Star Calendar February 2015 Star Calendar Planets: Moon is innocuously Full at a safe distance, but will be New only a few hours from perigee. Mercury makes a feeble morning apparition this month and may be seen with the aid of the Moon on the 17th. Subsequent mornings will find… Continue reading
Star Calendar January 2015 Star Calendar Planets: Moon follows a sinus path tipped 5 degrees to the ecliptic, which is itself tipped 23 ½ degrees to the celestial equator. The phase of these two tipping curves slowly changes, a cycle of phase-shift taking 18.6 years. When the Moon and Sun’s… Continue reading
Star Calendar December 2014 Star Calendar Planets: Moon crosses the line of Vernal Equinox while setting at around midnight as December begins, then is highest for the month on the 6th, rising (just Full) above Orion around 6:PM. On the 15th Moon crosses the Autumnal Equinox while rising around midnight… Continue reading
Star Calendar November 2014 Star Calendar Planets: Moon ‘s syzygy/perigee is becoming less synchronous now so we will have a respite from tidal inundations for a while. The next large spring tides are expected in late February. Mercury is at an advantageous position for viewing as the month begins. The… Continue reading
Comet Siding Spring approaching Mars – photo from Australia by Damian Peach. Better (bigger) photo at: http://www.livecometdata.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/cometmars_peach_1080.jpg Now THAT’S an image with dynamic range! (NASA’s version is composite.) The Sun, Oct. 16 – 24, 2014 as sunspot 2192 develops:
Star Calendar October 2014 Star Calendar Planets: Moon and Earth play hit-or-miss with their shadows this month. The Moon sets an hour before sunrise on the 8th,just as it is engulfed by the shadow of the earth. Two weeks later, on the 23rd, we just miss a partial Sun eclipse… Continue reading
Star Calendar October 2007 Star Calendar Planets: Mercury will sneak past the near side of the Sun (inferior conjunction) on Oct 23, then rush to the eastern morning sky in the end of the month. On November 7 it will appear to the left of Spica, just below and to… Continue reading
Star Calendar September 2007 Star Calendar Planets: Mercury will make a poor appearance in the western evening sky in mid-September. It will dash to the eastern morning sky by late October. Venus will quickly rise into the eastern pre-dawn sky in September and will shine beside Regulus and Saturn by… Continue reading