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Posts by
Bruce McClure
December has the longest days (wherever you live)
The longest days accompany the winter solstice. In December, a day - a whole cycle of day and night - is about half a minute longer than the average 24 hours.
December 18, 2025
Your earliest sunset comes before the winter solstice
The solstice comes on December 21, 2025, at 15:03 UTC. Does that coincide with your earliest sunset? Probably not. It depends on where you live.
December 7, 2025
Andromeda Galaxy: Find it by star-hopping from Pegasus
The 4 stars of the Great Square of Pegasus are easy to find. Ready? Let's star-hop! Use these guide stars to help find the Andromeda galaxy.
December 5, 2025
Triangulum galaxy is 2nd-closest to Milky Way
The Triangulum Galaxy, aka M33, is the farthest object you can see with the unaided eye, if in fact you can see it. But seeing it is a challenge.
November 15, 2025
The Pleiades – or 7 Sisters – known around the world
The Pleiades star cluster - aka the 7 Sisters or M45 - is visible from almost every part of the globe. It looks like a tiny, misty dipper of stars.
November 11, 2025
Look out our galaxy’s south window, into intergalactic space
Use the Great Square of Pegasus to locate Fomalhaut. Then you're on your way to looking out our galaxy's south window into intergalactic space.
November 9, 2025
The year’s earliest solar noon is on November 3
November 3 brings the year's earliest solar noon - that is, earliest midday - by nature's clock. It's a harbinger of the Northern Hemisphere's earliest sunset.
November 2, 2025
Gamma Cephei, aka Errai, a future North Star
Gamma Cephei - or Errai - is a binary star system that will one day be Earth’s North Star. It's home to the 1st exoplanet ever discovered.
September 28, 2025
See the Trifid nebula aka Messier 20 tonight
If you have a dark sky, you can spot the Trifid nebula as a fuzzy patch within the Milky Way. And binoculars or a telescope will reveal more details.
August 28, 2025
Capricornus the Sea-goat has an arrowhead shape
Capricornus the Sea-goat is can be spotted in September and October, and is formed in the shape of an arrowhead. One Messier object, M30, is found within.
August 21, 2025
