This Week in Astronomy | Astronomy.com

This Week in Astronomy

Come full circle with the Ring Nebula

The warm, overexposed Moon glows in the lower left of a blue-gray twilight sky, while a smaller, intensely bright Venus shines in the upper right. Between them, a loose grouping of faint stars — the Beehive Cluster — is just barely visible near the center of the frame against the hazy background.

This Week in Astronomy

The Moon, the Beehive, and friends

A face-on spiral galaxy sits near the center of the frame, its bright, compact core surrounded by two broad, curving arms mottled with pale blue and pinkish patches. A smaller, hazier companion galaxy clings to the outer edge of one arm, slightly offset and to the side, where their halos appear to blend. The scene is set against a dark background sprinkled with faint foreground stars and a few tiny, distant galaxies.

Deep-Sky Objects, This Week in Astronomy

Fall into the Whirlpool Galaxy

A single bright meteor streaks diagonally across a dark, star-filled sky above a rugged hilltop town. The lights and stone buildings of the town cluster around a rocky ridge, with a soft, pink glow near the horizon. A crescent Moon is enveloped by scattered clouds, generating a bright, wispy halo.

This Week in Astronomy, Upcoming Events

See the Eta Aquariid meteor shower

The Moon, This Week in Astronomy

See the Moon meet Antares Sunday night

Observing, This Week in Astronomy

Catch the Lyrid meteors

This Week in Astronomy

See spring’s best galaxies

This Week in Astronomy

Explore the Virgo Cluster

Observing, This Week in Astronomy

Mercury at greatest elongation on April 3

Observing, This Week in Astronomy

The Moon brushes past Regulus this Sunday, March 29

Observing, This Week in Astronomy

The Moon visits the Pleiades

Observing, This Week in Astronomy

Gemini’s springtime star clusters are ripe for exploring