On the Outer Cape, far from the lights of shopping centers, interstate highways, and urban downtowns, we’re used to seeing bright stars sparkle amidst hundreds of fainter ones. The ghostly […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
The Gas Giant That Rules the January Sky
Observing the storms stirred by Jupiter’s strange chemistry
Step outside after sunset this month and you’ll see a brilliant gold-white star high, far brighter than any other, high in the east. It’s not the legendary star in the […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
The Golden Glow of a ‘Wandering Star’
December is for watching Saturn in the southwestern sky
It’s Jupiter and Saturn season, the time of year when both planets are favorably positioned in the sky after sunset. Over the next few weeks, you can find and appreciate […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
When Moonlight Whispers Dark Imaginings
Why does folklore link full Moons and human behavior?
Trick-or-treaters will be safe from werewolves this year, as the full Moon falls on Oct. 28. Halloween night will have a lovely, 89-percent-illuminated Moon rising as darkness falls, shining its […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Andromeda Gets Her Due
Seeing the spiral, glowing with billions of stars, of the galaxy closest to our own
As you learn the night sky, you tend to associate the seasons with the stars or constellations they reveal. Winter is Orion, the season for observing both the striking constellation […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Seeing the Showstoppers and the Faint Fuzzies
The summer nights of amateur astronomers on an Eastham beach and the Wellfleet pier
EASTHAM — We were at First Encounter Beach at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 23. People filled the beach and parking lot, watching the sun set across Cape Cod Bay, […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Navigating the Stars of Summer
How to find the Perseids, the Summer Triangle, and the Milky Way
The Perseid meteors are here. Every year at this time, Earth passes through the debris trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle on our way around the Sun. The debris consists mostly of […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Who Owns Earth’s Orbit?
A skywatcher keeps an eye, warily, on proliferating satellites
Sometimes good starwatching is as simple as stepping outside on a clear night and looking up at the sky. It’s exciting when there’s a particular object to see, like a […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
When Mars Lost Its Magnetosphere
And watching the Moon, Venus, and Mars on the shortest night of the year
If you head outside just after sunset, you’ll see a very bright star sparkling in the west. That’s our sister planet, Venus. Just above and to the left of Venus […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Venus, the Great Star
The story of a bright planet where the greenhouse effect got out of hand
Have you noticed the very bright star in the west these past few months? That’s the planet Venus. Among the denizens of the night sky, its brilliant blue-white light is […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
‘What’s That Planet Over There?’
There’s an app for that
“How did you know that’s where you’d find Saturn? How did you know the Moon would be right there? How did you know that was the North Star?” These “how […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
‘What’s That Planet Over There?’
There’s an app for that
“How did you know that’s where you’d find Saturn? How did you know the Moon would be right there? How did you know that was the North Star?” These “how […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Tilting Into Spring
How to follow the Sun through the changing seasons
Spring begins on March 20 with the vernal equinox, a day of nearly equal daylight and darkness. There’s another equinox in September that marks the start of autumn. And between […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Pondering Comets, Asteroids, and Planets
And why Pluto got demoted
Comet ZTF made its closest approach to Earth on Feb. 1 at a distance of 26 million miles. That’s pretty close. Mars, for example, is, on average, 140 million miles […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Celestial Dances in the January Sky
Conjunctions come into view in the winter sky, no telescope needed
The Moon and four bright planets put on a playful show this month. No telescope or binoculars are needed, and, fortunately for us during this cold winter stretch, the action […]
