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

An old Moon rose this morning, its waning sunlit crescent shining just above the eastern horizon before sunrise.

This festively colored skyscape was captured in the early morning hours of December 17, following Comet Wirtanen's closest approach to planet Earth. The comet was just visible to the eye.

On November 17, just an hour before sunrise, this bright and colorful meteor flashed through clear predawn skies.

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

You've probably seen a circle around the Sun before. More common than rainbows, ice halos, like a 22 degree circular halo for example, can be easy to spot, especially if you can shade your eyes from direct sunlight.

Bright meteors and dark night skies made this year's Perseid meteor shower a great time for a weekend campout.

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.