Friends, if you’ve been following this “tetrad” of total lunar eclipses in 2014 and 2015, this is finally the one you’ve been waiting for! The other three favored the Pacific, and were best visible from the USA either in the middle of the night or early in the morning, before sunrise. Of course, the dedicated eclipse watchers adjusted their schedules… Continue reading
THE MOON PASSES THE PLANET SATURN! It’s that time again! Once again, the Moon lines up with the planet SATURN on the evening of Friday, September 18! Look to the southwest to see the bright “star” very close to the waxing Moon! Even a cheap dimestore telescope is sufficient to reveal the famous RINGS of Saturn! You can get a… Continue reading
BLUE MOON: There will be a Blue Moon on Friday, July 31! In the popular parlance, a “Blue Moon” is commonly regarded as the second Full Moon to occur in the same calendar month. The average cycle of the Moon’s phases is 29.53 days, so it’s possible for a second Full Moon to occur in months of 30 or 31… Continue reading
Following the close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus on June 30, these planets will continue to share the evening sky throughout the month of July. They will also remain close to the bright star Regulus, in the constellation Leo. In a very rare and special circumstance, the cycles of Venus and Jupiter will coincide so that these planets will remain… Continue reading
LUNAR CONJUNCTIONS: Pay special attention to the Moon this coming weekend, as the New Moon emerges from the glow of the sunset, to signal the beginning of the Hebrew month of Tammuz. The waxing crescent Moon will enter the scene on Friday, June 19, when it will appear below Venus and Jupiter after sunset. By the next evening, Saturday,… Continue reading
On the evening of Thursday, May 21, the waxing crescent Moon will pass the blazingly bright planet Venus. Look to the western sky after sunset to see this pair glittering in the twilight. Keep your eye on the Moon for the next couple of nights, as it will pass the very bright planet Jupiter on the evening of Saturday,… Continue reading
The Moon is close to the Earth, but not what you might think of as “close.” And the Sun is almost 400 Earth-Moon distances away. I guess that’s why they call it “space.” There’s a LOT of space up there! Continue reading
On Tuesday, April 21, the three-day old waxing crescent Moon will be in conjunction with the planet Venus, the bright evening star. This is a regular conjunction between these two bodies, and it happens every month. However, this month, the Moon and Venus are joined by the bright star Aldebaran, the red eye of the bull in the constellation… Continue reading
Blood Moon – Round 3 Friends, I’ve already discussed the “Blood Moon” craze in detail in previous newsletters, along with my skepticism. These articles are archived as follows…. “Blood Moon?” (April 7, 2014) “Blood Moon: Round 2 (October 5, 2014) If you haven’t already done so, you might want to read those commentaries, since they are not repeated here in… Continue reading
THE CURRENT LUNAR MONTH happens to be particularly interesting during the waxing phases (lunation 1141 according to Brown’s series of 1923): FRI MAR 20: The equinox total eclipse of the Moon over northern Europe, perigean spring tide raising an 18 year supertide at Mont Saint-Michel in France; SUN MAR 22: High-elevation conjunction of the two-day old waxing crescent Moon… Continue reading
