Europe's Long, Hot Summer

I remember watching a thermometer climb past its usual mark and thinking how the sky itself keeps a kind of record, quietly, day after day. NASA reports that a series of heat waves through 2026 has done exactly that over Europe — breaking records and leaving a real mark on the land and the people living there.

This is an Earth-watching story more than a stargazing one, but the same instrument that tracks heat from orbit also tracks the sky we look up at each night. When the air stays warm and hazy for weeks, as it has this summer, it can dull the view of stars and planets for anyone watching from the ground, in Asia or anywhere else.

For the full account and the imagery behind it, read it at NASA.