Emil Andronic in Portland Bill, Dorset, U.K., captured this great shot of the local lighthouse and the Milky Way last Saturday. Emil wrote: 'I haven't seen the sky so nice and clean in a very, very long time. It was just perfect.' Thank you, Emil! 🌌
ecp.earthsky.org

Listen in to our livestream on Solar Cycle 25, happening now: youtube.com/watch?v=xrypqL…

Cecille Kennedy from Lincoln City, Oregon: “Raindrops on wokas [great yellow pond-lily] after what seems like incessant light showers. Wokas is the name used by the Klamath Indians for this plant that is native to western North America.” Thank you!
earthsky.org/earthsky-commu…

Otters are very cute and super swimmers! Their nostrils and ears close to prevent water from entering their bodies and they can take naps on their backs (while holding paws with their buddies). More:
earthsky.org/earth/otters-a…
youtube.com/shorts/6rWmfgI…

📸 Ray Harrington/ Unsplash.

X flare probability is at 50% today after 3 days of high-to-very-high levels of sun activity, with intense solar flaring. In the past 24 hours, the sun kept up a high activity level. The most recent X flare happened today at 6:16 UTC. Read more: earthsky.org/sun/sun-news-a…

Have you seen all the wonderful photos in our gallery, EarthSky Community Photos? Was there any particular photo that caught your eye? Enjoy some of our editor’s picks from the images we received last week, April 29 to May 5. 📸👁️
youtube.com/watch?v=YAQM7e…

📸 Vijay Sheth.

When did humans first arrive in East Asia? A new study of the Liujiang skeleton re-dates the earliest Homo Sapiens in China. The study has placed the skeleton's age - previously a matter of debate - at 33,000 to 23,000 years old. 💀
earthsky.org/human-world/li…

📸 Springer Nature.

Want to help fish migrate? Just ring a doorbell! 🐟

In Utrecht, the Netherlands, a boat lock is keeping fish from reaching their destinations. You can watch a livestream, and when you see a fish, ring the doorbell to open the lock!
earthsky.org/earth/fish-doo…

📸 Fish Doorbell.

Lisa Ann Fanning in Cape May, New Jersey, captured this interesting shot of a female osprey sitting on a telephone pole on April 26. Thank you, Lisa! 🐦📸

See more great photos in EarthSky Community Photos, and send us your own images, too!

earthsky.org/earthsky-commu…

Chantal Torchia in Old Bridge, New Jersey, captured this beautiful dandelion last Friday. 📸

Chantal wrote: 'Like a lot of spring things, they make me sneeze, but I think of them as a wish and then I don't care, they're beautiful.' Thank you, Chantal!

ecp.earthsky.org/community-phot…

Submit your questions! 🙋

The sun has been blasting off multiple X flares over the past few days. Is Solar Cycle 25 reaching a peak? We'll be speaking with heliophysicist Dr. C. Alex Young during our livestream tomorrow at 5:30pm CDT. ☀️

Watch here! youtube.com/watch?v=xrypqL…

Cute, fluffy, and smart - and good swimmers - otters are beloved animals that live in almost all parts of the world. They usually mate for life. But they face challenges. Read about otters, the lifeform of the week: earthsky.org/earth/otters-a…

Christy Mandeville saw this beautiful bird at sunset on Honeymoon Island, Florida, on April 24. Thank you, Christy! 🐦🌄📸

Visit EarthSky Community Photos to see more great images, and send us your own photos, too!

earthsky.org/earthsky-commu…

In the past day we had an X4.5 flare, an X1.1 flare and 11 M flares! Most of these events came from AR3663, which has high potential for flaring. Yesterday, people at mid-latitudes in Europe got to see auroras. We expect more geomagnetic activity today:
earthsky.org/sun/sun-news-a…

Osama Fathi captured this nighttime scene in White Desert, Egypt, on April 4. 🌌📸

Osama wrote: 'Milky Way shifting over the natural formations of White Desert, Egypt.' Beautiful, thank you, Osama!

See more great images in EarthSky Community Photos.

ecp.earthsky.org/community-phot…

Wow! Using the Webb telescope, astronomers analyzed the atmosphere of WASP-43 b, 283 light-years away. It's cloudy on its nightside, clear on its dayside and sizzling hot, with winds reaching 5,000 miles per hour. 🔥💨🌌

earthsky.org/space/webb-tel…

📸 NASA/ ESA/ CSA/ R. Crawford.

Join EarthSky's Marcy Curran for a 1-minute video preview of the planet Mercury's greatest elongation on March 9. That's when the innermost of the sun's planets will reach its greatest distance from the sunrise.

Watch it here: youtube.com/shorts/thRcqeQ…

Meet astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. On Monday, they'll become the 1st human crew to ride aboard Boeing's Starliner to the International Space Station. Godspeed, Suni and Butch!

Watch Monday's launch here: earthsky.org/spaceflight/bo…

📸 Robert Markowitz/ NASA.

Boeing's Starliner will begin its 1st crewed flight to the International Space Station tomorrow. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:34 p.m. EDT Monday (2:34 UTC on Tuesday, May 7) from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Watch the launch here: earthsky.org/spaceflight/bo…

📸 NASA

Long chains of spiral eddies in the clouds are von Kármán vortices. They're named after Theodore von Kármán, a Hungarian-American physicist who was the first to describe the physical processes that create them. Learn more at: earthsky.org/earth/these-ar…

📸 CIRA