"Did you know we get 16 sunrises and sunsets every day as we orbit Earth? They come and go quickly, but the colours are so intense! This dramatic, billowing cloud, captured at sunset, stood out with its incredible shades of orange. Nature is definitely an artist."
Credit: NASA/ESA – S. Adenot
Photo taken from space of a bank of clouds that takes up the top two-thirds of the picture. The bottom edge is colored orange due to the sunset light.
#PPOD: No, this photo, taken from the International Space Station, does not reveal a massive fire. Instead, the clouds reflect the sunset light, creating the illusion of flame. ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot captured this stunning view on April 9, 2026, posting: 🧪 🔭 👩🔬
skyandtelescope.org/stargazing-a...
"Chinese court astronomers reported a Lyrid outburst on March 16, 687 BC when "in the middle of the night, stars fell like rain."
Grab a blanket, find a dark place, take a stargazing buddy, and look up at the sky to experience one of the most beautiful shows space can give!
Photo of the nighttime surface of the Earth as seen from the ISS, with the glow of the edge of the atmosphere and stars above. Three fireballs streak toward the darkest part of the image, near the middle. Text: All eyes on the sky for the Lyrids Meteor Shower.
Starry background. Text: Fun Facts - the Lyrids have been observed since 687 BC! the Lyrids are known for fast, bright "fireball" meteors with glowing trails. the Lyrids are named after their radiant, Lyra, the harp constellation. Bottom: Graphic of the Lyra constellation with major stars and two Messier objects near by labeled.
Streaking fireballs litter the image in the upper left and bottom right corners. Text: What is a "fireball"? A fireball is a large asteroid or comet fragment that burns through the Earth's atmosphere. A fireball produces a dramatic flash in the sky. A fireball flash is bright enough to outshine Venus! What is a "radiant"? A radiant is the point from which the meteors appear to originate.
Photo of planet Earth from space against the blackness of space itself. Text: Viewing Tips - View up to 20 meteors per hour! Best viewed from: Northern Hemisphere. Peak Viewing Dates: April 21 & 22. Peak Viewing Times: Midnight - Dawn.
All eyes on the sky for the Lyrid Meteor Shower! ☄️
The Lyrid Meteor Shower is gearing up for its big show, and you don’t want to miss it! Peak viewing is today, April 21, and tomorrow, April 22. Expect up to 20 meteors per hour streaking across the darkness. 🧪 🔭
SETI Institute logo. Background: A hand reaches up, almost seeming to touch a swirling graphic of lights and dots with one finger. Text: SETI Institute launches research lab to explore the human dimensions of life beyond Earth.
PRESS RELEASE: www.seti.org/news/seti-in...
The SETI Institute announced the launch of the Discovery and Futures Lab, a new interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to understanding the global scientific, philosophical, and societal dimensions of discovering life beyond Earth. 🧪 🔭 👩🔬
Text: Tonight! 6:30 pm PT, SETI Institute virtual movie night. Screening: Small Town Universe followed by a Q&A with Ellie White and Jill Tarter. SETI Institute logo. Background: Space themed decorated graphics over a line drawing of the Green Bank Telescope. Inset: Photos of Ellie White and Jill Tarter.
🎬 Tonight's the night! We're screening Small Town Universe, followed by a Q&A with Ellie White and Jill Tarter, co-founder of the SETI Institute.
⏰ Webinar opens at 6:30 PM PT via Zoom — register at tinyurl.com/smalltownseti! 🧪 👩🔬
...and providing insight into the Moon’s geologic history.
Credit: NASA
Learn more: www.nasa.gov/image-articl...
A section of the Orientale Basin is visible in the upper-right portion of the lunar disk, its structure subtly revealed under grazing illumination. This lighting enhances contrast across the cratered terrain, highlighting variations in surface features...
The far side of the Moon seen from Artemis II, revealing a heavily cratered surface that is lit from the right side of the picture. The terminator runs from the bottom middle to the left middle, and craters along that line are sharper in detail.
#PPOD: In this photo taken on April 6, 2026, a portion of the Moon’s far side is seen along the terminator—the boundary between lunar day and night—where low-angle sunlight casts long shadows across the surface. 🧪 🔭
If we want a better shot at finding life currently living on Mars, we need to go underground. That is exactly the purpose of Orpheus, a proposed Mars vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) hopper mission put forth by Connor Bunn and Pascal Lee of the SETI Institute. 🧪
Learn more:
#ICYMI: On Friday, Franck spoke with Abigail Bohl and Lisa Kaltenegger about the 45 best planets to look for life as we know it. But first, Franck wanted to know what exoplanet system they would visit if they could. The answer? TRAPPIST-1. Watch the full interview: youtube.com/live/WGFMT4M... 🧪 🔭 👩🔬
...revealing the tectonic stresses that the moon has endured over millennia. The circular dark feature at the lower right is Callanish Crater.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing by Björn Jónsson
Learn more: science.nasa.gov/photojournal...
JunoCam took the image at an altitude of 1,521 kilometers above a region of the moon called Annwn Regio. In the image, the terrain beside the day-night boundary appears rugged, with pits and troughs. Numerous bright and dark ridges and bands stretch across a fractured surface...
Jupiter's icy moon Europa is lit from the right side of this photo and is about three-quarters lit. The surface is grey with numerous lines and scars and one round mark near the 4 o'clock position.
#PPOD: This view of Jupiter's icy moon Europa was captured by JunoCam, the public engagement camera aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft, during the mission's close flyby on Sept. 29, 2022. Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson processed the view to create this image. 🧪 🔭
@bettinaforget.bsky.social of the @setiinstitute.bsky.social Artist-in-Residence program gave an excellent presentation called "Making Contact: A Life Converging Art and Science" as part of the Tuscon Hard-Science SF Writers Readers Artists Zoom Group speaker series.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znxa...
Earlier this week, we announced our partnership with
@skymapper.bsky.social, and @allplanets.bsky.social gave a demonstration of the platform during a special #SETILive using a telescope in Chile from San Francisco. Watch the full episode: youtube.com/live/czTy4wD... 🧪 🔭 👩🔬
Not Just Aliens is the SETI Institute’s weekly series featuring scientists exploring astrobiology, heliophysics, planetary science, and more — expanding the search for life beyond Earth. And sometimes, we feature scientists looking for technosignatures!
Dr. Mace now works as a planetary astronomer for the Ring-Moon Systems Node of NASA's Planetary Data System – a long-term public archive of data returned from NASA's outer planetary missions, and from other flight and ground-based observations.
Learn more: www.seti.org/people/mia-m...
Text: #notjustaliens. Mia Mace, Planetary Rings / Solar System Dynamics. Background: Starry night sky. Inset: Photo of Mia Mace.
Text: Dr. Mia Mace’s scientific research interests lie in numerical modeling of planetary ring systems, and her doctoral work focused on developing code to simulate and analyze the dynamics of charged dust grains in Saturn’s rings in response to questions about ring rain and spokes. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets in front of it.
Text: Dr. Mace now works as a planetary astronomer for the Ring-Moon Systems Node of NASA's Planetary Data System – a long-term public archive of data returned from NASA's outer planetary missions, and from other flight and ground-based observations. Background: Starry night sky with graphics of a star and exoplanets.
SETI Institute logo. Graphics: (top) Black hole. (bottom) radio telescope dishes at the Allen Telescope Array. Background: Starry night sky.
Dr. Mia Mace’s scientific research interests lie in numerical modeling of planetary ring systems, and her doctoral work focused on developing code to simulate and analyze the dynamics of charged dust grains in Saturn’s rings in response to questions about ring rain and spokes. 🧪 🔭 👩🔬 #NotJustAliens
The image displays the Adorant, a prehistoric figurine carved from mammoth ivory. It is a small ivory plaque depicting a human-like figure with arms raised in a pose of adoration or worship. The reverse side features orderly sequences of notches and dots, which researchers suggest may represent an early precursor to written language or a structured communication system.
The recent discovery of 40,000-year-old notches carved into artifacts suggests that human writing began earlier than thought. Find out what this protowriting suggests about the emergence of complex thought on this week’s @bipisci.bsky.social. 🧪
Listen here: bigpicturescience.org/episodes/old...
SETI Live record button logo. Text: 45 Earth-like Worlds with Franck Marchis, Lisa Kaltenegger, and Abigail Bohl. Background: Artist's impression of a Jupiter-like exoplanet against the blue of a nebula. Inset background: An Earth-like world with continents, water, and clouds. Inset photos: (left) Lisa Kaltenengger, (middle) Franck Marchis, (right) Abigail Bohl.
A new study identifies 45 Earth-like worlds that may be our best chance to detect life beyond our solar system.
Join us LIVE with Franck Marchis, Lisa Kaltnegger, and Abigail Bohl as we explore what makes these planets so promising. 🧪 👩🔬
📅 April 17
⏰ 2:30 PM PDT
🔭 youtube.com/live/WGFMT4M...
The AIA image shows emission from another helium spectral line.
The remaining faint yellow glow of the corona is a result of the scattering of visible light from the Sun's surface on coronal electrons.
Credit: ESA/Proba-3/ASPIICS, NASA/SDO/AIA
Learn more: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Prominences can expand outwards from the Sun and ‘erupt’, breaking up and sending plasma in different directions. The eruptions were captured in the spectral line emitted by helium atoms, showing the solar atmosphere as a human eye would see it during a total eclipse through a yellow ASPIICS filter.
...and from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (solar disc in dark orange).
Seen at the 11 o'clock and 5 o'clock points are structures made of relatively cold plasma, known as prominences, although they are still around 10,000 degrees Celsius.
Against a dark background, the Sun’s disc is shown in dark orange, as captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. A thin halo of yellow light surrounds the Sun, giving it a luminous outline against the dark background of space. This yellow outline shows the Sun’s inner corona, as captured by Proba-3. Also in yellow, two solar prominence eruptions are visible, resembling bright yellow wave-like outburst extending outwards from the Sun -- a large one in the top left and a much smaller one in the bottom right.
#PPOD: The Sun’s inner corona, the hottest part of our star's atmosphere, appears faint yellow in this image taken by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard Proba-3. The image combines data from Proba-3’s ASPIICS coronagraph (inner solar corona in yellow)... 🧪 🔭
At the SETI Institute, more than 100 of us lead humanity’s quest to understand the origins and prevalence of life and intelligence in the universe and share that knowledge with the world. 🧪 🔭 👩🔬
Read our 2025 Q1 (yes, we know) activity report: www.seti.org/activity-rep...
SETI Institute logo. Text: Join us for the screening of Small Town Universe followed by a conversation with Jill Tarter & Ellie White. April 21, 2026, 6:30 pm PT. Inset photos: Jill Tarter and Ellie White. Background: Graphic of a green nebula above a line drawing of the Green Bank Telescope.
🎬 Join us for a free virtual screening of Small Town Universe, a documentary set in Green Bank, West Virginia, where the world's most sensitive radio telescope listens for signs of life beyond Earth. 🧪 🔭 👩🔬
📆 Tuesday, April 21st
⏰ 6:30 PM PT
💻 Streaming via Zoom
Register: buff.ly/IJI2ZUc
Then came the finale: about 6 hours before its closest approach, the comet reached a brightness of magnitude –0.6, and shortly after, it broke apart.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and the JWST MIRI team; Processing: Melina Thévenot
On April 4, it made its dramatic close approach, passing just 161,000 km (100,000 miles) above the Sun’s surface. As it neared, sunlight scattering briefly made it shine brighter—but the intense glare made it nearly impossible to spot.
