Question 1: What’s the brightest planet in our sky?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Amheric Hall in Reno, Nevada, captured the moon and a bright planet in 2024. Thanks, Amheric! This planet is brighter than all other planets in Earth’s sky. In fact, it’s so bright you can sometimes spot it in broad daylight. Which planet is it?
Question 2: Do you know the North Star’s proper name?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeff Grubbs in Elgin, Arizona, took a long-exposure photo of the northern sky. It shows all the stars circling around the North Star (or Pole Star). Thanks, Jeff! This star has a proper name, recognized by the International Astronomical Union. What is it?
Question 6: Is the early evening crescent moon waxing or waning?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Roberto Ortu in Marina di Torregrande, Sardinia, Italy, captured the crescent moon and Venus on May 18, 2026. Thanks, Roberto! When you see a crescent moon after sunset in the early evening sky, is it waxing or waning?
Question 7: What is this mysterious cone of light?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Osama Fathi in the Western Desert of Egypt captured this mysterious pyramid of light on an autumn morning, extending up from the eastern horizon before dawn. Thanks, Osama! What’s this light called? Hint: It’s sunlight reflecting off dust grains that move in the plane of the solar system. The dust might originate on Mars!
Question 8: Where do most meteors come from?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Cox from Deep River, Ontario, Canada, shared this composite image of Perseid meteors and the aurora. Thanks, David! We see meteors when tiny bits of debris in space hit Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, emitting light. What is the source of most of the debris that create meteor showers?
Question 1: What’s the brightest planet in our sky?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Amheric Hall in Reno, Nevada, captured the moon and a bright planet in 2024. Thanks, Amheric! This planet is brighter than all other planets in Earth’s sky. In fact, it’s so bright you can sometimes spot it in broad daylight. Which planet is it?
Question 2: Do you know the North Star’s proper name?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeff Grubbs in Elgin, Arizona, took a long-exposure photo of the northern sky. It shows all the stars circling around the North Star (or Pole Star). Thanks, Jeff! This star has a proper name, recognized by the International Astronomical Union. What is it?
Question 6: Is the early evening crescent moon waxing or waning?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Roberto Ortu in Marina di Torregrande, Sardinia, Italy, captured the crescent moon and Venus on May 18, 2026. Thanks, Roberto! When you see a crescent moon after sunset in the early evening sky, is it waxing or waning?
Question 7: What is this mysterious cone of light?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Osama Fathi in the Western Desert of Egypt captured this mysterious pyramid of light on an autumn morning, extending up from the eastern horizon before dawn. Thanks, Osama! What’s this light called? Hint: It’s sunlight reflecting off dust grains that move in the plane of the solar system. The dust might originate on Mars!
Question 8: Where do most meteors come from?
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Cox from Deep River, Ontario, Canada, shared this composite image of Perseid meteors and the aurora. Thanks, David! We see meteors when tiny bits of debris in space hit Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, emitting light. What is the source of most of the debris that create meteor showers?
At nightfall tonight, or any June evening, look in a general southward direction for Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, Spica appears overhead or high in the north. Spica is your jumping off point to three faint constellations: Corvus the Crow, Crater the Cup and Hydra the Water Snake.
Use the Big Dipper to find Spica
Check out the two charts below. If you’re familiar with the Big Dipper, use it to star-hop to Spica, as shown in the first chart.
Then you can use Spica to find the constellation Corvus. And alternatively, use Corvus to confirm that you’ve found Spica, as shown in the second chart.
Use the Big Dipper to locate the stars Arcturus and Spica for months to come.Here’s another way to verify that you’re looking at Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.
Okay … got Spica? Now, as nightfall deepens into later evening, watch for a number of fainter stars to become visible. That’s when the Crow, Cup and Water Snake will come into view.
Crow, Cup and Water Snake in skylore
In Greek mythology, Apollo sent the crow to fetch a cup of water. But the crow, Corvus, got distracted eating figs. It was only after much delay that he finally remembered his mission. The crow knew Apollo would be angry, so he plucked a snake from the water and concocted a story about how it had attacked and delayed him.
Apollo was not fooled and angrily flung the Crow, Cup and Snake into the sky, placing the Crow and Cup on the Snake’s back. Then the god ordered Hydra to never let the Crow drink from the Cup. As a further punishment, he ordered that the Crow could never sing again, only screech and caw.
None of these constellations have any bright stars, but Hydra holds the distinction of being the longest constellation in the heavens.
At nightfall tonight, or any June evening, look in a general southward direction for Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo the Maiden. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, Spica appears overhead or high in the north. Spica is your jumping off point to three faint constellations: Corvus the Crow, Crater the Cup and Hydra the Water Snake.
Use the Big Dipper to find Spica
Check out the two charts below. If you’re familiar with the Big Dipper, use it to star-hop to Spica, as shown in the first chart.
Then you can use Spica to find the constellation Corvus. And alternatively, use Corvus to confirm that you’ve found Spica, as shown in the second chart.
Use the Big Dipper to locate the stars Arcturus and Spica for months to come.Here’s another way to verify that you’re looking at Spica, the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.
Okay … got Spica? Now, as nightfall deepens into later evening, watch for a number of fainter stars to become visible. That’s when the Crow, Cup and Water Snake will come into view.
Crow, Cup and Water Snake in skylore
In Greek mythology, Apollo sent the crow to fetch a cup of water. But the crow, Corvus, got distracted eating figs. It was only after much delay that he finally remembered his mission. The crow knew Apollo would be angry, so he plucked a snake from the water and concocted a story about how it had attacked and delayed him.
Apollo was not fooled and angrily flung the Crow, Cup and Snake into the sky, placing the Crow and Cup on the Snake’s back. Then the god ordered Hydra to never let the Crow drink from the Cup. As a further punishment, he ordered that the Crow could never sing again, only screech and caw.
None of these constellations have any bright stars, but Hydra holds the distinction of being the longest constellation in the heavens.
On June 14, 2026, Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii spawned a volnado, or a volcanic-generated tornado. Video via USGS.
On June 14, 2026, Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii experienced the 49th episode of its most recent eruptive period, which began on December 23, 2024. The 49th episode was short-lived – only lasting for seven hours – but it produced a volnado, or a volcanic-generated tornado!
This vortex was technically a landspout, or a tornado that is not from a supercell thunderstorm. They form from the ground up.
Volnadoes are made of ash and dust from the intense heat from lava fountains interacting with cooler air, lifting volcanic particles into a spinning column. And they’re visible because of the dark ash and steam rising from the powerful lava jets.
See another angle of the volnado from one of the three USGS live cams that stream activity at Kilauea below.
This angle of the eruption shows the volnado a bit more obscured in ash and steam. On June 14, 2026, Kilauea had its 49th episode in its most recent series of eruptions on the Big Island of Hawaii. Video via USGS.
Watch the Kilauea live cam
Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. Is it erupting again? Check the live cam below to see for yourself. The 49th eruption lasted just seven hours. But the next eruptive episode could start at any time.
A live came of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.
A volnado from November
In November, Kilauea produced another volnado, or a tornado-like whirlwind. Volnadoes are somewhere between a dust devil and fire tornado. See it in the video below.
On June 14, 2026, Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii spawned a volnado, or a volcanic-generated tornado. Video via USGS.
On June 14, 2026, Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii experienced the 49th episode of its most recent eruptive period, which began on December 23, 2024. The 49th episode was short-lived – only lasting for seven hours – but it produced a volnado, or a volcanic-generated tornado!
This vortex was technically a landspout, or a tornado that is not from a supercell thunderstorm. They form from the ground up.
Volnadoes are made of ash and dust from the intense heat from lava fountains interacting with cooler air, lifting volcanic particles into a spinning column. And they’re visible because of the dark ash and steam rising from the powerful lava jets.
See another angle of the volnado from one of the three USGS live cams that stream activity at Kilauea below.
This angle of the eruption shows the volnado a bit more obscured in ash and steam. On June 14, 2026, Kilauea had its 49th episode in its most recent series of eruptions on the Big Island of Hawaii. Video via USGS.
Watch the Kilauea live cam
Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth. Is it erupting again? Check the live cam below to see for yourself. The 49th eruption lasted just seven hours. But the next eruptive episode could start at any time.
A live came of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.
A volnado from November
In November, Kilauea produced another volnado, or a tornado-like whirlwind. Volnadoes are somewhere between a dust devil and fire tornado. See it in the video below.
Rosalind Franklin rover to search for life on Mars
There’ve been a total of six robot rovers creeping across the surface of the world next door, Mars. Only two – Curiosity and Perseverance – are active today. But, in 2028, the Rosalind Franklin rover will join them. It’ll ride to Mars on the European Space Agency’s ExoMars mission. Its goal is specifically to search for signs of microbial life. And its target is the Oxia Planum region on Mars.
Why this region? It’s known to be rich in clay minerals, which require water to form and might preserve traces of ancient life. Now, researchers in France have published a new study that makes this region even more interesting. They said on June 4, 2026, that the clay deposits here are even more extensive than previously thought.
The findings bolster the chances that Rosalind Franklin might at last find traces of life on Mars.
The researchers published their peer-reviewed paper on April 19, 2026 (with a version of record on June 2, 2026) in the journal Icarus.
New research reveals vast clay deposits at our Rosalind Franklin rover landing site, pointing to a once water-rich Mars and strengthening the search for signs of past life.Read more: http://www.esa.int/Science_Expl…@science.esa.int @exploration.esa.int
The new study shows that Oxia Planum’s rich clay deposits aren’t constrained to that region.
They also reach into Mawrth Vallis, which is 185 miles (300 km) away. Overall, the deposits stretch about 373 miles (600 km) and rise over 0.6 miles (1 km) in altitude.
This video shows the geological map of Oxia Planum on Mars. It identifies 15 different geological features in the region. Video via Animation: P. FAwdon, The Open University. Images: CaSSIS/ HiRISE/ HRSC/ ESA.View larger. | Orbital view of the Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis regions on Mars. ESA’s new Rosalind Franklin rover will explore here. A new study suggests more clays here than we knew. That’s good news for scientists searching for Mars life. Image via NASA/ Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera/ JPL-Caltech/ ESA.
Its search site is also very old
The clays in Oxia Planum are the older than those in Mawrth Vallis. They appear to be about 4 billion years old, nearly as old as Mars itself (4.5 billion years). So the clays in Mawrth Vallis came later in Mars’ history.
And, since Oxia Planum’s clay deposits are extremely ancient, they might have the best chances of preserving ancient life on Mars, if it existed. Lead author Inés Torres Auré at the University of Lyon in France said:
We now have a new timeline: Oxia Planum’s clays formed first, about 4 billion years ago, predating those at Mawrth Vallis. By landing at Oxia Planum, we’ll uncover a large-scale process that shaped ancient clays across Mars.
Evidence for an ancient ocean?
The abundance of clays means there was a lot of water in Oxia Planum long ago. This region might have been part of Mars’ northern ocean, for which there has been growing evidence in recent years. Jorge Vago, ExoMars project scientist, said:
Because the area is so large, we are not talking about a localized occurrence, but rather a regional or global process that would have required immense amounts of water.
We are targeting the oldest deposits in the sequence, which makes the potential implications for the geology and early climate of Mars very relevant for the Rosalind Franklin mission in its search for life.
Or … another explanation?
Or the clays might have formed in groundwater that once flooded the region. Which scenario is most likely? The Rosalind Franklin rover should be able to figure that out.
The rover will be able to determine the ground truth in relation to findings made by the various spacecraft in orbit around Mars. Elliot Sefton-Nash, ExoMars deputy project scientist, said:
We will use the instruments on board to ground truth the discoveries made from orbit, learn about the ancient environment in which they formed, and if they preserve any evidence of Martian life.
Warmth and nutrients on an early Martian seabed could have provided habitats for early life.
Inés added:
To prepare for the rover’s arrival, we are working to map the full extent of these deposits, identify any additional pauses in their formation, and quantify their duration. This will provide deeper insights into Mars’s early history before the rover starts working on the surface.
Inès Torres Auré at the University of Lyon in France led the new study about clays on Mars. Image via GitHub.
The rover will track environmental change
Not only do the data in the new study record the more extensive clay deposits, they also document environmental change over time. The OMEGA instrument on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter and the CRISM instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter studied the mineralogy of the region. They found that the mineral layers in both Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis were quite similar.
And at the boundary between the two main clay units (bodies), scientists identified a paleosurface. That’s the remnant of an ancient, exposed surface that was heavily cratered and later covered by younger clay deposits. It also marks where sedimentation paused and then shifted in water chemistry and mineralogy across both sites. Inés noted:
We have identified a pause in deposition, which is quite puzzling because it implies a period of minimal surface activity (except for meteorite bombardment), followed by a shift in water chemistry and mineralogy in both Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis.
Overall, these findings support earlier ones suggesting that Mars experienced an intermittently wet climate.
Last year, scientists announced that finding evidence of past life might be easier than first anticipated. Rockfalls and ancient floods could have brought organic materials close to the landing site, where the rover can easily sample them. That’s an exciting possibility!
In 2019, ESA named the rover for scientist Rosalind Franklin. She was one of the great seekers of the mysterious structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, more commonly known by its abbreviation DNA. Her work helped reveal DNA’s famous double helix structure in the early 1950s.
Bottom line: The Rosalind Franklin rover will land on Mars in 2028. It’ll explore Oxia Planum, a region rich in clays. New evidence suggests the clays are even more extensive than thought. And clays are a good place to search for life.
Rosalind Franklin rover to search for life on Mars
There’ve been a total of six robot rovers creeping across the surface of the world next door, Mars. Only two – Curiosity and Perseverance – are active today. But, in 2028, the Rosalind Franklin rover will join them. It’ll ride to Mars on the European Space Agency’s ExoMars mission. Its goal is specifically to search for signs of microbial life. And its target is the Oxia Planum region on Mars.
Why this region? It’s known to be rich in clay minerals, which require water to form and might preserve traces of ancient life. Now, researchers in France have published a new study that makes this region even more interesting. They said on June 4, 2026, that the clay deposits here are even more extensive than previously thought.
The findings bolster the chances that Rosalind Franklin might at last find traces of life on Mars.
The researchers published their peer-reviewed paper on April 19, 2026 (with a version of record on June 2, 2026) in the journal Icarus.
New research reveals vast clay deposits at our Rosalind Franklin rover landing site, pointing to a once water-rich Mars and strengthening the search for signs of past life.Read more: http://www.esa.int/Science_Expl…@science.esa.int @exploration.esa.int
The new study shows that Oxia Planum’s rich clay deposits aren’t constrained to that region.
They also reach into Mawrth Vallis, which is 185 miles (300 km) away. Overall, the deposits stretch about 373 miles (600 km) and rise over 0.6 miles (1 km) in altitude.
This video shows the geological map of Oxia Planum on Mars. It identifies 15 different geological features in the region. Video via Animation: P. FAwdon, The Open University. Images: CaSSIS/ HiRISE/ HRSC/ ESA.View larger. | Orbital view of the Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis regions on Mars. ESA’s new Rosalind Franklin rover will explore here. A new study suggests more clays here than we knew. That’s good news for scientists searching for Mars life. Image via NASA/ Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera/ JPL-Caltech/ ESA.
Its search site is also very old
The clays in Oxia Planum are the older than those in Mawrth Vallis. They appear to be about 4 billion years old, nearly as old as Mars itself (4.5 billion years). So the clays in Mawrth Vallis came later in Mars’ history.
And, since Oxia Planum’s clay deposits are extremely ancient, they might have the best chances of preserving ancient life on Mars, if it existed. Lead author Inés Torres Auré at the University of Lyon in France said:
We now have a new timeline: Oxia Planum’s clays formed first, about 4 billion years ago, predating those at Mawrth Vallis. By landing at Oxia Planum, we’ll uncover a large-scale process that shaped ancient clays across Mars.
Evidence for an ancient ocean?
The abundance of clays means there was a lot of water in Oxia Planum long ago. This region might have been part of Mars’ northern ocean, for which there has been growing evidence in recent years. Jorge Vago, ExoMars project scientist, said:
Because the area is so large, we are not talking about a localized occurrence, but rather a regional or global process that would have required immense amounts of water.
We are targeting the oldest deposits in the sequence, which makes the potential implications for the geology and early climate of Mars very relevant for the Rosalind Franklin mission in its search for life.
Or … another explanation?
Or the clays might have formed in groundwater that once flooded the region. Which scenario is most likely? The Rosalind Franklin rover should be able to figure that out.
The rover will be able to determine the ground truth in relation to findings made by the various spacecraft in orbit around Mars. Elliot Sefton-Nash, ExoMars deputy project scientist, said:
We will use the instruments on board to ground truth the discoveries made from orbit, learn about the ancient environment in which they formed, and if they preserve any evidence of Martian life.
Warmth and nutrients on an early Martian seabed could have provided habitats for early life.
Inés added:
To prepare for the rover’s arrival, we are working to map the full extent of these deposits, identify any additional pauses in their formation, and quantify their duration. This will provide deeper insights into Mars’s early history before the rover starts working on the surface.
Inès Torres Auré at the University of Lyon in France led the new study about clays on Mars. Image via GitHub.
The rover will track environmental change
Not only do the data in the new study record the more extensive clay deposits, they also document environmental change over time. The OMEGA instrument on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter and the CRISM instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter studied the mineralogy of the region. They found that the mineral layers in both Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis were quite similar.
And at the boundary between the two main clay units (bodies), scientists identified a paleosurface. That’s the remnant of an ancient, exposed surface that was heavily cratered and later covered by younger clay deposits. It also marks where sedimentation paused and then shifted in water chemistry and mineralogy across both sites. Inés noted:
We have identified a pause in deposition, which is quite puzzling because it implies a period of minimal surface activity (except for meteorite bombardment), followed by a shift in water chemistry and mineralogy in both Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis.
Overall, these findings support earlier ones suggesting that Mars experienced an intermittently wet climate.
Last year, scientists announced that finding evidence of past life might be easier than first anticipated. Rockfalls and ancient floods could have brought organic materials close to the landing site, where the rover can easily sample them. That’s an exciting possibility!
In 2019, ESA named the rover for scientist Rosalind Franklin. She was one of the great seekers of the mysterious structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, more commonly known by its abbreviation DNA. Her work helped reveal DNA’s famous double helix structure in the early 1950s.
Bottom line: The Rosalind Franklin rover will land on Mars in 2028. It’ll explore Oxia Planum, a region rich in clays. New evidence suggests the clays are even more extensive than thought. And clays are a good place to search for life.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ray Tolomeo wrote: “Looking to the northwest, the International Space Station flies over Lake Brittle near Warrenton, Virginia, on the evening of May 8, 2026. This is a composite of 7 30-second exposures.” Thank you, Ray!
See the International Space Station before it’s gone!
The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting our planet since 1998. And it’s scheduled to be de-orbited – and safely brought down over the Pacific Ocean – as early as 2031. So now is the time to see it in your sky! From about 95% of the inhabited locations on Earth, ISS makes periodic passes across the sky. It looks like a bright star, moving quickly from horizon to horizon.
But how do you know when to see the ISS pass overhead from your location?
NASA has a great tool to help. Sign up to the Spot the Station program and you’ll receive alerts to let you know when the ISS will be visible from your location, wherever you are in the world. Plus, there’s a map-based feature to track when to look for the station as it flies over you.
Typically, alerts are sent out a few times each month when the station’s orbit is near your location. You’ll get notices only when the ISS will be clearly visible from your location for at least a couple of minutes.
One note: ISS is not visible north or south of about the 51st parallel. Specifically, it’s not visible 51.6 degrees north or south.
If you’re close to that latitude, say, just below it, you might want to visit the Spot the Station website directly to see upcoming sighting opportunities. This is because notifications in this region will be rare.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Filippo Galati in Sampieri, Sicily, Italy, shared this image. Filippo wrote: “On May 16, 2022 … I photographed a particularly favorable passage of the International Space Station over the skies of Sicily. It is framed by the ancient furnace Penna and highlighted in the sky by the constellation Ursa Major.” Thank you, Filippo!
How to spot the International Space Station
Spot the Station will tell you which direction to look for the ISS in your night sky. If you’re not sure about your directions, just note where the sun rises or sets from your observing spot. You know it rises generally east and sets generally west. Knowing east and west can anchor you, and help you find the direction where the station will appear (for example, in the southeast or northwest).
Via NASA’s service, the height at which the station will appear in your sky is given in degrees. And remember, 90 degrees is directly over your head. So any number less than 90 degrees means the station will appear somewhere between the horizon and the overhead mark.
Want a way to measure degrees on the sky’s dome? Make a fist, and stretch out your arm: your fist at arm’s length is equal to about 10 degrees. Then, just use the appropriate number of fist-lengths to find the location marker. For example, four fist-lengths from the horizon would be about 40 degrees.
And don’t worry, the station is bright! It’s hard to miss if you’re looking in the correct direction.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mohammad Adeel in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, captured this image on June 2, 2023. Mohammad wrote: “It had been a while since ISS showed up in the sky, and tonight I had the chance to capture it with some interesting conjunctions. Planet Venus being at greatest western elongation and shining brightly was lining up with the twins (Pollux and Castor) in a straight line, while planet Mars was almost over the Beehive Cluster. And having ISS in the frame was too much of a busy sky not to be captured.” Thank you, Mohammad!
Over two decades of human occupation
The first module of the ISS was launched into space in 1998. The initial construction of the station took about two years to complete. Human occupation of the station began on November 2, 2000. And since that time, ISS has been continuously occupied.
ISS orbits at approximately 220 miles (350 km) above the Earth. It travels at an average speed of 17,227 miles per hour (27,724 km/h). It makes approximately 16 orbits around Earth every day.
And it serves as both an orbiting laboratory and a port for international spacecraft.
The primary partnering countries involved in operating the ISS include the United States, Canada, Japan, several European countries and Russia. China has its own space station, Tiangong, with the first module launched in 2021 and the last of its three initial modules launched in November 2022.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Patricio Leon in Santiago, Chile, captured this shot of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule approaching the International Space Station on April 9, 2022. He wrote: “Imaged at dawn today, the chasing Dragon capsule appeared as a bright star close to the ISS at the telescope finder, a very nice surprise indeed. Actual docking took place 2 hours after. The station’s solar panels lie along our line of view so are poorly represented, and the bright sphere on the left of the main body is another docked Dragon capsule.” Thank you, Patricio!
Bottom line: Learn how to spot the International Space Station from your location.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ray Tolomeo wrote: “Looking to the northwest, the International Space Station flies over Lake Brittle near Warrenton, Virginia, on the evening of May 8, 2026. This is a composite of 7 30-second exposures.” Thank you, Ray!
See the International Space Station before it’s gone!
The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting our planet since 1998. And it’s scheduled to be de-orbited – and safely brought down over the Pacific Ocean – as early as 2031. So now is the time to see it in your sky! From about 95% of the inhabited locations on Earth, ISS makes periodic passes across the sky. It looks like a bright star, moving quickly from horizon to horizon.
But how do you know when to see the ISS pass overhead from your location?
NASA has a great tool to help. Sign up to the Spot the Station program and you’ll receive alerts to let you know when the ISS will be visible from your location, wherever you are in the world. Plus, there’s a map-based feature to track when to look for the station as it flies over you.
Typically, alerts are sent out a few times each month when the station’s orbit is near your location. You’ll get notices only when the ISS will be clearly visible from your location for at least a couple of minutes.
One note: ISS is not visible north or south of about the 51st parallel. Specifically, it’s not visible 51.6 degrees north or south.
If you’re close to that latitude, say, just below it, you might want to visit the Spot the Station website directly to see upcoming sighting opportunities. This is because notifications in this region will be rare.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Filippo Galati in Sampieri, Sicily, Italy, shared this image. Filippo wrote: “On May 16, 2022 … I photographed a particularly favorable passage of the International Space Station over the skies of Sicily. It is framed by the ancient furnace Penna and highlighted in the sky by the constellation Ursa Major.” Thank you, Filippo!
How to spot the International Space Station
Spot the Station will tell you which direction to look for the ISS in your night sky. If you’re not sure about your directions, just note where the sun rises or sets from your observing spot. You know it rises generally east and sets generally west. Knowing east and west can anchor you, and help you find the direction where the station will appear (for example, in the southeast or northwest).
Via NASA’s service, the height at which the station will appear in your sky is given in degrees. And remember, 90 degrees is directly over your head. So any number less than 90 degrees means the station will appear somewhere between the horizon and the overhead mark.
Want a way to measure degrees on the sky’s dome? Make a fist, and stretch out your arm: your fist at arm’s length is equal to about 10 degrees. Then, just use the appropriate number of fist-lengths to find the location marker. For example, four fist-lengths from the horizon would be about 40 degrees.
And don’t worry, the station is bright! It’s hard to miss if you’re looking in the correct direction.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mohammad Adeel in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, captured this image on June 2, 2023. Mohammad wrote: “It had been a while since ISS showed up in the sky, and tonight I had the chance to capture it with some interesting conjunctions. Planet Venus being at greatest western elongation and shining brightly was lining up with the twins (Pollux and Castor) in a straight line, while planet Mars was almost over the Beehive Cluster. And having ISS in the frame was too much of a busy sky not to be captured.” Thank you, Mohammad!
Over two decades of human occupation
The first module of the ISS was launched into space in 1998. The initial construction of the station took about two years to complete. Human occupation of the station began on November 2, 2000. And since that time, ISS has been continuously occupied.
ISS orbits at approximately 220 miles (350 km) above the Earth. It travels at an average speed of 17,227 miles per hour (27,724 km/h). It makes approximately 16 orbits around Earth every day.
And it serves as both an orbiting laboratory and a port for international spacecraft.
The primary partnering countries involved in operating the ISS include the United States, Canada, Japan, several European countries and Russia. China has its own space station, Tiangong, with the first module launched in 2021 and the last of its three initial modules launched in November 2022.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Patricio Leon in Santiago, Chile, captured this shot of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule approaching the International Space Station on April 9, 2022. He wrote: “Imaged at dawn today, the chasing Dragon capsule appeared as a bright star close to the ISS at the telescope finder, a very nice surprise indeed. Actual docking took place 2 hours after. The station’s solar panels lie along our line of view so are poorly represented, and the bright sphere on the left of the main body is another docked Dragon capsule.” Thank you, Patricio!
Bottom line: Learn how to spot the International Space Station from your location.
Satellite views of Earth on the solstices and equinoxes. From left to right, a June solstice, a September equinox, a December solstice and a March equinox. To understand these images, look at the poles. Notice that at the June solstice, the North Pole is in sunlight. At the December solstice, the South Pole is in sunlight. Read more about these images, which are via Robert Simmon (Sigma Space Corporation)/ NASA.
June solstice in 2026
When is it? In 2026, the solstice moment will fall at 8:25 UTC (3:25 a.m. CDT) on June 21. What is it? At the June solstice, the sun reaches its northernmost point. This point is on the celestial Tropic of Cancer, a parallel around the sky, 23.5 degrees north of the celestial equator. At this solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is most tilted toward the sun, by the maximum angle of 23 1/2 degrees. Conversely, the south is most tilted away, by the same amount. What are its main effects? At the June solstice, no matter where you are on Earth, the sun rises and sets farthest north on your horizon. The sun is directly overhead at local noon as viewed from the Tropic of Cancer. Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is high in the sky and closest to being overhead at local noon. What about day length? For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the June solstice marks the shortest nights and longest days of the year. For the Southern Hemisphere, however, it marks the longest nights and shortest days. After this solstice, the sun will begin moving southward in our sky again.
What is a solstice?
Ancient cultures knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year.
With this in mind, they built monuments such as the ones at Stonehenge in England and at Machu Picchu in Peru to follow the sun’s yearly progress.
Today, we know that the solstice is caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and by its orbital motion around the sun.
The Earth doesn’t orbit upright with respect to the plane of our orbit around the sun. Instead, our world is tilted on its axis by 23 1/2 degrees. Through the year, this tilt causes Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres to trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly.
So it’s Earth’s tilt – not our distance from the sun – that causes winter and summer. In fact, our planet is closest to the sun in January, and farthest from the sun in July, during the Northern Hemisphere summer.
The northern summer solstice happens when Earth’s tilt toward the sun is at a maximum and the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, which is located at 23.5 degrees north latitude. During the summer solstice, the sun reaches its highest noonday point in the sky. The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year. Image via NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio.
Signs of the June solstice in nature
Where should you look? Everywhere.
For all of Earth’s creatures, nothing is so fundamental as the length of the day. After all, the sun is the ultimate source of almost all light and warmth on Earth’s surface.
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you might notice the early dawns and late sunsets, and the high arc of the sun across the sky each day. You might see how high the sun appears in the sky at local noon. And, also be sure to look at your noontime shadow. Around the time of the solstice, it’s your shortest noontime shadow of the year.
If you’re a person who’s tuned in to the out-of-doors, you know the peaceful, comforting feeling that accompanies these signs and signals of the year’s longest day.
John Ashley was in Helena, Montana, when he created this composite image of 2 days of solstice suns in 2018. The uppermost line of suns is from that year’s summer solstice. The lower line of suns is from that year’s December solstice. John wrote, “The sun’s path during summer solstice arches high across the sky (upper), but at winter solstice its path barely clears the brick walls of the Potter’s Shrine, a sculptural landmark on the grounds of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. The interval composite photo was created over 2 days – months apart – by placing a fisheye lens on the ground and aiming it at the southern sky.” Thank you, John!
Is the June solstice the first day of summer?
No world body has designated an official day to start each new season, and different schools of thought or traditions define the seasons in different ways.
In meteorology, for example, summer begins on June 1. And every schoolchild knows that summer starts when the last school bell of the year rings.
Yet June 21 is perhaps the most widely recognized day upon which summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere and upon which winter begins on the southern half of Earth’s globe. However, the June solstice can fall on June 20 or 22. Indeed, there’s nothing official about it, but it’s such a long-held tradition that we all recognize those dates as the June solstice.
It has been universal among humans to treasure this time of warmth and light.
Stonehenge
For us in the modern world, the solstice is a time to recall the reverence and understanding that early people had for the sky. Some 5,000 years ago, people placed huge stones in a circle on a broad plain in what’s now England and aligned them with the June solstice sunrise.
We may never comprehend the full significance of Stonehenge. But we do know that knowledge of this sort wasn’t limited to just one part of the world. In fact, around the same time Stonehenge was being constructed in England, two great pyramids and then the Sphinx were built on Egyptian sands. If you stood at the Sphinx on the summer solstice and gazed toward the two pyramids, you’d see the sun set exactly between them.
EarthSky’s Will Triggs captured this dawn view of Stonehenge on June 20, 2025. Every year, thousands of people gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. Thank you, Will!
Why doesn’t the longest day have the hottest weather?
People often ask:
If the June solstice brings the longest day, why do we experience the hottest weather in late July and August?
This effect is called the lag of the seasons. It’s the same reason it’s hotter in midafternoon than at noontime. Essentially, Earth just takes a while to warm up after a long winter. Even in June, ice and snow still blanket the ground in some places. The sun has to melt the ice – and warm the oceans – and then we feel the most sweltering summer heat.
Ice and snow have been melting since spring began. Meltwater and rainwater have been percolating down through snow on tops of glaciers.
However, the runoff from glaciers isn’t as great now as it’ll be in another month, even though sunlight is striking the Northern Hemisphere most directly around now.
So wait another month for the hottest weather. It’ll come when the days are already beginning to shorten again, as Earth continues to move in orbit around the sun, bringing us closer to another winter.
And so the cycle continues.
Check this out … the Breathing Earth. It’s a year of seasonal transformations on our planet, including the June solstice. John Nelson created this animation, using images from the NASA Visible Earth team.Hello, summer solstice! Image via Abigail Hart.
Bottom line: The 2026 June solstice will happen at 8:25 UTC on June 21 (3:25 a.m. CDT). This solstice – the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere – marks the sun’s most northerly point in Earth’s sky.
Satellite views of Earth on the solstices and equinoxes. From left to right, a June solstice, a September equinox, a December solstice and a March equinox. To understand these images, look at the poles. Notice that at the June solstice, the North Pole is in sunlight. At the December solstice, the South Pole is in sunlight. Read more about these images, which are via Robert Simmon (Sigma Space Corporation)/ NASA.
June solstice in 2026
When is it? In 2026, the solstice moment will fall at 8:25 UTC (3:25 a.m. CDT) on June 21. What is it? At the June solstice, the sun reaches its northernmost point. This point is on the celestial Tropic of Cancer, a parallel around the sky, 23.5 degrees north of the celestial equator. At this solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is most tilted toward the sun, by the maximum angle of 23 1/2 degrees. Conversely, the south is most tilted away, by the same amount. What are its main effects? At the June solstice, no matter where you are on Earth, the sun rises and sets farthest north on your horizon. The sun is directly overhead at local noon as viewed from the Tropic of Cancer. Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the sun is high in the sky and closest to being overhead at local noon. What about day length? For us in the Northern Hemisphere, the June solstice marks the shortest nights and longest days of the year. For the Southern Hemisphere, however, it marks the longest nights and shortest days. After this solstice, the sun will begin moving southward in our sky again.
What is a solstice?
Ancient cultures knew that the sun’s path across the sky, the length of daylight and the location of the sunrise and sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year.
With this in mind, they built monuments such as the ones at Stonehenge in England and at Machu Picchu in Peru to follow the sun’s yearly progress.
Today, we know that the solstice is caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis and by its orbital motion around the sun.
The Earth doesn’t orbit upright with respect to the plane of our orbit around the sun. Instead, our world is tilted on its axis by 23 1/2 degrees. Through the year, this tilt causes Earth’s Northern and Southern Hemispheres to trade places in receiving the sun’s light and warmth most directly.
So it’s Earth’s tilt – not our distance from the sun – that causes winter and summer. In fact, our planet is closest to the sun in January, and farthest from the sun in July, during the Northern Hemisphere summer.
The northern summer solstice happens when Earth’s tilt toward the sun is at a maximum and the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, which is located at 23.5 degrees north latitude. During the summer solstice, the sun reaches its highest noonday point in the sky. The summer solstice marks the longest day of the year. Image via NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio.
Signs of the June solstice in nature
Where should you look? Everywhere.
For all of Earth’s creatures, nothing is so fundamental as the length of the day. After all, the sun is the ultimate source of almost all light and warmth on Earth’s surface.
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you might notice the early dawns and late sunsets, and the high arc of the sun across the sky each day. You might see how high the sun appears in the sky at local noon. And, also be sure to look at your noontime shadow. Around the time of the solstice, it’s your shortest noontime shadow of the year.
If you’re a person who’s tuned in to the out-of-doors, you know the peaceful, comforting feeling that accompanies these signs and signals of the year’s longest day.
John Ashley was in Helena, Montana, when he created this composite image of 2 days of solstice suns in 2018. The uppermost line of suns is from that year’s summer solstice. The lower line of suns is from that year’s December solstice. John wrote, “The sun’s path during summer solstice arches high across the sky (upper), but at winter solstice its path barely clears the brick walls of the Potter’s Shrine, a sculptural landmark on the grounds of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. The interval composite photo was created over 2 days – months apart – by placing a fisheye lens on the ground and aiming it at the southern sky.” Thank you, John!
Is the June solstice the first day of summer?
No world body has designated an official day to start each new season, and different schools of thought or traditions define the seasons in different ways.
In meteorology, for example, summer begins on June 1. And every schoolchild knows that summer starts when the last school bell of the year rings.
Yet June 21 is perhaps the most widely recognized day upon which summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere and upon which winter begins on the southern half of Earth’s globe. However, the June solstice can fall on June 20 or 22. Indeed, there’s nothing official about it, but it’s such a long-held tradition that we all recognize those dates as the June solstice.
It has been universal among humans to treasure this time of warmth and light.
Stonehenge
For us in the modern world, the solstice is a time to recall the reverence and understanding that early people had for the sky. Some 5,000 years ago, people placed huge stones in a circle on a broad plain in what’s now England and aligned them with the June solstice sunrise.
We may never comprehend the full significance of Stonehenge. But we do know that knowledge of this sort wasn’t limited to just one part of the world. In fact, around the same time Stonehenge was being constructed in England, two great pyramids and then the Sphinx were built on Egyptian sands. If you stood at the Sphinx on the summer solstice and gazed toward the two pyramids, you’d see the sun set exactly between them.
EarthSky’s Will Triggs captured this dawn view of Stonehenge on June 20, 2025. Every year, thousands of people gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. Thank you, Will!
Why doesn’t the longest day have the hottest weather?
People often ask:
If the June solstice brings the longest day, why do we experience the hottest weather in late July and August?
This effect is called the lag of the seasons. It’s the same reason it’s hotter in midafternoon than at noontime. Essentially, Earth just takes a while to warm up after a long winter. Even in June, ice and snow still blanket the ground in some places. The sun has to melt the ice – and warm the oceans – and then we feel the most sweltering summer heat.
Ice and snow have been melting since spring began. Meltwater and rainwater have been percolating down through snow on tops of glaciers.
However, the runoff from glaciers isn’t as great now as it’ll be in another month, even though sunlight is striking the Northern Hemisphere most directly around now.
So wait another month for the hottest weather. It’ll come when the days are already beginning to shorten again, as Earth continues to move in orbit around the sun, bringing us closer to another winter.
And so the cycle continues.
Check this out … the Breathing Earth. It’s a year of seasonal transformations on our planet, including the June solstice. John Nelson created this animation, using images from the NASA Visible Earth team.Hello, summer solstice! Image via Abigail Hart.
Bottom line: The 2026 June solstice will happen at 8:25 UTC on June 21 (3:25 a.m. CDT). This solstice – the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere – marks the sun’s most northerly point in Earth’s sky.
Powerful “winds” that blasted gas into space might have been a common killer of massive galaxies in the early universe. But where did these winds come from? Read more about a galaxy-killing wind in the early universe below. Image via Joshua Worth/ The Conversation.
When astronomers look far back in space and time, they see more big, dead galaxies than expected. But why?
Powerful winds can sweep away a galaxy’s gas and dust, which are needed to create new stars.
A new study suggests intense star formation drove the winds that then paradoxically swept away the material for future star formation.
At the start of cosmic history, galaxies were big clouds of gas. And they grew by turning that gas into stars. If a galaxy runs out of gas, it will stop forming stars and die.
Present-day galaxies have had more than 10 billion years to grow old and die. But this is not true in the early universe. We expect to see very few dead galaxies in the first billion years of cosmic time.
In 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope gave us our first clear glimpse of galaxies in the early universe. What we saw completely defied our expectations. There were too many big, dead galaxies, far earlier than expected.
Astronomers came up with many possible explanations. Some suggested that dark energy – the mysterious phenomenon believed to be driving the universe’s expansion – may have been stronger in the early universe than current theories predict. This would allow galaxies to grow (and die) faster. However, the real solution may be much simpler.
Our new study, published June 10, 2026, in the peer-reviewed journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, reveals an early massive galaxy in the throes of death. Its gas is being rapidly blasted into space by a powerful “galaxy wind,” and it may very soon run out of gas. This galaxy offers a new solution to the mystery of what killed big galaxies in the early universe.
There are two ways to eject gas from galaxies: exploding stars (called supernovae) that push gas away, and supermassive black holes that accelerate gas to such high speeds that it escapes the gravitational pull of the galaxy. Both produce fast-moving gas streams that astronomers call galaxy winds.
Black holes produce faster winds than exploding stars, making them the favored means for ejecting gas from the largest, most massive galaxies. Many theories suggest that only the powerful winds driven by supermassive black holes can kill the largest galaxies.
However, testing these predictions is hard. As the gas in the wind leaves a galaxy, it becomes very faint very quickly, making galaxy winds difficult to see even in nearby galaxies.
In distant galaxies, they were almost invisible until recently.
Revelations from the James Webb Space Telescope
Designed to look deeper in space than any telescope before it, the James Webb Space Telescope has transformed our view of the early universe. It allows us to see things that were previously undetectable. And that includes hot, fast-moving gas ejected from early massive galaxies.
For our new study, we paired observations from the James Webb Space Telescope with data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, the world’s most powerful radio telescope, which measures cold star-forming gas swept out of galaxies by winds.
Together, these telescopes give us the most complete picture yet of galaxy winds in the early universe.
One galaxy, called CRISTAL-02, stood out to us immediately. We noticed it was forming stars twice as fast as other similar-sized galaxies. Our extremely sensitive observations revealed a huge plume of cold gas extending far away from CRISTAL-02. This plume was almost as long as the galaxy itself. And that was a telltale sign the gas was being driven out of the galaxy.
The wind from CRISTAL-02 was ejecting twice as much gas as the galaxy converts into stars, and this gas was likely traveling fast enough to escape the galaxy. If the wind kept ejecting gas at the same rate, the galaxy would run out of fuel in less than 100 million years – a blink of an eye in cosmic terms – forming a massive dead galaxy less than 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
Paradoxically, the wind appeared to be driven by the same intense star formation that was making the galaxy grow so quickly.
The cold gas plume (white contours) extends away from CRISTAL-02, revealing a galaxy wind. Image via Rebecca Davies/ The Conversation.
Do cosmic collisions hold the answer?
To complete the picture, we need to understand why CRISTAL-02 was growing so fast in the first place.
The answer may lie in the fact that CRISTAL-02 is not a single galaxy, but multiple galaxies in the final stages of a cosmic collision. During such collisions, gas funnels towards the galaxy centers, triggering strong bursts of star formation.
In the present-day universe, galaxy collisions are relatively rare: they are seen in only a few percent of galaxies. But 1 billion years after the Big Bang, the universe was far more compact, meaning galaxies were packed much closer together.
Recent studies suggest that around 40% of big galaxies in the early universe are in the process of merging. Some of these galaxies will likely face a similar fate to CRISTAL-02: undergoing frenzied bursts of star-formation, followed by powerful winds that lead to their deaths.
Our findings show that powerful winds capable of killing galaxies do not originate exclusively from supermassive black holes. They can also be triggered by the intense star-formation that causes galaxies to grow rapidly.
If many early galaxies collide and experience rapid growth, then it may not be surprising at all that we see so many dead galaxies in the early universe. CRISTAL-02 offers a natural solution to the mystery of why these massive galaxies live fast and die young.
Bottom line: Astronomers discovered winds from intense star formation in the early universe could then have swept away the materials for future star formation. This resulted in a galaxy-killing wind that led to the early deaths of galaxies as no more stars formed.
Powerful “winds” that blasted gas into space might have been a common killer of massive galaxies in the early universe. But where did these winds come from? Read more about a galaxy-killing wind in the early universe below. Image via Joshua Worth/ The Conversation.
When astronomers look far back in space and time, they see more big, dead galaxies than expected. But why?
Powerful winds can sweep away a galaxy’s gas and dust, which are needed to create new stars.
A new study suggests intense star formation drove the winds that then paradoxically swept away the material for future star formation.
At the start of cosmic history, galaxies were big clouds of gas. And they grew by turning that gas into stars. If a galaxy runs out of gas, it will stop forming stars and die.
Present-day galaxies have had more than 10 billion years to grow old and die. But this is not true in the early universe. We expect to see very few dead galaxies in the first billion years of cosmic time.
In 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope gave us our first clear glimpse of galaxies in the early universe. What we saw completely defied our expectations. There were too many big, dead galaxies, far earlier than expected.
Astronomers came up with many possible explanations. Some suggested that dark energy – the mysterious phenomenon believed to be driving the universe’s expansion – may have been stronger in the early universe than current theories predict. This would allow galaxies to grow (and die) faster. However, the real solution may be much simpler.
Our new study, published June 10, 2026, in the peer-reviewed journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, reveals an early massive galaxy in the throes of death. Its gas is being rapidly blasted into space by a powerful “galaxy wind,” and it may very soon run out of gas. This galaxy offers a new solution to the mystery of what killed big galaxies in the early universe.
There are two ways to eject gas from galaxies: exploding stars (called supernovae) that push gas away, and supermassive black holes that accelerate gas to such high speeds that it escapes the gravitational pull of the galaxy. Both produce fast-moving gas streams that astronomers call galaxy winds.
Black holes produce faster winds than exploding stars, making them the favored means for ejecting gas from the largest, most massive galaxies. Many theories suggest that only the powerful winds driven by supermassive black holes can kill the largest galaxies.
However, testing these predictions is hard. As the gas in the wind leaves a galaxy, it becomes very faint very quickly, making galaxy winds difficult to see even in nearby galaxies.
In distant galaxies, they were almost invisible until recently.
Revelations from the James Webb Space Telescope
Designed to look deeper in space than any telescope before it, the James Webb Space Telescope has transformed our view of the early universe. It allows us to see things that were previously undetectable. And that includes hot, fast-moving gas ejected from early massive galaxies.
For our new study, we paired observations from the James Webb Space Telescope with data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, the world’s most powerful radio telescope, which measures cold star-forming gas swept out of galaxies by winds.
Together, these telescopes give us the most complete picture yet of galaxy winds in the early universe.
One galaxy, called CRISTAL-02, stood out to us immediately. We noticed it was forming stars twice as fast as other similar-sized galaxies. Our extremely sensitive observations revealed a huge plume of cold gas extending far away from CRISTAL-02. This plume was almost as long as the galaxy itself. And that was a telltale sign the gas was being driven out of the galaxy.
The wind from CRISTAL-02 was ejecting twice as much gas as the galaxy converts into stars, and this gas was likely traveling fast enough to escape the galaxy. If the wind kept ejecting gas at the same rate, the galaxy would run out of fuel in less than 100 million years – a blink of an eye in cosmic terms – forming a massive dead galaxy less than 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
Paradoxically, the wind appeared to be driven by the same intense star formation that was making the galaxy grow so quickly.
The cold gas plume (white contours) extends away from CRISTAL-02, revealing a galaxy wind. Image via Rebecca Davies/ The Conversation.
Do cosmic collisions hold the answer?
To complete the picture, we need to understand why CRISTAL-02 was growing so fast in the first place.
The answer may lie in the fact that CRISTAL-02 is not a single galaxy, but multiple galaxies in the final stages of a cosmic collision. During such collisions, gas funnels towards the galaxy centers, triggering strong bursts of star formation.
In the present-day universe, galaxy collisions are relatively rare: they are seen in only a few percent of galaxies. But 1 billion years after the Big Bang, the universe was far more compact, meaning galaxies were packed much closer together.
Recent studies suggest that around 40% of big galaxies in the early universe are in the process of merging. Some of these galaxies will likely face a similar fate to CRISTAL-02: undergoing frenzied bursts of star-formation, followed by powerful winds that lead to their deaths.
Our findings show that powerful winds capable of killing galaxies do not originate exclusively from supermassive black holes. They can also be triggered by the intense star-formation that causes galaxies to grow rapidly.
If many early galaxies collide and experience rapid growth, then it may not be surprising at all that we see so many dead galaxies in the early universe. CRISTAL-02 offers a natural solution to the mystery of why these massive galaxies live fast and die young.
Bottom line: Astronomers discovered winds from intense star formation in the early universe could then have swept away the materials for future star formation. This resulted in a galaxy-killing wind that led to the early deaths of galaxies as no more stars formed.
