The Keeble Observatory at Randolph-Macon College holds weekly public viewing during spring semester. Check their website ( or call the information line (804-752-3210) for dates and times.

The alignment only happens at special times, and that’s because the orbit of the Moon around the Earth is slanted with respect to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. The Moon crosses the orbital plane of the Earth twice and these are called nodes. When the nodes are near the full Moon or the new Moon, then you can have a lunar or solar eclipse.

SpaceX prepares for its first launch with Crew Dragon over Earth's North and South Poles to conduct medical experiments and photography.

As Earth's ever-present celestial companion, the moon exerts a constant influence on our planet, and its disappearance would be a massive shock to all life.

The world is hungry for renewable sources of energy, which has led some scientists to ask the question: what about the rotation of the Earth ... panels collect the Sun’s light, generators ...

Our planet's closest and brightest neighbor will pass approximately between the Earth and sun this week, in what's called an inferior conjunction.

The Earth’s axis is at right angles to the line from sun to Earth, the sun is directly over the equator and the lengths of day and night are approximately equal

Even though Venus moves between the Earth and sun every 19.5 months, it becomes visible after sunset and before sunrise only around every eight years, according to EarthSky. Typically, Venus orbits closer to the sun than Earth. Unable to view our graphics? Click here to see them.

That differs from what happened earlier in March during the lunar eclipse, when the Earth came between the sun and moon to block sunlight from reaching our celestial neighbor. During last year's ...