Basic astronomy and night sky information
In 1991, stargazer Steve Cariddi walked into a Boston bookstore and noticed most desk calendars were about cats, or puppies, or sailboats. There was not a single astronomy calendar in sight. So he decided to create his own, and in late 1993 he published his first “astronomy and space” desk calendar. He’s been publishing these calendars every year since. And now he’s released the large-format ‘Year in Space’ wall calendar for 2016 [Read more…] about 2016 ‘Year in Space’ Calendar
A Christmas comet is on the way to our skies. Comet Catalina (C/2013 US 10), which has been slowly brightening in the southern-hemisphere skies all year, has crossed the celestial equator moving north. It will finally become visible to northern-hemisphere observers in the pre-dawn sky from this week through late January, and will remain visible to southern-hemisphere observers until late December. Grab your binoculars and get ready to see this end-of-year visitor from the most distant reaches of the solar system [Read more…] about Comet Catalina Arrives in the Dawn Sky
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High in the northeast sky, Almaak, the third-brightest star in the constellation Andromeda, is one of the most beautiful double stars in the sky. It’s a snap to find and reveals its full splendor in even the smallest of telescopes [Read more…] about The Colorful Double Star Almaak in Andromeda
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Using the Allen Telescope Array, astronomers at the SETI institute have examined the star KIC 8462852 for signs of extraterrestrial communications. So far they have come up empty. But astronomers around the world continue to examine this curious star which appears to decrease in apparent brightness by up to 20% for a period of 5 days to 80 days. Some have suggested– seriously– that the timing and magnitude of the brightness drop might be caused by a massive alien megastructure that surrounds the star [Read more…] about No Signal from “Alien Megastructure” Around Star
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(Today’s article is an excerpt of the book The Armchair Astronomer, Volume 1. It’s available from Cosmic Pursuits in multiple formats at this link).
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When 18th-century composer William Herschel grew restless with his life as a professional musician, he turned to the new science of astronomy for inspiration and challenge. Like most new stargazers, Herschel began by reading popular works of astronomy, learning the names of the stars and constellations, and inspecting the heavens with telescopes made with small glass lenses that collected the feeble light from distant stars [Read more…] about Book Excerpt: The Armchair Astronomer, Volume 1
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