Nature photographers and other fans of planet Earth always look forward to the blue hour.

A crescent Moon is about to sink under the western horizon in this sea and night skyscape.

That's not a young crescent Moon poised above the hills along the western horizon at sunset.

The brief flash of a bright Perseid meteor streaks across the upper right in this composited series of exposures made early Sunday morning near the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower.

When is the best time to launch a probe to the Sun?

What's that spot next to the Moon? Venus.

At sunset look east not west. As Earth's dark shadow rises from the eastern horizon, faint and subtle colors will appear opposite the setting Sun.

What can you see in the night sky this summer?

The five naked-eye planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, have been seen since ancient times to wander the night skies of planet Earth.