October brings not only cooler temperatures, but also clear and hopefully smoke-free skies. If you find yourself outside under the planets and stars, here are a few things you might see up there. Low in the southwest, Venus gleams brightly in the twilight sky just after sunset. If you cannot spot it, maybe you cannot […]
NAKED EYE
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 […]
Naked Eye — Beat the heat with a meteor shower in August
August is meteor shower month, with the most-watched display of the year lighting up our night skies during the balmy evenings of late summer. Last year, the show was partially obscured by bright moonlight, but this year that will not be a problem (unless the wildfire smoke remains an issue). The meteors will be flying […]
Naked eye — Consider the universe with a grain of salt
Take a look up into the east some moonless night this coming month. Maybe you will notice a swath of dim light stretching from north to south across the night sky. It will help if you get out of town away from distracting lights. Just after it gets completely dark, which is kind of late […]
Naked eye — How the universe will use itself up
How will it all end? In fire or ice? With a bang or a whimper? For our little world that we live on, the answer is fire, definitely fire. As our sun continues its inevitable progression towards the red giant phase of a star, it will become hotter. The earth will eventually be charred into […]
Naked eye — Take advantage of summer darkness when it comes
By David Ward As we climb towards the summer solstice, the days get longer and the nights get shorter, making stargazing more difficult. There is just not very much darkness this time of the year. There are a couple of interesting things up there to see, although the timing is not necessarily convenient. Two alignments […]
Naked eye —Voyagers are on a long cosmic journey
Back in 1977, two identical spacecraft known as the Voyagers were launched from earth to explore the outer regions of our solar system. About the size and weight of a small car, they are traveling at about 38,000 miles per hour away from us and have photographed the most-distant planets. Now they have passed a […]
Naked eye — Watch winter skies while you still can
If you have not had the chance to check out the stars this winter, be sure to do so. The brightest stars in the sky all year long are on full display up there, but they will not be around much longer. As our little ball of rock careens around the solar system, the winter […]
Naked Eye — When the end comes, it won’t be pretty
By David Ward How will it all end? It is easy to take our perch on this little planet for granted. Space is a lethal place and our bubble of protection that we live in may be more precarious than we would like to admit. Aside from the usual worries like climate change and nuclear […]
The universe is not standing still
On Saturday (Jan. 2), the earth will reach the point on its orbit known as perihelion, our closest approach to the sun. Now wait a minute, you might be thinking. Why is it so cold outside and there is snow on the ground if we are actually closer to the sun? The seasons are caused […]
