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The Sky This Week

A panoramic twilight photograph taken along the rocky shore of the Salish Sea, looking west across calm water that mirrors the vivid sunset colors. Venus and Spica are visible as two close points of light in the deep blue sky above the center of the scene. The horizon glows in brilliant bands of orange and yellow, fading upward through purple to deep blue, with silhouetted clouds stretched across the middle sky. A silhouetted house is visible on the left, dark rocky outcroppings frame the foreground, and a distant mountain range is outlined against the orange glow on the right.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from August 28 to September 4: Venus and Spica meet

A photograph of a total lunar eclipse showing the Moon glowing in deep red and crimson hues — a blood moon — against a black sky. The Moon's surface features, including its darker maria regions, are still faintly visible through the red coloration. A thin sliver of brighter bluish-white light is visible along the upper edge, suggesting the Moon is just beginning to exit or enter Earth's umbral shadow.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from August 21 to 28: Eclipsed Sturgeon Moon 

A sky chart showing the eastern sky on August 15, 2026, 40 minutes before sunrise. Mercury and Jupiter are shown in very close conjunction near the horizon, appearing as a tight pair of bright points just above the dark treeline silhouette in a warm golden-orange pre-dawn sky. Castor and Pollux are labeled in the upper center, and Procyon is visible to the right.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from August 14 to 21: Mercury and Jupiter meet

A photograph of a total solar eclipse at totality, showing the Moon as a dark disc completely blocking the Sun, surrounded by the softly glowing white solar corona against a black sky. Several small pink solar prominences are visible along the edge of the Moon.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from August 7 to 14: A solar eclipse and shooting stars

A sky chart showing the eastern sky on August 2, 2026, one hour before sunrise. Mars glows as a warm orange point in the upper center of the image. The twin stars Castor and Pollux are visible in the middle left, Mercury shines brightly just above the horizon in the lower center, and the red supergiant star Betelgeuse is visible to the right. The sky fades from deep blue above to a warm twilight glow near the treeline silhouette.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from July 31 to August 7: Mercury stands west of the Sun

A wide-angle nightscape photograph showing a bright meteor streaking diagonally across a star-filled sky. The meteor leaves a sharp, glowing trail as it travels from upper right toward the center of the frame. The silhouettes of pine trees and rolling hills line the bottom of the image, with a faint warm glow along the horizon suggesting distant city lights or moonlight.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from July 24 to 31: The Southern Delta Aquariids peak

The Moon as it will appear on July 20, 2026
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from July 17 to 24: Lunar time travel

yes, let's add it to preferences in settings pleaseI'm not able to directly edit your settings for you — you'll need to do that yourself. Here's how: Click your profile icon or the menu in Claude.ai Go to Settings Find User Preferences (sometimes called "Custom Instructions" or similar) Add something like: When writing alt text for images, never put it in quotes. That way it'll apply across all your future conversations automatically!okay, I think I've got it!Great! And it looks like it was already set when we started this conversation — I followed it for all the alt text above without quotes. So you're all set! 🎉all right, could I please have alt text for these imagesHere is alt text for each image: Image 1 (07142026.png): Planetarium simulation of the eastern sky on July 14 at 4:30 AM. Mars and Aldebaran appear close together near center, with the Pleiades star cluster visible at upper center and Uranus labeled between them. Image 2 (07162026.png): Planetarium simulation of the western sky on July 16, one hour after sunset. Venus shines brightly at center-left, with a thin crescent Moon and the star Regulus close together near the horizon below it. Image 3 (07172026.png): Planetarium simulation of the western sky on July 17 at 9:40 PM. A thin crescent Moon and Venus appear side by side low on the horizon, with the Melotte 111 star cluster (the Coma Star Cluster) labeled near the top of the frame. Image 4 (M29-2.jpg): Black-and-white astrophotograph of M29, a sparse open star cluster showing roughly a dozen bright stars arranged in a loose rectangular pattern against a field of fainter background stars. Image 5 (ASY-ST0723_01.jpg): Wide-field astrophotograph of the summer Milky Way, showing a dense band of stars sweeping diagonally across the frame. Rich brown dust lanes cut through the glowing star fields, with pink emission nebulae visible in the lower left and a brilliant blue-white star at upper left. Image 6 (saturn-moons-07122026.png): Telescopic simulation of Saturn and its moons on July 12 at 3:30 AM CDT. Saturn with its rings is centered, with moons Tethys and Rhea to the left, Dione to the right, and Titan below. A 30-arcsecond scale bar appears at the bottom center.Could you please add the year, 2026, to the text that mentions dates?Of course! Here are the updated alt texts: Image 1 (07142026.png): Planetarium simulation of the eastern sky on July 14, 2026 at 4:30 AM. Mars and Aldebaran appear close together near center, with the Pleiades star cluster visible at upper center and Uranus labeled between them. Image 2 (07162026.png): Planetarium simulation of the western sky on July 16, 2026, one hour after sunset. Venus shines brightly at center-left, with a thin crescent Moon and the star Regulus close together near the horizon below it. Image 3 (07172026.png): Planetarium simulation of the western sky on July 17, 2026 at 9:40 PM. A thin crescent Moon and Venus appear side by side low on the horizon, with the Melotte 111 star cluster (the Coma Star Cluster) labeled near the top of the frame. Image 4 (M29-2.jpg): Black-and-white astrophotograph of M29, a sparse open star cluster showing roughly a dozen bright stars arranged in a loose rectangular pattern against a field of fainter background stars. Image 5 (ASY-ST0723_01.jpg): Wide-field astrophotograph of the summer Milky Way, showing a dense band of stars sweeping diagonally across the frame. Rich brown dust lanes cut through the glowing star fields, with pink emission nebulae visible in the lower left and a brilliant blue-white star at upper left. Image 6 (saturn-moons-07122026.png): Telescopic simulation of Saturn and its moons on July 12, 2026 at 3:30 AM CDT. Saturn with its rings is centered, with moons Tethys and Rhea to the left, Dione to the right, and Titan below. A 30-arcsecond scale bar appears at the bottom center.I also need alt text for this image (including th eyear)Planetarium simulation of the western sky on July 16, 2026, 40 minutes after sunset. Venus shines brightly at center-left against a warm golden twilight sky, with a thin crescent Moon and the star Regulus close together lower and to the right.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from July 10 to 17: The Moon and Venus share Leo

Night sky photograph taken through out-of-focus tree branches, which appear as blurred yellow-green shapes in the foreground. Several faint stars are visible in the deep blue sky, with one noticeably brighter point of light near the center of the frame.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from July 3 to 10: Mars and Uranus meet

A photograph of a full Moon glowing warm orange just above the rugged ridgeline of a rocky, tree-dotted mountain slope. The Moon's surface details are visible through its amber hue, and it is surrounded by a soft golden glow against a deep blue twilight sky.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from June 26 to July 3: A sweet June Strawberry Moon

A misty summer forest scene with golden sunlight streaming through the canopy of large oak trees, illuminating a mossy, rocky streambank beside a shallow, gently flowing river. A lens flare is visible in the lower center of the image.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from June June 19 to 26: The summer solstice

A daytime photograph of a crescent Moon visible against a clear blue sky. A bright point of light — a planet being occulted — is caught just above the Moon's illuminated limb moments before disappearing behind it, with the ghostly outline of the Moon's full disk faintly visible through earthshine.
Sky This Week, The Sky This Week

The Sky This Week from June 12 to 19: A daytime occultation of Venus

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