“A Brightly Lit Killing Field…” A wrap-up in Washington, DC of a series of talks dealing with the problems in modern-day astronomy of light pollution, radio interference and space debris. Much of the information has been pondered for two decades now.. But, the eloquence with which the problems were presented, are daunting. On the problem…
Category: SkyWatch
April Skies
April Skies The first of April, some do say, Is set apart for All Fools Day, But why the people call it so, Nor I, nor they themselves, do know. Poor Robin’s Almanac, 1760 No one knows where the tradition of “April Fools” came from. It’s origin has been wrapped in obscurity for a long…
The Vernal Equinox
The Vernal Equinox aka The First Point of Aries The March Equinox occurs In Corvallis, Oregon on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 2:24 pm PDT This corresponds to Monday, March 20, 2023 at 21:24 UTC. What do you get in Springtime (or thereabouts; that’s how we define it), when the Earth rolls around in its…
Earth Reaches Midpoint in Orbit Between Solstice and Equinox
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 between the the Equinoxes and the Solstices. This month’s Cross-Quarter Day is called Groundhog Day in the USA, and I’ll bet that 99.9% of the population has…
January Skies are Incredible for Learning the Stars
It isn’t easy, this star business, and it’s terrifically hard to learn the night sky in any season, unless you have someone with you who knows it well already, and can tell the tales that make the forgetting impossible. Well, January’s a good month to get started. Around 8 p.m. local time, there are constellations…
Winter Solstice
December 21st (2022) is the 54th anniversary of Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968), the first manned flight to the Moon. On that day astronauts Lovell, Anders and Borman left the Earth for a 6 day mission to the moon for a live close-up view, as well as the first complete look at the Earth from…
Leonid Meteor Shower
November’s Meteors On the night of November 16th/17th the Leonid Meteor Shower will peak in the wee hours of the morning. This shower is maddeningly unpredictable. In 1933, it was described as ‘like a child’s sparkler held against the sky.’ In 1966 it burst forth over the central western states in the greatest meteor display…
A Crack in Time
Halloween 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, a new and sacred fire was kindled on this night, from which all the fires of Ireland would be lit. The Celts believed this…
Selling the Night Sky
Selling the Night Sky… An Observatory astronomer here 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 at a time to anyone who’d send him a check for $50. He’d promise to name a plug after anyone whose check…
Cheap Thrills!
Cheap Thrills! When you were a kid, ever have one of those warm summer nights when there was nothing to do, and you didn’t have any money to do anything even if there was something to do, and your folks wouldn’t let you do it even if there was, and you did? So, maybe you…