NEW YORK — It took me by surprise, realizing how similar window-shopping sparkly pieces of designer jewelry can feel to marveling at galaxies across our universe. Both require some distance, for example. To catch a glimpse of galaxies, you need to either stand on Earth and look through a telescope or download images to view on your computer — and often, while walking down a city street, the only thing separating you from exquisite jewelry in a store window is a big price tag and some thick glass. But these experiences share another layer as well: They tend to evoke an appreciation in you for something you cannot touch.

At the American Museum of Natural History here in New York, I had the pleasure of experiencing both at the same time.

Van Cleef and Arpels, a luxury French jewelry company, mirrors the wonders of our universe in human-made art with its new ” Cosmic Splendor” exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. Appropriately set in the museum’s Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals, visitors can step into a dark, twinkly room to view extraordinary necklaces, earrings and pieces that glitter with gems from Earth, made to represent the beauty of worlds beyond our home planet.

(Image credit: Jessica Rendall)

Walking into the exhibit, I was met with a dark room full of small lights meant to represent stars in a night sky. Mirrors throughout the room added to a reflective, expansive effect — a nod to the expanding universe, perhaps? I was also immediately engulfed in ethereal, space-infused music: tracks including David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Moon River” (versions by both Frank Ocean and Audrey Hepburn).

(Image credit: Jessica Rendall)

Pieces of jewelry created by Van Cleef and Arpels were kept in separate displays exhibiting different elements of our universe. A moon case, for instance, was filled with things like a broach and pendant dedicated to the only other world humankind has so far visited in the universe; other cases paid homage to the solar system’s beloved planets, galaxies besides the Milky Way and our very own star, the sun. Each held glittering, breathtaking pieces of jewelry made from Earth’s rocks and minerals. There was even a Zodiac display, which involved 12 constellations. It was a reminder of how many people have placed such significance in how the sun was aligned with them on the day of their birth.

(Image credit: Jessica Rendall)

One of my favorite pieces in the exhibit was the astre necklace from the Les Voyages Extraordinaires High Jewelry collection. The shimmering, snake-like piece blends bands of diamonds and sapphires that cascade down. The center gem is a large opal, glittering and bright, just like our sun.

(Image credit: Jessica Rendall)

I was also a big fan of the double galaxies saphir clips. Rubies and diamonds make for a pretty swirl of jewels “like stars in a spiral galaxy,” as described on the museum’s exhibit page . The design on each clip is similar yet slightly unique, with one clip centering on a mauve sapphire and the other swirling around a pink sapphire.

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(Image credit: Jessica Rendall)

Van Cleef and Arpels is known for its ” inexhaustible ” use of nature as inspiration for its jewelry, which include many floral and animal themes, as well as some astronomy -inspired pieces like these Planetarium watches . In a press release, Van Cleef and Arpels president and CEO Catherine Renier called the American Museum of Natural History the “perfect setting to share our profound fascination for the Cosmos.” The more-than 60 pieces currently being exhibited in New York are from collections of the High Jewelry Maison, which was founded in Paris in the early 1900s.

The exploration of life on Earth and beyond is a major focus at the museum. Down the hall from the Cosmic Splendor display, visitors can view the short Worlds Beyond Earth film , which outlines the perfect conditions Earth has for life compared to its inhospitable planet neighbors. There is also a Passport to the Universe space show, narrated by Tom Hanks and screening through June 5, which takes viewers through a black hole and other incredible aspects of our universe.

(Image credit: Jessica Rendall)

The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew’s zero-gravity indicator, “Joy,” the baby swan, was chosen for what it represents in India, Poland and Hungary, the astronauts’ home countries.

When an international astronaut crew lifts off on a commercial space mission this month, they will be joined by a स्वैन, a łabędź or a hattyú.

Or, in English, a swan.

The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) astronauts, including American commander Peggy Whitson, Indian pilot Shubhanshu Shukla and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, chose a small plush swan named “Joy” as their zero-gravity indicator. The doll, attached to a tether, will be released to float aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule, signaling that the Ax-4 crew safely made it into low Earth orbit.

“Joy, the baby swan, embodies the shared pursuit of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Hungarian to Orbit program (HUNOR) to soar high above our home planet,” reads Axiom Space’s description of the zero-g indicator. “In this way, Joy represents cultural unity as three nations realize the return to human spaceflight, together as one crew.”

The Ax-4 crew with their zero-g indicator, “Joy.” Left to right: Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu at a pre-launch briefing on June 3, 2025. (Image credit: Axiom Space)

The Ax-4 crew chose a swan because it symbolizes similar characteristics across their different countries.

“‘Joy’ represents the shared aspirations of three nations united in their return to human spaceflight,” said Whitson as she revealed the zero-g indicator during the crew’s pre-launch press briefing on Tuesday (June 3). “This one is rich in cultural symbolism. It stands for wisdom in India, resilience in Poland and grace in Hungary. Through ‘Joy,’ we’ll celebrate our diversity and our unity in the shared journey of space exploration.”

“In Indian culture, the swan is the vehicle of Goddess Saraswati, symbolizing wisdom, learning and purity,” said Shukla. “It is said to have the rare ability to separate milk from water, a symbolism that is a powerful reminder of discernment in an age of distraction. To carry the symbol is to carry the essence of our mission: pursuit of knowledge, clarity of purpose and grace under pressure.”

“The biggest journey is about to start in just couple of days. I still do not realize how big this moment will be,” said Uznański-Wiśniewski. “This will be such a joy, just as the name of our extra passenger in our Dragon and on the ISS.”

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The Ax-4 crew arrived at a baby swan after deciding they wanted it to be an animal, as inspired by the interests of one of their children.

“We wanted to go with with a dinosaur or a lion, but we just couldn’t find the right one,” said Kapu. “We were extremely happy when we found ‘Joy.'”

“Joy,” as named by Kapu, is otherwise known as “Alina Swan,” a part of Aurora’s “Adorable Palm Pals” line of pocket-size play dolls. Measuring all of 5 inches tall (12.7 centimeters), Joy/Alina is fluffy to the touch and is filled with bean pellets, such that (in a gravity environment) it sits in your hand or wherever you chose.

Aurora’s “Alina Swan” is now “Joy,” the Axiom Mission-4 (Ax-4) crew’s zero-gravity indicator for their launch to the International Space Station. (Image credit: Aurora)

Flying zero-g indicators is a tradition that can be traced back to the first human spaceflight in 1961. Soviet-era cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin brought a small doll with him on his Vostok mission to see it float. Since then, the Russian crews that followed Gagarin into Earth orbit flew small dolls, often chosen by their children.

The custom reached the United States with the introduction of crewed capsules after the end of the space shuttle program. Now, commercial spaceflights operated by SpaceX and Boeing, as well as NASA Artemis flights, include zero-g indicators.

Once at the International Space Station, Joy will join the Expedition 53 dolls, including “Droog,” a crocheted origami crane, flown by SpaceX’s Crew-10 and an angel blowing a horn selected by Russia’s Soyuz MS-27 crew.

“Joy” is also known as “Alina,” Aurora’s “Adorable Palm Pal” that (in gravity) is designed to sit in your hand. (Image credit: Axiom Space)

“A team that has joy is a team that is healthy,” said Kapu. “That has become my personal motto, because it captures the essence of this crew. We are focused, we are committed, but above all, we are joyful, and the joy is a sign of trust, resilience, and in my mind, friendship. So, in the spirit of sharing that joy, we wanted to bring one more crew member with us, a symbol of what holds us together.”

It is believed that “Joy” is the first swan to be used as a zero-g indicator. Northrop Grumman, an aerospace company that resupplies the space station for NASA, had swan dolls made in reference to its Cygnus series of cargo vehicles, but they were not used for the same purpose.

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Giant plumes of smoke and rivers of lava spew out of Mount Etna as it erupted on the island of Sicily.

On June 2, 2025 around 10 a.m. local time, residents of the island of Sicily began fleeing as Europe’s largest volcano suddenly erupted.

What is it?

Mount Etna’s eruption, captured by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, revealed massive plumes of ash and smoke, as lava streaked down the side of the volcano. The ash cloud rose to a height of 21,300 feet (6,500 meters), almost twice as high as Mount Etna itself, standing at 11,000 feet (3,350 m).

Data from the satellite also found sulfur dioxide in the plume as lava fountains flowed down Mount Etna’s eastern slope with a smaller flow to the south, according to ESA. The sulfur dioxide can create a volcanic smog that is hazardous to breathe.

Where is it?

Sitting on the eastern coast of Sicily, Italy, Mount Etna towers over the landscape below, with a diameter of 22 miles (35 kilometers).

The pyroclastic flow — a fast viscous mixture of gas, liquid ash and rock fragments — made it only a little over a mile (2 km) down the volcano, stopping in the Lion Valley, or Valle de Leone, which acts as a natural containment area. The flow traveled the entire distance in less than a minute at the eruption’s climax at 11:23 a.m. local time, according to the Associated Press.

Mount Etna erupted as huge smoke plumes and channels of lava streamed out of the Sicilian volcano. (Image credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2025), processed by ESA)

Why is it amazing?

Mount Etna has been erupting sporadically for centuries. Its volcanism has made for the stuff of legends, as one eruption is suggested to have held off the army of Carthage (now northern Africa) in 396 B.C., according to the Associated Press.

More recently, Mount Etna has been active in the past few months, with this eruption being the 14th episode since March 2025 after a 19-day lull. Experts consider this event a medium-sized eruption which probably started with the partial structural collapse of the southeastern crater. The authorities announced there was no danger to the public and no injuries were reported, though tourists hiking in the area began fleeing when rock and ash began exploding out of the volcano.

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ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite caught the eruption using its wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager that includes 13 spectral bands for imaging Earth’s vegetation and landscape, capturing historic moments like this one.

Want to learn more?

You can read more about Mount Etna’s eruptions captured from space satellites or seen from the International Space Station.

The Japanese company ispace is hoping to make some space history on Thursday (June 5), when it attempts to land a private spacecraft on the moon. But if you’re hoping to watch it live, you’ll need to know when and where to tune in.

The Resilience lander, the second-ever private ispace lunar probe, is on track for a midday landing in the northern reaches of the moon. Resilience is flying a mission of redemption for ispace, which failed a similar moon landing attempt with its first effort, called Hakuto-R Mission 1, in April 2023.

Here’s a look at what time ispace’s Resilience moon will attempt to land on June 5, how to watch it and what may happen during the mission.

What time will ispace’s Resilience land on the moon?

Currently, ispace’s Resilience moon lander is scheduled to land on Thursday, June 5, at 3:17 p.m. EDT (1917 GMT), though it will be 4:17 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Friday, June 6, at touchdown time. That landing time, announced in a June 4 update, is about 7 minutes earlier than ispace’s earlier target of 3:24 p.m EDT (1924 GMT),.

That landing time follows a specific timeline of events ispace has laid out to deliver Resilience to the lunar surface. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Resilience toward the moon on Jan. 15 along with the private Blue Ghost moon lander built by Firefly Aerospace. (Blue Ghost successfully landed in the moon’s Mare Crisium, or Sea of Crises, region on March 2.)

Unlike Blue Ghost, Resilience followed a “low energy transfer” path to reach the moon, which added months to the journey. It arrived in lunar orbit on May 6 and is finally ready for its landing attempt.

While ispace is targeting June 5 at 3:17 p.m. EDT (1917 GMT) for the moon landing, that time could actually change. The prime landing spot is in the middle of Mare Frigoris, or the “Sea of Cold,” on the near side of the moon’s northern hemisphere. If ispace decides to use a backup landing site (there are three in all), those attempts would occur on different days and times.

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“Should conditions change, there are three alternative landing sites that are being considered with different landing dates and times for each,” ispace wrote in an update on social media.

Can I watch ispace’s Resilience moon landing?

ispace SMBC x HAKUTO-R VENTURE MOON: Live Landing Coverage – YouTube Watch On

Yes, you’ll be able to watch ispace’s Resilience lander attempt to touch down on the moon live as it happens, and you’ll be able to pick which language you’d like to follow the mission when you do.

The livestreams will begin at 2:10 p.m. EDT (1810 GMT/3:10 a.m. JST on June 6) with the landing itself targeted for 3:17 p.m. EDT (1917 GMT; 4:17 a.m. JST on June 6).

ispace SMBC x HAKUTO-R VENTURE MOON 着陸生配信 – YouTube Watch On

“ispace will host a global live stream event with coverage of Resilience’s landing attempt on the moon on June 6, 2025 (JST) (June 5, 2025, depending on location),” ispace wrote in an announcement. “The coverage will be broadcast in Japanese with English translation provided.”

Both will be webcast via ispace’s YouTube channel, with the English broadcast here and the Japanese broadcast here.

Where will ispace’s lander touch down on the moon?

This map from ispace shows the prime landing site of the Resilience lander (bright red dot with white arrow) in the Sea of Cold region of the moon’s far northern hemisphere. Three backup landing sites are indicated in dark red. (Image credit: ispace (Japan))

The Resilience moon lander will attempt to land on a vast basalt plain in the moon’s near side northern hemisphere known as Mare Frigoris.

ispace targeted the same plain in 2023 when the company attempted to land its first moon lander on April 25 of that year. During that attempt, which crashed as mentioned above, ispace tried to land in Atlas Crater, which is 54 miles (87 kilometers) wide. ispace does not appear to be targeting the same crater for Resilience, which is also known as Hakuto-R Mission 2. (Hakuto-R is the name of ispace’s lunar exploration program as well as its line of robotic rovers.)

Instead, the lander is expected to touch down in the northern region of Mare Frigoris, with three potential backup landing sites, according to a map released by ispace before launch.

How long will ispace’s Resilience last on the moon?

The Japanese company ispace posted this photo of the moon’s south polar region, taken by its Resilience lunar lander, on X on May 22, 2025. (Image credit: ispace)

Once on the moon, ispace’s Resilience lander is expected to last about two weeks, or one lunar day. But the full mission, from launch on Jan. 15 to the end, will run about five months.

The spacecraft is equipped with solar panels to power its onboard instruments, and will spend that time conducting experiments with several payloads. They include the following:

Water Electrolyzer Experiment : An experiment built by air conditioning equipment manufacturer Takasago Thermal Engineering Co. to test technology to generate oxygen and hydrogen from moon water.

: An experiment built by air conditioning equipment manufacturer Takasago Thermal Engineering Co. to test technology to generate oxygen and hydrogen from moon water. Algae-based food production module : An experiment designed by Euglena Co. to test ways to grow algae on the moon as a potential source of food.

: An experiment designed by Euglena Co. to test ways to grow algae on the moon as a potential source of food. Deep Space Radiation Probe: A small detector that has been monitoring radation levels on Resilience throughout its months-long mission.

An ispace engineer inspects the “Tenacious” micro rover in the payload bay of the company’s lunar lander, Resilience. (Image credit: ispace)

Resilience is also carrying a microrover called Tenacious, which was built by ispace’s European subsidiary. If all goes well, the rover will be deployed on the surface to test its camera and sample-collection shovel for future sample return missions.

The Tenacious rover is also carying a work of art called “Moonhouse,” a small red house designed by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg, as part of a cultural program for the mission.

The small “Moonhouse” designed by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg on the Tenacious moon rover riding on ispace’s Resilience moon lander. (Image credit: ispace)

Finally, Resilience is carrying a commemorative plate provided by Bandai Namco Research Institute, Inc. with an inscription based on the fictional document “Charter of the Universal Century” from the famed Japanese manga and science fiction series Gundam.

What if ispace’s Resilience can’t land on the moon on June 5?

Fly me to the Moon 🎵🌝RESILIENCE status: nominal Distance above the Lunar surface: ca. 100 km Current orbital phase: Low lunar orbit, traveling at ca. 5,800 km/h RESILIENCE remains in a circular orbit as landing day approaches. This video was captured from lunar orbit by… pic.twitter.com/Ll7FCudqL5June 4, 2025

While ispace is hoping for a smooth landing of Resilience on June 5, it is possible the company may wave off the lunar touchdown due to technical or other concerns.

As a way to prepare for that, ispace has identified three different backup landing sites, all of them in the Sea of Cold, that the company could redirect Resilience to if its primary landing site is unavailable.

If ispace does decide to pursue a backup landing, the lunar touchdown would occur on a later day and time than targeted, the company has said. Exactly what day and when those attempts could occur is unclear, but we’ll keep you posted if the situation arises.

Editor’s note: This story, originally posted on June 3, was updated on June 4 to include the new landing time and backup landing site options for ispace’s Resilience lander.

Since 1986 I have had an affiliation with the Hayden Planetarium in New York. My “official” title there is “Associate and Guest Lecturer.” Indeed, through all of these years I given scores of presentations in Hayden’s famous domed Space Theater and for several years even taught a course in introductory meteorology. Of late, among my duties is to interact with the mainstream media as well as members of the general public. If a question on astronomy or space is received either via email or snail mail, it will usually be forwarded to me for a response.

Recently, a handwritten letter on ruled looseleaf paper was forwarded to me, written by young lady named Ariana. She wrote:

“Thank you for taking and reading my letter. I am 9 years old and interested in space. I study rockets, biology, maps and energy. I even have a list of how to become an astronaut! I also have a question: Why do stars flicker at night?”

Our tempestuous atmosphere

I’m sure that most of us have noticed the “flickering” effect (as Ariana put it) of stars in our night sky. And we’ve all heard of the 19th century poem penned in 1806 by the British poet, Jane Taylor, with the simple title of “The Star,”:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Some people probably believe that the twinkling effect is produced by the stars themselves, but that is not the case at all. As I explained in my reply to Ariana, if she were an astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS). and looked out a window at the sky, she would immediately notice that the stars weren’t flickering at all. In fact, they would all appear to shine with a steady glow. That should be a clue to why stars appear to twinkle, since the ISS orbits 254 miles (409 km) above the Earth — and its tempestuous atmosphere.

The twinkling effect is caused by the unstable state of the air through which a star’s light must pass to reach our eyes. Especially near the ground, the air is almost always turbulent; cold and warm air currents mixing together can produce an effect like the “heat waves” seen along a highway on a warm summer afternoon, which can cause the scenery beyond to blur and quiver.

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Interestingly, while on some nights, a sky spangled with twinkling stars might seem to the average person like a spectacular backdrop for astronomers, it is quite the contrary. It is an indicator of a very unstable atmosphere; awful if you were trying to get steady views peering through a telescope.

Non-twinklers

Incidentally, one way that you can tell the difference between a star and a planet in the night sky is that planets do not appear to twinkle, or at least not very much. Unlike a star whose narrow rays of light are readily distorted by our turbulent ocean of air, planets appear significantly larger in apparent size. Rather than pinpoints of light, they appear through telescopes as disks which shine with a steady, non-twinkling light. This is especially evident with the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, which look like very bright and steady silvery lights in the night sky with the unaided eye.

But it can be a much different story when we speak of the bright stars, especially in the case of the brightest one of all, Sirius.

A multicolored display

Sirius is special, not so much that it is at the top of the list of the 21 brightest stars in the sky, but it also out-dazzles its nearest competitor, Canopus, the second brightest star by 0.8 of a magnitude. Put another way, in terms of ratio of brightness, Sirius appears more than twice as bright as Canopus. The lower the figure of magnitude, the brighter the star and Sirius is one of only four stars seen from our earthly perspective with a negative magnitude (-1.45). It is also nine times more brilliant than a standard first magnitude star; we can attribute its superior brilliance to the fact that at a distance of 8.6 light-years, it is the fifth nearest star known. That’s “only” 550,000 times more distant than our own sun — right across street (so to speak) so far as the universe is concerned.

Its very name appears to be derived directly from the Greek word for “sparkling” or “scorching.” Another thing that makes Sirius stand out is its color: brilliant white but also shining with a definite tinge of blue.

For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, Sirius has always been associated with wintertime. As Robert Burnham, Jr. writes in Volume One of his Celestial Handbook: “To Americans the coming of Sirius heralds the approach of the Christmas season and conjures up visions of sparkling frosty nights and snow-laden fir trees.”

And yet, we are now approaching mid-spring, seemingly well past the “prime-time” for viewing Sirius. But it is now that this lustrous stellar jewel will be putting on its best show for evening skywatchers.

As was noted earlier, our atmosphere, especially near to the horizon, can be especially turbulent. In the case of bright stars, particularly close to the horizon, they can seem to splinter momentarily into all the colors of the rainbow.

But no star can rival Sirius, which scintillates with such prismatic colors in such a remarkable way. Martha E. Martin wrote in her 1907 book “The Friendly Stars” (Revised with Donald H. Menzel in 1964), that you can watch Sirius, “twinkling fast and changing with each motion from tints of ruby to sapphire and emerald and amethyst.”

When and where to look

To get your best view of the “Sirius show,” you should find a location that will afford you a clear and unobstructed view of the west-southwest horizon.

In the table below, we provide times when Sirius will be sitting only a mere 5 degrees above the horizon. Your clenched fist held at arm’s length measures 10 degrees in width, so here, at the selected times in our table, we’re talking about Sirius appearing no higher than “half a fist up” from above the west-southwest horizon. Also listed is the time of the ending of nautical twilight, when the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon and the background sky is still reasonably dark.

Swipe to scroll horizontally Optimal dates for viewing a scintillating Sirius Date Twilight ends Sirius 5 degrees up April 25 8:50 p.m. 9:50 p.m. April 28 8:54 p.m. 9:38 p.m. May 1 8:58 p.m. 9:26 p.m. May 4 9:02 p.m. 9:14 p.m. May 6 9:04 p.m. 9:06 p.m.

Take note especially of the “scintillating effect” of such a bright star hovering so close to the horizon. And if you want to enhance it, then use binoculars or even a telescope at low power; the smoldering colors can be quite striking.

Those who cast a casual early evening gaze toward Sirius these next couple of weeks might mistake it for a distant drone or even a UFO. After May 6, it will rapidly slide down into the sunset fires and likely will end its evening visibility on, or about May 11.

Sirius will then remain out of sight for about three months, until it finally reappears just above the east-southeast horizon amidst the dawn twilight in mid-August. Although it will be just past mid-summer by then, its emergence from the glare of the rising sun will serve as a celestial prologue to the much colder nights that lie ahead in the weeks and months to come.