SkyWatch
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day occurs on the day the earth reaches midpoint in orbit between solstice and equinox. February 2nd is an astronomical Cross-Quarter Day, one of four days in the year when the Earth is midway Read more…
SkyWatch
The Vernal Equinox
Spring Has Arrived! The Vernal Equinox What do you get in Springtime, when the Earth rolls around in its orbit to a place where, if we Earthlings were to gaze up, the Sun lines up Read more…
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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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Leap Day
First taxes, then Leap Seconds, now this. A Leap Day. We got an extra second tacked onto our clocks at the end of 2015. And an extra day was added February 29, 2016. We never Read more…
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Mayday
Mayday: The first of May is Mayday, the second of the four cross-quarter Days of the year. It falls midway between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice, two of the year’s quarter days. In Read more…
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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…
SkyWatch
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…