SkyWatch
Cheap Thrills in August
Meteors! Meteors!! They happen all the time, and there are even certain times in the year when we have great showers of them, events that occur when the Earth passes through a particularly cluttered region Read more…
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Blue Moon
The Full Moon of May is called the Milk or Planting Moon, and this month you’ll have two of them, an event that occurs only “once in a blue moon!” After May 18 2019, the Read more…
Traditions and Lore
April Fools
No one knows where the tradition of “April Fools” came from. It’s origin has been wrapped in obscurity for a long time. Some claim that the custom has something to do with the Vernal Equinox Read more…
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The Vernal Equinox
Spring Has Arrived! The Vernal Equinox What do you get in Springtime (or thereabouts; that’s how we define it), when the Earth rolls around in its orbit to a place where, if we Earthlings were Read more…
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November’s Meteors
The Leonid Meteor Shower. On the nights of November 17th and 18th the Leonid Meteor Shower will peak in the wee hours of the morning on the Oregon Coast. It’s maddeningly unpredictable. In 1933, the Read more…
Traditions and Lore
A Crack in Time
Halloween A Crack in Time The last night of October was traditionally celebrated as the eve of Winter by the ancient Celts. Moreover, it was also the beginning of their New Year. In ancient Ireland, Read more…
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Selling the Night Sky
Selling the Night Sky… The Star Wheel An Observatory astronomer once had a great idea for making a fast buck. He’d nab a copy of the city’s list of fire hydrants and sell them one Read more…
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Railroad Time
So. It’s simply amazing what astronomy will bring us to, don’t you think? Railroad time. “Think thou existence doth depend on Time?” On Mar 11, 2018 – Daylight Saving Time Started in the Pacific Northwest. Read more…
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The Winter Solstice
The Winter Solstice – The Shortest Day The most popular of the ancient pagan celebrations was this, the birthday of the “Unconquered Sun”. An anniversary painlessly transferred in early Christian times to the birth of Read more…