We may have passed the Winter Solstice (Dec. 21, when the sun takes its lowest path across the sky) and the “Birthday of the Unconquered Sun” (Dec. 25, when the ancient Romans first noticed the sun’s path climbing higher again), but the nights are still long as winter marches on.
I was wondering why I didn’t want to get in the pool yesterday…
August 1st each year marks a traditional ‘cross-quarter day’ known as the Day of Lammas. It is when the first loaves are baked from the first wheat harvest, and marks the beginning of the harvest season. I don’t grow wheat, but I have [...]
Ahh, June. Summer begins, nights are warm, skies are mostly clear. It’s a great month for stargazing. Here are some highlights for the month.
June 1st: The New Moon is on June 1st, occurring at 3:03 pm, MDT. With no moon in the sky in the evenings, stargazing and deep sky observing with binoculars is a [...]
Remember when you were young, looking up into the night sky? How many stars did you see? Have you ever tried to count them? Look up in the sky tonight. Can you still see as many stars? You may notice that there doesn’t appear to be as many as there once was. As cities and communities [...]
On September 18, 2010 amateur astronomers, educators, scientists and the general public will celebrate International Observe the Moon Night by observing and learning more about our nearest neighbor.
The most distant object observable with the unaided eye is visible in our current night time sky. It is the Great Galaxy in Andromeda, M31. There are many ways to find this object. I prefer to use the constellation Cassiopeia.
Cassiopeia was the Queen of Ethiopia. She is commonly depicted as a lady on a throne, [...]
The Perseid meteor shower peaks at 6:00 pm, MDT, on Thursday, August 12, 2010. Predictions are for a healthy 90 meteors per hour at peak. A waxing crescent Moon will set early and give meteor watchers a good dark sky on the nights of the 11th and the 12th.
Regardless of the predicted peak hour, the [...]
Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn are all visible in the evening skies this week. Mercury sits alone near the Sun, but Venus, Mars and Saturn are grouping together. Mercury is 25 degrees away from the Sun and 20 degrees away from the other planets. Venus, Mars and Saturn are all within 10 degrees of each [...]
Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn are all visible in the evening skies this week.
Mercury will be the most difficult to see, being only about 20 degrees away from the Sun at the beginning of the week, and 23 degrees away from the Sun by end of week. However, it is a bright magnitude 0 object.
Venus [...]
Ever wondered how to observe deep space objects with a telescope? Or what you can see in binoculars? Join Clark Planetarium for a unique tour of the sky through the eyes of a practiced amateur astronomer.
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