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What’s a penumbral eclipse of the moon?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | 3 months ago
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During a penumbral eclipse, observant people in the right spot on Earth will look up and notice a dark shading on the moon’s face. Others look and notice nothing at all.
Rainbow-like halo around the shadow of a man, in a mountainous setting.

What is the Brocken Spectre?

Posted by in Earth | 4 months ago
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The Brocken Spectre is your own shadow, cast on mists below you, when you are mountain climbing. The shadow may appear enormous and has a ring around it.

Born in March? Here’s your birthstone

Posted by in Human World | 6 months ago
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Happy birthday to all you March babies. Your month has 2 birthstones – the aquamarine and the bloodstone.
A nearly face-on disk of gas and dust, with interesting gaps.

Do all planets orbit in a flat plane around their suns?

Posted by in Space | 8 months ago
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The major planets in our solar system orbit, more or less, in a single plane. That’s why you can look for them along the same sky path traveled by the sun and moon. Is the same true for exoplanets in distant solar systems?

What makes a halo around the sun or moon?

Posted by in Space | 1 year ago
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A large ring or circle of light around the sun or moon is called a 22-degree halo by scientists.
cloud-streets-bering-sea-20jan2006-300

You can’t walk on these cloud streets

Posted by in Earth | 1 year ago
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Cloud streets are long rows of cumulus clouds oriented parallel to the direction of the wind. Check out these cool images!

What is a coronal mass ejection?

Posted by in Space | 1 year ago
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Want to brush up on your knowledge about these solar hiccups – CMEs, for short – that can ripple through our solar system and can interrupt satellites and power grids on Earth?

How much moon do we see?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 2 years ago
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One side of the moon always faces Earth. Even so, over time, it’s possible to see as much as 59% of the moon’s surface, due to lunar libration.

Born in June? Here’s your birthstone

Posted by in Human World | 2 years ago
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Happy birthday June babies! Your month has 3 birthstones – pearl, moonstone, and alexandrite.

Star brightness versus star luminosity

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | 3 years ago
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Some extremely large and hot stars blaze away with the luminosity of a million suns! But other stars look bright only because they’re near Earth.

Circumpolar stars never rise or set

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 3 years ago
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From Earth’s North and South Poles, all the stars appear as circumpolar. Meanwhile, at the equator, no star is circumpolar. And what about in between?

How big are the biggest monster stars?

Posted by in Space | 3 years ago
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How big can stars get? And how do these monster stars get so big?

What are the seasons like on Uranus?

Posted by in Space | 3 years ago
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Uranus lies nearly sideways with respect to the plane of its orbit around the sun. That sideways tilt makes a huge difference between winter-summer on Uranus, and autumn-spring.

January’s birthstone is the garnet

Posted by in Earth | Human World | 3 years ago
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Happy birthday January babies!  Your birthstone is the garnet.

Lucky New Year’s foods

Posted by in Human World | 3 years ago
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Lucky New Year’s foods in the U.S. South and around the world. Happy 2017!

How long to orbit Milky Way’s center?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 3 years ago
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One journey of our sun and planets around the center of our Milky Way galaxy is sometimes called a cosmic year. That’s approximately 225-250 million Earth-years.

Are solar eclipses more common than lunar eclipses?

Posted by in Space | 4 years ago
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It’s sometimes said that, on a worldwide scale, solar eclipses outnumber lunar eclipses by about a three to two margin. True?

What is time?

Posted by in Earth | Human World | Science Wire | Space | 4 years ago
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… And why does it move forward?

See 5 bright planets at once

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Science Wire | Space | 4 years ago
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First time we can see 5 planets at once since 2005. All 5 are up before dawn, still, and all 5 will remain visible until Mercury disappears in the dawn just after mid-February.

Why does the new year begin on January 1?

Posted by in Earth | Human World | Science Wire | 4 years ago
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New Year’s Day is a civil event. Its date isn’t precisely fixed by any natural seasonal marker.