Comets have fascinated me since Comet Mrkos in 1957. When Mrkos appeared, I was a child in the then farm town of Layton, Utah. My father had roused me and my siblings at 4:00 a.m. to see Mrkos. The long tail of the comet shot straight up like a search light into black sky from […]
Read more "Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS"The full Moon closest to the December solstice rises farther north of due east than at any other time. That the event was one day after Christmas this year especially excited me. Here is what I saw: Just before Moonrise The rising Moon, not yet above the mountain, will soon slide laterally at an […]
Read more "December’s Full Moon aka The Cold Moon"A syzygy ((“Syzygy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syzygy. Accessed 24 Oct. 2023.)) is any three celestial bodies of a single gravitational system arranged in a line. If one of those bodies is light emitting like the Sun, if the middle one is the Moon, and is the third one is the Earth, the result is a […]
Read more "A Special Syzygy"The three brightest objects in the sky are the Sun, the Moon, and Venus Setting Super Moon – 31 August 2023 That morning I had just left my house for a run. But when I saw this Moon, I abandoned the run for a camera. I always am thrilled to see the Moon, especially […]
Read more "Astronomy: Late Summer 2023"Questing for a very old Moon The Moon “disappears” the day before, the day of, and the day after its new phase. Observing the extremely thin crescent less than 36 hours before and less than 36 hours after the exact moment of new requires planning and luck. Because ultrathin crescents have delicate beauty, seeking them […]
Read more "Where is the Moon?"During the evening of 29 April 2022, Mercury occupied the same field as the Pleiades star cluster. Yesterday morning, two months later, the Moon and Venus took their turn with the Seven Sisters asterism. Pleiades, Moon, and Venus-25 June 2022 This photo was captured at 5:00 AM Mountain Daylight Time (1100 UT). This was 59 […]
Read more "The Pleiades, the Moon, and Venus"An end of April lineup of the planets
Read more "Parade of Planets"Moonrises are always dramatic, especially at night and over mountains…
Read more "Old Moon Rising"