View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steve Price of Draper, Utah, posted this photo on March 30, 2024. Steve wrote: “These are some of the Ukrainian Pysanky Easter eggs I made. We display them each Easter season.” Thanks, Steve!
Here’s the rule for Easter Sunday. It generally falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.
And so Easter is a movable feast. Its date is different from year to year. The 2025 equinox was March 20. It marked an unofficial beginning of spring for the Northern Hemisphere and autumn for the Southern Hemisphere. The first full moon after the March equinox was April 12-13, 2025. Voilà! In 2025, Easter is April 20.
Note, generally that date is a little different from Eastern Orthodox Easter, which follows the Julian calendar. However, in 2025, Easter also falls on April 20 this year.
How is Easter determined?
The Council of Nicaea – first ecumenical council of the Christian church – established the date of Easter when it met in Turkey in the year 325 CE. By ecclesiastical rules set centuries ago, there are 35 dates on which Easter can take place.
The earliest possible date for Easter is March 22 and the latest possible date is April 25.
Easter can never come as early as March 21, though. That’s because, by ecclesiastical rules, the vernal equinox is fixed on March 21. That’s in spite of the fact that in the 21st century (2001 to 2100) every March equinox after the year 2007 will fall on March 19 or March 20.
The last time Easter fell on March 22 (earliest possible date) was in 1818, and the next time will be in 2285. The most recent time an Easter came in March was March 27, 2016.
Easter eggs from the Czech Republic. Image via svajcr/ Wikipedia.
More details and dates
The earliest Easter in the 21st century came in the year 2008 (March 23, 2008). Another March 23 Easter won’t come again until the year 2160.
The century’s latest Easter will occur in the year 2038 (April 25, 2038). After that, it will next fall on April 25 in the year 2190.
One last detail. Most of us celebrate Easter Sunday via a combination of ecclesiastical rules set long ago and real events in our night sky. But these don’t always coincide. For example, an ecclesiastical full moon doesn’t usually happen on the same date as the full moon you see at night. Ecclesiastical full moons are formally fixed as the 14th day of the ecclesiastical lunar month.
So it’s possible for an ecclesiastical Easter and an astronomical Easter to occur on different dates, as well.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Steve Price of Draper, Utah, posted this photo on March 30, 2024. Steve wrote: “These are some of the Ukrainian Pysanky Easter eggs I made. We display them each Easter season.” Thanks, Steve!
Here’s the rule for Easter Sunday. It generally falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.
And so Easter is a movable feast. Its date is different from year to year. The 2025 equinox was March 20. It marked an unofficial beginning of spring for the Northern Hemisphere and autumn for the Southern Hemisphere. The first full moon after the March equinox was April 12-13, 2025. Voilà! In 2025, Easter is April 20.
Note, generally that date is a little different from Eastern Orthodox Easter, which follows the Julian calendar. However, in 2025, Easter also falls on April 20 this year.
How is Easter determined?
The Council of Nicaea – first ecumenical council of the Christian church – established the date of Easter when it met in Turkey in the year 325 CE. By ecclesiastical rules set centuries ago, there are 35 dates on which Easter can take place.
The earliest possible date for Easter is March 22 and the latest possible date is April 25.
Easter can never come as early as March 21, though. That’s because, by ecclesiastical rules, the vernal equinox is fixed on March 21. That’s in spite of the fact that in the 21st century (2001 to 2100) every March equinox after the year 2007 will fall on March 19 or March 20.
The last time Easter fell on March 22 (earliest possible date) was in 1818, and the next time will be in 2285. The most recent time an Easter came in March was March 27, 2016.
Easter eggs from the Czech Republic. Image via svajcr/ Wikipedia.
More details and dates
The earliest Easter in the 21st century came in the year 2008 (March 23, 2008). Another March 23 Easter won’t come again until the year 2160.
The century’s latest Easter will occur in the year 2038 (April 25, 2038). After that, it will next fall on April 25 in the year 2190.
One last detail. Most of us celebrate Easter Sunday via a combination of ecclesiastical rules set long ago and real events in our night sky. But these don’t always coincide. For example, an ecclesiastical full moon doesn’t usually happen on the same date as the full moon you see at night. Ecclesiastical full moons are formally fixed as the 14th day of the ecclesiastical lunar month.
So it’s possible for an ecclesiastical Easter and an astronomical Easter to occur on different dates, as well.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Doug Ingram from Bodalla, Australia, captured this fireball on September 1, 2024. Studies of meteorites that have landed on Earth show most are not made of carbon, even though observations with telescopes show a majority of space rocks are made of carbon. So why are the samples on Earth outliers?
Observations and sample-return missions show us that space rocks tend to be rich in water, carbon and organic compounds. Yet most meteorites that have made it to Earth are not. Why?
Astronomers long thought the space rock’s journey through our atmosphere filtered out these materials. But a new study published April 14, 2025, found something else.
The temperature changes from space rocks traveling back and forth near the sun formed cracks in the rocks. So space rocks lose much of their carbon material before they even make it to Earth.
Much of what scientists know about the early solar system comes from meteorites. They are ancient rocks that travel through space and survive a fiery plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. Among meteorites, one type – carbonaceous chondrites – stands out as the most primitive. They provide a unique glimpse into the solar system’s infancy.
The carbonaceous chondrites are rich in water, carbon and organic compounds. They’re hydrated, which means they contain water bound within minerals in the rock. The components of the water are locked into crystal structures. Many researchers believe these ancient rocks played a crucial role in delivering water to early Earth.
Before hitting Earth, rocks traveling through space are generally referred to as asteroids, meteoroids or comets, depending on their size and composition. If a piece of one of these objects makes it all the way to Earth, it becomes a meteorite.
From observing asteroids with telescopes, scientists know that most asteroids have water-rich, carbonaceous compositions. Models predict that most meteorites – over half – should also be carbonaceous. But less than 4% of all the meteorites found on Earth are carbonaceous. So why is there such a mismatch?
In a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy on April 14, 2025, my planetary scientist colleagues and I tried to answer an age-old question: Where are all the carbonaceous chondrites?
Sample-return missions
Scientists’ desire to study these ancient rocks has driven recent sample-return space missions. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa2 missions have transformed what researchers know about primitive, carbon-rich asteroids.
Meteorites found sitting on the ground are exposed to rain, snow and plants. This can significantly change them and make analysis more difficult. So, the OSIRIS-REx mission ventured to the asteroid Bennu to retrieve an unaltered sample. Retrieving this sample allowed scientists to examine the asteroid’s composition in detail.
Similarly, Hayabusa2’s journey to the asteroid Ryugu provided pristine samples of another, similarly water-rich asteroid.
Together these missions have let planetary scientists like me study pristine, fragile carbonaceous material from asteroids. These asteroids are a direct window into the building blocks of our solar system and the origins of life.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample-return spacecraft captured this image of the carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Image via NASA.
The carbonaceous chondrite puzzle
For a long time, scientists assumed Earth’s atmosphere filtered out carbonaceous debris.
When an object hits Earth’s atmosphere, it has to survive significant pressures and high temperatures. Carbonaceous chondrites tend to be weaker and more crumbly than other meteorites. So these objects just don’t stand as much of a chance.
Meteorites usually start their journey when two asteroids collide. These collisions create a bunch of centimeter- to meter-size rock fragments. These cosmic crumbs streak through the solar system and can, eventually, fall to Earth. When they’re smaller than a meter, scientists call them meteoroids.
Meteoroids are far too small for researchers to see with a telescope. That’s unless they’re about to hit the Earth, and astronomers get lucky.
But there is another way scientists can study this population, and, in turn, understand why meteorites have such different compositions.
Meteor and fireball observation networks
Our research team used the Earth’s atmosphere as our detector.
Most of the meteoroids that reach Earth are tiny, sand-sized particles. But occasionally, bodies up to a couple of meters in diameter hit. Researchers estimate that about 5,000 metric tons of micrometeorites land on Earth annually. And, each year, between 4,000 and 10,000 large meteorites – golf ball-sized or larger – land on Earth. That’s more than 20 each day.
A fireball observed by the FRIPON network in Normandy, France, in 2019.
Today, digital cameras have rendered round-the-clock observations of the night sky both practical and affordable. Low-cost, high-sensitivity sensors and automated detection software allow researchers to monitor large sections of the night sky for bright flashes, which signal a meteoroid hitting the atmosphere.
Research teams can sift through these real-time observations using automated analysis techniques – or a very dedicated Ph.D. student – to find invaluable information.
Our team manages two global systems: FRIPON, a French-led network with stations in 15 countries; and the Global Fireball Observatory, a collaboration started by the team behind the Desert Fireball Network in Australia. Together with other open-access datasets, my colleagues and I used the trajectories of nearly 8,000 impacts observed by 19 observation networks spread across 39 countries.
FRIPON camera installed at the Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees. Image via FRIPON.
By comparing all meteoroid impacts recorded in Earth’s atmosphere with those that successfully reach the surface as meteorites, we can pinpoint which asteroids produce fragments that are strong enough to survive the journey. Or, conversely, we can also pinpoint which asteroids produce weak material that do not show up as often on Earth as meteorites.
Desert Fireball Network automated remote observatory in South Australia. Image via The Desert Fireball Network.
The sun is baking the rocks too much
Surprisingly, we found that many asteroid pieces don’t even make it to Earth. Something starts removing the weak stuff while the fragment is still in space. The carbonaceous material, which isn’t very durable, likely gets broken down through heat stress when its orbit takes it close to the sun.
As carbonaceous chondrites orbit close and then away from the sun, the temperature swings form cracks in their material. This process effectively fragments and removes weak, hydrated boulders from the population of objects near the Earth. Anything left over after this thermal cracking then has to survive the atmosphere.
Only 30% to 50% of the remaining objects survive the atmospheric passage and become meteorites. The debris pieces whose orbits bring them closer to the sun tend to be significantly more durable. This makes them far more likely to survive the difficult passage through Earth’s atmosphere. We call this a survival bias.
For decades, scientists have presumed that Earth’s atmosphere alone explains the scarcity of carbonaceous meteorites, but our work indicates that much of the removal occurs beforehand in space.
More studies with meteorites
Going forward, new scientific advances can help confirm these findings and better identify meteoroid compositions. Scientists need to get better at using telescopes to detect objects right before they hit the Earth. More detailed modeling of how these objects break up in the atmosphere can also help researchers study them.
Lastly, future studies can come up with better methods to identify what these fireballs are made of using the colors of the meteors.
Bottom line: Our observations and sample-return missions show us that space rocks tend to be rich in water, carbon and organic compounds. Yet the meteorites that have made it to Earth rarely have a similar composition. Why?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Doug Ingram from Bodalla, Australia, captured this fireball on September 1, 2024. Studies of meteorites that have landed on Earth show most are not made of carbon, even though observations with telescopes show a majority of space rocks are made of carbon. So why are the samples on Earth outliers?
Observations and sample-return missions show us that space rocks tend to be rich in water, carbon and organic compounds. Yet most meteorites that have made it to Earth are not. Why?
Astronomers long thought the space rock’s journey through our atmosphere filtered out these materials. But a new study published April 14, 2025, found something else.
The temperature changes from space rocks traveling back and forth near the sun formed cracks in the rocks. So space rocks lose much of their carbon material before they even make it to Earth.
Much of what scientists know about the early solar system comes from meteorites. They are ancient rocks that travel through space and survive a fiery plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. Among meteorites, one type – carbonaceous chondrites – stands out as the most primitive. They provide a unique glimpse into the solar system’s infancy.
The carbonaceous chondrites are rich in water, carbon and organic compounds. They’re hydrated, which means they contain water bound within minerals in the rock. The components of the water are locked into crystal structures. Many researchers believe these ancient rocks played a crucial role in delivering water to early Earth.
Before hitting Earth, rocks traveling through space are generally referred to as asteroids, meteoroids or comets, depending on their size and composition. If a piece of one of these objects makes it all the way to Earth, it becomes a meteorite.
From observing asteroids with telescopes, scientists know that most asteroids have water-rich, carbonaceous compositions. Models predict that most meteorites – over half – should also be carbonaceous. But less than 4% of all the meteorites found on Earth are carbonaceous. So why is there such a mismatch?
In a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy on April 14, 2025, my planetary scientist colleagues and I tried to answer an age-old question: Where are all the carbonaceous chondrites?
Sample-return missions
Scientists’ desire to study these ancient rocks has driven recent sample-return space missions. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa2 missions have transformed what researchers know about primitive, carbon-rich asteroids.
Meteorites found sitting on the ground are exposed to rain, snow and plants. This can significantly change them and make analysis more difficult. So, the OSIRIS-REx mission ventured to the asteroid Bennu to retrieve an unaltered sample. Retrieving this sample allowed scientists to examine the asteroid’s composition in detail.
Similarly, Hayabusa2’s journey to the asteroid Ryugu provided pristine samples of another, similarly water-rich asteroid.
Together these missions have let planetary scientists like me study pristine, fragile carbonaceous material from asteroids. These asteroids are a direct window into the building blocks of our solar system and the origins of life.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample-return spacecraft captured this image of the carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Image via NASA.
The carbonaceous chondrite puzzle
For a long time, scientists assumed Earth’s atmosphere filtered out carbonaceous debris.
When an object hits Earth’s atmosphere, it has to survive significant pressures and high temperatures. Carbonaceous chondrites tend to be weaker and more crumbly than other meteorites. So these objects just don’t stand as much of a chance.
Meteorites usually start their journey when two asteroids collide. These collisions create a bunch of centimeter- to meter-size rock fragments. These cosmic crumbs streak through the solar system and can, eventually, fall to Earth. When they’re smaller than a meter, scientists call them meteoroids.
Meteoroids are far too small for researchers to see with a telescope. That’s unless they’re about to hit the Earth, and astronomers get lucky.
But there is another way scientists can study this population, and, in turn, understand why meteorites have such different compositions.
Meteor and fireball observation networks
Our research team used the Earth’s atmosphere as our detector.
Most of the meteoroids that reach Earth are tiny, sand-sized particles. But occasionally, bodies up to a couple of meters in diameter hit. Researchers estimate that about 5,000 metric tons of micrometeorites land on Earth annually. And, each year, between 4,000 and 10,000 large meteorites – golf ball-sized or larger – land on Earth. That’s more than 20 each day.
A fireball observed by the FRIPON network in Normandy, France, in 2019.
Today, digital cameras have rendered round-the-clock observations of the night sky both practical and affordable. Low-cost, high-sensitivity sensors and automated detection software allow researchers to monitor large sections of the night sky for bright flashes, which signal a meteoroid hitting the atmosphere.
Research teams can sift through these real-time observations using automated analysis techniques – or a very dedicated Ph.D. student – to find invaluable information.
Our team manages two global systems: FRIPON, a French-led network with stations in 15 countries; and the Global Fireball Observatory, a collaboration started by the team behind the Desert Fireball Network in Australia. Together with other open-access datasets, my colleagues and I used the trajectories of nearly 8,000 impacts observed by 19 observation networks spread across 39 countries.
FRIPON camera installed at the Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees. Image via FRIPON.
By comparing all meteoroid impacts recorded in Earth’s atmosphere with those that successfully reach the surface as meteorites, we can pinpoint which asteroids produce fragments that are strong enough to survive the journey. Or, conversely, we can also pinpoint which asteroids produce weak material that do not show up as often on Earth as meteorites.
Desert Fireball Network automated remote observatory in South Australia. Image via The Desert Fireball Network.
The sun is baking the rocks too much
Surprisingly, we found that many asteroid pieces don’t even make it to Earth. Something starts removing the weak stuff while the fragment is still in space. The carbonaceous material, which isn’t very durable, likely gets broken down through heat stress when its orbit takes it close to the sun.
As carbonaceous chondrites orbit close and then away from the sun, the temperature swings form cracks in their material. This process effectively fragments and removes weak, hydrated boulders from the population of objects near the Earth. Anything left over after this thermal cracking then has to survive the atmosphere.
Only 30% to 50% of the remaining objects survive the atmospheric passage and become meteorites. The debris pieces whose orbits bring them closer to the sun tend to be significantly more durable. This makes them far more likely to survive the difficult passage through Earth’s atmosphere. We call this a survival bias.
For decades, scientists have presumed that Earth’s atmosphere alone explains the scarcity of carbonaceous meteorites, but our work indicates that much of the removal occurs beforehand in space.
More studies with meteorites
Going forward, new scientific advances can help confirm these findings and better identify meteoroid compositions. Scientists need to get better at using telescopes to detect objects right before they hit the Earth. More detailed modeling of how these objects break up in the atmosphere can also help researchers study them.
Lastly, future studies can come up with better methods to identify what these fireballs are made of using the colors of the meteors.
Bottom line: Our observations and sample-return missions show us that space rocks tend to be rich in water, carbon and organic compounds. Yet the meteorites that have made it to Earth rarely have a similar composition. Why?
Tatooine exoplanets are planets that orbit two or more stars. They are reminiscent of the fictional planet Tatooine in Star Wars.
They can also orbit brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are unusual objects that are larger than planets but smaller than stars. Astronomers have discovered a new exoplanet orbiting a pair of brown dwarfs.
But this planet has a weird orbit. It orbits perpendicular, at a 90 degree angle, to the orbits of the 2 brown dwarfs. It’s the first system of its kind that astronomers have found.
Rare Tatooine world has a weird orbit
Just like Tatooine in Star Wars, exoplanets can sometimes orbit two or more stars at once. Now, using the Very Large Telescope in Chile, astronomers in Europe have found another such system, but this one’s a little different. Instead of two regular stars, the planet orbits a pair of brown dwarfs, objects that are larger than planets but smaller than stars. But there’s another twist. On April 16, 2025, the researchers said the orbit of the planet is perpendicular, at 90 degrees, to the orbits of the two brown dwarfs. Astronomers have seen hints of these kinds of orbits before, but this is the first confirmation of this kind of unique planetary system.
The research team published their new peer-reviewed findings in Science Advances on April 16, 2025.
Eclipsing brown dwarfs
The astronomers discovered the exoplanet – named 2M1510 (AB) b – orbiting two binary brown dwarfs, known as 2M1510. Brown dwarfs are unusual objects, larger than planets but smaller than stars. And as is often the case, these two brown dwarfs are a binary pair. That means they orbit each other, similar to binary stars. But these are also eclipsing brown dwarfs, which are more rare. In fact, this is only the second eclipsing brown dwarf system astronomers have found so far. The orbits of the two brown dwarfs happen to be aligned so that they eclipse each other, as seen from Earth. Astronomers call this an eclipsing binary.
View larger. | Artist’s concept of the Tatooine world 2M1510 (AB) b’s unusual orbit around its 2 host brown dwarfs. The planet has a polar orbit, which is perpendicular to the plane in which the 2 stars orbit each other. This is the 1st strong evidence that such a planet actually exists in a polar orbit around 2 stars or brown dwarfs. Image via ESO/ L. Calçada.
A Tatooine world, with a twist
This makes the system interesting on its own, but there’s more. The planet itself orbits both brown dwarfs in a larger orbit. Indeed, astronomers have found several other systems like this, where the planet is orbiting a binary pair of stars. Such planets are reminiscent of the fictional world Tatooine in Star Wars.
Those planets, however, orbit their stars on the same plane that the two stars orbit each other. But 2M1510 (AB) b is an oddball. Its orbit is perpendicular, at 90 degrees, to the orbits of the two brown dwarfs. Scientists call this a polar orbit. Astronomers have found hints of such polar orbits around binary stars before, but this is the first confirmation that these kinds of systems actually exist. It’s the first exoplanet discovered that orbits at right angles to its two host stars (or brown dwarfs). And the fact that this orbit is around two brown dwarfs instead of two regular stars makes it all the more interesting.
Thomas Baycroft is a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, U.K., and the lead author of the new paper. He said:
I am particularly excited to be involved in detecting credible evidence that this configuration exists.
Co-author Amaury Triaud at the University of Birmingham added:
A planet orbiting not just a binary, but a binary brown dwarf, as well as being on a polar orbit is rather incredible and exciting.
The astronomers made the discovery using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. They noticed that something was “pushing and pulling” the two brown dwarfs in an unexpected way. The researchers tested various scenarios for what might be affecting the brown dwarfs and came to the conclusion it must be a planet, tugging at the brown dwarfs with its gravity. But the planet must be in an orbit at a right angle to the orbits of the brown dwarfs. Baycroft said:
We reviewed all possible scenarios, and the only one consistent with the data is if a planet is on a polar orbit about this binary.
He added:
We had hints that planets on perpendicular orbits around binary stars could exist, but until now we lacked clear evidence of this type of polar planet. We reviewed all possible scenarios, and the only consistent with the data is if a planet is on a polar orbit about this binary.
The discovery was a surprise for the scientists, as Triaud noted:
The discovery was serendipitous, in the sense that our observations were not collected to seek such a planet, or orbital configuration. As such, it is a big surprise. Overall, I think this shows to us astronomers, but also to the public at large, what is possible in the fascinating universe we inhabit.
Bottom line: Astronomers have discovered a Tatooine-like world orbiting two brown dwarfs. But strangely, the planet orbits the brown dwarfs at a 90 degree angle.
Tatooine exoplanets are planets that orbit two or more stars. They are reminiscent of the fictional planet Tatooine in Star Wars.
They can also orbit brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs are unusual objects that are larger than planets but smaller than stars. Astronomers have discovered a new exoplanet orbiting a pair of brown dwarfs.
But this planet has a weird orbit. It orbits perpendicular, at a 90 degree angle, to the orbits of the 2 brown dwarfs. It’s the first system of its kind that astronomers have found.
Rare Tatooine world has a weird orbit
Just like Tatooine in Star Wars, exoplanets can sometimes orbit two or more stars at once. Now, using the Very Large Telescope in Chile, astronomers in Europe have found another such system, but this one’s a little different. Instead of two regular stars, the planet orbits a pair of brown dwarfs, objects that are larger than planets but smaller than stars. But there’s another twist. On April 16, 2025, the researchers said the orbit of the planet is perpendicular, at 90 degrees, to the orbits of the two brown dwarfs. Astronomers have seen hints of these kinds of orbits before, but this is the first confirmation of this kind of unique planetary system.
The research team published their new peer-reviewed findings in Science Advances on April 16, 2025.
Eclipsing brown dwarfs
The astronomers discovered the exoplanet – named 2M1510 (AB) b – orbiting two binary brown dwarfs, known as 2M1510. Brown dwarfs are unusual objects, larger than planets but smaller than stars. And as is often the case, these two brown dwarfs are a binary pair. That means they orbit each other, similar to binary stars. But these are also eclipsing brown dwarfs, which are more rare. In fact, this is only the second eclipsing brown dwarf system astronomers have found so far. The orbits of the two brown dwarfs happen to be aligned so that they eclipse each other, as seen from Earth. Astronomers call this an eclipsing binary.
View larger. | Artist’s concept of the Tatooine world 2M1510 (AB) b’s unusual orbit around its 2 host brown dwarfs. The planet has a polar orbit, which is perpendicular to the plane in which the 2 stars orbit each other. This is the 1st strong evidence that such a planet actually exists in a polar orbit around 2 stars or brown dwarfs. Image via ESO/ L. Calçada.
A Tatooine world, with a twist
This makes the system interesting on its own, but there’s more. The planet itself orbits both brown dwarfs in a larger orbit. Indeed, astronomers have found several other systems like this, where the planet is orbiting a binary pair of stars. Such planets are reminiscent of the fictional world Tatooine in Star Wars.
Those planets, however, orbit their stars on the same plane that the two stars orbit each other. But 2M1510 (AB) b is an oddball. Its orbit is perpendicular, at 90 degrees, to the orbits of the two brown dwarfs. Scientists call this a polar orbit. Astronomers have found hints of such polar orbits around binary stars before, but this is the first confirmation that these kinds of systems actually exist. It’s the first exoplanet discovered that orbits at right angles to its two host stars (or brown dwarfs). And the fact that this orbit is around two brown dwarfs instead of two regular stars makes it all the more interesting.
Thomas Baycroft is a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, U.K., and the lead author of the new paper. He said:
I am particularly excited to be involved in detecting credible evidence that this configuration exists.
Co-author Amaury Triaud at the University of Birmingham added:
A planet orbiting not just a binary, but a binary brown dwarf, as well as being on a polar orbit is rather incredible and exciting.
The astronomers made the discovery using the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. They noticed that something was “pushing and pulling” the two brown dwarfs in an unexpected way. The researchers tested various scenarios for what might be affecting the brown dwarfs and came to the conclusion it must be a planet, tugging at the brown dwarfs with its gravity. But the planet must be in an orbit at a right angle to the orbits of the brown dwarfs. Baycroft said:
We reviewed all possible scenarios, and the only one consistent with the data is if a planet is on a polar orbit about this binary.
He added:
We had hints that planets on perpendicular orbits around binary stars could exist, but until now we lacked clear evidence of this type of polar planet. We reviewed all possible scenarios, and the only consistent with the data is if a planet is on a polar orbit about this binary.
The discovery was a surprise for the scientists, as Triaud noted:
The discovery was serendipitous, in the sense that our observations were not collected to seek such a planet, or orbital configuration. As such, it is a big surprise. Overall, I think this shows to us astronomers, but also to the public at large, what is possible in the fascinating universe we inhabit.
Bottom line: Astronomers have discovered a Tatooine-like world orbiting two brown dwarfs. But strangely, the planet orbits the brown dwarfs at a 90 degree angle.
The Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud from the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. They are 2 small galaxies orbiting our large, spiral Milky Way galaxy. New research indicates that the Large Magellanic Cloud is ripping its smaller neighbor to shreds. Image via J. Colosimo/ ESO (CC BY 4.0).
The Large Magellanic Cloud is pulling apart the Small Magellanic Cloud with its gravity.
Young massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud are moving in a manner that shows clear signs of gravitational disruption.
These observations offer a glimpse into how small galaxies in the early universe may have interacted and evolved.
What is happening to the Small Magellanic Cloud?
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are two small galaxies. They’re gravitationally bound to our home galaxy, the Milky Way. And they’re visible to the unaided eye in the Southern Hemisphere’s night sky. This month, scientists in Japan reported that – based on measurements of star movements in the Small Cloud – the Large Cloud appears to be ripping it apart.
How do we know? Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan tracked the motions of 7,426 massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, using data from the Gaia observatory. This recently decommissioned observatory measured the motions of almost 2 billion stars with unprecedented accuracy.
When we first got this result, we suspected that there might be an error in our method of analysis. However, upon closer examination, the results are indisputable, and we were surprised.
The stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud were moving in opposite directions on either side of the galaxy, as though they are being pulled apart. Some of these stars are approaching the Large Magellanic Cloud, while others are moving away from it, suggesting the gravitational influence of the larger galaxy. This unexpected movement supports the hypothesis that the Small Magellanic Cloud is being disrupted by the Large Magellanic Cloud, leading to its gradual destruction.
The researchers reported their findings in the peer-reviewed journal The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series on April 10, 2025.
Watch a video on how the Large Magellanic Cloud is affecting the Small Magellanic Cloud. Via lead author of the study, Satoya Nakano.
A new study suggests that the Large Magellanic Cloud is ripping apart the Small Magellanic Cloud.
More evidence of disruption in the Small Magellanic Cloud
The scientists looked up the movements of carefully selected young massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Gaia measured these stars that are more than eight times our sun’s mass.
These stars are quite young, having recently emerged from the gas clouds in which they formed. They’ve not had time to move far from those clouds, which are mostly composed of hydrogen. Therefore, there’s still a lot of hydrogen in their vicinity.
Our sun and all stars in the Milky Way galaxy revolve around the center of our galaxy. In the Small Magellanic Cloud, scientists expected to see stars revolving about its center, too. Instead, the data showed no evidence of such movement, further confirming the disruptive effect of the Large Magellanic Cloud on this small galaxy. That also meant that the hydrogen gas associated with these young stars was also not revolving about the center of the Small Magellanic Cloud.
Satoya Nakano, the paper’s lead author, commented in the statement:
If the Small Magellanic Cloud is indeed not rotating, previous estimates of its mass and its interaction history with the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud might need to be revised. This could potentially change our understanding of the history of the three-body interaction between the two Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way.
This diagram illustrates how the Large Magellanic Cloud is gravitationally tearing the Small Magellanic Cloud. Each arrow represents a star that the Gaia observatory measured. The length of an arrow represents the star’s movement, and its color indicates the direction of that movement. Arrows in red represent stars being pulled toward the Large Magellanic Cloud, while those in blue show movement in the opposite direction. Image via Satoya Nakano/ Nagoya University.
Broader implications of this study
This new study will influence how scientists study the interactions of neighboring galaxies in the early universe. That’s because the Small Magellanic Cloud has, researchers think, properties of early primordial galaxies.
The Small Magellanic Cloud has low-metallicity stars. In other words, most elements found in those stars are hydrogen and a little helium. Moreover, there is a very low level of heavier elements in those stars, elements that could only have been created in previous stars.
The Small Magellanic Cloud also has a low mass and therefore does not have much gravitational force to hold itself tightly. Some scientists think that galaxies in the early universe might have had the same characteristics. (However, observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, revealing massive galaxies in the early universe, may be contradicting that theory.)
The researchers think that Small and Large Magellanic Cloud dynamics might be similar to how galaxies in the early universe interacted with each other billions of years ago. This in turn helps them understand how galaxies evolved over time.
Bottom line: Data from the Gaia observatory show that the Large Magellanic Cloud is ripping apart its smaller neighbor, the Small Magellanic Cloud. Both are small satellite galaxies to our Milky Way galaxy.
The Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud from the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. They are 2 small galaxies orbiting our large, spiral Milky Way galaxy. New research indicates that the Large Magellanic Cloud is ripping its smaller neighbor to shreds. Image via J. Colosimo/ ESO (CC BY 4.0).
The Large Magellanic Cloud is pulling apart the Small Magellanic Cloud with its gravity.
Young massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud are moving in a manner that shows clear signs of gravitational disruption.
These observations offer a glimpse into how small galaxies in the early universe may have interacted and evolved.
What is happening to the Small Magellanic Cloud?
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are two small galaxies. They’re gravitationally bound to our home galaxy, the Milky Way. And they’re visible to the unaided eye in the Southern Hemisphere’s night sky. This month, scientists in Japan reported that – based on measurements of star movements in the Small Cloud – the Large Cloud appears to be ripping it apart.
How do we know? Scientists at Nagoya University in Japan tracked the motions of 7,426 massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, using data from the Gaia observatory. This recently decommissioned observatory measured the motions of almost 2 billion stars with unprecedented accuracy.
When we first got this result, we suspected that there might be an error in our method of analysis. However, upon closer examination, the results are indisputable, and we were surprised.
The stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud were moving in opposite directions on either side of the galaxy, as though they are being pulled apart. Some of these stars are approaching the Large Magellanic Cloud, while others are moving away from it, suggesting the gravitational influence of the larger galaxy. This unexpected movement supports the hypothesis that the Small Magellanic Cloud is being disrupted by the Large Magellanic Cloud, leading to its gradual destruction.
The researchers reported their findings in the peer-reviewed journal The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series on April 10, 2025.
Watch a video on how the Large Magellanic Cloud is affecting the Small Magellanic Cloud. Via lead author of the study, Satoya Nakano.
A new study suggests that the Large Magellanic Cloud is ripping apart the Small Magellanic Cloud.
More evidence of disruption in the Small Magellanic Cloud
The scientists looked up the movements of carefully selected young massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Gaia measured these stars that are more than eight times our sun’s mass.
These stars are quite young, having recently emerged from the gas clouds in which they formed. They’ve not had time to move far from those clouds, which are mostly composed of hydrogen. Therefore, there’s still a lot of hydrogen in their vicinity.
Our sun and all stars in the Milky Way galaxy revolve around the center of our galaxy. In the Small Magellanic Cloud, scientists expected to see stars revolving about its center, too. Instead, the data showed no evidence of such movement, further confirming the disruptive effect of the Large Magellanic Cloud on this small galaxy. That also meant that the hydrogen gas associated with these young stars was also not revolving about the center of the Small Magellanic Cloud.
Satoya Nakano, the paper’s lead author, commented in the statement:
If the Small Magellanic Cloud is indeed not rotating, previous estimates of its mass and its interaction history with the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud might need to be revised. This could potentially change our understanding of the history of the three-body interaction between the two Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way.
This diagram illustrates how the Large Magellanic Cloud is gravitationally tearing the Small Magellanic Cloud. Each arrow represents a star that the Gaia observatory measured. The length of an arrow represents the star’s movement, and its color indicates the direction of that movement. Arrows in red represent stars being pulled toward the Large Magellanic Cloud, while those in blue show movement in the opposite direction. Image via Satoya Nakano/ Nagoya University.
Broader implications of this study
This new study will influence how scientists study the interactions of neighboring galaxies in the early universe. That’s because the Small Magellanic Cloud has, researchers think, properties of early primordial galaxies.
The Small Magellanic Cloud has low-metallicity stars. In other words, most elements found in those stars are hydrogen and a little helium. Moreover, there is a very low level of heavier elements in those stars, elements that could only have been created in previous stars.
The Small Magellanic Cloud also has a low mass and therefore does not have much gravitational force to hold itself tightly. Some scientists think that galaxies in the early universe might have had the same characteristics. (However, observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, revealing massive galaxies in the early universe, may be contradicting that theory.)
The researchers think that Small and Large Magellanic Cloud dynamics might be similar to how galaxies in the early universe interacted with each other billions of years ago. This in turn helps them understand how galaxies evolved over time.
Bottom line: Data from the Gaia observatory show that the Large Magellanic Cloud is ripping apart its smaller neighbor, the Small Magellanic Cloud. Both are small satellite galaxies to our Milky Way galaxy.
Alpha Centauri, the 3rd-brightest star in the sky, photographed in Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia. A faint swarm of stars to the right is the star cluster NGC 5617. Across the field, patches of dark interstellar dust clouds obscure stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Image via Alan Dyer/ AmazingSKY. Used with permission.
Alpha Centauri is the 3rd-brightest star in our night sky – technically a trio of stars – and the nearest star system to our sun. In fact, through a small telescope, the single star we see as Alpha Centauri resolves into a double star. This pair is just 4.37 light-years away from us. Also in orbit around them is Proxima Centauri, but it’s too faint to be visible to the unaided eye. In fact, at 4.25 light-years away, Proxima is the closest-known star to our solar system.
Science of the Alpha Centauri system
The two sunlike stars that make up Alpha Centauri are Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman. Rigil Kentaurus, also known as Alpha Centauri A, is a yellowish star, slightly more massive than the sun and about 1.5 times brighter. Toliman, or Alpha Centauri B, has an orangish hue; it’s a bit less massive and half as bright as the sun. Studies of their mass and spectroscopic features indicate that both these stars are about 5 billion years old, slightly older than our sun.
Alpha Centauri A and B are gravitationally bound together, orbiting about a common center of mass every 79.9 years at a relatively close proximity, varying between 11.2 to 35.6 astronomical units (that is, 11.2 to 35.6 times the distance between the Earth and our sun).
Meet Proxima Centauri
In comparison, Proxima Centauri is a bit of an outlier. And this dim reddish star, weighing in at just 12% of the sun’s mass, is currently about 13,000 astronomical units from Alpha Centauri A and B. Recent analysis of ground-and space-based data, published in 2017, has shown that Proxima is gravitationally bound to its bright companions, with about a 550,000-year-long orbital period.
Proxima Centauri belongs to a class of low mass stars with cooler surface temperatures, known as red dwarfs. Additionally. it’s also what’s known as a flare star, where it randomly displays sudden bursts of brightness due to strong magnetic activity.
The search for planets
So, in the past decade, astronomers have been searching for planets around the Alpha Centauri stars; they are, after all, the closest stars to us so the odds of detecting planets, if any existed, would be higher. So far, two planets have been found orbiting Proxima Centauri, one in 2016 and another in 2019. Then a paper published in February 2021 reported tantalizing evidence of a Neptune-sized planet around Alpha Centauri A, but so far, it has not been definitively confirmed.
Hubble Space Telescope image of Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to the sun. Image via Hubble/ ESA.A small red circle indicates the very faint Proxima Centauri, which is gravitationally bound to Alpha Centauri. The two bright stars are Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri. Image via Skatebiker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
How to see Alpha Centauri
Unluckily for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is located too far south on the sky’s dome to see. So most North Americans never see it; the cut-off latitude is about 29° north, and anyone north of that is out of luck. So in the U.S. that latitudinal line passes near Houston and Orlando, but even from the Florida Keys, the star never rises more than a few degrees above the southern horizon. Things are a little better in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, where it can get 10° or 11° high.
But for observers located far enough south in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri may be visible at roughly 1 a.m. (local DST) in early May. That is when the star is highest above the southern horizon. By early July, it reaches its highest point to the south at nightfall. Even so, from these vantage points, there are no good pointer stars to Alpha Centauri. For those south of 29° N. latitude, when the bright star Arcturus is high overhead, look to the extreme south for a glimpse of Alpha Centauri.
The southern constellation Centaurus. Image via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)/ International Astronomical Union/ SkyandTelescope.com.
Look for the Southern Cross
Observers in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere can find Alpha Centauri by first identifying the distinctive Southern Cross. A short line drawn through the crossbar (Delta and Beta Crucis) eastward first comes to Hadar (Beta Centauri), then Alpha Centauri. Meanwhile, in Australia and much of the Southern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is circumpolar, meaning that it never sets.
In this image taken at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, the Southern Cross is clearly visible, with the yellowish star, closest to the dome, marking the top of the cross. Drawing a line downward through the crossbar stars takes you to the bluish star Beta Centauri, and then to the yellowish Alpha Centauri. Image via ESO/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
The mythology of Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri has played a prominent role in the mythology of cultures across the Southern Hemisphere. For the Ngarrindjeri indigenous people of South Australia, Alpha and Beta Centauri were two sharks pursuing a sting ray represented by stars of the Southern Cross. Some Australian aboriginal cultures also associated stars with family relationships and marriage traditions; for instance, two stars of the Southern Cross were through to be the parents of Alpha Centauri.
Astronomy and navigation were vital in the lives of ancient seafaring Polynesians as they sailed between islands in the vast expanse of the South Pacific. These ancient mariners navigated using the stars, with cues from nature such as bird movements, waves, and wind direction. Alpha Centauri and nearby Beta Centauri, known as Kamailehope and Kamailemua, respectively, were important signposts used for orientation in the open ocean.
For ancient Incas, a llama graced the sky, traced out by stars and dark dust lanes in the Milky Way from Scorpius to the Southern Cross, with Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri representing its eyes.
A plaque at the Coricancha museum showing Inca constellations. Coricancha, located in Cusco, Peru, was perhaps the most important temple of the Inca empire. Image via Pi3.124 / Wikimedia Commons.
Ancient Egyptians revered Alpha Centauri, and may have built temples aligned to its rising point. In southern China, it was part of a star group known as the South Gate.
How it got its name
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the constellation Centaurus, named after the mythical half human, half horse creature. Also, it represented an uncharacteristically wise centaur that figured in the mythology of Heracles and Jason. Hercules accidentally wounded the centaur and placed it in the sky after death by Zeus. Alpha Centauri marked the right front hoof of the centaur, although little is known of its mythological significance, if any.
A depiction of the Centaur by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his atlas of constellations, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive uranographia. Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Alpha Centauri’s position is RA: 14h 39m 36s, Dec: -60° 50′ 02″
Bottom line: Alpha Centauri is two binary stars that are sunlike stars. Plus, there’s a third star that’s gravitationally bound to them named Proxima Centauri. In fact, it’s the closest star to our sun.
Alpha Centauri, the 3rd-brightest star in the sky, photographed in Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia. A faint swarm of stars to the right is the star cluster NGC 5617. Across the field, patches of dark interstellar dust clouds obscure stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Image via Alan Dyer/ AmazingSKY. Used with permission.
Alpha Centauri is the 3rd-brightest star in our night sky – technically a trio of stars – and the nearest star system to our sun. In fact, through a small telescope, the single star we see as Alpha Centauri resolves into a double star. This pair is just 4.37 light-years away from us. Also in orbit around them is Proxima Centauri, but it’s too faint to be visible to the unaided eye. In fact, at 4.25 light-years away, Proxima is the closest-known star to our solar system.
Science of the Alpha Centauri system
The two sunlike stars that make up Alpha Centauri are Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman. Rigil Kentaurus, also known as Alpha Centauri A, is a yellowish star, slightly more massive than the sun and about 1.5 times brighter. Toliman, or Alpha Centauri B, has an orangish hue; it’s a bit less massive and half as bright as the sun. Studies of their mass and spectroscopic features indicate that both these stars are about 5 billion years old, slightly older than our sun.
Alpha Centauri A and B are gravitationally bound together, orbiting about a common center of mass every 79.9 years at a relatively close proximity, varying between 11.2 to 35.6 astronomical units (that is, 11.2 to 35.6 times the distance between the Earth and our sun).
Meet Proxima Centauri
In comparison, Proxima Centauri is a bit of an outlier. And this dim reddish star, weighing in at just 12% of the sun’s mass, is currently about 13,000 astronomical units from Alpha Centauri A and B. Recent analysis of ground-and space-based data, published in 2017, has shown that Proxima is gravitationally bound to its bright companions, with about a 550,000-year-long orbital period.
Proxima Centauri belongs to a class of low mass stars with cooler surface temperatures, known as red dwarfs. Additionally. it’s also what’s known as a flare star, where it randomly displays sudden bursts of brightness due to strong magnetic activity.
The search for planets
So, in the past decade, astronomers have been searching for planets around the Alpha Centauri stars; they are, after all, the closest stars to us so the odds of detecting planets, if any existed, would be higher. So far, two planets have been found orbiting Proxima Centauri, one in 2016 and another in 2019. Then a paper published in February 2021 reported tantalizing evidence of a Neptune-sized planet around Alpha Centauri A, but so far, it has not been definitively confirmed.
Hubble Space Telescope image of Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to the sun. Image via Hubble/ ESA.A small red circle indicates the very faint Proxima Centauri, which is gravitationally bound to Alpha Centauri. The two bright stars are Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri. Image via Skatebiker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
How to see Alpha Centauri
Unluckily for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is located too far south on the sky’s dome to see. So most North Americans never see it; the cut-off latitude is about 29° north, and anyone north of that is out of luck. So in the U.S. that latitudinal line passes near Houston and Orlando, but even from the Florida Keys, the star never rises more than a few degrees above the southern horizon. Things are a little better in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, where it can get 10° or 11° high.
But for observers located far enough south in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri may be visible at roughly 1 a.m. (local DST) in early May. That is when the star is highest above the southern horizon. By early July, it reaches its highest point to the south at nightfall. Even so, from these vantage points, there are no good pointer stars to Alpha Centauri. For those south of 29° N. latitude, when the bright star Arcturus is high overhead, look to the extreme south for a glimpse of Alpha Centauri.
The southern constellation Centaurus. Image via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)/ International Astronomical Union/ SkyandTelescope.com.
Look for the Southern Cross
Observers in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere can find Alpha Centauri by first identifying the distinctive Southern Cross. A short line drawn through the crossbar (Delta and Beta Crucis) eastward first comes to Hadar (Beta Centauri), then Alpha Centauri. Meanwhile, in Australia and much of the Southern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is circumpolar, meaning that it never sets.
In this image taken at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, the Southern Cross is clearly visible, with the yellowish star, closest to the dome, marking the top of the cross. Drawing a line downward through the crossbar stars takes you to the bluish star Beta Centauri, and then to the yellowish Alpha Centauri. Image via ESO/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
The mythology of Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri has played a prominent role in the mythology of cultures across the Southern Hemisphere. For the Ngarrindjeri indigenous people of South Australia, Alpha and Beta Centauri were two sharks pursuing a sting ray represented by stars of the Southern Cross. Some Australian aboriginal cultures also associated stars with family relationships and marriage traditions; for instance, two stars of the Southern Cross were through to be the parents of Alpha Centauri.
Astronomy and navigation were vital in the lives of ancient seafaring Polynesians as they sailed between islands in the vast expanse of the South Pacific. These ancient mariners navigated using the stars, with cues from nature such as bird movements, waves, and wind direction. Alpha Centauri and nearby Beta Centauri, known as Kamailehope and Kamailemua, respectively, were important signposts used for orientation in the open ocean.
For ancient Incas, a llama graced the sky, traced out by stars and dark dust lanes in the Milky Way from Scorpius to the Southern Cross, with Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri representing its eyes.
A plaque at the Coricancha museum showing Inca constellations. Coricancha, located in Cusco, Peru, was perhaps the most important temple of the Inca empire. Image via Pi3.124 / Wikimedia Commons.
Ancient Egyptians revered Alpha Centauri, and may have built temples aligned to its rising point. In southern China, it was part of a star group known as the South Gate.
How it got its name
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the constellation Centaurus, named after the mythical half human, half horse creature. Also, it represented an uncharacteristically wise centaur that figured in the mythology of Heracles and Jason. Hercules accidentally wounded the centaur and placed it in the sky after death by Zeus. Alpha Centauri marked the right front hoof of the centaur, although little is known of its mythological significance, if any.
A depiction of the Centaur by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his atlas of constellations, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive uranographia. Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Alpha Centauri’s position is RA: 14h 39m 36s, Dec: -60° 50′ 02″
Bottom line: Alpha Centauri is two binary stars that are sunlike stars. Plus, there’s a third star that’s gravitationally bound to them named Proxima Centauri. In fact, it’s the closest star to our sun.
Check out the sungrazing comet that dove into our sun on April 12-13, 2025. Look in the bottom left of this image, inside the circle. The comet appears as a relatively bright and slow-moving dot, heading toward the sun, then suddenly fading away just before it enters the sun’s inner corona. Shortly afterwards, you’ll see a streak. That’s an energetic particle, probably a cosmic ray. See closeups of the comet and cosmic ray, below. Recent data suggest that over 5,000 sungrazing comets have been discovered, with most belonging to the Kreutz group, thought to be fragments from a larger comet that broke up long ago. Image via SDO and SOHO.
Closeup of the sungrazing comet, spied shortly before it appeared to disintegrate as it hit the sun’s inner corona. Note the head (the comet’s core) and the tail pointing away from the sun. Image via SDO and SOHO.Probably a cosmic ray. Not the comet! Note that the comet appears in multiple frames of the animation above, more than just 1 or 2. Cosmic rays appear brighter when they are farther away from the sun. They only appear in 1 or at most 2 frames of these sorts of images from SOHO. Their short-lived appearance is how scientists tell the difference between cosmic rays and sungrazing comets. And why having multiple images is important! Image via SDO and SOHO.
Bottom line: The sungrazing comet appears as a relatively bright and slow-moving dot, heading toward the sun, then suddenly fading away.
Check out the sungrazing comet that dove into our sun on April 12-13, 2025. Look in the bottom left of this image, inside the circle. The comet appears as a relatively bright and slow-moving dot, heading toward the sun, then suddenly fading away just before it enters the sun’s inner corona. Shortly afterwards, you’ll see a streak. That’s an energetic particle, probably a cosmic ray. See closeups of the comet and cosmic ray, below. Recent data suggest that over 5,000 sungrazing comets have been discovered, with most belonging to the Kreutz group, thought to be fragments from a larger comet that broke up long ago. Image via SDO and SOHO.
Closeup of the sungrazing comet, spied shortly before it appeared to disintegrate as it hit the sun’s inner corona. Note the head (the comet’s core) and the tail pointing away from the sun. Image via SDO and SOHO.Probably a cosmic ray. Not the comet! Note that the comet appears in multiple frames of the animation above, more than just 1 or 2. Cosmic rays appear brighter when they are farther away from the sun. They only appear in 1 or at most 2 frames of these sorts of images from SOHO. Their short-lived appearance is how scientists tell the difference between cosmic rays and sungrazing comets. And why having multiple images is important! Image via SDO and SOHO.
Bottom line: The sungrazing comet appears as a relatively bright and slow-moving dot, heading toward the sun, then suddenly fading away.
Venus passed between us and the sun on March 23. At that time, it moved from the evening sky to the morning sky. Now Venus is shining very brightly in the east before sunrise every morning. It’ll be at another greatest brilliancy on April 27, 2025, lying not far from 2 faint-and-hard-to-see planets Saturn and Mercury. Over the coming weeks, Venus will also be climbing farther from the eastern horizon before sunrise. It’ll reach its greatest distance from the sun on May 31-June 1, 2025. Chart via EarthSky.
Venus brightest? Not yet but almost
Venus is blazing in the morning sky now. You’ll see it easily in the east before sunrise. It lives up to its reputation of outshining all other objects in our sky, except the sun and moon. UFO reports are probably increasing! But you’ll know better. Venus recently passed between us and the sun. So it’s now nearing greatest brilliancy, when we’ll see it at its brightest in our sky for all of 2025. Venus will reach peak brilliancy on April 27. But start watching now! You can’t miss it.
The planets Saturn and Mercury will lie nearby, but lower on the horizon and they might be challenging to spot in the bright morning twilight.
Look for Venus in the sunrise direction on any clear morning now. It’s visible not just in a dark sky, but in bright morning twilight as well.
Need an exact measure? At greatest brilliancy on April 27, 2025, Venus will shine at magnitude -4.7. That’s super bright! It’ll reach this brightness at 17 UTC on April 27.
After late April 2025, Venus won’t appear this bright to us again in the morning sky until November 2026.
When does it happen?
Venus was at greatest brilliancy in the evening sky on February 14. Then, Venus sank toward the sunset as it raced toward its sweep between the Earth and sun – its inferior conjunction – on March 23, 2025.
Afterwards, this bright planet quickly emerged into the morning sky. Earth and Venus are constantly moving in their orbits around the sun. Venus moves faster, and its orbit is smaller than Earth’s orbit. So Venus “laps” Earth every so often. Venus comes to inferior conjunction about every 19.5 months, or roughly 584 days. When it does this, it always moved from our evening to our morning sky. And there are always two times of greatest brilliancy surrounding inferior conjunction, one in the evening, followed by one in the morning.
Venus’ greatest brilliancy always happens about a month before – and after – Venus reaches inferior conjunction. Its next inferior conjunction – when it’ll move to the morning sky – is October 2026.
Earth and Venus orbit the sun counterclockwise as seen from the north side of the solar system. Venus reaches its greatest eastern elongation in the evening sky about 72 days before inferior conjunction and its greatest western elongation in the morning sky about 72 days after inferior conjunction. Greatest illuminated extent for Venus comes midway between a greatest elongation and an inferior conjunction. Adapted from an image by Wmheric/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Why does it happen?
Greatest brilliancy for Venus is a combination of two factors: illumination and disk size. Venus was at superior conjunction – on the opposite side of the sun from Earth – on June 4, 2024. At superior conjunction, when Venus is on the far side of the sun from us, it’s at full phase and its disk size is always small. It emerged in the evening twilight in late July 2024. Then its disk size increased as its phase decreased and it reached its greatest brilliancy in the evening sky on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2025.
Now at greatest brilliancy in the morning sky, we’re not seeing a fully illuminated Venus. Instead, as seen through telescopes – as Venus races away from Earth – its phase has been increasing, like a waxing crescent moon. Meanwhile, again as seen through telescopes, the disk size of Venus has been decreasing as the planet races ahead of Earth in orbit around the sun.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | P Govardhana Siddartha of India submitted this composite of Venus taken over 4 month. Venus was recorded from December 2024 to March 2025 as it raced toward inferior conjunction in March. You can see how the size of Venus increased and the phase decreased during that time. Thank you, P Govardhana!
It’s a combination of phase and size
Greatest illuminated extent. It’s only when we see Venus as a crescent that this world comes close enough to us to exhibit its greatest illuminated extent, at which time its daytime side covers the greatest area of sky. And that means that Venus is brighter around now than at any other time during its approximate 7-month reign in the morning sky.
Disk size. Remember, again as seen through a telescope, the disk of Venus decreases after inferior conjunction. In July, 2024, Venus was around a 10-arcsecond gibbous disk through telescopes. At its greatest brilliancy in the February evening sky, Venus was around a 40-arcsecond crescent disk. Now at its greatest brilliancy in the morning sky on April 27, its disk size will be 40.7-arcseconds.
So greatest brilliancy for Venus is a combination of maximum phase and disk size. The two combine to give us a bright planet Venus.
Then, as it races away from us, the phase continues to increase … but the disk size decreases. So Venus will start to appear a smidgeon fainter to us following April 27, and fainter still (but still very bright!) until it slips away in in the sun’s glare in November 2025.
The phases of Venus – and its locations at inferior and superior conjunction – as viewed from Earth. Adapted from an image by NASA/ Chmee2/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Venus charts for 2025, from Guy Ottewell
Venus’s greatest morning elongation in 2025 from the Northern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Dots show the actual positions of Venus every day. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2025 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.Venus’s greatest morning elongation in 2025 from the Southern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Dots show the actual positions of Venus every day. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2025 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.
Venus photos from our community
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman of Arizona, submitted thisi photo on February 17, 2025, and wrote: “Venus at -4.87 magnitude and 43.1 arcseconds diameter. This is about the maximum brightness of Venus for 2025 evening planet.” Thank you, Eliot!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd caught Venus with an iPhone, over the desert west of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on September 14, 2023. It was super bright! It’s easy to see, even from cities.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Vedant Pandey wrote: “I am Vedant Pandey, a 17-year-old amateur astrophotographer from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. I photographed Venus since it appeared in the evening sky in February 2023. And here are the phases of Venus, from waxing gibbous in February to its crescent phase in August, as seen by my telescope.” Wow! Thank you, Vedant!
More Venus images
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Roberto Ortu of Cabras, Sardinia, Italy, captured these images of Venus and wrote: “This is a mosaic with the best photos of the planet that I got from May 23, 2023, until August 8, 2023. The images show its phases, very similar to those of the moon, and the increase in its apparent diameter caused by the approach to the Earth.” Thank you, Roberto!View larger. | This composite image shows how Venus changes in size and phases as it gets closer to Earth. Image via Tom and Jane Wildoner/ Dark Side Observatory. Used with permission.This image of Venus was captured during daylight when Venus was 6% illuminated. Image via Tom and Jane Wildoner/ Dark Side Observatory. Used with permission.
Bottom line: Venus will be brightest in the morning sky around April 27, 2025. After that, Venus will next be at its brightest again – this time in the evening sky – in September 2026.
Venus passed between us and the sun on March 23. At that time, it moved from the evening sky to the morning sky. Now Venus is shining very brightly in the east before sunrise every morning. It’ll be at another greatest brilliancy on April 27, 2025, lying not far from 2 faint-and-hard-to-see planets Saturn and Mercury. Over the coming weeks, Venus will also be climbing farther from the eastern horizon before sunrise. It’ll reach its greatest distance from the sun on May 31-June 1, 2025. Chart via EarthSky.
Venus brightest? Not yet but almost
Venus is blazing in the morning sky now. You’ll see it easily in the east before sunrise. It lives up to its reputation of outshining all other objects in our sky, except the sun and moon. UFO reports are probably increasing! But you’ll know better. Venus recently passed between us and the sun. So it’s now nearing greatest brilliancy, when we’ll see it at its brightest in our sky for all of 2025. Venus will reach peak brilliancy on April 27. But start watching now! You can’t miss it.
The planets Saturn and Mercury will lie nearby, but lower on the horizon and they might be challenging to spot in the bright morning twilight.
Look for Venus in the sunrise direction on any clear morning now. It’s visible not just in a dark sky, but in bright morning twilight as well.
Need an exact measure? At greatest brilliancy on April 27, 2025, Venus will shine at magnitude -4.7. That’s super bright! It’ll reach this brightness at 17 UTC on April 27.
After late April 2025, Venus won’t appear this bright to us again in the morning sky until November 2026.
When does it happen?
Venus was at greatest brilliancy in the evening sky on February 14. Then, Venus sank toward the sunset as it raced toward its sweep between the Earth and sun – its inferior conjunction – on March 23, 2025.
Afterwards, this bright planet quickly emerged into the morning sky. Earth and Venus are constantly moving in their orbits around the sun. Venus moves faster, and its orbit is smaller than Earth’s orbit. So Venus “laps” Earth every so often. Venus comes to inferior conjunction about every 19.5 months, or roughly 584 days. When it does this, it always moved from our evening to our morning sky. And there are always two times of greatest brilliancy surrounding inferior conjunction, one in the evening, followed by one in the morning.
Venus’ greatest brilliancy always happens about a month before – and after – Venus reaches inferior conjunction. Its next inferior conjunction – when it’ll move to the morning sky – is October 2026.
Earth and Venus orbit the sun counterclockwise as seen from the north side of the solar system. Venus reaches its greatest eastern elongation in the evening sky about 72 days before inferior conjunction and its greatest western elongation in the morning sky about 72 days after inferior conjunction. Greatest illuminated extent for Venus comes midway between a greatest elongation and an inferior conjunction. Adapted from an image by Wmheric/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Why does it happen?
Greatest brilliancy for Venus is a combination of two factors: illumination and disk size. Venus was at superior conjunction – on the opposite side of the sun from Earth – on June 4, 2024. At superior conjunction, when Venus is on the far side of the sun from us, it’s at full phase and its disk size is always small. It emerged in the evening twilight in late July 2024. Then its disk size increased as its phase decreased and it reached its greatest brilliancy in the evening sky on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2025.
Now at greatest brilliancy in the morning sky, we’re not seeing a fully illuminated Venus. Instead, as seen through telescopes – as Venus races away from Earth – its phase has been increasing, like a waxing crescent moon. Meanwhile, again as seen through telescopes, the disk size of Venus has been decreasing as the planet races ahead of Earth in orbit around the sun.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | P Govardhana Siddartha of India submitted this composite of Venus taken over 4 month. Venus was recorded from December 2024 to March 2025 as it raced toward inferior conjunction in March. You can see how the size of Venus increased and the phase decreased during that time. Thank you, P Govardhana!
It’s a combination of phase and size
Greatest illuminated extent. It’s only when we see Venus as a crescent that this world comes close enough to us to exhibit its greatest illuminated extent, at which time its daytime side covers the greatest area of sky. And that means that Venus is brighter around now than at any other time during its approximate 7-month reign in the morning sky.
Disk size. Remember, again as seen through a telescope, the disk of Venus decreases after inferior conjunction. In July, 2024, Venus was around a 10-arcsecond gibbous disk through telescopes. At its greatest brilliancy in the February evening sky, Venus was around a 40-arcsecond crescent disk. Now at its greatest brilliancy in the morning sky on April 27, its disk size will be 40.7-arcseconds.
So greatest brilliancy for Venus is a combination of maximum phase and disk size. The two combine to give us a bright planet Venus.
Then, as it races away from us, the phase continues to increase … but the disk size decreases. So Venus will start to appear a smidgeon fainter to us following April 27, and fainter still (but still very bright!) until it slips away in in the sun’s glare in November 2025.
The phases of Venus – and its locations at inferior and superior conjunction – as viewed from Earth. Adapted from an image by NASA/ Chmee2/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Venus charts for 2025, from Guy Ottewell
Venus’s greatest morning elongation in 2025 from the Northern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Dots show the actual positions of Venus every day. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2025 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.Venus’s greatest morning elongation in 2025 from the Southern Hemisphere as viewed through a powerful telescope. The planet images are at the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month. Dots show the actual positions of Venus every day. Chart via Guy Ottewell’s 2025 Astronomical Calendar. Used with permission.
Venus photos from our community
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eliot Herman of Arizona, submitted thisi photo on February 17, 2025, and wrote: “Venus at -4.87 magnitude and 43.1 arcseconds diameter. This is about the maximum brightness of Venus for 2025 evening planet.” Thank you, Eliot!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd caught Venus with an iPhone, over the desert west of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on September 14, 2023. It was super bright! It’s easy to see, even from cities.View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Vedant Pandey wrote: “I am Vedant Pandey, a 17-year-old amateur astrophotographer from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. I photographed Venus since it appeared in the evening sky in February 2023. And here are the phases of Venus, from waxing gibbous in February to its crescent phase in August, as seen by my telescope.” Wow! Thank you, Vedant!
More Venus images
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Roberto Ortu of Cabras, Sardinia, Italy, captured these images of Venus and wrote: “This is a mosaic with the best photos of the planet that I got from May 23, 2023, until August 8, 2023. The images show its phases, very similar to those of the moon, and the increase in its apparent diameter caused by the approach to the Earth.” Thank you, Roberto!View larger. | This composite image shows how Venus changes in size and phases as it gets closer to Earth. Image via Tom and Jane Wildoner/ Dark Side Observatory. Used with permission.This image of Venus was captured during daylight when Venus was 6% illuminated. Image via Tom and Jane Wildoner/ Dark Side Observatory. Used with permission.
Bottom line: Venus will be brightest in the morning sky around April 27, 2025. After that, Venus will next be at its brightest again – this time in the evening sky – in September 2026.
