Posts by

Bruce McClure

Moon follows Jupiter April 11-12

Jupiter rises before the moon. Then, as Earth spins under the sky, the moon chases Jupiter for the remainder of the night.

Bruce McClure

April 11, 2017

Full moon near Jupiter April 10-11

Full moon comes on April 11 at 6:08 UTC. For the Americas, that means full moon happens tonight. As the 1st full moon of northern spring, it fixes the date of Easter Sunday.

Bruce McClure

April 10, 2017

Mercury after sunset in early April

For northerly latitudes, we're now in the middle of Mercury's best showing in the evening sky for 2017.

Bruce McClure

April 1, 2017

Moon and Mars at nightfall March 30

Look in your western sky at nightfall and early evening. Mars will be the reddish "star" right next to the waxing moon.

Bruce McClure

March 30, 2017

Moon, Mercury, Mars on March 29

It's a very slim crescent moon you'll find in the west - shortly after sunset - Wednesday evening. Mercury is exceedingly near the sunset glare. Mars is higher up.

Bruce McClure

March 29, 2017

Planets Mercury and Uranus at dusk

Innermost Mercury - and distant Uranus - are low in the western sky after sunset. Start looking for them as soon as your sky begins to darken.

Bruce McClure

March 26, 2017

Venus after sunset and before sunrise!

The planet Venus is now appearing in the west after sunset and in the east before sunrise. Don't believe it? Astronomer Bruce McClure reports on his observation.

Bruce McClure

March 23, 2017

Arcturus, a northern springtime star

Orange Arcturus is the constellation Bootes the Herdsman's brightest star. Look for it in the east around nightfall.

Bruce McClure

March 22, 2017

Equal day and night on equinox?

The sun is a disk, not a point of light. Plus Earth’s atmosphere refracts sunlight. For both reasons, we have more than 12 hours of daylight on the day of an equinox.

Bruce McClure

March 19, 2017

Venus about to leave evening sky

And Mercury is climbing into it. By late March, Venus will have moved to the east before dawn as Mercury stages its best evening apparition of the year for northern observers.

Bruce McClure

March 18, 2017

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.