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The Orionid meteor shower, caused by debris from Halley's Comet, will peak between dusk on October 21 and dawn on October 22, with up to 20 meteors visible per hour in dark skies. The shower began earlier this month and continues through November 7, though a roughly three-quarter full moon may wash out some fainter meteors.
The International Astronomical Union has officially approved asteroid (14331) Alyankovic, honoring musical satirist 'Weird Al' Yankovic, alongside another asteroid named for Tom Lehrer, the mathematician and satirical songwriter who died last year at 97. The naming effort was led by planetary scientist Allison McGraw with support from several scientists including astrophysicist Steve Desch, Smithsonian curator Tim McCoy, and Spacewatch program leader Melissa Brucker.
The fall equinox marks the official start of astronomical autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, occurring when the sun crosses the celestial equator and day and night are nearly equal in length. Despite lingering warm weather in many regions, the equinox signals that cooler temperatures typically follow in the weeks ahead.
In the 1960s, a theory circulated that Stonehenge functioned as an ancient astronomical computer, based partly on the arrangement of 56 holes at the site. Critics at the time, including archaeologist Richard Atkinson, questioned this interpretation, noting some holes may have simply resulted from old tree growth rather than deliberate design.
Two decades after the International Astronomical Union voted in 2006 to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet, a vocal group of scientists, historians and enthusiasts continue to push back against that decision. Critics like Philip Metzger of the University of Central Florida argue the IAU's planetary definition is scientifically unworkable, while others such as writer Laurel Kornfeld have campaigned against the ruling since the day it was announced. The dispute remains largely an American phenomenon, tied partly to national pride since Pluto was discovered by a US astronomer in 1930.
A partial lunar eclipse will unfold Thursday night into early Friday, with Earth's shadow covering roughly 93 percent of the moon's disk and giving it a reddish or orange tint. The partial phase lasts about three hours and 18 minutes, with the Americas offering the best viewing conditions since the peak occurs after dark there, while European observers will only catch a limited glimpse near dawn.
NASA is set to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a $4 billion observatory built to survey vast swaths of the cosmos with high speed and precision. The mission aims to capture wide-field images that reveal cosmic phenomena previously undetectable by existing instruments.
It has been two decades since the International Astronomical Union voted in August 2006 to strip Pluto of its planetary status, reclassifying it as a dwarf planet after astronomers discovered a similarly sized object, later named Eris, in 2005. The decision remains contentious, with figures like NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and actor William Shatner recently arguing Pluto deserves to be called a planet again.