Clik here to view.
Winter Solstice
Even in the modern era, we tend to fear the dark. We turn on extra lights to ward off the unknown — to isolate us from the possible dangers that lurk in the distance.In ancient times, though, people...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Pluto
Pluto is small, cold, and ancient — a recipe for a geriatric world where not much happens. Yet when New Horizons flew through the Pluto system in July, it found just the opposite — a world that may be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Moon and Aldebaran
The bull gets an eyeful of moonlight tonight. Aldebaran, the bright star that represents the eye of Taurus, stands close to the upper right of the Moon at nightfall, and the two remain close throughout...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Long-Night Moon
Santa shouldn’t need Rudolph’s help tonight, because the full Moon will light up the Christmas Eve sky. In fact, there’s more moonlight tonight and tomorrow night than at any other time of the year.The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Christmas Moon
The just-past-full Moon soars high across the sky on this Christmas night, casting a silvery glow across the landscape.The view will lose a bit of its dazzle as the night rolls by, though. For one...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Winter Circle
If you look hard enough, you can find a triangle, a square, or some other geometric pattern of bright stars to mark every season. But you don’t have to look too hard to find a pattern for winter,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cloudy Skies
Clouds are a common sight across much of the country at this time of year. They bring snow and chilling rains, and form beautiful patterns as they drift by.Clouds are common on the other planets of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Going Small
NASA’s next Mars lander will have some company for the long trip: twin communication satellites the size of a briefcase. As the lander plunges through the Martian atmosphere, the satellites will relay...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Going Long
New Horizons was the fastest spacecraft ever launched. Even so, it took almost a decade for it to reach Pluto, on the edge of the solar system. Yet one researcher is looking at ways to develop a probe...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Moon and Jupiter
For an amazing hour in December of 1995, a small American probe parachuted through the dense atmosphere of Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet. It drifted with high-speed winds and floated past...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Year’s Sky
If you want to celebrate the new year with a lightshow, but you’re not crazy about noise, then we suggest you let Mother Nature take the place of fireworks. From a dark but safe skywatching spot, enjoy...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Earth at Perihelion
For those who are caught in the throes of winter, it sounds hard to believe, but it’s true — Earth is snuggling closest to the Sun for the entire year right now. We’ll be at our absolute closest...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Moon and Mars
This is a great month for early risers who like to check out the sky. Four planets are in view at first light, with several of them huddling close to bright stars. And for the next few days, the waning...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mars and Meteors
A bright but brief meteor shower is at its best tonight. Unfortunately, though, the Moon isn’t far away from the center of the action, so its glare will overpower many of the meteors.The Quadrantid...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tau Ceti
When Frank Drake launched the first search for extraterrestrial intelligence, in 1960, his first target was the nearby star Tau Ceti. The search turned up empty. But research in the intervening years...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Moon and Venus
The two brightest objects in the night sky team up at dawn the next couple of days, and two other prominent lights join them.The Moon is low in the southeast at first light tomorrow. Sunlight...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Moon and Companions
The Moon is a battered landscape, scarred by four-and-a-half billion years of collisions with space rocks. The largest of these scars is a dark basin about 1500 miles wide and eight miles deep — the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Death Stars
You don’t have to journey to a galaxy far, far away to find a death star. There are plenty of them right here in the Milky Way, destroying their own planets. Stars are big and hot, so anything that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Venus and Saturn
If you want a high-speed thrill ride, float along with the clouds on Saturn. At the equator, the planet spins at about six miles per second — faster than the orbital speed of the International Space...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Canis Major
The brightest star in the night sky has some teeth to it. It’s the Dog Star, Sirius — part of the constellation Canis Major, the big dog. It climbs into good view in the southeast by about 9 o’clock,...
View Article