Every day, a ball of fire crosses the sky. This bizarre reality was so flabbergasting in ancient times that people could relate to it only with worship. The Aztecs and Egyptians were far from alone in regarding the Sun as a god. The Persians, Incas, and Tamils (of southern India) also elevated the Sun to […]
All week, and into next, there is a dance taking place on the celestial dome; the glittering partners move close to each other, change their positions, flirt with a crescent moon, and part. Tomorrow is the culmination of this winter’s unfolding relationship between brilliant planet Venus and radiant Jupiter: they arrive at conjunction – closest […]
“When you think about it, there aren’t many celestial objects that change color…. But now, on January 20, the Moon will have real color, deep color.” Bob Berman, Astronomer* The year begins with celestial dynamics that excite our appetite for beauty and spark our capacity for wonder. The most dramatic event is a total eclipse […]
The dark of night extends into morning most noticeably from today through mid-January: in our neighborhood, the Sun rises around 7:20am. It is the ideal time to observe planet Venus, the Morning Star, shining brightly high in the southeast as late as 7am. During the whole period of this post, civil twilight begins just half […]
This week, December’s Geminid shower is predicted to peak Thursday the 13th after 10pm into Friday the 14th before dawn, with 2am as optimum observing. For details about the Geminids, click here. To view the original Trouvelot lithograph in the exhibition, “Extreme Nature!”, at The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA, click here. Sunset, December […]
Consider that the Full Moon rises in an easterly direction at about the same time the Sun sets along the western horizon. The moon is visible all night and is equally lovely to observe the following morning, when the Full Moon sets along the western horizon as the Sun rises more or less opposite. Moving […]
Out for a walk one late afternoon on a recent weekend away from home, I looked up to appreciate the Sun. My senses were heightened in response to arriving on the sandy shore of the Great Paconic Bay that divides the North and South Forks of Long Island. As I played at the water’s edge, […]
The Summer Triangle, a majestic, nearly isosceles triangle shaped by three of the brightest stars visible at northern latitudes, is prominent in evening skies from June through December. Vega, Altair and Deneb – in descending order of brilliance – are so luminous that we can spot them in the deepening blue of twilight. http://earthsky.org/tonight/use-summer-triangle-to-locate-flat-plane-of-milky-way On […]
A waxing crescent moon appears to the upper left of planet Saturn in the south-southwest as darkness gathers tonight, the 15th. On the 16th, a half moon (first quarter) is suspended further left of Saturn, approaching red Mars, the most riveting point of light in the sky. By the 19th, a waxing gibbous (larger […]
When the great orange star, Arcturus, makes its debut in the east around the Spring Equinox, we look through bare trees in the darkness to see the distant sun rise above the horizon. The second brightest star in northern skies – next to Sirius – Arcturus is harbinger of warm weather. Now, as leaves change […]