Eyes to the Sky January 25 – February 7, 2020 Sirius, The Big Dog and Thor’s Helmet Above: Thor’s Helmet, NGC2359 Emissions nebula. Astrophotography by Mario Motta, MD. All Rights Reserved Below: The constellation Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star. The constellation suggests the outline of a dog, sometimes fancied to be the dog […]

Eyes to the Sky January 4 – 17, 2021 Early nightfall and late sunup beckon to stargazers before days lengthen The last of the longest nights of the year are bookended by planet Venus taking final bows in early morning twilight in the southeast and planets Jupiter and Saturn poised at the edge of the […]

Eyes to the Sky Jupiter and Saturn closest meeting in centuries on the 21st: get ready! Artist’s concept of Jupiter and Saturn in December of 2020, as viewed from a space-based perspective. Their conjunction will be December 21. See the moon in this drawing? It’ll be along our line of sight to the planets around […]

EYES TO THE SKY November 30 – December 13, 2020 Full Snow Moon rises this afternoon, winter stars follow, planets delight November 30, 2020 at 7:25pm. Orion rises earlier every night going forward, e.g. 6pm on the 13th. Red arc represents the Milky Way. Image: Judy Isacoff/StarryNight The Full Snow Moon rises above the east-northeast […]

Eyes to the Sky November 2 – 15, 2020 Big sky, long night Evening sky circa 7pm. November 2, 2020. See gibbous moon rise first, then Taurus the Bull’s brightest star, Aldebaran. Constellations and planets approximate positions November 2 – 15. Moonrise later every night. Illustration: Judy Isacoff/Starry Night Night is fast overtaking day. During […]

Eyes to the Sky October 6 – 18, 2020 Planet Mars Will Surprise You A rusty-gold star-like celestial body shines suspended above the eastern skyline at nightfall. It is heaven’s celebrity of the month. Even though I knew that planet Mars is predicted to be at that location after sunset, a rush of surprise overcame […]

EYES TO THE SKY September 8 – 20, 2020 Planets shine all night – brilliant morning planets SUN, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune Artist’s rendition of our solar system. (Not to scale.) (Image: © NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech) In the evening sky, planets Jupiter and Saturn shine side by side in the south. […]

Jupiter and Saturn all night, Venus daybreak Astrophotographer Mihail Minkov’s Star Catcher placed first in the International Dark Sky Association’s “Connecting to the Dark” category of IDA’s first annual photography competition, “Capture the Dark”. Minkov accompanied the photograph with this statement: “I have a four-year-old daughter. She is fascinated by the planets, stars and the Milky Way. […]

Eyes to the Sky  June 15 – 28, 2020 Summer Solstice – June 20, 2020 Every day is Sun day for the month of June, when the Sun is up for 15 hours plus a few minutes most days and darkness prevails, most days, for a few minutes less than 9 hours. The longest days of the […]

Eyes to the Sky May 18 – 31, 2020 Summer stars rise as winter stars set. Venus and Mercury meet this week Summer Triangle rising with the Milky Way, pictured here as a red band., Deneb, in the northeast, marks the left corner. May 19 at 10:45 p.m. Diagram Judy Isacoff/Starry Night One month before […]

EYES TO THE SKY April 20 – May 3, 2020 Not to be missed: International Dark Sky Week programs reach us at home. Now in progress, International Dark Sky Week IDSW, April 19-26: The International Dark-Sky Association invites us — with a special nod to homebound families — to engage with dynamic authors, educators, artists, […]

Eyes to the Sky March 16 – 29, 2020 Scroll down this link FOR VIDEO > SET-UP TO RUN Find Orion and tell “Globe at Night” Here’s how: Tonight’s waning last quarter (half) moon rises at 2:19am, well positioned for moonlight not to interfere with evening stargazing. From today, March 16, through next Tuesday, March […]

Eyes to the Sky February 18 – March 1, 2020 Crescent moon, planets to bedazzle the dawn, dusk     The most alluring two weeks in the Moon’s cycle are about to begin. Each morning this week, one crescent moon after another – one more delicate than the one before – drops down a slanted […]

Eyes to the Sky February 4 – 16, 2020 Planet Venus dazzles, New York stargazers defy light pollution Light Pollution Map of Lower Manhattan, marked by two red pins, and environs. Blue to purple areas are the least light polluted, yellow to red the most. www.lightpollutionmap.info While we were looking the other way, the dazzle […]

Eyes to the Sky January 21 – February 2, 2020 Cygnus the Swan Soars as Summer Triangle sets From south-southwest to northwest, stars and planet Venus on January 21 close to 6pm.I mage has been brightened to make words more readable, actual sky color will be darker, celestial objects brighter. The Summer Triangle’s long season in […]

Eyes to the Sky     January 6 – 19, 2020 Sun’s New Year, dawn and dusk planets   Click to Watch Since the winter solstice, December 21, I have been particularly attentive to the Sun as it sets into the skyline to the southwest. Even though I know that the Sun is setting about a minute […]

EYES TO THE SKY December 9-22, 2019 Venus and Saturn, Full Cold Moon Winter Solstice Today’s sunset, earliest of the year, down to the second, is at 4:28:30pm. Sunset time is seconds later beginning tomorrow, until it is nearly one minute later, 4:29:27 on December 15. Afternoons will be noticeably lighter by month’s end. Sunrise […]

EYES TO THE SKY  November 25 – December 8, 2019 Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Moon at dusk. Mars, Mercury dawn   Innermost planet Mercury puts on its best morning display of the year for Northern Hemisphere observers from late November to early December.  This looping animation shows the changing configuration of Mercury, Mars and Virgo’s brightest […]

EYES TO THE SKY November 12 – 24, 2019 Transit of Mercury yesterday, Venus and Jupiter meet on the 24th Mercury Emerges: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory took this image of the May 9, 2016 Mercury transit’s final minutes with its Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system – slightly larger than […]

Eyes To the Sky October 28 – November 10 Worldview: Origin of our Sun, solar system, ourselves “Fly Like An Eagle” Nebula imaged by Astrophotographer Terry Hancock, Grand Mesa Observatory and Down Under Observatory. All rights reserved. During the dark time of year here in the northeast, our visual environment is more of the moon […]