Mon Dec 29, 2025 TELESCOPIC VIEWS OF THE MOON
The moon has returned to our evening skies- it's now in its new gibbous phase and well-placed in the south after sunset. This is a great time to look at the moon through binoculars or telescopes, because you can see lots of details near the moon's terminator, the line that separates daytime from nighttime on the moon. The shadows here are very long, just as they are near earth's terminator, after sunrise or before sunset. You can also find smooth, flat, dark areas on the moon - these are the maria, or seas - not really oceans of water, but dark basaltic rock, similar to the basalts we find on the earth's ocean floor. A lot of these maria are fairly round, with mountain chains encircling them. They are the result of giant asteroid impacts that happened long ago.
Tue Dec 30, 2025 TELESCOPE HELP
If on Christmas Day you found a telescope under your tree, and by now you still haven't figured out how to get it to work, here’s some basic advice. You've either got a reflector, which has a big mirror at the bottom of the telescope, or a refractor, usually a long tube with a big glass lens at the top. The refractor’s eyepiece, which does the magnifying, goes into the draw tube at the bottom of the scope. If you have more than one eyepiece, use the eyepiece with the biggest number - this will give you the least magnification, which is what you want to start out. As a general rule, don’t magnify more than 50 power for each inch of aperture, the width of your main lens or mirror.
Wed Dec 31, 2025 NEW YEAR’S AVATAR
Often the outgoing year is portrayed as a very old man known as Father Time. Father Time in turn is based on the Greek mythological god Kronos, whom the Romans associated with Saturn, an agricultural god. The planet Saturn takes 29 years to orbit the sun, so to sky-watchers of long ago, it seemed as if this slow-moving, unhurried planet must somehow be associated with time. In late December great festivals like the Saturnalia were held in honor of Saturn. Gifts were exchanged, homes and streets were decorated, and everybody was in a happy party mood. After this came the solstice and celebrations of the sun, then another holiday for Janus, the Roman god of new beginnings, and for whom the month of January is named.
Thu Jan 1, 2026 JANUARY AND THE NEW YEAR
January is named for Janus, the Roman god who had two faces: one looked back to the past, the other looked forward to the future. This is also the year Twenty-Twenty-Six, which according to the calculations of a Roman monk, Dionysius Exiguus, marks the two thousand and 26th year following the birth of Christ – AD – Anno Domini – in the year of Our Lord - 2026. But Dionysius’s count was off by one year. Our calendar goes from 1 BC to AD 1 – there is no zero year, because the numerical concept of zero was not used in Europe back then. Now if you’re outside tonight after sunset you can find the planet Jupiter shining well up in the eastern sky, appearing as a bright, star-like object. Another planet, ringed Saturn, will appear as a yellow-tinged star over in the southwest.
Fri Jan 2, 2026 JANUARY FULL MOON PLUS THE PLANET JUPITER
The moon is full today, rising out of the east at sunset. To ancient Celts, January’s full moon was the Storm Moon, because they believed that storms raged both before and after its appearance in the sky. To the Passamaquoddy Indians, this is the Wolf Moon, a time of year when wolves that normally avoided humans, would be forced by winter famine to scavenge from the villages.Wolves were seen more frequently, especially at night when the moon was full and bright. To the Sioux, this is the Moon of Strong Cold; the Zuni know it as the Moon When the Limbs of Trees are Broken by Snow. And to the Omaha Indians, it is the Moon When the Snow Drifts into the Tepees. Tonight the full moon appears just to the north of the planet Jupiter in the constellation Gemini.
Mon Jan 5, 2026 PERIHELION
Two days ago, on January 3rd at 12:15 pm, our planet reached perihelion, a point in its orbit where we’re closest to the sun. On average, we're about 93 million miles from the sun, but right now, we are just a little under 91 and a half million miles from it. So if we're a million and a half miles closer to the sun, how come we're having winter? Well, not everyone on earth is having winter; summer has just begun for folks who live below the equator.Our seasons are caused not by distance, but by the earth’s 23 and a half degree tilt as it orbits. Like a gyroscope, the earth‘s north pole points toward the North Star. Now our north hemisphere is tipped away from the sun; this puts the sun lower in our sky, and with less direct sunlight we get cooler temperatures.
