This Week's Amazing Sky
May 11, 2015
This week offers dark moonless skies. Perfect for meteors! We've all seen them streak across the heavens. But did you know that….
You always see more after midnight, when you're on the forward-facing part of Earth
You see more from August through early January than any other month
You never see the meteoroid itself—just the glowing air surrounding it
Most are the size of apple seeds
Some of these facts seem counterintuitive. After all, a reader recently reported seeing one come down... more
April 28, 2015
Welcome to our night sky exploration. Let's have fun! I know you've already spotted the Evening Star after sunset.
It generates more UFO reports than any other object. It's simply the brightest thing in the sky, after the Moon. It's Venus, the closest planet to us.
Right now, Venus is about as high up as it can get. As evening twilight deepens, it's more than a third of the way up the western sky, and remains dazzling for hours. It's astronomy made easy.
At this week's end, it will float... more
October 7, 2014
Wake up early tomorrow, October 8, 2014 for a total eclipse of the Moon—visible throughout the United States and Canada!
This eclipse is the second of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, or what we call a “tetrad.” See all the dates on our Eclipse page.
For East Coasters, the total eclipse begins at 6:25 A.M. EDT; the Moon will be hanging low over the western horizon as the brightening dawn approaches, so only part of the eclipse may be seen before the Moon sets. The Moon may appear... more
June 23, 2014
The Whirlpool Galaxy, or M51, is a massive spiral type galaxy that is positioned beautifully face-on near The Big Dipper in the constellation Canes Venatici.
It is about 24 million light years away and part of a cluster of gravitationally bound galaxies called … wait for it … the M51 group.
Messier 51 was discovered on October 13, 1773 by Charles Messier. Charles was a famous comet hunter, and on his quest to find the icy space balls he put together a very nice catalog of objects he came across... more
December 28, 2013
We are going to jump ship here and head back toward Earth for a close-up on Jupiter.
Exploring Orion has been a lot of fun, but there is a lot to see around our local solar system as well. Jupiter is easy to spot even from the most light-polluted areas. Not long after sunset, looking to the east, you will see it breach the horizon. Jupiter appears as a very bright star with a faintly reddish hue. Whip out a simple pair of binoculars and you will easily spot the four large moons of Jupiter... more
November 15, 2013
Enjoy this guest post by David Rankin, astrophotographer, and discover more about the constellation Orion—including a floating horse!
One of the many amazing features inside the great constellation Orion is the “Horse Head Nebula,” which is seen in the below photograph as the red area near the star Alnitak in the center of the photo.
Not far from the Horse Head Nebula is the Great Orion Nebula, to the upper right.
There is also a faint blue reflection nebula near the bottom left. All of these... more
October 30, 2013
Enjoy this guest post about the constellation Orion by astrophotographer David Rankin. This week, Orion harbors an awesome secret … a witch!
By now, hopefully, you should be able to spot Orion in the winter sky.
When you walk out just after dark, Orion’s bright figure towers over you to the south … It’s the Witch Head Nebula.
See the photo below. Can you make out the shape of a witch’s head? Do you see a hat, a large nose, a cheekbone, and a protruding chin?
The witch stares back at the... more
October 26, 2013
This week, we have a guest astrophotographer from Southern Utah, David Rankin, with a special interest in exploring the night sky via long-exposure digital photography …
The camera is able to capture space in a way that our eyes can not. Let’s explore what objects lie just beyond the reach of the naked eye during any given season.
As the colder months rush in, the constellation Orion starts to work its way up high into the southern sky. The giant hunter in Greek mythology makes his debut every... more
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Welcome to “This Week’s Amazing Sky,” the Almanac’s hub for everything stargazing and astronomy. Bob Berman, longtime and famous astronomer for The Old Farmer’s Almanac, will help bring alive the wonders of our universe. From the beautiful stars and planets to magical auroras and eclipses, he covers everything under the Sun (and Moon)! Bob, the world’s mostly widely read astronomer, also has a new weekly podcast, Astounding Universe!
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