Night Sky

    In the context of English grammar, the word “conjunction” refers to certain other words, such as “and”, “yet”, or “but”, that are in turn used to link other words, phrases, and clauses together, but within the parlance of astronomers, the word refers to when two or more celestial objects appear to linkup close and … December 2020 Feature – The Great Conjunction of 2020

There is a common misconception that astronomers do nothing but sit at a telescope every night enjoying celestial eye candy. In fact, for newbies in amateur astronomy, that seems to be the primary motivation for wanting to buy a telescope: the expectation that their images at the eyepiece will be comparable to what they have … November 2020 Feature – KEMBLE’S CASCADE

There’s a common misconception that in order to see the wonders of the cosmos, you must own a telescope. Not true! There are many wonders overhead that you can see with just your unaided eye: the moon, 5 bright planets, eclipses, stars, constellations, the Milky Way, and even the Andromeda Galaxy located some 2.5 million … AUGUST 2020 Feature – THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER

            “The night sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope … July 2020 Feature – THE RETURN OF THE KING AND THE LORD OF THE RINGS

The last time we had a comet of any note here in the northern hemisphere was 1997’s Comet Hale-Bopp. I can recall standing in my driveway one April evening in the Capital View section of Little Rock and seeing it shining brightly in the northwest part of the sky. Ah, such sweet memories. So yeah, … May 2020 Feature – A Tale of Two Comets

Astronomy is not something that is only accessible to those who own expensive telescopes, it is a pursuit that we can all engage in by using nothing more than our unaided eyes. Things like learning how to identify the brightest stars in the night sky and the constellations to which they belong are a good … April 2020 Feature – EARTHSHINE

If you are one of those people who loves seeing the planets with just the unaided eye (and really, who doesn’t?), then this month is going to be…well, out of this world.  March of 2020 brings us 5 naked eye planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.   In addition to these worlds, I’ll throw in … March 2020 Feature – A Month for Planet Hunters

Many amateur astronomers take particular joy in observing and showing off double stars in their telescopes. There is just something delightful about looking at a star that, to the naked eye, advertises itself as one but, upon closer inspection, turns out to be two, or even more, individual stars. A classic example is the star … February 2020 Feature – Sigma Orionis

From night to night, the stars march inexorably across the sky just like they’ve done for millennia. Looking up at a star-filled sky, it’s easy to lull yourself into believing that the stars are all the same in appearance, unchanging and eternal. But if astronomy teaches us anything, it’s that nothing within this universe lasts … January 2020 Feature – Hey Betelgeuse, Are You Okay?

MYTHOLOGY It had been a dream wedding day, full of joy, spectacle, and much merrymaking. Exhausted from all of the festivities, Leda, the Queen of Sparta, and her new husband, King Tyndareus, were now ready to retire to the royal bedchamber to consummate their union. Which they did. But later that night, while deep in … December 2019 Feature – Castor and Pollux