Posts by

Bruce McClure

Lonely Alphard is the brightest star in Hydra

Alphard is the "heart" and brightest star in the constellation Hydra the Water Snake, and it represents a welcome sign of spring for the Northern Hemisphere.

Bruce McClure

March 29, 2026

Meet Cancer the Crab and its Beehive star cluster

Cancer the Crab is one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac. Learn how to find it in your sky, plus learn about its star cluster, mythology and more.

Bruce McClure

March 26, 2026

The equinox sun rises due east and sets due west

The 2026 September equinox occurs on 14:46 UTC (9:46 p.m. CDT) on March 20. And the equinox sun rises and sets due east and due west.

Bruce McClure

March 20, 2026

Are day and night equal on the equinox? Not exactly

Are day and night equal at an equinox? No. Earth's atmosphere and our sun team up to give us more day than night during an equinox.

Bruce McClure

March 19, 2026

Equinox fun: Track the sun’s shift now until the solstice

On this equinox, start tracking the sunset point on your western horizon. You'll see a mighty shift between now and the June solstice.

Bruce McClure

March 18, 2026

See the year’s fastest sunsets and sunrises around equinoxes

The year's fastest sunsets and sunrises happen around the equinoxes, and the slowest sunsets and sunrises happen around the solstices.

Bruce McClure

March 17, 2026

Summer Triangle: A signpost for all seasons

Watch for the 3 bright stars of the Summer Triangle - Vega, Deneb and Altair - before dawn in March, before midnight in May and at dusk near the June solstice.

Bruce McClure

March 11, 2026

Mizar and Alcor in the bend of the Big Dipper

Mizar and Alcor are a famous pair of stars located at the bend of the handle of the Big Dipper. But what we see as 2 stars are really 6 stars!

Bruce McClure

March 10, 2026

Is Sirius the most luminous star in the sky?

Sirius is the brightest star in Earth's sky because of how close it is to us. It's so bright you might see glints of different colors flashing from it.

Bruce McClure

Kelly Kizer Whitt

March 4, 2026

The Beehive Cluster: A swarm of 1,000 stars

The Beehive Cluster is an open star cluster that lies near the center of the constellation Cancer the Crab. It goes by many names, including Praesepe and M44.

Bruce McClure

Deborah Byrd

March 1, 2026

Bruce McClure

Bruce McClure served as lead writer for EarthSky's popular Tonight pages from 2004 to 2021, when he opted for a much-deserved retirement. You can still find many articles at EarthSky.org that were originally written by Bruce, and which the EarthSky editors still update regularly. Bruce is a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also wrote and hosted public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York. Bruce he loves cycles of all kinds! You can still find many articles at EarthSky with Bruce's name on them, exploring the various, intricate cycles of the sky.