Hey folks, I'm back from a week rambling around Downeast Maine, so while the frequency of posts has suffered, the material is overflowing! More to come on that later, but for now, it's time for a weekly snapshot of astronomical items of interest. This week, it's the Perseid meteor shower - peaking (unfortunately) during daylight…Read more Perseids and Lunar Geometry (Astronomy: Week of 8/6/17)
Meteor
Astronomy: Week of 4/30/17 (Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower)
Seems like only yesterday I was talking about Jupiter coming back into the evening sky, and now it's shining high and bright early every evening. Never fails to impress, even through a small telescope. Mars is almost gone, vanishing below the horizon soon after sunset. Venus is back and shining bright again, but only if…Read more Astronomy: Week of 4/30/17 (Eta Aquariid Meteor Shower)
The Lyrids Are Coming! (How Do We Know?)
Happy Easter, everyone! As you know, Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the Vernal Equinox. So we couldn't know when to celebrate it without watching the stars. Before we get to meteor showers, a couple interesting conjunctions this week: The waning gibbous Moon passes by Saturn on Sunday the…Read more The Lyrids Are Coming! (How Do We Know?)
Astronomy: Week of 4/9/17 (Jupiter, and ANOTHER Comet!)
As I mentioned last week, Jupiter was at opposition on Friday, April 7 - this means it's opposite the sun, from our perspective, making it at its most "full" (though, as I've pointed out before, the outer planets are always very close to full from our vantage point). It's also on the same side of…Read more Astronomy: Week of 4/9/17 (Jupiter, and ANOTHER Comet!)
Flying Squirrel Outdoors 