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Posts by
Bruce McClure
Earliest sunrises (or sunsets) come before June solstice
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, your earliest sunrises of the year are happening around now. Southern Hemisphere? Your earliest sunsets are around now.
June 12, 2025
M5, your new favorite globular star cluster
M5 in Serpens Caput is a refreshing sight through a small telescope, as thousands of stars cluster together into the tightly packed ball of this globular cluster.
June 6, 2025
Find the Keystone in Hercules, and the Hercules Cluster M13
Let the bright star Vega guide you to a famous star pattern in Hercules - called the Keystone - and then to the Hercules cluster, aka M13.
May 18, 2025
Polaris is the present-day North Star of Earth
Many people think Polaris is the brightest star, but it's only 48th in brightness. Still, Polaris is famous because the entire northern sky wheels around it.
May 16, 2025
Virgo the Maiden represents a harvest goddess
Virgo the Maiden is the largest of the zodiac constellations. A handy mnemonic device - using the Big Dipper and its bright star Spica - makes it easy to find.
May 11, 2025
Look for equinox shadows in a direct line from west to east
Equinox shadows are unique. On this day - and only this day - the tip of an upright stick's shadow follows a straight path, west to east, all day long.
March 18, 2025
Look for amazing Omega Centauri, using Spica as a guide
Omega Centauri is the largest globular star cluster visible to the eye alone. In the spring, the star Spica can lead you to the giant globular cluster.
March 14, 2025
Meet Taurus, home to 2 fabulous star clusters
Taurus the Bull resides near the constellation Orion the Hunter. It contains 2 famous star clusters that are easy to spot; they are the Pleiades and the Hyades.
February 6, 2025
The mass of a star is determined from binary star systems
Binary stars - a star system consisting of two stars - are extremely useful. They give all the information needed to measure mass of a star. Here is how.
January 31, 2025
Sirius is a future southern Pole Star
Wait, what? It's true. The sky's brightest star, Sirius aka the Dog Star, will come to within 1.6 degrees of the south celestial pole in the year 66270.
January 30, 2025
