Night Sky: Neptune’s close visit
This coming Tuesday, the 14th, Neptune reaches its closest approach to us for the year. It’s an enormous blue ball big enough to let 58 planet Earths fit inside.
Posts Tagged 'night sky'
Night Sky: Farthest Galaxy
Researchers recently found the farthest-ever galaxy, a Hubble smudge at a distance of around 13 billion light years.
The Night Sky: The tides of the Hudson
Coastal civilizations forever noticed that the ocean’s rhythmic rise and fall mostly followed the Moon’s position. But how could this be? We orbit the huge massive Sun, not the lightweight Moon. Why should the Sun have the dominant gravitational effect on us — and yet the Moon boasts the greater tidal pull?
Night Sky: Your number’s up
August is when the sky transitions from its least number of faint stars (in the spring) to its greatest number, from September through December.
Saturn at its mind-blowing best
One planet never disappoints. Through any telescope with more than 30x, Saturn elicits gasps. Oddly enough, photos of the ringed world do not pack the same punch. You have to see it for yourself.
No one escapes gravity
You simply can’t travel far enough to escape Earth’s gravity.
The gift of planets
What’s the most romantic gift for your sweetheart? A book of poetry? A candlelight dinner? Excellent choices — but as a nightcap, what’s better than the Goddess of Love in person?
Coming up: Big Hudson River tides
Extremely high Hudson River tides start this Sunday and peak Tuesday, April 27. That’s because Monday’s Full Moon happens just before it reaches its closest approach of the month. And its third nearest meeting with Earth of the entire year, missing second place by just 42 miles.
What telescope should you buy?
It’s the most frequently asked question in amateur astronomy. Here, an astronomer offers some guidance.
Carbon dioxide explained
If you know any skeptics regarding carbon dioxide, or who are not freaked by the earth’s still-new milestone of hitting 400 parts per million, just point upward any night, and show them how it operates elsewhere in the universe.