View larger . | NASA's Message in a Bottle campaign is sending a poem to Jupiter's moon Europa, aboard the Europa Clipper spacecraft. And you can add your name to the poem. Image via NASA . In October 2024, NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft will begin its journey to Europa, an ocean moon of the planet Jupiter. And the spacecraft will be carrying what NASA is calling a Message in a Bottle . The message is a poem titled In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón .

https://earthsky.org/space/jupiters-moon-europa-poem-message-in-a-bottle/

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Tonight On the evening of December 6, 2022, find the nearly full moon near Pleiades and closing in on Mars. And then, on December 7, 2022, the moon will occult, or pass in front of, Mars. Chart via John Jardine Goss/ EarthSky. On the evening of December 6, 2022, the moon is near the sparkling Pleiades star cluster. And not too far away you'll spot two reddish lights. One is Mars, and the other is the fiery red star Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the Bull. The moon is nearly full. In fact, tomorrow night, the full moon will pass in front of, or occult, Mars.

https://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-near-pleiades-and-mars-december-6-2022/

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Spaceflight The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place on Nov. 8, 2021. This week, the ISS was moved to avoid a piece of Russian space debris. By the way, the debris was created during a weapons test by Russia in November 2021. Image via NASA The ISS is in a new orbit following a 'debris avoidance maneuver' on Monday evening, October 24, 2022. Thus, placing the station out of harm's way before some space debris passed too close to the station for comfort.

https://earthsky.org/spaceflight/launches-iss-dodges-russian-space-debris/

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Early risers can enjoy a lovely view of a waning crescent moon near the delicate and beautiful open star cluster known as the Pleiades . Also, look for the glow of earthshine on the darkened portion of the moon. On the mornings of July 13 and 14, 2023, the waning crescent moon will pass the Pleiades star cluster, one of the many gems of Taurus the Bull. The bright orange star Aldebaran shines nearby. Read more about the moon near the Pleiades below. Chart via John Jardine Goss/ EarthSky .

https://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-near-the-pleiades-before-dawn-on-july-13-and-14-2023/

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You can see this meteor is radiating from the constellation Taurus the Bull. See that V-shaped pattern to the right and above Orion? That's the Hyades star cluster, which forms the Bull's Face. Eliot Herman in Tucson caught this Taurid meteor in 2015. The bright object was the moon! Thanks, Eliot. 2015 was the last good year for the Taurid meteors. Will there be a swarm this year? The Southern and Northern Taurid meteor showers are active every year throughout the months of October and November. They're billed as a major annual meteor shower, but observers rarely see more than five meteors per hour.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/taurid-meteors-will-there-be-a-swarm-in-2022/

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View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Josh Ashley of Amado, Arizona, made this composite image of Geminid meteors captured on December 14, 2022. Has a Geminid meteor mystery been solved? In a NASA blog post on June 14, 2023, Desiree Apodaca at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland described new insights about the annual Geminid meteor shower . She wrote it's likely that: … A sudden, powerful event – such as a high-speed collision with another body or a gaseous explosion, among other possibilities – created the Geminid stream.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/geminid-meteor-mystery-solved-collision/

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Tonight Summer meteors 2022. Late July and early August are a good time to start watching for Perseid meteors, before the moonlight interferes in the morning sky. The Perseid meteor shower peaks August 11-13, but builds gradually starting in early August. The annual Perseid meteor shower radiant rises late in the evening, around 11 p.m. local time, nearly due northeast in the constellation Perseus. Perseids are best viewed from midnight to sunrise, but moonlight will outshine dim meteors on the peak nights in 2022.

https://earthsky.org/tonight/summer-meteors-2022-moon-free-in-late-july-and-early-august/

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Astronomy Essentials A sample of one of Guy's charts in the Astronomical Calendar 2024 showing the path of the moon's shadow on the Earth during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 . Image via . Beloved British astronomer announced his Astronomical Calendar 2024 is out and ready for purchase. Reprinted with permission. Edits by EarthSky. 's Astronomical calendar is well-known and popular among amateur astronomers. It was available in printed form from 1974 to 2016, and used by thousands of sky-lovers in more than 100 countries.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/astronomical-calendar-2024-by-guy-ottewell/

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Space View larger. | This is an artist's illustration of Europa Clipper as it passes by Europa. SwRI delivered the MAss SPectrometer for Planetary EXploration/Europa (MASPEX) instrument for Europa Clipper to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in December 2022. MASPEX acts as a 'nose' for Europa Clipper, sniffing out and analyzing gases on and near the moon. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech. Last month (December 2022), engineers and technicians delivered an advanced new mass spectrometer for the Europa Clipper mission to JPL in Pasadena, California.

https://earthsky.org/space/europa-clipper-maspex-europa-astrobiology/

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Tonight View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Stephen Humphrey in Punta Mala, Costa Rica has sent in the 1st image we've seen so far of the sky's 2 brightest planets – Venus and Jupiter – near each other in the west after sunset. This is the 1st of many, we'll bet! These 2 are very noticeable now, in the western twilight. They'll become even more noticeable as this month passes. Thanks, Stephen! Venus and Jupiter are the two brightest planets visible from Earth. And – throughout February 2023 and into March – you can easily spot dazzling Venus and bold Jupiter near each other, in the west after sunset.

https://earthsky.org/tonight/bright-planets-west-after-sunset-venus-and-jupiter-conjunction-feb-mar-2023/

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Tonight Venus is the brightest planet. It's brighter than any skyk object, except the sun and moon. And, although it's near the sunrise glare now, you can still see Venus (barely) in early September. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo. It's fainter than Venus. But, as Venus sinks closer to the sunrise, Regulus ascends out of it. The 2 pass on September 5, 2022. Just before sunrise in early September, 2022, you can still find Venus very low in the east before sunrise. It'll appear near the star Regulus in Leo the Lion around September 4, 5 and 6.

https://earthsky.org/tonight/venus-and-regulus-on-september-4-5-and-6-mornings/

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Space Artist's concept of a black hole accreting a companion. Astronomers have found an explosion of a cloud of dust around a black hole that was 10 times brighter than any supernova and has lasted more than 3 years. It's the largest cosmic explosion astronomers have ever seen. Image via John A. Paice/ Royal Astronomical Society . On May 11, 2023, the Royal Astronomical Society announced that a team of astronomers has found the largest cosmic explosion ever seen. Shining 10 times brighter than any known supernova .

https://earthsky.org/space/largest-cosmic-explosion-at2021lwx-cloud-black-hole/

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