Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.
Monday, 23 February 2026
In this HiRISE image of Mars, many sand dunes are visible. They have an elongated crescent form and are called "barchan dunes." They are formed by the continuous action of the wind, blowing in the same direction, giving this particular shape.
The orientation of these dunes tells us that the prevailing wind blows from the right to the left (east to west). The wind continuously moves sand grains up the longer dune slope towards the top. The small ripples on the slope are caused by this movement. When the sand grains arrive at the top, they fall down the steeper and shorter slope, which, as a consequence, has no ripples. It is this gradual sand movement that causes the dunes to slowly move over time.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Tuesday, 24 February 2026
These observations by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) show the infrared light emitted by the dust, water, organic molecules, and carbon dioxide contained within comet 3I/ATLAS’s coma. The comet brightened significantly during the December 2025 period when SPHEREx made the observations, about two months after the icy body had passed its closest distance to the Sun in late October.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Processing: Gerald Eichstädt, with further enhancement by Seán Doran.
Wednesday, 25 February 2026
This beautiful image shows a swirling region of bright clouds in the wake of a cyclonic storm in Jupiter's atmosphere. On the left, you can see the turbulent, blue-tinted pole, while on the right, the polar clouds give way to the pinker belts and zones of Jupiter’s mid-latitudes. Taken by JunoCam on board NASA's Juno spacecraft.
Credit: ESA/Royal Observatory of Belgium.
Thursday, 26 February 2026
The Moon passed directly between the Sun and Earth on 17 February 2026, creating an annular solar eclipse. Because the Moon was at a more distant point along its elliptical orbit around Earth, it didn't entirely cover the Sun and left a ‘ring of fire’.
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Proba-2 satellite captured this ring from its viewpoint in space. Flying around Earth, the spacecraft witnessed the same solar eclipse no less than four times, including this perfect ring of fire at 11:31 Universal Time. The images were taken by the spacecraft's SWAP extreme ultraviolet imager, at a wavelength of 17.4 nanometres.
On Earth, this rare treat was only visible from Antarctica. A partial solar eclipse could be seen from the southern tip of Chile and Argentina, as well as southern Africa.
Credit: Josh Dury Photo-Media.
Friday, 27 February 2026
Planetary alignments such as this one are fantastic events. Not only are they considered somewhat rare events, but seeing a great gathering of planets in the night sky evokes that sense of being in our place amongst the solar system.
Under somewhat rare optimal conditions, astrophotographer Josh Dury was given an excellent opportunity to document seven celestial objects across the sky: Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, the Moon, and Jupiter.
Captured from the radar research memorial at St Aldhelm's Head on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, this image evokes the story of life amongst the solar system, the signal of life amongst the stars, and the great voyage into the unknown.
Related News
Related Projects
Support the
SETI Institute
Scientists are getting closer in their search for life beyond earth. But with limited federal funding for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, supporters are the reason cutting-edge scientists can keep their eyes on the sky.
){kind=logo}
