Star Calendar June 2017 Star Planets: Moon appears at First Quarter as the month opens, stands over Jupiter on the 3rd, and is then Full with Saturn on the 9th. Early risers will be treated to a complementary pairing with Venus on the 20th and 21st, the complement being of… Continue reading
Star Calendar January 2017 Star Calendar Planets: Moon waxes from the westward side and wanes on the eastward but Venus (and Mercury) do so in the opposite way. Mercury is stationary to the stars on the 8th but the Sun’s persistent eastwards motion continues to widen their separation (elongation) until… Continue reading
Star Calendar December 2016 Star Calendar Planets: Moon begins the month by visiting some planets in heliocentric order, then occults Aldebaran again before making its long-night excursion just after perigee. Solstice evening and Christmas eve will be absent the Moon – hence very dark. Then the last two Classical (visible… Continue reading
Star Calendar July 2016 Star Calendar Planets: Moon will show only 1/7 of her fullness on the 7th of the 7th month. 7/7 is the date of the oriental star festival called Tanabata – when two lovers (stars Vega and Altair), separated by a river (the Milky Way), may be… Continue reading
Star Calendar June 2016 Star Calendar Planets: Moon crosses the seasonal colures (meridians of solstices and equinoxes) every month. This month Sun and Moon cross opposite colures on the same day. Just as the length of daylight changes with the seasons – so does the time of Moon-Up change rapidly… Continue reading
Star Calendar April 2016 Star Calendar Planets: Moon is very dynamic and has several motions of similar mode. A Frenchman sewed photographs of sequential Full Moons together into an animated GIF that shows very nicely the net effect of the various librations – the nodding and swaying face and changes… Continue reading
Star Calendar March 2016 Star Calendar Planets: Moon makes a less dramatic swing from standing to lying crescent either side of New Moon this year. Firstly the tilt of the lunar path from the ecliptic is currently one that subtracts its obliquity from the equator, secondly, this month’s syzygies fall… Continue reading
Star Calendar February 2016 Star calendar Planets: Moon appears on the 1st at Last Quarter and makes a little line segment with Mars and Zubenelgenubi of Libra (for binoculars) for early risers. After a similar highlight of Saturn/Antares on the 3rd will be a fetching scene on the 6th, between… Continue reading
Star Calendar October 2015 Star Calendar Planets: Moon moves through the stars, eastward, at its own diameter every hour, or, 13 degrees per day, or, one season per week — as noted below. Mercury is pretty bright now and is at greatest elongation mid-month. Those with a clear view to… Continue reading