Daytime moon seen on December 18, 2010. A daytime moon looks ghostly against a blue sky. You can see one after sunrise this week. Look west in the morning hours! Image by Brian Pate. Used with permission.
This month’s full moon came overnight on April 12-13, 2025. So this week’s moon is in a waning gibbous phase. Full moons rise at sunset. But waning gibbous moons rise later – and later – on each successive night.
And that means the moon sets later and later now, too. In the days following every full moon, you’ll find the moon setting in the west after sunrise. That makes the mornings following a full moon a good time to catch a daytime moon. Watch for it during the coming week, after sunrise, over your western horizon. It’ll appear pale against the blue sky. Thanks to what’s called the moon illusion, you might notice the daytime moon looking huge when close to the horizon.
The moon is up in the daytime half of the time. But, because it’s pale against the blue sky, it’s not as noticeable during the day as at night. Still, there are certain windows each month during which the daytime moon is most noticeable.
The coming week presents one of those windows. It’s a good time to watch for a daytime moon in the morning sky.
Then, the next last quarter moon will fall at 1:35 UTC on April 21, 2025. That’s 8:35 p.m. CDT on April 20. It’ll rise after midnight your local time and set around noon. Look for it high in the sky before dawn.
Daytime moon photos from the EarthSky community
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Peter Lowenstein caught the daytime moon in its waning gibbous phase from Mutare, Zimbabwe. He said: “Three-quarters of an hour after sunrise, I photographed the daytime moon descending toward the top of a flowering African tulip (Spathodia campanulata) tree.” Thank you, Peter!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ragini Chaturvedi captured this image on November 14, 2022, in New Jersey. Ragini wrote: “Daytime moon basking in the morning sun, amidst the cold and windy start to the day.” Thank you, Ragini!A daytime moon on January 28, 2013 as seen by EarthSky Facebook friend Denise Johnson in Ridgecrest, California, in the Mojave Desert. Notice that this moon in this photo is closer to the (western) horizon at sunrise than the moon one day later (photo below). Full moon was January 27. Afterwards, the moon is waning again and inching closer to the sun on the sky’s dome.Waning gibbous moon in the west around the time of sunrise, as captured by EarthSky Facebook friend Royce Malacaman in the Philippiines. Thank you, Royce. View larger.Daytime moon – May 27, 2012 – Darren Danks in Netherton UK. See more moon photos at EarthSky’s Facebook page.Daytime moon of May 27, 2012, seen from Ireland. Photo by Damian O’Sullivan. Thank you, Damian! View larger.
Bottom line: You can easily spot the moon in the morning sky – after sunrise – for several days after full moon. Look west after the sun comes up! And a week after the full moon, look high in the sky after dawn.
Daytime moon seen on December 18, 2010. A daytime moon looks ghostly against a blue sky. You can see one after sunrise this week. Look west in the morning hours! Image by Brian Pate. Used with permission.
This month’s full moon came overnight on April 12-13, 2025. So this week’s moon is in a waning gibbous phase. Full moons rise at sunset. But waning gibbous moons rise later – and later – on each successive night.
And that means the moon sets later and later now, too. In the days following every full moon, you’ll find the moon setting in the west after sunrise. That makes the mornings following a full moon a good time to catch a daytime moon. Watch for it during the coming week, after sunrise, over your western horizon. It’ll appear pale against the blue sky. Thanks to what’s called the moon illusion, you might notice the daytime moon looking huge when close to the horizon.
The moon is up in the daytime half of the time. But, because it’s pale against the blue sky, it’s not as noticeable during the day as at night. Still, there are certain windows each month during which the daytime moon is most noticeable.
The coming week presents one of those windows. It’s a good time to watch for a daytime moon in the morning sky.
Then, the next last quarter moon will fall at 1:35 UTC on April 21, 2025. That’s 8:35 p.m. CDT on April 20. It’ll rise after midnight your local time and set around noon. Look for it high in the sky before dawn.
Daytime moon photos from the EarthSky community
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Peter Lowenstein caught the daytime moon in its waning gibbous phase from Mutare, Zimbabwe. He said: “Three-quarters of an hour after sunrise, I photographed the daytime moon descending toward the top of a flowering African tulip (Spathodia campanulata) tree.” Thank you, Peter!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ragini Chaturvedi captured this image on November 14, 2022, in New Jersey. Ragini wrote: “Daytime moon basking in the morning sun, amidst the cold and windy start to the day.” Thank you, Ragini!A daytime moon on January 28, 2013 as seen by EarthSky Facebook friend Denise Johnson in Ridgecrest, California, in the Mojave Desert. Notice that this moon in this photo is closer to the (western) horizon at sunrise than the moon one day later (photo below). Full moon was January 27. Afterwards, the moon is waning again and inching closer to the sun on the sky’s dome.Waning gibbous moon in the west around the time of sunrise, as captured by EarthSky Facebook friend Royce Malacaman in the Philippiines. Thank you, Royce. View larger.Daytime moon – May 27, 2012 – Darren Danks in Netherton UK. See more moon photos at EarthSky’s Facebook page.Daytime moon of May 27, 2012, seen from Ireland. Photo by Damian O’Sullivan. Thank you, Damian! View larger.
Bottom line: You can easily spot the moon in the morning sky – after sunrise – for several days after full moon. Look west after the sun comes up! And a week after the full moon, look high in the sky after dawn.
Watch Blue Origin’s 11th space tourism launch. The launch window will open at 8:30 a.m. CDT on Monday, April 14.
First all-female crew headed to space
An international pop star and former host of the popular television series American Idol, Katy Perry, will be among the all-female crew due to launch April 14, 2025. It’ll be Blue Origin’s 11th space tourism launch. The mission, NS-31, is set to be a historic one. It’ll be the first all-female crew since Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963. That flight lasted three days. The ride on New Shepard is set to last 11 minutes. It’ll take the six women more than 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, above what’s known as the Kármán line, internationally recognized as a boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and the beginning of space.
The launch window for the all-female crew will open at 8:30 a.m. CDT (13:30 UTC) on Monday, April 14, 2025. Lifting off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One – aka Corn Ranch – in West Texas will be:
Katy Perry, an American singer, songwriter and television personality.
The flight will be short, with the spacecraft rocketing upward past the Kármán line, breaching that line, then returning to Earth with the aid of three parachutes.
Here are the 6 women who will fly on Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission: Aisha Bowe, Kerianna Flynn, Gayle King, Amanda Nguyen, Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez. Image via Blue Origin.
New Shepard flights to space
Bezos’s Blue Origin company began sending private civilians into space in 2021 on the New Shepard spacecraft. The first crewed flight of New Shepard, in 2021, include Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark, along with two others. Some of the well-known names who have also flown on New Shepard include William Shatner and Michael Strahan. The flights are not piloted. Instead, they are fully autonomous, leaving the crew to be merely tourists.
The fully reusable craft does vertical takeoffs and landings. The liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen rocket engine is Blue Origin’s Blue Engine 3. The company is also working on an orbital rocket, dubbed New Glenn. Both the spacecraft are named for pioneering U.S. astronauts. New Glenn is still in the test phase, and its maiden flight was on January 16, 2025, from Cape Canaveral.
Blue Origin plans to send the 1st all-female crew of 6 into space on the New Shepard spacecraft on April 14, 2025. Image via Blue Origin.
Bottom line: Blue Origin plans to launch the first all-female crew of six into space aboard the New Shepard spacecraft on April 14, 2025.
Watch Blue Origin’s 11th space tourism launch. The launch window will open at 8:30 a.m. CDT on Monday, April 14.
First all-female crew headed to space
An international pop star and former host of the popular television series American Idol, Katy Perry, will be among the all-female crew due to launch April 14, 2025. It’ll be Blue Origin’s 11th space tourism launch. The mission, NS-31, is set to be a historic one. It’ll be the first all-female crew since Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963. That flight lasted three days. The ride on New Shepard is set to last 11 minutes. It’ll take the six women more than 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, above what’s known as the Kármán line, internationally recognized as a boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and the beginning of space.
The launch window for the all-female crew will open at 8:30 a.m. CDT (13:30 UTC) on Monday, April 14, 2025. Lifting off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One – aka Corn Ranch – in West Texas will be:
Katy Perry, an American singer, songwriter and television personality.
The flight will be short, with the spacecraft rocketing upward past the Kármán line, breaching that line, then returning to Earth with the aid of three parachutes.
Here are the 6 women who will fly on Blue Origin’s NS-31 mission: Aisha Bowe, Kerianna Flynn, Gayle King, Amanda Nguyen, Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez. Image via Blue Origin.
New Shepard flights to space
Bezos’s Blue Origin company began sending private civilians into space in 2021 on the New Shepard spacecraft. The first crewed flight of New Shepard, in 2021, include Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark, along with two others. Some of the well-known names who have also flown on New Shepard include William Shatner and Michael Strahan. The flights are not piloted. Instead, they are fully autonomous, leaving the crew to be merely tourists.
The fully reusable craft does vertical takeoffs and landings. The liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen rocket engine is Blue Origin’s Blue Engine 3. The company is also working on an orbital rocket, dubbed New Glenn. Both the spacecraft are named for pioneering U.S. astronauts. New Glenn is still in the test phase, and its maiden flight was on January 16, 2025, from Cape Canaveral.
Blue Origin plans to send the 1st all-female crew of 6 into space on the New Shepard spacecraft on April 14, 2025. Image via Blue Origin.
Bottom line: Blue Origin plans to launch the first all-female crew of six into space aboard the New Shepard spacecraft on April 14, 2025.
The April full moon is a micromoon, and the smallest full moon of 2025. Why is it so small? Join EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd and Marcy Curran for charts and details.
When to watch in 2025: On the night of April 12 into the morning of April 13. Where to look: Look for the bright round moon in the east in the evening, overhead around midnight, then in the west before sunrise. Crest of the full moon falls at 00:22 UTC on April 13, 2025. That’s 7:22 p.m. CDT on April 12 in central North America. This means that at moonrise, it is at or very near its fullest. Note: As it rises, the April 12 full moon is close to the star Spica in the constellation Virgo the Maiden.
About 2 hours after sunset on April 12, 2025, the full moon – nicknamed the Pink Moon – will glow brightly in the east below Spica, the brightest star in Virgo. It’s also the most distant – or micromoon – of the year. Chart via EarthSky.
This April’s full moon is a micromoon
Some moons are supermoons. That is, they’re both full and in a close part of their orbit to Earth.
But the April 2025 full moon is a micromoon. It’s at a far part of its orbit around Earth. A careful comparison with photos of other full moons would show that this full moon appears smaller-than-average in our sky.
The April 2025 micromoon is the second of three micromoons in 2025. And it’s the farthest full moon of 2025, at 252,280 miles (406,006 km). It is slightly more distant that the May full moon which will lie at 251,828 miles (405,278 km).
While a micromoon can appear up to 14% smaller than a supermoon – thus appearing less bright than a supermoon – both this April’s and May’s full moons will still shine very brightly. So brightly, that the light of April’s full micromoon will obscure the bright star Spica lying just two-moon widths from it.
Full moon is opposite the sun
All full moons rise in the east near the time of sunset and set in the west near the time of sunrise. They are visible all night. At full moon, the sun, Earth, and moon – in that order – align in space. The moon’s day side – its fully lighted hemisphere – faces us. That’s why the moon looks full. Also, the moon will look full and round for a day or two near full moon. And for folks living in mid-northern latitudes, the April moon rises on average of 60 minutes later each day. That means that the night after the full moon, you won’t see the moon rise until the sky is fully dark.
At full moon, the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned in space, with Earth in the middle. The moon’s day side – its fully lighted hemisphere – directly faces us. Chart via EarthSky.
April’s full moon is the Pink Moon
This is a beautiful time of year, especially when the full moon rises! April’s full moon has the nickname of the Pink Moon, because of all the blooming flowers and trees, such as the pink creeping phlox.
The moment of full moon – when the moon reaches that point in its orbit directly opposite the sun in the sky – is April 13 at 00:22 UTC (7:22 p.m. CDT on April 12). However, a full moon is considered any time 12 hours before or after that.
For Northern Hemisphere viewers, the rising Pink Moon will glow brightly near Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo. In the hour just after midnight, the moon – and Spica – will arc above the southern horizon. Then the moon and Spica will set in the west on the morning of April 13.
For viewers in the Northern Hemisphere, the April 2025 full moon will rise close to the bright star Spica. They’ll be highest in the sky around midnight, and will lie near the western horizon before sunrise. Spica moves slightly westward relative to the moon throughout the night. Chart via EarthSky.
For Southern Hemisphere viewers, the scene is different. The full moon and Spica will rise opposite the sun near the time of sunset. In the hour just after midnight, they arc above the northern horizon. Then they will set opposite the sunrise on the morning of April 13.
From the Southern Hemisphere, the full moon and Spica will rise on the night of April 12, 2025. They’ll be highest in the sky near midnight, and will hang in the west before sunrise. Spica moves slightly westward relative to the moon throughout the night. Chart via EarthSky.
April full moon shines in Virgo
The April full moon can lie in front of one of two constellations of the zodiac. In most years, as it will this year, it lands in Virgo the Maiden. But if the full moon occurs in the final few days of the month, it can fall in the neighboring constellation, Libra the Scales. This doesn’t happen often, and won’t happen again until 2037.
The April 2025 full moon will occur on the overnight of April 12 and will lie in the eastern half of the constellation Virgo. It’ll shine near the bright star Spica. Chart via EarthSky.
Spotting Spica
With the full moon being very bright, can you see Spica? If not, try blocking the moon behind a foreground object such as a building or a utility pole. Spica is an important star for learning the night sky because it is the southern member of the easily recognizable Spring Triangle. This asterism also includes Arcturus positioned north of Spica, and Regulus, lying northwest of Spica. Those three stars form an attractive triangle. Sometimes the Spring Triangle is composed of Arcturus, Spica, and Denebola. They create an equilateral triangle.
As the night of April 12 advances, the Pink Moon moves noticeably away from Spica. Since the full moon sits on the opposite side of the sky as the sun, when morning twilight begins in the east, the full moon nears the western horizon. It then lies even farther from Spica than it did when it rose nearly twelve hours earlier.
Bottom line: At full moon, the moon rises in the east around sunset, climbs highest in the sky around midnight, and sets around sunrise. The April 2025 full moon on the overnight of April 12 is the Pink Moon. It is the smallest full moon of the year, and lies near the star Spica in the constellation Virgo.
The April full moon is a micromoon, and the smallest full moon of 2025. Why is it so small? Join EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd and Marcy Curran for charts and details.
When to watch in 2025: On the night of April 12 into the morning of April 13. Where to look: Look for the bright round moon in the east in the evening, overhead around midnight, then in the west before sunrise. Crest of the full moon falls at 00:22 UTC on April 13, 2025. That’s 7:22 p.m. CDT on April 12 in central North America. This means that at moonrise, it is at or very near its fullest. Note: As it rises, the April 12 full moon is close to the star Spica in the constellation Virgo the Maiden.
About 2 hours after sunset on April 12, 2025, the full moon – nicknamed the Pink Moon – will glow brightly in the east below Spica, the brightest star in Virgo. It’s also the most distant – or micromoon – of the year. Chart via EarthSky.
This April’s full moon is a micromoon
Some moons are supermoons. That is, they’re both full and in a close part of their orbit to Earth.
But the April 2025 full moon is a micromoon. It’s at a far part of its orbit around Earth. A careful comparison with photos of other full moons would show that this full moon appears smaller-than-average in our sky.
The April 2025 micromoon is the second of three micromoons in 2025. And it’s the farthest full moon of 2025, at 252,280 miles (406,006 km). It is slightly more distant that the May full moon which will lie at 251,828 miles (405,278 km).
While a micromoon can appear up to 14% smaller than a supermoon – thus appearing less bright than a supermoon – both this April’s and May’s full moons will still shine very brightly. So brightly, that the light of April’s full micromoon will obscure the bright star Spica lying just two-moon widths from it.
Full moon is opposite the sun
All full moons rise in the east near the time of sunset and set in the west near the time of sunrise. They are visible all night. At full moon, the sun, Earth, and moon – in that order – align in space. The moon’s day side – its fully lighted hemisphere – faces us. That’s why the moon looks full. Also, the moon will look full and round for a day or two near full moon. And for folks living in mid-northern latitudes, the April moon rises on average of 60 minutes later each day. That means that the night after the full moon, you won’t see the moon rise until the sky is fully dark.
At full moon, the sun, Earth, and moon are aligned in space, with Earth in the middle. The moon’s day side – its fully lighted hemisphere – directly faces us. Chart via EarthSky.
April’s full moon is the Pink Moon
This is a beautiful time of year, especially when the full moon rises! April’s full moon has the nickname of the Pink Moon, because of all the blooming flowers and trees, such as the pink creeping phlox.
The moment of full moon – when the moon reaches that point in its orbit directly opposite the sun in the sky – is April 13 at 00:22 UTC (7:22 p.m. CDT on April 12). However, a full moon is considered any time 12 hours before or after that.
For Northern Hemisphere viewers, the rising Pink Moon will glow brightly near Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo. In the hour just after midnight, the moon – and Spica – will arc above the southern horizon. Then the moon and Spica will set in the west on the morning of April 13.
For viewers in the Northern Hemisphere, the April 2025 full moon will rise close to the bright star Spica. They’ll be highest in the sky around midnight, and will lie near the western horizon before sunrise. Spica moves slightly westward relative to the moon throughout the night. Chart via EarthSky.
For Southern Hemisphere viewers, the scene is different. The full moon and Spica will rise opposite the sun near the time of sunset. In the hour just after midnight, they arc above the northern horizon. Then they will set opposite the sunrise on the morning of April 13.
From the Southern Hemisphere, the full moon and Spica will rise on the night of April 12, 2025. They’ll be highest in the sky near midnight, and will hang in the west before sunrise. Spica moves slightly westward relative to the moon throughout the night. Chart via EarthSky.
April full moon shines in Virgo
The April full moon can lie in front of one of two constellations of the zodiac. In most years, as it will this year, it lands in Virgo the Maiden. But if the full moon occurs in the final few days of the month, it can fall in the neighboring constellation, Libra the Scales. This doesn’t happen often, and won’t happen again until 2037.
The April 2025 full moon will occur on the overnight of April 12 and will lie in the eastern half of the constellation Virgo. It’ll shine near the bright star Spica. Chart via EarthSky.
Spotting Spica
With the full moon being very bright, can you see Spica? If not, try blocking the moon behind a foreground object such as a building or a utility pole. Spica is an important star for learning the night sky because it is the southern member of the easily recognizable Spring Triangle. This asterism also includes Arcturus positioned north of Spica, and Regulus, lying northwest of Spica. Those three stars form an attractive triangle. Sometimes the Spring Triangle is composed of Arcturus, Spica, and Denebola. They create an equilateral triangle.
As the night of April 12 advances, the Pink Moon moves noticeably away from Spica. Since the full moon sits on the opposite side of the sky as the sun, when morning twilight begins in the east, the full moon nears the western horizon. It then lies even farther from Spica than it did when it rose nearly twelve hours earlier.
Bottom line: At full moon, the moon rises in the east around sunset, climbs highest in the sky around midnight, and sets around sunrise. The April 2025 full moon on the overnight of April 12 is the Pink Moon. It is the smallest full moon of the year, and lies near the star Spica in the constellation Virgo.
As the Earth orbits the sun, the sun appears to move against the background stars (red line). The constellations (green) through which the sun passes define the zodiac. Image via Tau’olunga/ Wikipedia.
The zodiac, the 12 signs listed in a horoscope, is closely tied to how the Earth moves through the sky. We derive these signs from the constellations that mark out the path that the sun appears to take through the year. You might think that dates in a horoscope correspond to when the sun passes through each constellation. But they don’t, much of the time, because astrology and astronomy are different. Plus, a closer examination of the motion of the Earth, the sun, and the stars, shows the zodiac to be more intricate than you might imagine!
As Earth orbits the sun, the sun appears to pass in front of different constellations. Much like the moon appears in a slightly different place in the sky each night, the location of the sun relative to distant background stars drifts in an easterly direction from day to day. It’s not that the sun is actually moving. Its motion is entirely an illusion, caused by Earth’s own motion around our star.
Over the course of a year, the sun appears to be in front of, or “in,” different constellations. One month, the sun appears in Gemini; the next month, in Cancer. The dates listed in the newspaper’s horoscope identify when the sun appears in a particular astrological sign. For example, the time between March 21 and April 19 is set aside for the signAries. But your astrological sign doesn’t necessarily tell you what constellation the sun was in on the day you were born.
If only it was that simple!
Tidal forces from the sun cause Earth’s axis to wobble over a 26,000-year period. The wobble changes where in Earth’s orbit the solstices and equinoxes occur. Image via NASA.
Why the zodiac constellations don’t always align with astrological signs
To understand why constellations no longer align with their corresponding signs, we need to know a little bit more about how the Earth moves. We also need to talk about how we measure time.
Time is a fiendishly difficult thing to define, especially if we insist on using the sun and stars as a reference. Our calendar is, for better or worse, tied to the seasons. June 21 – the approximate date of summer solstice north of the equator and the winter solstice to the south – marks the day the sun appears at its most northerly point in the sky. At the June solstice, the North Pole is most tilted towards the sun.
What makes this complicated is that the North Pole is not always pointing in the same direction relative to the background stars. Our planet spins like a top. And like a top, the Earth also wobbles! A wobbling Earth makes the North Pole trace out a circle on the celestial sphere. The wobble is quite slow; it takes 26,000 years to go around once. But, as the years go by, the effect accumulates.
Over the course of one orbit around the sun, the direction of the Earth’s axis drifts ever so slightly. This means that the place along our orbit where the solstice occurs also changes by a very small amount. The solstice actually occurs about 20 minutes earlier than one full trip in front of the background stars!
Our drifting calendars
Since we tie our calendar (and astrologers tie the signs) to the solstices and equinoxes, the Earth doesn’t actually complete an entire orbit in one year. The seasonal or tropical year is actually a hair less time than one full orbit (sidereal year). This means that, each year, the sun’s location relative to the stars on any given day – June 21, for example – drifts a very tiny amount.
But wait about 2,000 years, and the sun will sit in an entirely different constellation!
On the June solstice 2,000 years ago, the sun sat almost halfway between Gemini and Cancer. Fifteen years ago, on the June solstice, the sun was sitting between Gemini and Taurus. In the year 4609, the June solstice point will pass out of the constellation Taurus and into the constellation Aries.
The signs aligned, more or less, with their corresponding constellations when people defined the modern Western zodiac about 2,000 years ago. But in the intervening centuries, the slow wobble of the Earth’s axis has caused the solstice and equinox points to shift roughly 30 degrees westward relative to the constellations. At present, signs and constellations are about one calendar month off. In another two thousand years or so, they’ll be about two months off.
The wobbling of Earth’s axis causes the location of the equinoxes to occur earlier every year. Here, the location of the sun at the vernal equinox (March 21) is shown to drift over a 6,000 year period. Image via Kevin Heagen/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Modern constellations and the zodiac
To complicate matters more, the constellations – unlike the astrological signs – are not of equal size and shape. The stars that make up a constellation are not, for the most part, physically related. They’re just based on patterns that our ancestors saw as they gazed skyward and tried to make sense of it all.
In 1930, the International Astronomical Union formalized the constellations as regions of the sky, not just the star patterns within them. With this, they defined the boundaries we use today. These modern constellations are rooted in those the Greek astronomer Ptolemy introduced in the second century CE. He, in turn, borrowed them from ancient Babylonian texts. Different cultures have seen patterns in the sky unique to their history. Many cultures share some constellations (Orion is a notable example), but most don’t.
With the current boundaries, there are actually 13 constellations that lie along the sun’s path. The extra one not listed in any horoscope is Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, which sits between Sagittarius and Scorpius. Whereas the signs remain fixed relative to the solstices and equinoxes, the solstices and equinoxes drift westward relative to the constellations or backdrop stars.
While the zodiac may not be a great predictor of love, fortune, and health, it is a great tool for better understanding the motions of the sun, the Earth, and even the cultures that have come and gone on our little planet. The zodiac signs, derived from the constellations along the sun’s path in the sky, track the orbit and wobble of Earth and remind us of astronomy’s humble roots.
Take the quiz!
Are you familiar with the zodiac constellations now? Test yourself with this fun quiz!
Bottom line: You might associate the word zodiac with astrology, but it has an honored place in astronomy, too. The zodiac is composed of the 12 constellations that lie along the annual path of the sun across the sky.
As the Earth orbits the sun, the sun appears to move against the background stars (red line). The constellations (green) through which the sun passes define the zodiac. Image via Tau’olunga/ Wikipedia.
The zodiac, the 12 signs listed in a horoscope, is closely tied to how the Earth moves through the sky. We derive these signs from the constellations that mark out the path that the sun appears to take through the year. You might think that dates in a horoscope correspond to when the sun passes through each constellation. But they don’t, much of the time, because astrology and astronomy are different. Plus, a closer examination of the motion of the Earth, the sun, and the stars, shows the zodiac to be more intricate than you might imagine!
As Earth orbits the sun, the sun appears to pass in front of different constellations. Much like the moon appears in a slightly different place in the sky each night, the location of the sun relative to distant background stars drifts in an easterly direction from day to day. It’s not that the sun is actually moving. Its motion is entirely an illusion, caused by Earth’s own motion around our star.
Over the course of a year, the sun appears to be in front of, or “in,” different constellations. One month, the sun appears in Gemini; the next month, in Cancer. The dates listed in the newspaper’s horoscope identify when the sun appears in a particular astrological sign. For example, the time between March 21 and April 19 is set aside for the signAries. But your astrological sign doesn’t necessarily tell you what constellation the sun was in on the day you were born.
If only it was that simple!
Tidal forces from the sun cause Earth’s axis to wobble over a 26,000-year period. The wobble changes where in Earth’s orbit the solstices and equinoxes occur. Image via NASA.
Why the zodiac constellations don’t always align with astrological signs
To understand why constellations no longer align with their corresponding signs, we need to know a little bit more about how the Earth moves. We also need to talk about how we measure time.
Time is a fiendishly difficult thing to define, especially if we insist on using the sun and stars as a reference. Our calendar is, for better or worse, tied to the seasons. June 21 – the approximate date of summer solstice north of the equator and the winter solstice to the south – marks the day the sun appears at its most northerly point in the sky. At the June solstice, the North Pole is most tilted towards the sun.
What makes this complicated is that the North Pole is not always pointing in the same direction relative to the background stars. Our planet spins like a top. And like a top, the Earth also wobbles! A wobbling Earth makes the North Pole trace out a circle on the celestial sphere. The wobble is quite slow; it takes 26,000 years to go around once. But, as the years go by, the effect accumulates.
Over the course of one orbit around the sun, the direction of the Earth’s axis drifts ever so slightly. This means that the place along our orbit where the solstice occurs also changes by a very small amount. The solstice actually occurs about 20 minutes earlier than one full trip in front of the background stars!
Our drifting calendars
Since we tie our calendar (and astrologers tie the signs) to the solstices and equinoxes, the Earth doesn’t actually complete an entire orbit in one year. The seasonal or tropical year is actually a hair less time than one full orbit (sidereal year). This means that, each year, the sun’s location relative to the stars on any given day – June 21, for example – drifts a very tiny amount.
But wait about 2,000 years, and the sun will sit in an entirely different constellation!
On the June solstice 2,000 years ago, the sun sat almost halfway between Gemini and Cancer. Fifteen years ago, on the June solstice, the sun was sitting between Gemini and Taurus. In the year 4609, the June solstice point will pass out of the constellation Taurus and into the constellation Aries.
The signs aligned, more or less, with their corresponding constellations when people defined the modern Western zodiac about 2,000 years ago. But in the intervening centuries, the slow wobble of the Earth’s axis has caused the solstice and equinox points to shift roughly 30 degrees westward relative to the constellations. At present, signs and constellations are about one calendar month off. In another two thousand years or so, they’ll be about two months off.
The wobbling of Earth’s axis causes the location of the equinoxes to occur earlier every year. Here, the location of the sun at the vernal equinox (March 21) is shown to drift over a 6,000 year period. Image via Kevin Heagen/ Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Modern constellations and the zodiac
To complicate matters more, the constellations – unlike the astrological signs – are not of equal size and shape. The stars that make up a constellation are not, for the most part, physically related. They’re just based on patterns that our ancestors saw as they gazed skyward and tried to make sense of it all.
In 1930, the International Astronomical Union formalized the constellations as regions of the sky, not just the star patterns within them. With this, they defined the boundaries we use today. These modern constellations are rooted in those the Greek astronomer Ptolemy introduced in the second century CE. He, in turn, borrowed them from ancient Babylonian texts. Different cultures have seen patterns in the sky unique to their history. Many cultures share some constellations (Orion is a notable example), but most don’t.
With the current boundaries, there are actually 13 constellations that lie along the sun’s path. The extra one not listed in any horoscope is Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, which sits between Sagittarius and Scorpius. Whereas the signs remain fixed relative to the solstices and equinoxes, the solstices and equinoxes drift westward relative to the constellations or backdrop stars.
While the zodiac may not be a great predictor of love, fortune, and health, it is a great tool for better understanding the motions of the sun, the Earth, and even the cultures that have come and gone on our little planet. The zodiac signs, derived from the constellations along the sun’s path in the sky, track the orbit and wobble of Earth and remind us of astronomy’s humble roots.
Take the quiz!
Are you familiar with the zodiac constellations now? Test yourself with this fun quiz!
Bottom line: You might associate the word zodiac with astrology, but it has an honored place in astronomy, too. The zodiac is composed of the 12 constellations that lie along the annual path of the sun across the sky.
Extreme storms, like those that hit the central U.S. in early April, follow a recipe. Image via Kelly Sikkema/ Unsplash.
Extreme storms form thanks to moisture and atmospheric instability. These two ingredients are common in the central U.S. in spring.
Climate change means more warm air, and warm air holds more moisture, leading to wetter and stronger storms.
The most significant warming occurs near the surface, while the upper atmosphere is cooling. This can increase the instability that triggers strong storms.
A powerful storm system that stalled over states from Texas to Ohio for several days in early April 2025 wreaked havoc across the region. It brought deadly tornadoes, mudslides and flooding as rivers rose. More than a foot (30 cm) of rain fell in several areas.
As a climate scientist who studies the water cycle, I often get questions about how extreme storms like these form and what climate change has to do with it. There’s a recipe for extreme storms, with two key ingredients.
Severe storms hammered parts of the central U.S. in early April. The National Weather Service issued 309 flash flood warnings between April 2 and April 7. Image via IEM/ Matthew Cappucci.
Recipe for a storm
The essential conditions for storms to form with heavy downpours are moisture and atmospheric instability.
First, in order for a storm to develop, the air needs to contain enough moisture. That moisture comes from water evaporating off oceans, lakes and land, and from trees and other plants.
The amount of moisture the air can hold depends on its temperature. The higher the temperature, the more moisture air can hold, and the greater potential for heavy downpours. This is because at higher temperatures water molecules have more kinetic energy and therefore are more likely to exist in the vapor phase. The maximum amount of moisture possible in the air increases at about 7% per degree Celsius.
Warm air also supplies storm systems with more energy. When that vapor starts to condense into water or ice as it cools, it releases large amount of energy, known as latent heat. This additional energy fuels the storm system, leading to stronger winds and greater atmospheric instability.
Atmospheric instability
That leads us to the second necessary condition for a storm: atmospheric instability.
Atmospheric instability has two components: rising air and wind shear, which is created as wind speed changes with height. The rising air, or updraft, is essential because air cools as it moves up. And as a result, water vapor condenses to form precipitation.
As the air cools at high altitudes, it starts to sink. This forms a downdraft of cool and dry air on the edge of a storm system.
When there is little wind shear, the downdraft can suppress the updraft, and the storm system quickly dissipates as it exhausts the local moisture in the air. However, strong wind shear can tilt the storm system. Then the downdraft occurs at a different location, and the updraft of warm moist air can continue, supplying the storm with moisture and energy. This often leads to strong storm systems that can spawn tornadoes.
Extreme downpours hit the US
It is precisely a combination of these conditions that caused the prolonged, extensive precipitation that the Midwest and Southern states saw in early April.
The Midwest is prone to extreme storms, particularly during spring. Spring is a transition time when the cold and dry air mass from the Arctic, which dominates the region in winter, gradually gets pushed away by warm and moist air from the Gulf that dominates the region in summer.
This clash of air masses creates atmosphere instability at the boundary, where the warm and less dense air gets pushed upward above the cold and denser air, creating precipitation.
A cold front forms when a cold air mass pushes away a warm air mass. A warm front forms when the warm air mass pushes to replace the cold air mass. A cold front usually moves faster than a warm front, but the speed is related to the temperature difference between the two air masses.
The warm conditions before the April storm system reduced the temperature difference between these cold and warm air masses, greatly reducing the speed of the frontal movement and allowing it to stall over states from Texas to Ohio.
The result was prolonged precipitation and repeated storms. The warm temperatures also led to high moisture content in the air masses, leading to more precipitation. In addition, strong wind shear led to a continuous supply of moisture into the storm systems, causing strong thunderstorms and dozens of tornadoes to form.
What global warming has to do with storms
As global temperatures rise, the warming air creates conditions that are more conducive to extreme precipitation.
The warmer air can mean more moisture, leading to wetter and stronger storms. And since most significant warming occurs near the surface, while the upper atmosphere is cooling, this can increase wind shear and the atmospheric instability that sets the stage for strong storms.
Polar regions are also warming two to three times as fast as the global average, reducing the temperature gradient between the poles and equator. That can weaken the global winds. Most of the weather systems in the continental U.S. are modulated by the polar jet stream. So a weaker jet stream can slow the movement of storms, creating conditions for prolonged precipitation events.
All of these create conditions that make extreme storms and flooding much more likely in the future.
Bottom line: Extreme storms brought tornadoes and flooding to the central U.S. in early April. Climate scientist Shuang-Ye Wu explains the recipe for severe storms and why a warming world can make them more frequent.
Extreme storms, like those that hit the central U.S. in early April, follow a recipe. Image via Kelly Sikkema/ Unsplash.
Extreme storms form thanks to moisture and atmospheric instability. These two ingredients are common in the central U.S. in spring.
Climate change means more warm air, and warm air holds more moisture, leading to wetter and stronger storms.
The most significant warming occurs near the surface, while the upper atmosphere is cooling. This can increase the instability that triggers strong storms.
A powerful storm system that stalled over states from Texas to Ohio for several days in early April 2025 wreaked havoc across the region. It brought deadly tornadoes, mudslides and flooding as rivers rose. More than a foot (30 cm) of rain fell in several areas.
As a climate scientist who studies the water cycle, I often get questions about how extreme storms like these form and what climate change has to do with it. There’s a recipe for extreme storms, with two key ingredients.
Severe storms hammered parts of the central U.S. in early April. The National Weather Service issued 309 flash flood warnings between April 2 and April 7. Image via IEM/ Matthew Cappucci.
Recipe for a storm
The essential conditions for storms to form with heavy downpours are moisture and atmospheric instability.
First, in order for a storm to develop, the air needs to contain enough moisture. That moisture comes from water evaporating off oceans, lakes and land, and from trees and other plants.
The amount of moisture the air can hold depends on its temperature. The higher the temperature, the more moisture air can hold, and the greater potential for heavy downpours. This is because at higher temperatures water molecules have more kinetic energy and therefore are more likely to exist in the vapor phase. The maximum amount of moisture possible in the air increases at about 7% per degree Celsius.
Warm air also supplies storm systems with more energy. When that vapor starts to condense into water or ice as it cools, it releases large amount of energy, known as latent heat. This additional energy fuels the storm system, leading to stronger winds and greater atmospheric instability.
Atmospheric instability
That leads us to the second necessary condition for a storm: atmospheric instability.
Atmospheric instability has two components: rising air and wind shear, which is created as wind speed changes with height. The rising air, or updraft, is essential because air cools as it moves up. And as a result, water vapor condenses to form precipitation.
As the air cools at high altitudes, it starts to sink. This forms a downdraft of cool and dry air on the edge of a storm system.
When there is little wind shear, the downdraft can suppress the updraft, and the storm system quickly dissipates as it exhausts the local moisture in the air. However, strong wind shear can tilt the storm system. Then the downdraft occurs at a different location, and the updraft of warm moist air can continue, supplying the storm with moisture and energy. This often leads to strong storm systems that can spawn tornadoes.
Extreme downpours hit the US
It is precisely a combination of these conditions that caused the prolonged, extensive precipitation that the Midwest and Southern states saw in early April.
The Midwest is prone to extreme storms, particularly during spring. Spring is a transition time when the cold and dry air mass from the Arctic, which dominates the region in winter, gradually gets pushed away by warm and moist air from the Gulf that dominates the region in summer.
This clash of air masses creates atmosphere instability at the boundary, where the warm and less dense air gets pushed upward above the cold and denser air, creating precipitation.
A cold front forms when a cold air mass pushes away a warm air mass. A warm front forms when the warm air mass pushes to replace the cold air mass. A cold front usually moves faster than a warm front, but the speed is related to the temperature difference between the two air masses.
The warm conditions before the April storm system reduced the temperature difference between these cold and warm air masses, greatly reducing the speed of the frontal movement and allowing it to stall over states from Texas to Ohio.
The result was prolonged precipitation and repeated storms. The warm temperatures also led to high moisture content in the air masses, leading to more precipitation. In addition, strong wind shear led to a continuous supply of moisture into the storm systems, causing strong thunderstorms and dozens of tornadoes to form.
What global warming has to do with storms
As global temperatures rise, the warming air creates conditions that are more conducive to extreme precipitation.
The warmer air can mean more moisture, leading to wetter and stronger storms. And since most significant warming occurs near the surface, while the upper atmosphere is cooling, this can increase wind shear and the atmospheric instability that sets the stage for strong storms.
Polar regions are also warming two to three times as fast as the global average, reducing the temperature gradient between the poles and equator. That can weaken the global winds. Most of the weather systems in the continental U.S. are modulated by the polar jet stream. So a weaker jet stream can slow the movement of storms, creating conditions for prolonged precipitation events.
All of these create conditions that make extreme storms and flooding much more likely in the future.
Bottom line: Extreme storms brought tornadoes and flooding to the central U.S. in early April. Climate scientist Shuang-Ye Wu explains the recipe for severe storms and why a warming world can make them more frequent.
Watch a video about the news that dire wolves have reportedly been brought back from extinction.
The biotech company Colossal said they’ve made the world’s first de-extinction on April 7, 2025. They said they’ve “rebirthed” the dire wolf, which went extinct in the Americas 12,500 years ago.
What they really did was genetically modify some of the DNA of a gray wolf. They extracted fossilized DNA from dire wolf teeth and bones and used CRISPR to edit the DNA in cells that they used to create embryos.
But their accomplishments could benefit endangered species that are suffering from inbreeding, genetic bottlenecks and more.
Dire wolves are still extinct. So what happened in the lab?
Dallas-based biotech company Colossal has announced the birth of three pups bearing the DNA signatures of dire wolves, an iconic predator last seen roaming North America over 10,000 years ago.
With their names Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, these pups are playing to the cultural imagination, blending ancient mythology with fantasy fiction. Romulus and Remus nod to the legendary founders of Rome, raised by a wolf, while Khaleesi evokes the dire wolves of Game of Thrones.
It’s a resurrection story made for the headlines, but beneath the dramatic narrative lies a more nuanced – and more scientifically grounded – story. The birth of these pups is not the return of an extinct species. Instead, it’s a demonstration of how far we’ve come in the toolkit of synthetic biology (a field that involves redesigning systems found in nature). And it’s a reminder of how far we still are from truly reversing extinction.
These genetically modified pups are not, in fact, dire wolves. But they are cute. Image via Colossal Biosciences.
Extinction is still permanent
Colossal’s work follows in the footsteps of its other high-profile project: the effort to “resurrect” the woolly mammoth. As discussed in a previous Conversation article, that project began with mice carrying mammoth gene traits. It was early evidence that gene editing could one day produce cold-resistant elephants with mammoth-like characteristics. The dire wolf project is a similar exercise in technological potential, not biological resurrection.
So what exactly happened in the lab? Scientists at Colossal extracted ancient DNA from fossilized dire wolf remains, including a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old ear bone. From these samples, they sequenced the genome (the full complement of DNA in cells) and compared it with that of the modern gray wolf.
They identified approximately 20 genetic differences that were key to the extinct animal’s appearance. These differences represent tiny tweaks in the genetic code known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs.
They then edited these specific SNPs into the genome of a gray wolf using CRISPR-Cas9. CRISPR-Cas9 is a powerful gene-editing tool that allows for precision edits at the DNA level. Next, they used the resulting modified cells to create embryos and implanted them into surrogate domestic dogs. The resulting pups exhibit some traits thought to be characteristic of dire wolves: broader shoulders, larger bodies and pale coats.
‘Dire wolf’ cubs Romulus and Remus soon after their birth. Image via Colossal Biosciences.
So, how different is this animal, really?
To understand the limitations of this approach, consider our closest relatives in the animal kingdom: chimpanzees. Humans and chimpanzees share about 98.8% of their DNA. Yet the behavioral, cognitive and physiological differences are clearly profound. While 98.8% sounds very similar, this translates to roughly 35 to 40 million differences in DNA base pairs.
Now consider that the evolutionary split between dire wolves and gray wolves took place more than 300,000 years ago. And the two populations will have been diverging genetically for much longer before that. This means there are likely to be many more genetic differences between dire wolves and gray wolves. Editing 20 SNPs – out of billions of base pairs – is a minuscule change in evolutionary terms.
The result? These animals may look a little like dire wolves, but they are not dire wolves. They are gray wolves with a few cosmetic tweaks. In this light, the project represents a remarkable demonstration of genetic engineering, rather than a literal revival of an extinct species.
That said, this is still an extraordinary achievement. Extracting usable DNA from ancient remains, accurately sequencing it, identifying meaningful genetic variants and successfully editing them, then raising animals based on that information are all milestones worth celebrating.
Positive applications and risks
The techniques honed in this project could find applications in conservation, especially for endangered species suffering from inbreeding and genetic bottlenecks.
This work also expands the boundaries of what synthetic biology can do. The ability to dial specific traits in or out of a genome is valuable not just for scientific curiosity, but potentially for public health, agriculture and ecological restoration. But with these new tools come new responsibilities.
U.S. biotech company Colossal has previously gene-edited mice to have traits from woolly mammoths. Image via Colossal Biosciences.
Questions around the ‘dire wolves’
What role will these pseudo-dire wolves play in the wild? Would they behave like the long-extinct predators they mimic, or simply resemble them in form not function? Ecosystems are delicately balanced networks of interaction. Adding a creature that is similar but not identical to a former apex predator could have unpredictable consequences.
The young wolves are reportedly living in a 2,000-acre nature reserve at a secret location. So, while the reserve is surrounded by a 10-foot fence, the wolves have plenty of room to roam and could encounter other wildlife.
Some researchers argue that instead of chasing lost species, we should focus on protecting the biodiversity we still have. Resources poured into de-extinction could arguably be better spent preserving habitats, restoring degraded ecosystems, and preventing modern extinctions.
Two of the genetically modified ‘dire wolves’ at 3 months of age. Image via Colossal Biosciences.
Genetic imitation of dire wolves
Colossal’s dire wolf project is not a resurrection – it is an imitation. But that doesn’t mean it lacks value. It offers a glimpse into the possibilities of genetic science, and raises essential questions about what we mean when we say we are “bringing back” extinct species.
But in the end, it’s not about whether we can bring back the dead. It’s about what we do with the power to remake the living.
Bottom line: The biotech company Colossal has genetically engineered the DNA of three pups born to a gray wolf to incorporate some of the genetic code of extinct dire wolves.
Watch a video about the news that dire wolves have reportedly been brought back from extinction.
The biotech company Colossal said they’ve made the world’s first de-extinction on April 7, 2025. They said they’ve “rebirthed” the dire wolf, which went extinct in the Americas 12,500 years ago.
What they really did was genetically modify some of the DNA of a gray wolf. They extracted fossilized DNA from dire wolf teeth and bones and used CRISPR to edit the DNA in cells that they used to create embryos.
But their accomplishments could benefit endangered species that are suffering from inbreeding, genetic bottlenecks and more.
Dire wolves are still extinct. So what happened in the lab?
Dallas-based biotech company Colossal has announced the birth of three pups bearing the DNA signatures of dire wolves, an iconic predator last seen roaming North America over 10,000 years ago.
With their names Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, these pups are playing to the cultural imagination, blending ancient mythology with fantasy fiction. Romulus and Remus nod to the legendary founders of Rome, raised by a wolf, while Khaleesi evokes the dire wolves of Game of Thrones.
It’s a resurrection story made for the headlines, but beneath the dramatic narrative lies a more nuanced – and more scientifically grounded – story. The birth of these pups is not the return of an extinct species. Instead, it’s a demonstration of how far we’ve come in the toolkit of synthetic biology (a field that involves redesigning systems found in nature). And it’s a reminder of how far we still are from truly reversing extinction.
These genetically modified pups are not, in fact, dire wolves. But they are cute. Image via Colossal Biosciences.
Extinction is still permanent
Colossal’s work follows in the footsteps of its other high-profile project: the effort to “resurrect” the woolly mammoth. As discussed in a previous Conversation article, that project began with mice carrying mammoth gene traits. It was early evidence that gene editing could one day produce cold-resistant elephants with mammoth-like characteristics. The dire wolf project is a similar exercise in technological potential, not biological resurrection.
So what exactly happened in the lab? Scientists at Colossal extracted ancient DNA from fossilized dire wolf remains, including a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old ear bone. From these samples, they sequenced the genome (the full complement of DNA in cells) and compared it with that of the modern gray wolf.
They identified approximately 20 genetic differences that were key to the extinct animal’s appearance. These differences represent tiny tweaks in the genetic code known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs.
They then edited these specific SNPs into the genome of a gray wolf using CRISPR-Cas9. CRISPR-Cas9 is a powerful gene-editing tool that allows for precision edits at the DNA level. Next, they used the resulting modified cells to create embryos and implanted them into surrogate domestic dogs. The resulting pups exhibit some traits thought to be characteristic of dire wolves: broader shoulders, larger bodies and pale coats.
‘Dire wolf’ cubs Romulus and Remus soon after their birth. Image via Colossal Biosciences.
So, how different is this animal, really?
To understand the limitations of this approach, consider our closest relatives in the animal kingdom: chimpanzees. Humans and chimpanzees share about 98.8% of their DNA. Yet the behavioral, cognitive and physiological differences are clearly profound. While 98.8% sounds very similar, this translates to roughly 35 to 40 million differences in DNA base pairs.
Now consider that the evolutionary split between dire wolves and gray wolves took place more than 300,000 years ago. And the two populations will have been diverging genetically for much longer before that. This means there are likely to be many more genetic differences between dire wolves and gray wolves. Editing 20 SNPs – out of billions of base pairs – is a minuscule change in evolutionary terms.
The result? These animals may look a little like dire wolves, but they are not dire wolves. They are gray wolves with a few cosmetic tweaks. In this light, the project represents a remarkable demonstration of genetic engineering, rather than a literal revival of an extinct species.
That said, this is still an extraordinary achievement. Extracting usable DNA from ancient remains, accurately sequencing it, identifying meaningful genetic variants and successfully editing them, then raising animals based on that information are all milestones worth celebrating.
Positive applications and risks
The techniques honed in this project could find applications in conservation, especially for endangered species suffering from inbreeding and genetic bottlenecks.
This work also expands the boundaries of what synthetic biology can do. The ability to dial specific traits in or out of a genome is valuable not just for scientific curiosity, but potentially for public health, agriculture and ecological restoration. But with these new tools come new responsibilities.
U.S. biotech company Colossal has previously gene-edited mice to have traits from woolly mammoths. Image via Colossal Biosciences.
Questions around the ‘dire wolves’
What role will these pseudo-dire wolves play in the wild? Would they behave like the long-extinct predators they mimic, or simply resemble them in form not function? Ecosystems are delicately balanced networks of interaction. Adding a creature that is similar but not identical to a former apex predator could have unpredictable consequences.
The young wolves are reportedly living in a 2,000-acre nature reserve at a secret location. So, while the reserve is surrounded by a 10-foot fence, the wolves have plenty of room to roam and could encounter other wildlife.
Some researchers argue that instead of chasing lost species, we should focus on protecting the biodiversity we still have. Resources poured into de-extinction could arguably be better spent preserving habitats, restoring degraded ecosystems, and preventing modern extinctions.
Two of the genetically modified ‘dire wolves’ at 3 months of age. Image via Colossal Biosciences.
Genetic imitation of dire wolves
Colossal’s dire wolf project is not a resurrection – it is an imitation. But that doesn’t mean it lacks value. It offers a glimpse into the possibilities of genetic science, and raises essential questions about what we mean when we say we are “bringing back” extinct species.
But in the end, it’s not about whether we can bring back the dead. It’s about what we do with the power to remake the living.
Bottom line: The biotech company Colossal has genetically engineered the DNA of three pups born to a gray wolf to incorporate some of the genetic code of extinct dire wolves.
Arc to Arcturus, and speed on to Spica. Scouts learn this phrase. Grandparents teach it to kids. It’s one of the first sky tools many learn to use in astronomy.
This mnemonic directs you to two stars that are bright enough to shine even through the light pollution of suburbs and small cities. In fact, Spica is a prime example of a 1st-magnitude star. This means that, according to a brightness scale first used by the early astronomers Hipparchus (c.190-c.120 BCE) and Ptolemy (c.100-c.170 CE), it is one of our sky’s brightest stars.
And the star Arcturus beams brighter yet, shining one magnitude (2.5 times) more brightly than Spica.
Find the asterism of the Big Dipper high in the northeastern sky in the evenings this month. You can’t miss the distinctive kitchen ladle-like arrangement of its seven bright stars. Notice it has two parts: a bowl and a handle. Extend the curve of the handle until you come to a bright orange star: Arcturus! It shines at a magnitude of -0.04.
Arcturus is a giant star, located an estimated 36.7 light-years from Earth. It is the third brightest individual star in the night sky, and the brightest star in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman. Its name derives from the Ancient Greek for ‘Guardian of the Bear’ due to its proximity to Ursa Major, the Great Bear, and some still refer to it as the Bear Guard.
Speed on to Spica
Once you’ve followed the curve of the Big Dipper’s handle to Arcturus, you’re on your way to your next target. Just extend that same curve and speed on to the bright, blue-white star Spica! It shines at +1.04 magnitude.
Spica is the brightest light in Virgo the Maiden, a large, rambling constellation. Spica’s name derives from the Latin word for ‘ear’, referring to an ear of wheat held by the maiden. Greek astronomers associated the star and its constellation with the goddess of the harvest, Demeter, though it has also been associated with Demeter’s daughter, Persephone.
Today we know Spica as a tight double star. The two stars are indistinguishable from a single point of light in ordinary telescopes. Spica’s dual nature was revealed only by analyzing its light with a spectroscope: an instrument that splits light into its component colors. Separated by just less than 11 million miles (18 million km), Spica’s two stars orbit a common center of gravity in only four days. They’re collectively more than 2,000 times brighter than our sun, and are estimated to be 7.8 and 4 times larger!
Bottom line: If you only ever learn one star mnemonic, make it this one! Arc to Arcturus and speed on to Spica to identify two of the sky’s brightest stars.
Arc to Arcturus, and speed on to Spica. Scouts learn this phrase. Grandparents teach it to kids. It’s one of the first sky tools many learn to use in astronomy.
This mnemonic directs you to two stars that are bright enough to shine even through the light pollution of suburbs and small cities. In fact, Spica is a prime example of a 1st-magnitude star. This means that, according to a brightness scale first used by the early astronomers Hipparchus (c.190-c.120 BCE) and Ptolemy (c.100-c.170 CE), it is one of our sky’s brightest stars.
And the star Arcturus beams brighter yet, shining one magnitude (2.5 times) more brightly than Spica.
Find the asterism of the Big Dipper high in the northeastern sky in the evenings this month. You can’t miss the distinctive kitchen ladle-like arrangement of its seven bright stars. Notice it has two parts: a bowl and a handle. Extend the curve of the handle until you come to a bright orange star: Arcturus! It shines at a magnitude of -0.04.
Arcturus is a giant star, located an estimated 36.7 light-years from Earth. It is the third brightest individual star in the night sky, and the brightest star in the constellation Boötes the Herdsman. Its name derives from the Ancient Greek for ‘Guardian of the Bear’ due to its proximity to Ursa Major, the Great Bear, and some still refer to it as the Bear Guard.
Speed on to Spica
Once you’ve followed the curve of the Big Dipper’s handle to Arcturus, you’re on your way to your next target. Just extend that same curve and speed on to the bright, blue-white star Spica! It shines at +1.04 magnitude.
Spica is the brightest light in Virgo the Maiden, a large, rambling constellation. Spica’s name derives from the Latin word for ‘ear’, referring to an ear of wheat held by the maiden. Greek astronomers associated the star and its constellation with the goddess of the harvest, Demeter, though it has also been associated with Demeter’s daughter, Persephone.
Today we know Spica as a tight double star. The two stars are indistinguishable from a single point of light in ordinary telescopes. Spica’s dual nature was revealed only by analyzing its light with a spectroscope: an instrument that splits light into its component colors. Separated by just less than 11 million miles (18 million km), Spica’s two stars orbit a common center of gravity in only four days. They’re collectively more than 2,000 times brighter than our sun, and are estimated to be 7.8 and 4 times larger!
Bottom line: If you only ever learn one star mnemonic, make it this one! Arc to Arcturus and speed on to Spica to identify two of the sky’s brightest stars.
