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 May 2017 Start Calendar Planets: Moon and Sun each elongate the fluid earth and exert tidal stress on the viscous and solid earth. This stress and shape distortion moves around the longitudinal earth in the two periods 12.42 and 12 hours respectively but also change latitude (declination) according… Continue reading
Star Calendar April 2017 Star C alendar Planets: Moon and Sun balance on either side of the solstice point on the 7th. They rise and set at the same point on the horizon on that day and make the same path across the sky. One might observe the pair at… Continue reading
Star Calendar March 2017 Star Calendar Planets: Moon cycles determine, or play a role in, some calendars such as the Islamic and Hebrew. The Islamic year is strictly lunar while the Hebrew is a hybrid luni-solar that inserts extra months so that the seasons don’t drift too far. The… Continue reading
Star Calendar November 2016 Star Calendar Planets: Moon draws exceptionally near this month (nearest in 30 years) while also Full as it sets on the morning of the 14th. Mercury peaks into the evening sky as Saturn departs. Around the 23rd will be the first chance to see Mercury –… Continue reading
Star Calendar August 2016 Star Calendar Planets: Moon passes just out of reach of Earth’s sizable shadow on the 18th as it sets at dawn. It is very close to being, or not being, a technical penumbral encounter – but nothing observable will occur. Some eclipse tables will list this… 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 May, 2016 Star Calendar Planets: Moon is Full three, or sometimes four, times in a season but the names that various cultures have assigned to characterize the circumstances around various full moons of the year generally number 12 – leaving the occasional unnamed one. Similarly the Hebrew luni-solar… 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