In June, the Sun Rules the Celestial Sphere
The Celestial Sphere by Matthew Johnson Summer officially begins on the longest day of the year in our hemisphere. On June 20 at 11:32 p.m. the Earth will have traveled in its elliptical orbit around the sun to the point where we are most directly in line with the sun’s rays. This marks the summer solstice […]
May Viewing
The Celestial Sphere by Matthew Johnson The planet Mercury is always a challenge to view, but this May will be the best month to see it during the year 2021. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, so it can only be viewed at dusk just after the sun sets or at dawn just […]
April (Meteor) Showers and a Pink Moon
Text and Sketch By Matthew Johnson Naked-eye observing of the planets in April will take place during early morning or just after sunset. At dawn on April 5, the crescent moon, Jupiter and Saturn form a line along the southeast skyline. At dawn on the 6th, the moon will be just below Saturn, forming a […]
Another Jupiter Conjunction and a Mars Landing
The Celestial Sphere by Matthew Johnson Viewers on NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory website on February 18 witnessed telemetry history—the Mars rover, Perseverance, ferrying its small helicopter companion, Ingenuity, entered Mars’s thin atmosphere at 52 kilometers per second, slowed its descent with retro-thrusters and, after deploying a parachute, touched down in the Jezero crater landing site. […]
February Viewing
The Celestial Sphere By Matthew Johnson The five planets visible to the naked eye, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, were present in our skies throughout the summer, fall and early winter of 2020, with Venus gracing the sky at dawn. The comet Neowise joined them briefly in July and August. But in January 2021, […]
December’s Great Conjunction
The Celestial Sphere by Matthew Johnson We begin the month of December with long nights reaching a maximum on the evening of the winter solstice, Dec. 21, with 14 hours and 55 minutes of darkness. After the 21st, the days begin to grow a few minutes longer each day, a time of year acknowledged throughout […]
Sights in the November Sky
The Celestial Sphere by Matthew Johnson Daylight Saving Time ends on Nov. 1 at 2 a.m. With the Sun now setting more than an hour earlier and rising an hour later than in June, additional hours of darkness extend the length of time in which one can observe. Astronomers look forward to the late fall […]
News of the September Sky
By Matthew Johnson The September or autumnal equinox will arrive on Sept. 22. The autumnal equinox marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall. The term “equinox” is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, meaning equal night. On both the spring and fall equinox, the earth experiences 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours […]
Discovery of a New Comet
By Matthew Johnson The discovery of Comet NEOWISE proved to be astonishing, especially to those who hunt for such objects. It surprised astronomers when it passed by the Sun emitting a bright tail as well as a darker dust tail. The comet was discovered March 27 by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-Field InfraredSurvey Explorer. This space […]
Moonlight Serenade
Celestial Sphere by Matthew Johnson When one looks up at our moon, consider the number of moons that continue to be discovered in our solar system. The inner planets─Mercury and Venus─ both lack a moon. Our Earth has one moon, Mars has two moons-Deimos and Phobos. From there the number of moons increases. Uranus has […]
