The NAO now: And the dark side of night
This setup typically lets cold polar air pour into the Northeast, and can set the stage for early snowstorms.
All posts by Bob Berman
International Observe the Moon Night can be unforgettable
Saturday, October 5: There’s even a backup plan in case of clouds. Saturn and the Moon will be just as nice one night earlier and for several nights later, though they won’t be next to each other any other evening. If you have any kind of telescope, this weekend is the time to drag it out.
September halos: Ring wraiths in the sky
Halos are the poor person’s Weather Channel: a time-honored harbinger of bad weather.
Is summer over? Depends whom you ask
Some say summer ends in a few days. Others say we have a few more weeks. A look at those and other ways to reckon the seasons.
Perils of space
Project Apollo had a million things that could have gone wrong.
Sons of Apollo
As for the “first-born son has a higher chance for success” notion, the Apollo astronauts would seem to support such a thesis strongly, since 27 of the 29 were eldest sons.
In search of natural darkness
In our 21st century, more than half the world’s population lives in an urban environment, with natural nocturnal darkness a phenomenon many only read about. But we who live in a rural setting still mostly enjoy the natural night and its splendors. Still, there’s dark and then there’s really dark.
This week’s total eclipse
If you’ve seen the Great Pyramids, Machu Picchu, the Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal, the Atacama Desert, the Himalayas and maybe even rented a houseboat on Lake Powell, is there any sight that can top all these? Yes. A total solar eclipse. Not a lunar eclipse. And certainly not a partial solar eclipse.
More satellites than stars
Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, along with a few other companies, are planning to put 12,000 new satellites into low Earth orbit over the next few years. Unlike our existing communications satellites that are parked in geostationary orbits all the way up at 22,300 miles and are utterly invisible, these will definitely appear in the sky.
Constant as the northern star
Polaris can be identified most easily right now, at nightfall in spring, because the Big Dipper hovers at its highest of the year.
