Have you been lucky enough to spot the Northern Lights this summer? Those curtain-shaped patterns of light are one of the most beautiful sights in the night sky, and officially they are known as the Aurora Borealis. Why did they suddenly become a happening thing this year? To answer that question we have to take […]
Naked Eye – August nights promise meteors and more
The near and the far. That is what the night skies have in store for us in August. Meteors are the closest astronomical phenomenon we get to see and almost the smallest. Slamming into our atmosphere at 70 times the speed of a bullet shot from a rifle, they have the potential to put on […]
Naked Eye — Set your sights on May’s lunar eclipse
The big astronomical event for May is a total eclipse of the moon on the evening of the 15th. It will be the first of two lunar eclipses this year. An eclipse of the moon happens when the shadow of the earth falls on the moon. Yes, the earth has a shadow, and we actually […]
Naked Eye — Arcturus is a hot, bright option for spring viewing
Look up into the north one of these pleasant spring evenings and see if you can spot the Big Dipper riding high in the sky. Follow the arc of the Dipper’s handle to a bright orange-colored star in the east. That is Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the sky and a close neighbor […]
Naked Eye — Dark nights perfect for Zodiacal Light
Dust. It finds its way into our houses, coating every surface with its fine, gritty film. Clogging up our sinus cavities, it can bring on a sneeze at the most embarrassing moments. It makes our eyes water and our throats raspy. If you think there is too much dust here on earth, that is nothing […]
Naked Eye — Time travel to the origins of Orion
On a clear and dark mid-winter night, the most-striking thing up there in the sky is the constellation of Orion. It is easily the best-known star grouping in the heavens, and since it is straddling the celestial equator, there is no place on earth where it is not visible. With its bright, colorful stars, it […]
Naked Eye: Looking into the farthest reaches of space
If you have been out looking at the evening sky lately, maybe you could not help but notice the bright planets hanging up there in the southwestern twilight sky. They are millions of miles away from us, dwarfing the scale of things on our little planet. Do you want to go deep and see into […]
Naked Eye — Dark days offer bright hopes for winter stargazers
Have you noticed that the days are getting shorter? If not, look outside. It gets dark at 5 o’clock in the afternoon! The earth in its orbit around the sun is careening towards the Winter Solstice, sometimes known as the Hibernal Solstice. This year we will arrive there on Dec. 21, and the northern hemisphere […]
Naked Eye — Nothing out there? Actually, space is really something
When we look up into the night sky filled with a myriad of stars, we are not only looking at the stars but also through a lot of space, trillions of miles of it. Exactly what is that space up above us? It is a difficult question to answer. Common sense tells us it is […]
Naked Eye — The atmospheric extremes of Venus and Jupiter
Two bright planets dominate the evening sky this fall: One in the west and one in the east, and even though they look quite similar, they could not be more different from one another. In the west just after the sky begins to darken, but before it is totally black, look for Venus shining brighter […]
