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  • Is there a planetary conjunction visible in Kentucky? See moon, Venus, Regulus in September

    Three celestial bodies will be meeting up for one night in September in a cosmic party that should be widely visible in the sky, including in Kentucky.

    The moon and Venus will soon be joined by the star Regulus for a brief rendezvous known as a conjunction, NASA said in a monthly skywatching guide. The upcoming close approach of the objects represents another opportunity for skygazers to see a conjunction soon after Venus and Jupiter shared a section of the night sky for much of August.

    What makes the close approach of the objects so special this time around? Well, the moon-planet-star trio are among the brightest objects in our solar system, meaning the impending conjunction should be incredibly easy to spot for even the most amateur astronomers.

    Here’s what to know about the Venus-moon-Regulus conjunction, and how to see the three bright objects this month.

    What is a planetary conjunction?

    A conjunction is an astronomical event in which at least two planets – or, in this case, other celestial bodies – appear to our vantage from Earth to be close together in the sky.

    Even though the planets are in reality still tens of millions of miles apart, the events present a special opportunity for astronomers and casual stargazers to see multiple worlds in our solar system at one time.

    So what causes conjunctions to take place?

    As planets in our solar system orbit the sun at varying speeds, sometimes their orbital paths bring them close together on the same side of the sun. The same can be said of the moon, which instead orbits Earth.

    When this event lines up with our view from Earth, we get a conjunction, according to the nonprofit Planetary Society.

    When is Venus, moon, Regulus conjunction?

    The waning crescent moon and the brilliant planet Venus appear close together in the dawn sky in this Nov. 9, 2023, photo made through an 8-inch telescope. The two bodies will pair up again at dawn on Sept. 19 when the bright star Regulus will also appear near them.

    The upcoming conjunction will be a party between the moon – Earth’s only natural satellite – as well as Venus and a star named Regulus in the constellation Leo. The second planet from the sun, Venus is often referred to as Earth’s twin since both bodies are rocky and share a similar orbit.

    The trio of celestial objects in conjunction should be visible Friday, Sept. 19, after sunset and before sunrise.

    Where, how to see celestial conjunction in September night sky

    Sky chart showing a conjunction between the moon, Venus, and Regulus in the eastern sky before sunrise on September 19, 2025

    Sky chart showing a conjunction between the moon, Venus, and Regulus in the eastern sky before sunrise on September 19, 2025

    For those in the Northern Hemisphere, which includes the U.S., spotting the conjunction is as easy as locating the moon.

    Look east in the early pre-dawn hours toward the waning crescent moon as it sets in the sky. The moon will be located near Venus and Regulus, Chelsea Gohd, a science communicator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, explained in a video.

    September 2025 astronomy events: When is the September full moon? Will skies be clear? See when it peaks in Kentucky

    Do you need a telescope to see Venus, moon, Regulus conjunction?

    While telescopes certainly will enhance the view, spectators don’t necessarily need any equipment to spot Venus, the moon and Regulus in the pre-dawn sky from the Northern Hemisphere.

    That’s because after the sun, Venus and the moon are the two brightest objects in our night sky. Furthermore, Regulus is regarded as one of the brightest stars visible to Earth.

    Seek out locations with unobstructed views of the horizons and check the weather forecast to ensure skies will be clear.

    USA TODAY reporter Eric Lagatta contributed. Reach Marina Johnson at Marina.Johnson@courier-journal.com. 

    This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: September 2025 planetary conjunction: Moon, Venus and bright star to unite in sky

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  • Last-Minute Software Patch Saves Jupiter Probe Ahead of Critical Venus Flyby

    An exceptionally heavy interplanetary probe is on an eight-year journey to Jupiter, using the gravity of Earth and Venus to propel it on its path toward the gas giant. Just weeks before its scheduled flyby of Venus, the European Space Agency’s JUICE mission went silent, threatening its ability to perform the planetary encounter.

    Unable to communicate with the spacecraft, teams of engineers got to work on figuring out the problem under a tight schedule, hoping their efforts would reach JUICE as it cruises millions of miles away.

    JUICE, or JUpiter ICy moons Explorer, is currently on its way to Venus to perform a gravity assist maneuver on August 31, following the resolution of a pesky software glitch that had weakened the spacecraft’s signal. Mission control managed to reestablish communication with the spacecraft just in time to prepare it for its upcoming flyby, pulling off an impressive recovery of the mission as it heads toward its target.

    Waiting not an option

    The team detected the anomaly on July 16 as JUICE was flying above a ground station in Cebreros, Spain. ESA’s deep space antenna was unable to establish contact with the spacecraft, raising concerns that JUICE was in a dreaded survival mode triggered by multiple onboard system failures.

    “Losing contact with a spacecraft is one of the most serious scenarios we can face,” Angela Dietz, JUICE spacecraft operations manager, said in a statement. “With no telemetry, it is much more difficult to diagnose and resolve the root cause of an issue.”

    The spacecraft would automatically reset in 14 days, but the team could not wait that long and risk missing JUICE’s scheduled encounter with Venus. “Waiting was not an option. We had to act fast.” Dietz added. “Waiting two weeks for the reset would have meant delaying important preparations for the Venus flyby.”

    Instead, the team of engineers behind the mission began to blindly send commands toward JUICE’s presumed location in space. That proved to be challenging, as the spacecraft is currently located 124 million miles (200 million kilometers) away on the other side of the Sun. Each rescue signal would take 11 minutes to reach the spacecraft, and the team would then have to wait another 11 minutes to hear back from JUICE.

    The dreaded software timing bug

    Nearly 20 hours later, a command signal finally reached the spacecraft, triggering a response. Thankfully, the team found JUICE in good condition, and no system failures were detected.

    As it turns out, a software timing bug caused JUICE’s signal to become too weak to detect from Earth. JUICE has built-in software that switches its signal amplifier on and off using an internal timer. The timer restarts from zero once every 16 months, but if the software happens to be using the timer at the same moment it restarts, then the signal amplifier remains switched off, silencing JUICE’s calls to Earth.

    The team was able to resolve the issue and is now devising ways to ensure JUICE’s signal is always heard across deep space. “We have identified a number of possible ways to ensure that this does not happen again, and we are now deciding which solution would be the best to implement,” Dietz said.

    JUICE launched on April 14, 2023, carrying a suite of remote sensing, geophysical, and in situ instruments to explore Jupiter and its three ocean-bearing moons—Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. The 13,227-pound (6,000-kilogram) spacecraft is expected to arrive at the gas giant system in 2031, using a series of gravity assists to pick up speed. This week’s Venus flyby is the second of four planned gravity assist maneuvers.

    JUICE will also use Earth to reach its required transfer velocity through an upcoming flyby in September 2026 and another one planned for January 2029.

    Passant Rabie

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  • NASA beams Missy Elliott song to Venus

    NASA beams Missy Elliott song to Venus

    Missy Elliott lyrics blasted off into space as NASA transmitted her song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” 158 million miles from Earth to Venus, the space agency said Monday. 

    It took nearly 14 minutes for the hip-hop track to reach its destination. The Missy Elliott song is the second song ever transmitted into deep space, following up on the Beatles’ “Across the Universe” in 2008. 

    “My song ‘The Rain’ has officially been transmitted all the way to Venus, the planet that symbolizes strength, beauty and empowerment,” Missy Elliott said in a social media post. “The sky is not the limit, it’s just the beginning.”

    There actually is rain on Venus, though because temperatures reach 860 degrees Fahrenheit, the drops, which fall from clouds made of sulfuric acid, evaporate “back into a never ending toxic cloud,” according to NASA. 

    Rolling Stone ranked “The Rain” one of its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” in 2021. The 1997 song debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 129,000 copies sold in the first week of release.

    The singer is in the middle of her “Out of This World” tour. Venus is her favorite planet, according to NASA. 

    “Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art have been about pushing boundaries,” said Brittany Brown, director of the Digital and Technology Division of NASA’s Office of Communications. “Missy has a track record of infusing space-centric storytelling and futuristic visuals in her music videos, so the opportunity to collaborate on something out of this world is truly fitting.”

    NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California sent transmission into space at 10:05 a.m. PDT on Friday, according to NASA. They used the space agency’s Deep Space Network, which has an array of giant radio antennas, to beam the song toward Venus. The song was transmitted at the speed of light.

    While the Beatles and Missy Elliott songs are the only ones that have been transmitted into deep space, music has been launched into outer space before. “The Sounds of Earth,” also known as the “Golden Record,” was sent into space on Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft in 1977 as part of a message “intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials,” according to NASA. The phonograph record was a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk with music from Bach, Chuck Berry, Mozart, Beethoven and more.

    Aliza Chasan

    Aliza Chasan is a Digital Content Producer for “60 Minutes” and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.

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  • WTF Fun Fact 13677 – A Day on Venus

    WTF Fun Fact 13677 – A Day on Venus

    A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus. Yes, you read that right. But before your brain does a somersault trying to wrap itself around this fact, let’s break it down into bite-sized chunks.

    A Long Day on Venus

    First off, let’s talk about planetary rotation. A rotation is how long it takes for a planet to spin once around its axis. For Earth, that’s what gives us a 24-hour day. Venus, on the other hand, takes its sweet time. It rotates once every 243 Earth days.

    That’s right. If you were standing on Venus (ignoring the fact that you’d be crushed, suffocated, and cooked), you’d experience sunlight for about 116.75 Earth days before switching to an equal length of pitch-black night. That’s one slow spin, making its day extraordinarily long.

    Orbiting on the Fast Track: Venus’s Year

    Now, flip the script and consider how long it takes Venus to orbit the Sun, which is what we call a year. Venus zips around the Sun in just about 225 Earth days. This is where things get really interesting. Venus’s year (its orbit around the Sun) is shorter than its day (one complete rotation on its axis).

    Imagine celebrating your birthday and then waiting just a bit longer to witness a single sunrise and sunset.

    The Why Behind the Sky: Understanding the Peculiar Pace

    So, why does Venus have such an unusual relationship with time? It all comes down to its rotation direction and speed. It’s is a bit of a rebel in our solar system; it rotates clockwise, while most planets, including Earth, rotate counterclockwise. This is known as retrograde rotation.

    Scientists have a few theories about why Venus rotates so slowly and in the opposite direction. One popular theory is that a massive collision early in the planet’s history could have flipped its rotation or altered it significantly. Another theory suggests gravitational interactions with the Sun and other planets over billions of years have gradually changed its rotation speed and direction.

    Regardless of the cause, Venus’s leisurely pace and quirky orbit give it the unique distinction of having days longer than its years. This fact not only makes Venus an interesting topic of study for astronomers but also serves as a fascinating reminder of the diversity and complexity of planetary systems.

    — WTF fun facts

    Source: “Interesting facts about Venus” — Royal Museums Greenwich

    WTF

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  • BOSSIP Horoscopes: Week Of January 21

    BOSSIP Horoscopes: Week Of January 21

    The new week is here and we’re back with a brand new set of horoscopes to help you plan for the week ahead by checking what the stars have in store!

    Source: iOne Digital / Tommy de Yampert

    Here’s another week of astrological forecasts, courtesy of our favorite — Psychic Zya.

    Astro Overview:

    This week brings some powerful transits starting with Pluto sliding into Aquarius over the past weekend on the 20th bringing with it a long fiery streak of chaotic change. Brace yourselves my love – this transit remains for the next 20 years.

    Next up your girl Venus moves into Capricorn from January 23, 2024, to February 16, 2024. This is an amazing transit for getting to the bag and creating fruitful new partnerships. It’s a great time to do self-love and glamour rituals to make yourself more attractive romantically. Why? Because Capricorn energy – is a “get it done and done well!” Type of vibe.

    The underdog is also exalted in this position.

    Finally on the 25th we have a Full Moon in Leo which is great for being seen, and taking up space which is a bit abrasive to the collaborative energy of a Sun currently transiting Aquarius.

    In general you must be careful of emotional outbursts and being overly reactionary to world events that truly don’t affect your daily life.

    Alrighty, let’s see what the week has in store for you.

    Did you know that you can book a psychic reading with ZYA at ASKZYA.COM?

    Bossip Horoscopes Source: iOne Digital / Tommy de Yampert

    CAPRICORN:

    For those of you who have been privately going through battles that very few know about, your Spirit guides want you to know that relief is on the horizon this week. Yes you will still have some lingering skirmishes but all will be sunny by Spring.

    RED FLAGS: Stand in your truth especially with family and work bullies. This is not the time to back down to keep the peace when you know you’re in the right. Just be diplomatic but don’t cower.

    SWEET SPOT: If you’ve been thinking of sprucing up your home – add bright neon or jewel tones and bring in some air cleaning plants like Snake plants.

    Keep reading for more BOSSIP horoscopes!

    Psychic Zya

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  • BOSSIP Horoscopes: Week Of January 14

    BOSSIP Horoscopes: Week Of January 14

    The new week is here and we’re back with a brand new set of horoscopes to help you plan for the week ahead by checking what the stars have in store!

    Source: iOne Digital / Tommy de Yampert

    Here’s another week of astrological forecasts, courtesy of our favorite — Psychic Zya.

    Astro Overview:

    Aquarius energy is coming in hot this week with the Sun moving into this ubiquitous sign on the 20th causing a serious thirst for knowledge, innovation and originality. Pluto takes this energy to the next level by also moving into Aquarius on this day, bringing with it a strong forecast of major upheaval especially in the political area.

    This energy also causes major shifts in our friends circle, our consciousness expands and we create unusual allyships – or at least they look “unnusual” from the outside.

    Allow yourself to follow your heart, participate in something out of the ordinary and take part in sweeping change for the greater good.

    Alrighty, lets see what’s in store for you this week.

    Did you know that you can book a psychic reading with ZYA at ASKZYA.COM?

    Bossip Horoscopes Source: iOne Digital / Tommy de Yampert

    CAPRICORN:

    Many of you have been feeling the urge to make radical changes across many areas of your life. And Spirit wants you to follow that energy fully and with no apologies (along as you’re not abandoning core responsibilities to children/spouses) because for Caps you all have entered a period of tremendous change. But keep it classy and do damage control as much as you can while wrecking the status quo. And don’t worry, by this time next year the dust will have settled beautifully.

    RED FLAGS: Someone is gonna test your boundaries this week – and I mean HAAAAARD. Stay firm while keeping it cordial.

    SWEET SPOT: Start doing some protection rituals in your home space such as hanging a Hand of Fatima above your doorway and getting into a daily practice of saging your environment.

    Keep reading for more BOSSIP horoscopes!

    Psychic Zya

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