest visual comet hunter of all time, picked it up on October 20, 1805. Within hours of Pons’ discovery, Hofrath Huth of Germany and Alexis Bouvard in Paris picked it up too. This time they followed it for 32 days.
Enter Johann Franz Encke. Using these positions, he calculated an orbit for this comet and predicted that it would return. End of story? No, because he predicted it would return in 12.12 years. And it didn’t.
Tracking a new comet
Then, on November 26, 1818, Pons picked up a comet and tracked it for 48 days. Encke calculated an orbit for this one, and using some new computing techniques, came up with an orbital solution suggesting the comet takes only 3.3 years to go around the sun once. After six weeks of work, he was also able to link this comet to the comets of 1786, 1795 and 1805. He then correctly predicted that it would return in 1822. Based upon his work correctly calculating the comet’s orbit, the comet received the name Encke.
Comet Encke has the shortest orbital period of any major comet in our solar system. At its closest, it gets as close to the sun as does the planet Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. The orbit is stable, and the comet has probably been in the same orbit for thousands of years.
Was Comet Encke once part of a larger comet?
A recent theory is that Comet Encke was once part of a larger comet that broke up about 20,000 years ago. This event produced several small asteroids and the debris that now forms this meteor shower. And there are more. Scientists attribute at least three other meteor showers to Comet Encke. One stream of material might have delivered the object responsible for the Tunguska meteor event of 1908. This whole system is known as the Encke Complex.
Comet Encke, parent of the Taurid meteor showers. Image via NASA.
The next return of Comet Encke will be in July 2030.
What about Taurid fireballs?
Astronomers studying the Taurids found that Earth encounters a concentration of larger-than-normal debris at intervals of three or seven years resulting in a higher rate of fireballs.
Taurid fireballs — visible in Earth’s skies in October and November — are often colorful. They often fragment as they streak slowly through the sky. In most years, only 1% of all Taurid meteors are fireballs. In exceptional years, when the Earth passes through a concentrated field of debris, the percentage can be as high as 7%. So visual observers and astrophotographers might see several fireballs each night instead of the normal rate of one every 20 hours.
And they were right! There were lots of fireball sightings in 2022.
The next predicted Taurid swarm is in 2032 and appears to be an exceptional year, as the moon will be new and Earth will pass very close to the center of the swarm.
The story of the predicted peaks for the Taurids — which vary from place to place across the internet — is interesting. And a big reason is that astronomers are always learning new things.
For the most part, we count on the American Meteor Society and the Observer’s Handbook from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada to provide us with the peak dates for the year’s major meteor showers.
So predicted peaks will vary. It’s nature! We don’t have it entirely pinned down.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Joel Weatherly in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, created this composite from images captured on the morning of November 11, 2020. He wrote, “This is a composite image featuring Taurus and 4 meteors that I observed while out for the Northern Taurids meteor shower. The 2 brightest meteors left behind dust trails.” Thank you, Joel!
Bottom line: You might see a South Taurid meteor any time from about September 10 to November 20. That’s when Earth is plowing through the meteor stream – the stream of comet debris in space – that creates this meteor shower. The North Taurids stem from a nearby, but slightly different stream. They’re active from about October 20 to December 10. Both showers produce about five meteors per hour (10 total when they overlap).
**Predicted peak times and dates for meteor showers are from the American Meteor Society. Note that meteor shower peak times can vary.
These 3 images show asteroid 6993 (1995 BJ4) on 3 separate dates this summer. Is this active asteroid better described as a comet, or did it grow a tail due to a collision? Image via the Zwicky Transient Facility/ NAU/ arXiv.
This active asteroid has grown a tail!
This summer, astronomers spotted something unusual about an asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid, named 6993 or 1995 BJ4, appeared to be shedding material and growing a tail, much like a comet. So how should we describe this strange object?
Astronomers are calling it an active asteroid … but it might become known as a comet. More specifically, it could join the small family of main-belt comets, or objects in the main asteroid belt with cometlike features.
However, that’s not the only explanation for this activity. The tail that’s showing up in these images could be the result of a collision among bodies in the main asteroid belt.
If the object does prove to be cometary in nature — with a tail created by sunlight vaporizing ice on its surface — 1995 BJ4 would be the largest-known main-belt comet. It’s about 7.5 miles (12 km) across. That makes it larger than 99% of asteroids. 1995 BJ4 also travels farther from the sun than most known active asteroids do.
Researchers with Northern Arizona University and other institutions discovered the activity using observations from the Zwicky Transient Facility. They published their study on October 22, 2026, on arXiv. It is not yet peer-reviewed.
Most asteroids are static, rocky objects. The majority live in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
But some asteroids occasionally become active. They release dust and gas, creating a fuzzy cloud around the object or a visible tail. Astronomers call these objects active asteroids. And some are considered main-belt comets because they behave like comets while traveling among the asteroids. So far, astronomers have only found about 20 main-belt comets.
The discovery of 1995 BJ4 came through an automated system called the Solar System Notification Alert Processing System. Researchers trained a machine-learning model to recognize the fuzzy appearance of active asteroids. And on August 5, the model flagged an image of 1995 BJ4 with 99.9% confidence.
The team then checked earlier observations and found the tail had already been visible in images from the Zwicky Transient Facility dating back to June 25, 2026. The object showed a narrow, straight tail extending at least 32 arcseconds beyond its main body.
What is making the asteroid active?
The researchers considered several explanations for the activity.
One possibility that didn’t stand up to testing was the idea that the asteroid’s rotation is throwing material into space. But asteroid 1995 BJ4 rotates once every 3.9 hours. That’s not fast enough to achieve what the observations show.
But two other possibilities are still in the running.
One is that an impact with another space rock blasted dust from the asteroid’s surface. If so, the dust could gradually spread into space, causing the tail to fade over time. Because the asteroid appeared a tiny bit brighter in June and July than it was in August and September, that could point toward a collision with dust slowly dispersing.
But the possibility of sublimation — or sunlight warming buried ice — has not been ruled out. Sublimation is what causes material to vaporize on comets, carrying that material away from the surface. This process creates the familiar comas and tails of comets.
So both collision and sublimation are still possibilities, and the active asteroid’s true nature remains a secret, for now.
A possible record-setting main-belt comet
If it turns out that the tail is due to sublimation, it would make 1995 BJ4 the largest-known main-belt comet. Plus, it orbits farther from the sun than any known main-belt comet. Its closest approach to the sun, or perihelion, is about 2.85 times Earth’s distance from our star.
The active asteroid 6993 (1995 BJ4) orbits between Mars and Jupiter, in the outer edge of the main asteroid belt. Image via Tony Dunn.
Watch this asteroid in 2027
The researchers said continued observations will be important for figuring out what’s driving the activity.
1995 BJ4 will reach perihelion in January 2027. So if sunlight is vaporizing ice, astronomers might see its activity increase. But if the tail continues to fade, that would lend support to the impact explanation.
Scientists also hope to learn more about the asteroid’s composition. Its colors and reflectivity don’t fit neatly into existing classifications, leaving some uncertainty about what its surface contains.
Bottom line: Active asteroid 1995 BJ4 has grown a cometlike tail, leaving astronomers wondering what’s happening.
These 3 images show asteroid 6993 (1995 BJ4) on 3 separate dates this summer. Is this active asteroid better described as a comet, or did it grow a tail due to a collision? Image via the Zwicky Transient Facility/ NAU/ arXiv.
This active asteroid has grown a tail!
This summer, astronomers spotted something unusual about an asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid, named 6993 or 1995 BJ4, appeared to be shedding material and growing a tail, much like a comet. So how should we describe this strange object?
Astronomers are calling it an active asteroid … but it might become known as a comet. More specifically, it could join the small family of main-belt comets, or objects in the main asteroid belt with cometlike features.
However, that’s not the only explanation for this activity. The tail that’s showing up in these images could be the result of a collision among bodies in the main asteroid belt.
If the object does prove to be cometary in nature — with a tail created by sunlight vaporizing ice on its surface — 1995 BJ4 would be the largest-known main-belt comet. It’s about 7.5 miles (12 km) across. That makes it larger than 99% of asteroids. 1995 BJ4 also travels farther from the sun than most known active asteroids do.
Researchers with Northern Arizona University and other institutions discovered the activity using observations from the Zwicky Transient Facility. They published their study on October 22, 2026, on arXiv. It is not yet peer-reviewed.
Most asteroids are static, rocky objects. The majority live in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
But some asteroids occasionally become active. They release dust and gas, creating a fuzzy cloud around the object or a visible tail. Astronomers call these objects active asteroids. And some are considered main-belt comets because they behave like comets while traveling among the asteroids. So far, astronomers have only found about 20 main-belt comets.
The discovery of 1995 BJ4 came through an automated system called the Solar System Notification Alert Processing System. Researchers trained a machine-learning model to recognize the fuzzy appearance of active asteroids. And on August 5, the model flagged an image of 1995 BJ4 with 99.9% confidence.
The team then checked earlier observations and found the tail had already been visible in images from the Zwicky Transient Facility dating back to June 25, 2026. The object showed a narrow, straight tail extending at least 32 arcseconds beyond its main body.
What is making the asteroid active?
The researchers considered several explanations for the activity.
One possibility that didn’t stand up to testing was the idea that the asteroid’s rotation is throwing material into space. But asteroid 1995 BJ4 rotates once every 3.9 hours. That’s not fast enough to achieve what the observations show.
But two other possibilities are still in the running.
One is that an impact with another space rock blasted dust from the asteroid’s surface. If so, the dust could gradually spread into space, causing the tail to fade over time. Because the asteroid appeared a tiny bit brighter in June and July than it was in August and September, that could point toward a collision with dust slowly dispersing.
But the possibility of sublimation — or sunlight warming buried ice — has not been ruled out. Sublimation is what causes material to vaporize on comets, carrying that material away from the surface. This process creates the familiar comas and tails of comets.
So both collision and sublimation are still possibilities, and the active asteroid’s true nature remains a secret, for now.
A possible record-setting main-belt comet
If it turns out that the tail is due to sublimation, it would make 1995 BJ4 the largest-known main-belt comet. Plus, it orbits farther from the sun than any known main-belt comet. Its closest approach to the sun, or perihelion, is about 2.85 times Earth’s distance from our star.
The active asteroid 6993 (1995 BJ4) orbits between Mars and Jupiter, in the outer edge of the main asteroid belt. Image via Tony Dunn.
Watch this asteroid in 2027
The researchers said continued observations will be important for figuring out what’s driving the activity.
1995 BJ4 will reach perihelion in January 2027. So if sunlight is vaporizing ice, astronomers might see its activity increase. But if the tail continues to fade, that would lend support to the impact explanation.
Scientists also hope to learn more about the asteroid’s composition. Its colors and reflectivity don’t fit neatly into existing classifications, leaving some uncertainty about what its surface contains.
Bottom line: Active asteroid 1995 BJ4 has grown a cometlike tail, leaving astronomers wondering what’s happening.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a cloud in space where new stars are forming called 30 Doradus, aka the Tarantula Nebula. The enlarged inset shows a star that appears to have been kicked out of the nebula. In the inset, an arrow points to the runaway star and a dashed arrow to its presumed direction of motion. Image via NASA.
A runaway star moves faster and in a different direction
The sun and all of the Milky Way’s stars are moving in orbit around the center of our galaxy. It’s more or less orderly … but astronomers have identified some Milky Way stars that are moving faster than expected, and often in a direction that seems unusual. They use the term runaway star to describe these renegades.
Stars form in clouds of gas and dust. Multiple stars form from a single cloud. Therefore, many Milky Way stars move through space in loose associations, or more tightly bound open star clusters. By tracking the motions of a runaway star, astronomers can sometimes determine its original stellar companion. And, sometimes, they can work out what must have happened to kick the star on a different and much faster path to these stars.
Astronomers point to 2 possible reasons for a runaway star
The first scenario involves two binary star systems — two systems, each containing two stars — that pass close to each other. The encounter can disrupt both systems and eject one or more stars at relatively high speeds.
The second idea involves a supernova explosion in a multiple star system. These powerful explosions can propel associated stars that didn’t explode along new paths, at much-higher speeds.
GD 50 might be from the Pleiades
One runaway star is GD 50, a white dwarf star with a bit more mass than our sun, but smaller than the Earth. A dime as dense as GD 50 would weigh 2,600 pounds (~1,200 kilos) on Earth.
GD 50 lies within the bounds of the constellation Eridanus the River. And in 2009, astronomers who’d been studying this star found that it moves through space in the same direction and at the same speed as the Pleiades star cluster. The Pleiades is not far from Eridanus on the sky’s dome. GD 50 is also about the same age as stars in the Pleiades. Therefore, astronomers concluded that GD 50 was born in the Pleiades, then flung out, possibly after passing too close to another star.
Some other runaway stars
Further examples of runaway stars are AE Aurigae, 53 Arietis and Mu Columbae. They’re all moving away from each other at velocities of over 100 km/s (for comparison, our sun moves through the Milky Way at only about 20 km/s faster than the local average).
Tracing their motions backwards on the sky’s dome, astronomers can see that — about 2 million years ago — the paths of these stars intersected near the Orion Nebula. There is a great loop or bubble of gas called Barnard’s Loop surrounding Orion’s three prominent Belt stars. Barnard’s Loop may be the remnant of the supernova that launched these stars as runaway stars.
4 runaway stars plowing through regions of dense interstellar gas and creating bright bow waves and trailing tails of glowing gas. The stars in these NASA Hubble Space Telescope images are among 14 young runaway stars spotted by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys between October 2005 and July 2006. Image via Hubblesite/ Wikimedia Commons.
Bottom line: Runaway stars move differently from the general stream of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. The most compelling evidence suggests they were kicked out from their original star clusters by encounters between pairs of binary stars or by a supernova explosion.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows a cloud in space where new stars are forming called 30 Doradus, aka the Tarantula Nebula. The enlarged inset shows a star that appears to have been kicked out of the nebula. In the inset, an arrow points to the runaway star and a dashed arrow to its presumed direction of motion. Image via NASA.
A runaway star moves faster and in a different direction
The sun and all of the Milky Way’s stars are moving in orbit around the center of our galaxy. It’s more or less orderly … but astronomers have identified some Milky Way stars that are moving faster than expected, and often in a direction that seems unusual. They use the term runaway star to describe these renegades.
Stars form in clouds of gas and dust. Multiple stars form from a single cloud. Therefore, many Milky Way stars move through space in loose associations, or more tightly bound open star clusters. By tracking the motions of a runaway star, astronomers can sometimes determine its original stellar companion. And, sometimes, they can work out what must have happened to kick the star on a different and much faster path to these stars.
Astronomers point to 2 possible reasons for a runaway star
The first scenario involves two binary star systems — two systems, each containing two stars — that pass close to each other. The encounter can disrupt both systems and eject one or more stars at relatively high speeds.
The second idea involves a supernova explosion in a multiple star system. These powerful explosions can propel associated stars that didn’t explode along new paths, at much-higher speeds.
GD 50 might be from the Pleiades
One runaway star is GD 50, a white dwarf star with a bit more mass than our sun, but smaller than the Earth. A dime as dense as GD 50 would weigh 2,600 pounds (~1,200 kilos) on Earth.
GD 50 lies within the bounds of the constellation Eridanus the River. And in 2009, astronomers who’d been studying this star found that it moves through space in the same direction and at the same speed as the Pleiades star cluster. The Pleiades is not far from Eridanus on the sky’s dome. GD 50 is also about the same age as stars in the Pleiades. Therefore, astronomers concluded that GD 50 was born in the Pleiades, then flung out, possibly after passing too close to another star.
Some other runaway stars
Further examples of runaway stars are AE Aurigae, 53 Arietis and Mu Columbae. They’re all moving away from each other at velocities of over 100 km/s (for comparison, our sun moves through the Milky Way at only about 20 km/s faster than the local average).
Tracing their motions backwards on the sky’s dome, astronomers can see that — about 2 million years ago — the paths of these stars intersected near the Orion Nebula. There is a great loop or bubble of gas called Barnard’s Loop surrounding Orion’s three prominent Belt stars. Barnard’s Loop may be the remnant of the supernova that launched these stars as runaway stars.
4 runaway stars plowing through regions of dense interstellar gas and creating bright bow waves and trailing tails of glowing gas. The stars in these NASA Hubble Space Telescope images are among 14 young runaway stars spotted by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys between October 2005 and July 2006. Image via Hubblesite/ Wikimedia Commons.
Bottom line: Runaway stars move differently from the general stream of stars in our Milky Way galaxy. The most compelling evidence suggests they were kicked out from their original star clusters by encounters between pairs of binary stars or by a supernova explosion.
Artist’s concept of the redoubtable Voyager 1 spacecraft — most distant human-made object from Earth. Humanity launched it in 1977. It officially left our solar system in 2012, becoming the first to exit the heliosphere, or sphere of our sun’s influence. NASA said that at 12:16:07 a.m. CST on November 18, 2026, Voyager 1 will reach a distance of 1 light-day from Earth. Image via Caltech/ NASA-JPL.
Voyager 1 to reach 1 light-day from Earth in November
Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object from Earth. It launched into space on September 5, 1977, and visited Jupiter and Saturn before heading out of the solar system. It officially crossed out of our solar system, passing the heliopause – the sphere of the sun’s influence – back in 2012. And at 12:16:07 a.m. CST on November 18, 2026, NASA said that Voyager 1 will reach a major milestone: 1 light-day from Earth. That’s the distance it takes light to travel in 24 hours.
This historic milestone of 1 light-day is equal to about 16.1 billion miles (25.9 billion kilometers), or 173.14 astronomical units (AU). As of early October, the Voyager 1 spacecraft is about 15.98 billion miles (25.72 billion km) away from Earth. If we could peer at Voyager 1 through a telescope on Earth, the light we see left the spacecraft 23 hours, 52 minutes and 30 seconds ago. On November 18, it will breach the 24-hour mark.
And how long did it take Voyager 1 to travel 1 light-day? It took 49 years, 2 months, and 11 days to travel that distance from Earth. Keep on reading for how to celebrate this milestone.
Voyager 1 is now outside our solar system. On November 18, 2026, it will reach 1 light-day distant from Earth. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.
Here’s how to celebrate!
To mark Voyager 1’s milestone of 1 light-day distant, NASA is organizing a worldwide Shine Bright celebration. After sunset on Tuesday, November 17, people can participate by pointing a flashlight, phone, glow stick or other light toward the sky and flashing the letters V-G-R for Voyager in Morse code.
So how do you spell V-G-R in Morse code? V is dot, dot, dot, dash. G is dash, dash, dot. And R is dot, dash, dot. If that’s too complicated, you can just NASA’s automated flasher here.
NASA hopes the worldwide light display will celebrate humanity’s remarkable achievement in sending a spacecraft farther into space than anything else they’ve ever built.
What about Voyager 2?
And where is Voyager 2? You might know that Voyager 2 actually launched a few weeks before its sister craft. But while Voyager 1 only visited Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 took a Grand Tour, visiting all the gas giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. So it’s not as far from Earth as Voyager 1.
But it’s not too far behind, relatively speaking. Voyager 2 is about 2 billion miles (3.2 billion km) closer to Earth than Voyager 1. It’s also moving a bit slower, so it can never catch up. Besides, Voyager 1 and 2 are not headed in the same direction anyway. Voyager 1 is headed “up” out of the solar plane, while Voyager 2 is headed “down.” Voyager 1 is moving toward the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. And Voyager 2 is headed in the direction of the constellation Andromeda.
So when will Voyager 2 reach a distance of 1 light-day from us? NASA said not for nine more years, in November 2035.
Are the Voyager spacecraft still functioning?
Both Voyager spacecraft are still in communication with Earth, even though that process takes approximately a day for one-way messages. But most of the instruments on the Voyagers are no longer working. Over the years, NASA has turned off one system after another in order to save power. Just this year, in April 2026, NASA turned off the Low-Energy Charged Particle (LECP) instrument to save energy. This instrument was detecting electrons, ions and cosmic rays in the interstellar medium. But NASA could still turn it on at some point in the future for new measurements.
Both Voyager spacecraft carry a golden record that is etched with images and sounds to represent life on Earth. The golden records were a largely symbolic gesture meant to represent Earth in the wider universe and with the off-chance that an alien civilization would one day find them and learn something of their origins. As Carl Sagan said:
The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space, but the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ says something very hopeful about life on this planet.
Bottom line: The Voyager 1 spacecraft — which launched from Earth in 1977 — will reach 1 light-day from Earth on November 18, 2026. It is the first human-made object to travel that far from Earth.
Artist’s concept of the redoubtable Voyager 1 spacecraft — most distant human-made object from Earth. Humanity launched it in 1977. It officially left our solar system in 2012, becoming the first to exit the heliosphere, or sphere of our sun’s influence. NASA said that at 12:16:07 a.m. CST on November 18, 2026, Voyager 1 will reach a distance of 1 light-day from Earth. Image via Caltech/ NASA-JPL.
Voyager 1 to reach 1 light-day from Earth in November
Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object from Earth. It launched into space on September 5, 1977, and visited Jupiter and Saturn before heading out of the solar system. It officially crossed out of our solar system, passing the heliopause – the sphere of the sun’s influence – back in 2012. And at 12:16:07 a.m. CST on November 18, 2026, NASA said that Voyager 1 will reach a major milestone: 1 light-day from Earth. That’s the distance it takes light to travel in 24 hours.
This historic milestone of 1 light-day is equal to about 16.1 billion miles (25.9 billion kilometers), or 173.14 astronomical units (AU). As of early October, the Voyager 1 spacecraft is about 15.98 billion miles (25.72 billion km) away from Earth. If we could peer at Voyager 1 through a telescope on Earth, the light we see left the spacecraft 23 hours, 52 minutes and 30 seconds ago. On November 18, it will breach the 24-hour mark.
And how long did it take Voyager 1 to travel 1 light-day? It took 49 years, 2 months, and 11 days to travel that distance from Earth. Keep on reading for how to celebrate this milestone.
Voyager 1 is now outside our solar system. On November 18, 2026, it will reach 1 light-day distant from Earth. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech.
Here’s how to celebrate!
To mark Voyager 1’s milestone of 1 light-day distant, NASA is organizing a worldwide Shine Bright celebration. After sunset on Tuesday, November 17, people can participate by pointing a flashlight, phone, glow stick or other light toward the sky and flashing the letters V-G-R for Voyager in Morse code.
So how do you spell V-G-R in Morse code? V is dot, dot, dot, dash. G is dash, dash, dot. And R is dot, dash, dot. If that’s too complicated, you can just NASA’s automated flasher here.
NASA hopes the worldwide light display will celebrate humanity’s remarkable achievement in sending a spacecraft farther into space than anything else they’ve ever built.
What about Voyager 2?
And where is Voyager 2? You might know that Voyager 2 actually launched a few weeks before its sister craft. But while Voyager 1 only visited Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 took a Grand Tour, visiting all the gas giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. So it’s not as far from Earth as Voyager 1.
But it’s not too far behind, relatively speaking. Voyager 2 is about 2 billion miles (3.2 billion km) closer to Earth than Voyager 1. It’s also moving a bit slower, so it can never catch up. Besides, Voyager 1 and 2 are not headed in the same direction anyway. Voyager 1 is headed “up” out of the solar plane, while Voyager 2 is headed “down.” Voyager 1 is moving toward the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. And Voyager 2 is headed in the direction of the constellation Andromeda.
So when will Voyager 2 reach a distance of 1 light-day from us? NASA said not for nine more years, in November 2035.
Are the Voyager spacecraft still functioning?
Both Voyager spacecraft are still in communication with Earth, even though that process takes approximately a day for one-way messages. But most of the instruments on the Voyagers are no longer working. Over the years, NASA has turned off one system after another in order to save power. Just this year, in April 2026, NASA turned off the Low-Energy Charged Particle (LECP) instrument to save energy. This instrument was detecting electrons, ions and cosmic rays in the interstellar medium. But NASA could still turn it on at some point in the future for new measurements.
Both Voyager spacecraft carry a golden record that is etched with images and sounds to represent life on Earth. The golden records were a largely symbolic gesture meant to represent Earth in the wider universe and with the off-chance that an alien civilization would one day find them and learn something of their origins. As Carl Sagan said:
The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space, but the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ says something very hopeful about life on this planet.
Bottom line: The Voyager 1 spacecraft — which launched from Earth in 1977 — will reach 1 light-day from Earth on November 18, 2026. It is the first human-made object to travel that far from Earth.
