The Summer Triangle, an impressive star pattern shaped by three bright stars, is visible high in the southeast as twilight deepens and is prominent all night. In the evening sky, the Summer Triangle hovers above Mars, the not-to-be-missed brightest celestial body – excepting the moon – in the southeastern sky. Altair, the lowest star...
See streaks of light dart through a field of stars glittering in darkness. Streaks of light with long and lasting trails stir eyes, heart and voice to heaven’s touch. One of the greatest shows of the season here on planet Earth is underway right now; it is the Perseid meteor shower. A meteor is...
The culmination of an extraordinary celestial event is underway. Look to the southeast at nightfall: a glowing golden orb rising above the skyline will bewilder you if you have not seen planet Mars recently. Distinctly yellowish and shining at a magnitude of -2.75 today, Mars reaches peak brilliance (-2.78m) from the 26th through the 28th,...
In early twilight, within half an hour of sunset when the western sky is pale blue, planet Venus turns our heads to receive its brilliant light, now 15 degrees above the horizon. Tonight, the 9th, Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion, is in conjunction with Venus: when twilight deepens, see “the...
In a country cabin on a clear night last week, I was on my way to bed at about 11 o’clock when I made a detour to the front door. If the stars and planets are so bright that you spot them from a window, the allure of the rest of the sky is irresistible,...
When we look up to the night sky we see beyond Earth’s protective atmosphere to the planets in our solar system and the universe of stars that comprise our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy. Observatory Director, Dr. Eileen Ryan, explains this image, “I’m observing with the telescope from the control room in the observatory building....