What telescope should you buy?
It’s the most frequently asked question in amateur astronomy. Here, an astronomer offers some guidance.
Posts Tagged 'night sky'
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.
Tips for spotting Neowise in the Hudson Valley
It’s the best comet since Hale-Bopp graced our skies in 1996. And it’s easy to find. From any location with an unobstructed view toward the northwest – just right of where the sun set – look about a quarter of the way up the sky at 10 p.m..
Night Sky: Don’t believe the hype
Click-bait articles try to get readers excited about non-events like lunar eclipse and unremarkable meteor showers. Don’t be fooled.
Beauty from your backyard: The most amazing Evening Star ever
We are all finding new ways to have fun at home. Naturally and predictably, I’m recommending you step into your backyard and simply look up around dinnertime, just as darkness falls. So happens, this is a most extraordinary time to gaze at the heavens. Halfway up the western sky you’ll see an unbelievably bright “star.” This is of course the planet Venus, also known as the Evening Star.
Germs on the Moon: You can’t escape them
In the “current affairs” department, no other topic could be explored on this page right now. You wouldn’t think “germs” and “astronomy” would ever share the same headline or news story, but it has happened three times.
Earth is becoming flatter: The word is getting a round
There are two foolproof ways to ascertain Earth’s true shape without needing to trust photos or any astronaut.
SuperMoons are not a thing
Media outlets such as Earth and Sky are saying that we are entering a “SuperMoon season,” with three SuperMoons in a row, on March 9, April 8 and May 7. Yet there’s no mention of this in any of the world’s astronomical publications. Something strange seems to be afoot.
Quantum mechanics: stranger than you can imagine
In 1935, Albert Einstein and two colleagues, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, wrote a now-famous paper in which they addressed one particular aspect of quantum theory. Examining the prediction that particles created together (“entangled”) can somehow know what the other is doing, the physicists argued that any such parallel behavior must be due to local effects, some contamination of the experiment, rather than some sort of “spooky action at a distance.” But recent experiments, including additional ones from 2015, show that Einstein was wrong.
Mercurial personality
Mercury alters its brightness more than any other planet, varying by three hundredfold. Each year its light goes from fainter than the “Seven Sisters” to more than double the brilliance of the Dog Star Sirius, the brightest star. These nights it’s near its brightest, but it’s fading rapidly.