Stars | Astronomy.com

Travel southeast from Capella to capture Auriga’s targets. The chart at right zooms in on the Happy Face asterism.

Deep-Sky Objects

Binocular Universe: Winter’s first act

The Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357)

Exoplanets, Stars

JWST finds Earth-like planets can form in harsh galactic environments

Alpha Centauri (the yellow star just to the right of center) is the closest bright star to Earth. At 4.35 light-years away, on a scale model where Earth is the size of a bacterium, this star would sit 4.34 miles (nearly 7 km) distant.

Strange Universe: Empty conclusions

Dishes of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico line up beneath the starry sky. Radio waves are just one of the numerous signals from space that comprise the soundtrack of the cosmos.

Scientists search for the soundtrack of the universe

The Euclid image of the Horsehead Nebula, an iconic target for backyard astrophotographers and space telescopes alike. Credit: ESA.

Cosmology, Galaxies, Science, Stars

Euclid telescope releases first awe-inspiring images in dark universe hunt

A composite image of the Sun taken by ASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Science, Solar System

The Sun: Facts, size, and fate of Earth’s blazing star

JWST image of the Pillars of Creation

If protostars aren’t yet generating light through fusion, how can JWST see them?

Crisscross Cassiopeia the Queen to find the constellation’s characteristic clusters.

Deep-Sky Objects

Binocular Universe: Queenly clusters

The wide-field view of the Cygnus Loop was taken with the WIYN 0.9-meter at KPNO.

Deep-Sky Objects

Secret Sky: Fleming’s Triangular Wisp

JADES-GS-z6

Galaxies, Stars

JWST finds carbon-rich dust grains earlier than expected

How vast is the universe? Unimaginably enormous

Supernova 1987A, as seen by JWST's NIRcam instrument.

JWST views Supernova 1987A