‘Earth & Sky’ Archives
EarthSky Tonight—Nov 1, Looking out our Milky Way
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org On this evening with no moon, use the planet Jupiter and Great Square of Pegasus to star-hop to our galaxy’s south window. In other words, you will be looking away from the flat plane of the Milky Way – where most of our galaxy’s stars reside – southward toward intergalactic space. Can you show me a detailed view of the Milky Way center? Here is how to do it. Every year in early November, the Great Square of ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—Oct. 31, Arcturus is a Halloween
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Every Halloween – and a few days before and after – the brilliant star Arcturus sets at the same time and on the same spot on the horizon as the summer sun. What’s more, this star rises at the same time and at the same place on the horizon as the sun does during the dog days of summer. So – around Halloween – it is as if Arcturus is a fainter ghost of the summer sun. At mid-northern latitudes, Arcturus now ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—Oct. 30, As Halloween approaches,
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org As Halloween approaches, try looking for the star Beta Persei, otherwise known as Algol in the constellation Perseus. This star’s proper name comes from the Arabic for head of the ghoul, or head of the demon. This star is known to vary in brightness over a regular time interval. The cycle lasts exactly 2 days, 20 hours and 49 minutes. All the while, the star remains visible to the eye. Algol’s brightness variations are ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—Oct. 29, Last quarter moon marks
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Spot Comet Hartley 2 at the feet of Gemini before moonrise tonight The cool thing about the last quarter moon is that it shows you in which direction our planet Earth is revolving around the sun. At quarter moon, the lunar disk is half-illuminated in sunshine and half-engulfed in the moon’s own shadow. The terminator – the shadow line dividing the lunar day from the lunar night – shows you where it’s sunset on ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—Oct. 28, Mira the Wonderful, a
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Today’s chart looks shows you where to find Mira the Wonderful, the famous variable star, on October and November evenings. That is where you will find the constellation Cetus the Whale. Menkar is the brightest star in Cetus. It has located about 220 light-years away. Menkar resides in the Head of the Whale, which is shaped like a lopsided pentagon and which is generally the easiest part of Cetus to identify. Deneb ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—Tonight Oct. 27, Where is the Big
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Where is the Big Dipper at nightfall and early evening? At this time of year, the most famous star pattern visible from this hemisphere – the Big Dipper – lurks low in the north during the evening hours. It is tough to spot the Dipper in the evening at this time of year, especially in the southern states, although you will see it before dawn around now, ascending in the northeast. Bright object in southeast on October ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—October 26, Moon farthest north,
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org On October 26, the moon swings to the northernmost point in its monthly orbit around Earth, and tonight, the moon shines near Elnath, the constellation Taurus’ second brightest star. As seen from mid-northern latitudes, the waning gibbous moon and Elnath rise into the east-northwest sky around mid-evening. At middle latitudes south of the equator, the moon and Elnath rise by late evening or around midnight. The moon ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—October 25, Moon between Pleiades
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Our sky chart shows the eastern sky for around mid-evening at mid-northern latitudes in North America, with the bright waning gibbous moon shining between the Pleaides star cluster and the star Aldebaran, the constellation Taurus’ brightest. Mid-northern latitudes elsewhere around the world will see the Pleiades and Aldebaran in the same place in the sky at the same hour of the night – yet the moon will be positioned ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—October 24, Moon can guide you to
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org Our sky chart shows the waning gibbous moon and the Pleiades star cluster for around mid-evening at North American mid-northern latitudes. However, no matter where you live worldwide, tonight’s moon will shine near the Pleiades cluster, so let the moon guide your eye to this cluster of stars tonight. At mid-northern latitudes in Europe or Asia, the gap between the moon and Pleaides will be greater than in North America, ... Full Story
EarthSky Tonight—October 23, Waning moon rises soon
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org For the northern hemisphere, last night’s moon was the full Hunter’s Moon. In the southern hemisphere, it was the second full moon of spring. The full moon reached the crest of its full phase today (Saturday, October 23) at 1:36 Universal Time. For the Central Time zone in the U.S., that was 8:36 p.m. yesterday, on Friday, October 22. Tonight’s moon is past full. It is actually a waning moon. However, no matter ... Full Story
