EarthSky
@earthskyscience.bsky.social
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Updates on your cosmos and world.
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earthskyscience.bsky.social
October is a peak month for fall bird #migration across the United States. The BirdCast.info website can give you an idea of what regions will see the highest number of birds passing each night. Read how to help migrating birds at: buff.ly/nQTMAcE

📸 Cornell/ Colorado State Univ.
Map of the US with purple in the west and bright patches in the Great Plains and southeast.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Can #dustdevils help track the Martian wind? New research published Wednesday assembles data about the motion of these twisters. Read about dust devils and wind on Mars at: buff.ly/k2qKKr9

📸 ESA.
View from above of 3 small vertical clouds on a cratered surface.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Best #comet of 2025? Comet Lemmon will be closest to Earth on October 21. The EarthSky community has already captured many glorious images of it as it speeds inward in our solar system. See them here: buff.ly/mfOLi0U

📸 Makrem Larnaout.
A comet with a green head and long, intricate tail with a distant spiral galaxy small at the top.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Are organic molecules found on Saturn's moon #Enceladus created by radiation? Or do they originate in a hidden ocean? Read more at: buff.ly/eD8mu0P

📸 ESA/ NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ SSI./ Lunar and Planetary Institute.
Organics in Enceladus' ocean: Planet-like body that is whitish and mostly smooth, with some craters and cracks. Several large plumes are erupting from the surface at the bottom.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Earth is still feeling the effects of solar wind flowing from a large coronal hole on the #sun. It's kept geomagnetic activity near G1 (minor) levels over the past day. #Auroras? See our forecast at: buff.ly/MCvzFfQ

📸 NASA GSFC/ CILJonathan North.
Visualization of solar wind particles streaming from the Sun toward Earth, shaping its magnetic field.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
The #Andromeda galaxy is the nearest large spiral galaxy to our Milky Way. It’s about 2.5 million light-years away. Tonight, if you have a dark sky, star-hop to the Andromeda galaxy from the constellation Cassiopeia the Queen. Read more: buff.ly/cW4fwwM
Star chart of constellations Cassiopeia and Andromeda with labeled Andromeda galaxy between them.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Tomorrow morning the 3rd quarter #moon will lie near bright #Jupiter and #Gemini's twin stars Castor and Pollux. On Tuesday morning, the waning crescent moon floats near the trio in the morning sky.

And for more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide at: buff.ly/6yKOoEM
2 positions of the moon, one half-lit and the other a crescent, near 2 stars and a planet close to the green ecliptic line.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Andy Dungan in Cotopaxi, Colorado, captured the #LittleRosetteNebula. Andy wrote: "I took pics of the dot in the Question Mark Nebula, the Little Rosette Nebula. It looks like its larger cousin the Rosette Nebula." Thank you, Andy! See it at buff.ly/8PkX1XB
More great pics: buff.ly/moQkn9b
A round red fuzzy nebula with radial petal-like structures and a distinct center in a dense starfield.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Craig Freeman in Mansfield, Ohio, captured this image of M31, the #Andromeda galaxy. Incredible! Thank you, Craig!
buff.ly/XytAF4g

Have a photo of your own to share? Submit it here!
buff.ly/ilSFKJU
Detailed image of the Andromeda Galaxy showing its bright core, spiral arms, and surrounding stars.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Termini Imerese in Sicily, Italy, captured this image of billowing #cumulus clouds in the distance, glowing in the late afternoon light. Thank you, Termini!
buff.ly/sV43LgV

Have a photo of your own to share? Submit it here!
buff.ly/ilSFKJU
Billowing,, golden-orange cumulus clouds illuminated by sunset above calm blue ocean waters and dark horizon.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Catherine Hyde shared this composite image taken yesterday from California of the #moon passing in front of the #Pleiades star cluster. Thank you, Catherine!
buff.ly/sAbMRYC

Have a photo of your own to share? Submit it here!
buff.ly/ilSFKJU
Waxing gibbous moon surrounded by faint stars in a dark sky during a Pleiades occultation event.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Tomorrow morning the waning gibbous #moon will lie between ruddy Betelgeus and golden Capella with fiery Aldebaran nearby. For more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide at: buff.ly/6yKOoEM
A half-lit moon near the center of a triangle of 3 bright stars.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
It might be sunny out where you are, but a geomagnetic storm is in progress. This NASA image shows the solar wind, a stream of charged particles coming from a huge coronal hole on the #sun. Read more at: buff.ly/gbxtnEB

📸 NASA.
Fuzzy, golden-brown streamers across the image.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Brian Martin in Riverside, California, captured #Saturn and #Titan's last shadow transit until 2038. It was taken on October 5, 2025. Thank you, Brian!
buff.ly/l2Rwp6f

Have a photo of your own to share? Submit it here!
buff.ly/ilSFKJU
Large planet with many bands, a small black dot on it, and nearly edge-on rings.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Our friend Cecille Kennedy in Depoe Bay, Oregon, shared this image of last night's sunset. She wrote: "The sun pillar over the sun got divided into sections by the thick clouds ... The #sun disappeared behind the thick marine cloud layer above the ocean horizon." Thank you, Cecille. Beautiful! 😍
Bright white half sun setting with clouds glowing orange.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Officials have now lifted a #tsunami warning, triggered by the 7.4 magnitude #earthquake in the Philippines. The quake took place overnight according to clocks in North America (or 9:44 a.m. in the Philippines this morning). Read about the Philippines earthquake at buff.ly/0rqV2iR

📷 USGS.
Map of the area around the Philippines with a blue dot showing the earthquake location.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Craig Freeman in Mansfield, Ohio, captured this image of the Horsehead and Flaming Star #nebulae. Incredible! Thank you, Craig!
buff.ly/Snzrlrg

Have a photo of your own to share? Submit it here!
buff.ly/ilSFKJU
Brilliant cosmic view of the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae glowing in deep orange, teal, and violet hues.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
The Gemini North Telescope first captured Betelgeuse’s companion – nicknamed #Betelbuddy – on December 9, 2024. On Wednesday, Carnegie Mellon University researchers revealed more details about the companion star. Read more at: buff.ly/HiNgwpw

📸 Int. Gemini Observatory/ NOIRLab/ NSF/ AURA.
Betelbuddy: Round orange glow labeled Betelgeuse with pale dim companion glow nearby labeled.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
September and October are peak months for fall bird #migration across the United States. And the BirdCast.info website can give you an idea of what regions will see the highest number of birds passing each night. Read more: buff.ly/nQTMAcE

📸 Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ Colorado State University.
Map of the US with colors in purple in the west to yellow in the southeast to bright white in the Great Lakes.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
This evening, check out one of the flashiest stars in the sky. It’s so bright that every year in northern autumn, we get questions from people in the Northern Hemisphere who see a star twinkling with colorful flashes. That star is #Capella. Read more at: buff.ly/Ldo9Q3N
Star chart showing the constellation Auriga with stars and other objects labeled.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Tonight the waning gibbous #moon will float between orangish Aldebaran and golden Capella. The Pleiades star cluster is nearby.

For more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide at: buff.ly/mP9BY1V
A fat hemisphere, the moon, is below a groups of small dots, the Pleiades, and between two dots, the stars Aldebaran and Capella. They all are above a wavy line, the horizon.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
After several days of low solar activity featuring only C and B flares, the #sun surprised us with a moderate M2 flare. The sun itself partly obscured the blast, suggesting the eruption might have been even stronger than what we observed. Read the sun news at: buff.ly/uukCWuq

📸 NOAA/ GOES.
Image of the sun with a bright light protruding off the disk at the 3:00 position and labeled.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Tom Cofer captured this beautiful image of Comet #Lemmon yesterday from Lakewood Ranch, Florida, and wrote: "My first comet capture! Quite the ordeal learning how to process a #comet." What a superb job you did, Tom!
buff.ly/PRjZwLN

Read about the comet and see more stunning images:
buff.ly/HzOOUhk
Green ball with a fuzzy halo around and a greenish tail in a dark sky with some stars in the background.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
On any autumn or winter evening, scan between Cassiopeia and Perseus for the magnificent #DoubleCluster in #Perseus. The #stars in these 2 clusters are young, hot supergiant suns that are many thousands of times more luminous than our sun. 🌌🔭
buff.ly/iiwLzb1

📸 EarthSky.org.
Star chart of Cassiopeia with a line pointing to 2 tiny dotted circles, labeled Perseus Double Cluster.
earthskyscience.bsky.social
Victoria Bryhan in Corvallis, Oregon, captured this pumpkin patch on October 5 and wrote: "That's a lot of #pumpkin pie! Too much for me to eat on my own! I wish I'd seen it harvested." Thank you!
buff.ly/9YBpnw7

Do you have an image you would like to share? We can't wait to see it!
buff.ly/ilSFKJU
Thousands of pumpkins lie in the ground in lines in a field. Green trees and mountains in the distance.