Recently, I had the opportunity to give a presentation on this very subject at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. It’s a fine museum with splendid displays on paleontology, geology, astronomy, pioneer history, Native American ethnology, photography and more. I had the privilege of working there in its Taylor Planetarium for 10 years [...]
If we could travel back in time several thousand years to observe the night sky, we would notice two main differences compared to the night skies of today.
The most obvious would be the lack of a sky glow produced by a myriad of outdoor lights. This glow washes out the richness and beauty of [...]
Most mornings at 6:05 a.m. you’ll find me standing at a bus stop, patiently awaiting the arrival of the bus that brings me to work. Not a bad ride, actually. What would normally be a 25 minute drive is a 45 minute trip, during which I have the freedom to read a book, be online [...]
There are two full moons in December. By modern convention, the second full moon in a calendar month is called a blue moon. So, New Year’s Eve party goers can celebrate a blue moon followed by a New Year. However, this definition of a blue moon results from a mistake made in an article published [...]
The Leonid meteor shower peaks at 9:00 a.m., MST, on Tuesday, November 17th.
There are predictions that observers in Asia may see several hundred meteors around the peak hour. However, under normal conditions, this shower produces 15-20 meteors per hour around peak time, so the best time to look for Leonid meteors would be the pre-dawn [...]
Today is the day. Autumn is finally here. The autumal equinox occurs at 3:18 pm on Tuesday, September 22. The Sun is crossing the celestial equator from the northern half of the sky to the southern half.
Have you heard? Mars is about to be Spectacular! It will appear as large as the Full Moon! (Rubbish!!!)
So goes our yearly battle with the Great Mars Hoax that started in 2003. Each year, several emails make their rounds, promising that Mars will amaze and delight, appearing as large as the Full Moon.
This week’s cosmic quiz question was submitted by Daniel Wallace, who asked, “How do astronomers figure out the size of planets orbiting other stars (and even what their atmosphere is made of)?”
What? You don’t know what the Day of Lammas is?
Lammas is traditionally recognized as August 1st each year, and is celebrated by baking loaves of bread from the first wheat harvests. But there is a strong astronomical connection to this date as well.
This week 6-year-old Kambreigh Schooley asked us why she can sometimes see the moon during the daytime…What a great question!
To answer this question you need to first remember that one half of the moon is always illuminated by the Sun.
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