Monday, November 03, 2025

Today: Tomorrow morning, briefly visible and quite low in the east-southeast, the planet Venus appears to have a companion, the star Spica located to the right, and a bit higher than Venus. The two are heading in opposite directions, with Spica rising earlier each...

Sunday, November 02, 2025

Today: Standard Time has returned, but what does that mean? The idea of a “standard” time, and time zones, replaced the Sun as the method for determining noon. Local noon is when the Sun is directly south, but when trains made long distance travel possible...

Saturday, November 01, 2025

Today: Today marks the latest sunrise of the year. But wait, doesn’t that happen in December near the Winter Solstice? That would be true, except the date for changing from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time now occurs so late, that our sunrise is two minutes...

Friday, October 31, 2025

Today: Hallowe’en’s connection to astronomy comes from its position on the calendar, halfway between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. This mid-point, known as a “cross-quarter day”, began the “dark” half of the year for...

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Today: As Hallowe’en approaches, look for the star Algol, the “ghoul” that marks the head of the hideous monster Medusa, a great Hallowe’en costume! Look northeast at 7:30 PM , where the brightest star in Perseus, Mirfak appears (not to be...

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Today: Lowering into the west-northwest this evening, the pale orange star Arcturus, sets just before 8:00 PM. However, our second brightest star is not done. Early tomorrow morning, Arcturus climbs back into the east-northeast starting at 5:10, though much easier to...