Rick’s Picks
Transient Events That Can Give Us a Good Enough Reason to Get Outside and Do a Little Observing. Each month Rick Gering lists the sky events by date, from the planets and Jupiter’s moons to conjunctions, occultations, eclipses, meteor showers and comets, with charts to find them. For a guided tour of one area of the sky, see One Good Target.
- Focal Plane (26)
- One Good Target (31)
- Rick's Picks (32)
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October ’24 – Rick’s picks
All month: the solar system becomes a little more balanced this month, as Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus continue to light up the predawn sky…
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September ’24 – Rick’s picks
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…
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August ’24 – Rick’s Picks
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…
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July ’24 – Rick’s Picks
All month: the morning people begin to release their hold on the planets, as Venus now joins Mercury as an evening star, beginning a…
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June ’24 Rick’s Picks
All month: morning people continue their selfish monopolization of solar system observing this month, with Mercury (which will reach superior conjunction on June 14)…
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May ’24 – Rick’s Picks
All month: planetwatchers are in for a boring month, as their quarry largely disappear from both the morning and evening sky. The evening’s last…
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April ’24 – Rick’s Picks Special Addendum
The sky at totality: April 8, 2024 This is how the sky will look during totality from the NAA viewing site near McLeansboro IL.For…
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April ’24 – Rick’s Picks
All month: planet-watchers won’t have much to do on April evenings this year, since Mercury will vacate the sunset sky before the end of…