Mars is past its closest approach and is fading very slowly as the earth, on a faster orbit around the sun, leaves it behind, but Mars remains especially bright through November. It now rises slightly before sunset so you can see it low in the east once the sky is dark. The best time to […]
Last week, on the 6th, Mars was closest to earth. This week, on the 13th, it’s at “opposition”, and both events are in the news. What’s the difference? Very little, in reality. Mars is at opposition when it’s directly opposite the sun, and that’s when it would be closest to earth if both our orbits […]
Mars is in the news this week because it is now closest to earth, so it’s at its biggest and brightest. The moment when it’s closest is 8:19 on the morning of Tuesday, October 6th, when it is 38,568,243 miles away. The news media will play up the 6th and advise you to look at […]
The full moon on Thursday, October 1st (at 3:05 pm MDT for those who need precision) is the Harvest Moon, which so called because its light helped farmers harvest their fields into the night, especially important before tractors had headlights. The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumn equinox (discussed in last […]
The seasons officially change at 7:31 am MDT on Tuesday, September 22, the autumn equinox, when summer ends and autumn begins. There’s nothing to see directly, but you do experience it in a sense: on the equinox the sun rises due east and sets due west and the days and nights are each 12 hours […]
Often there are no planets in the evening sky, or only one. Now there are three – plus one in the morning sky. All four are about as bright as they ever get, so don’t take this abundance of planets for granted; this is a special time. The first two planets you’ll see are Jupiter […]
The sky is always changing. Some things happen quickly, like a solar eclipse or a meteor. Other changes happen infinitely slowly, like the rotation of the Milky Way. But many changes take place over weeks and months, and people with short attention spans will miss them but regular sky watchers can follow the progress. One […]
The moon is full on the 1st – if you live in Utah. It’s full on the 2nd if you live in Chicago. Why the difference? Start by asking “for how long is the moon full?” The answer is the same as for the question “how long is it noon” – just an instant. The […]
As the sky is growing dark the planet Jupiter appears in the southeast, followed soon after by Saturn a short distance to the left. These planets are 8° apart this month, but that gap will narrow dramatically in months to come until they’re almost touching (as your eye sees them) in late December. Note their […]
This week and the next two months are a great time to watch the planets since the four brightest are out at one time or another although not all together. Here’s where they are this week. Jupiter and Saturn appear low in the southeast as the sky grows dark, which is around 9 PM. Jupiter […]
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