September ’24 – Rick’s picks

Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little Observing  All month: the planets’ repopulation of the evening sky continues its slow advance this month, while the pre-dawn sky now begins to lose its solar system lineup. Venus...

August ’24 – Rick’s Picks

Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little Observing All month: the planets continue their slow and hesitant return to the evening sky this month. As August opens, Mercury is a mag +0.9 waning crescent 9 arcseconds from tip...

Astronomy Fundamentals: The Astronomer & the Seven Dwarfs

Dwarf stars are the most plentiful in our sky. But as their name suggests, they are smaller in mass and thus less intrinsically bright. Our August fundamentals will focus on some white and red dwarf stars. Although each of these stars are dwarf stars, they are more...

July ’24 – Rick’s Picks

Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little Observing All month: the morning people begin to release their hold on the planets, as Venus now joins Mercury as an evening star, beginning a sunset apparition that will extend into...

June ’24 Rick’s Picks

Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little Observing  All month: morning people continue their selfish monopolization of solar system observing this month, with Mercury (which will reach superior conjunction on June 14) being...