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  • Feb 2 – For the next two weeks, look for the Zodiacal Light in the western evening sky. In late winter and early spring, it is seen for a couple of weeks in the western sky just after sunset, but in late summer, early fall, it is seen in the dawn sky and is … Highlights of the February Sky 2018

  Open star clusters are groups of a few hundred to a few thousand stars, all having formed at about the same time from the same vast, cold cloud of molecular hydrogen.   For the backyard astronomer, open clusters are favorite binocular and small telescope targets as they can provide stunning vistas of distant, glittering suns … November Feature – The Double Cluster in Perseus

“My god, it’s full of stars.” – 2001:  A Space Odyssey (novel), by Arthur C. Clarke In the beginning, some 13.87 billion years ago, there were no stars in our universe. Even atoms did not exist in the beginning. The infant universe started out as a hot, dense point of matter, energy, and fundamental cosmic … July Feature – The Hercules Cluster (Messier 13)

      • July 1 – The waxing gibbous moon is in the constellation of Virgo. Spica, the brightest star in Virgo is just a few degrees to the south of the Moon while the bright planet Jupiter is a few degrees to the west. Together, the three celestial bodies form a lovely broad … Highlights of the July Sky

HAIL TO THE KING!  JUPITER IS AT ITS BEST THIS MONTH Named for the king of the Roman gods, the planet Jupiter returns to our evening sky this month and reaches opposition on April 7th. When astronomers say that a planet is at “opposition” what they mean it that it has reached a point in … April Feature – Jupiter! – copy

  • Mar 1 – Look for the waxing crescent moon in our western sky right after sunset. Just five degrees to the south of the moon you should see the planet Mars. Venus is 15 degrees below the moon and Mars. Uranus is only 2.1 degrees below Mars but you will need a telescope … Highlights of the March Sky – copy

  • Feb 3 – The moon is at first quarter phase with 51% of its surface illuminated. You may well wonder why it is called a first quarter phase if over half of it is lit up. We say it is at first quarter because the moon has traveled one quarter of its way … Highlights of the February Sky – copy

Dr. Stephen Grace associate professor of biology at UA Little Rock shares the progress of the campus garden and the benefits of sustainable, urban farming.  Dr. Grace is a plant physiologist whose research is focused on biochemistry and metabolism of plants and how that relates to nutrition.      

  THE OWL CLUSTER (NGC 457, CALDWELL 13) ABOUT THE OWL CLUSTER Amateur astronomers have their favorite little celestial gems that they like to show off to folks in their telescopes. We generally have a few for each season and one of my personal fall favorites (and one that many of my fellow amateur astronomers … Deep Sky Feature for November – copy

    Dr. John Mylroie is Professor Emeritus of Geology at Mississippi State University. He is the founding president of the Karst Waters Institute. In this lecture, Dr. Mylroie draws from four decades of field work in the Bahamas to explain how the islands got there and how geologists have worked to understand simple rocks … EARTHtalk! – Dr. John Mylroie