Mon Apr 21, 2025 BEST NIGHT FOR THE LYRID SHOWER
The Lyrid meteor show reaches peak activity tonight. Under dark sky conditions you should be able to see several meteors each hour, including a few fireballs. But the fat crescent moon will rise a few hours after midnight and the seeing won’t be so good because bright moonlight washes out the dark night sky, making these shooting stars hard to find. So plan your observing tonight from late evening until about 3 am. Get away from bright streetlights. Face east, and then look up toward the zenith. You don’t need a telescope to see these momentary bright streaks of light, in fact a telescope would hinder your view. Take a lounge chair to lean back in, dress warmly, and don't forget to protect against mosquitoes and other hazards.
Tue Apr 22, 2025 DEATH OF MARK TWAIN
Sam Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died on April 21st, 1910. Twain was born the same year that Halley’s Comet appeared in the sky. In 1909 he wrote, “I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet.” The comet’s orbit brings it close to the sun every seventy-six years on average, but it wasn’t visible to most folks until a week or so after his death in 1910. But there was a brighter comet in 1910, which could be seen in the daytime, in the months just before he died. Perhaps he was thinking of this comet when he wrote, “Death is the starlit strip between the companionship of yesterday and the reunion of tomorrow.”
Wed Apr 23, 2025 COUNT THE STARS
One of the most enjoyable things you can do is to go out on a clear dark night and count the stars in the sky. And it's a wonderful activity for family too. Protect yourself against mosquitoes and other nocturnal hazards. Find a place that's away from streetlights or house lights, which can ruin your view. Take along a flashlight so you can see where you're going, and make sure it's okay for you to be where you are. Take along a jacket for warmth, and one of those lounge chairs that lean all the way back. When the stars shine out in clear skies, look for subtle colors of red, blue, white and yellow. Notice the different brightnesses. Connect the stars together into patterns for your own personal constellations. Then count the stars!
Thu Apr 24, 2025 THE BIG DIPPER AS A GUIDE
The Big Dipper can guide you to other stars. If you draw a line through the two stars in the front of the Big Dipper's bowl and extend that line to the north, it will point to Polaris, the North Star. Polaris is not very bright, but it is in the north, and it’s also at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper, which is also hard to see since most its stars are even dimmer than Polaris. So go back to the Big Dipper’s pointer stars and run a line in the other direction, and you’ll discover a group of stars that looks like a backwards question mark high up in the southern sky - that’s Leo the Lion. Finally, draw a curved line through the stars in the Big Dipper’s handle, and then follow that curved line out, and low in the east are the stars Arcturus and Spica.
Fri Apr 25, 2025 ONWARD CAME THE METEORS!
On April 26th 1803, there was a great bombardment of meteorites in France, which was so spectacular, it convinced astronomers that these rocks had come from outer space. When a rock is out in space, before it hits the atmosphere, it’s known as a meteoroid. When it does enter our atmosphere, it’s called a meteor, or more commonly, a shooting or falling star. Most meteors are just tiny bits of dust that burn up. Their heat lights up the air around them, causing those brief flashes of light that you see. If a larger rock, something as large as a bowling ball, say, comes through, there's a good chance it won't burn up completely, but strike the ground, and become a meteorite, a rock from outer space. That’s what they got back in 1803.
