Mon Feb 2, 2026 CANDLEMASS DAY, FEBRUARY FULL MOON
The moon was full last night, but it will still look fairly full tonight. The Celts called the full moon of February the “Moon of Ice,” well-named I’d say. To the Algonquin Indians of North America, this is the Hunger Moon; it appeared at a time of year when, deep in the cold of winter, food was scarce. The Kutenai Indians’ named it the Black Bear Moon, the Sioux Indians say it is the Raccoon Moon. To the Winnebago tribes it’s the Fish-Running Moon. The Tewa Pueblos knew this as the Moon of Cedar Dust Wind, but the San Juan Indians call this, Moon When the Coyotes are Frightened. February 2nd is also Candlemass Day, celebrating the presentation of Jesus in the temple and Mary's purification, as observed in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. This is also the midpoint of winter, called a cross-quarter day.
Tue Feb 3, 2026 CLYDE TOMBAUGH
Clyde Tombaugh, born on February 4th, 1906, was just 24 years old in 1930, when he discovered a planet beyond Neptune, dubbed Planet X. He found it on one of thousands of photographs of starfields, in Gemini the Twins. This constellation is visible in the east after sunset tonight, but Planet X has since wandered off into the other half of the sky, and can now be found among the stars of the constellation Capricornus. After Tombaugh’s discovery, Planet X was given the name Pluto - in mythology, the brother of Jupiter and god of the far-flung underworld. Tombaugh died in 1997. In 2006, the New Horizons probe was launched to Pluto. New Horizons reached Pluto in July 2015 and sent back incredible pictures of this distant world, as well as its five moons.
Wed Feb 4, 2026 KEPLER THE HITCHIKER
On February 4th, 1600, a poor math teacher from the town of Gratz was dropped off in front of the home of a wealthy nobleman. Johannes Kepler had hitched a ride with Baron Hoffman, Councilor to Rudolph the Second, Emperor of Bohemia. Kepler had been invited by the astronomer Tycho Brahe to work with him at his observatory in the Castle of Benatek outside Prague. Brahe was also a nobleman who had been kicked out of his island observatory in Denmark. Before that happened, though, he had amassed a lot of really good observations of star and planet positions. Kepler stayed with Brahe for about a year and a half. Then in October of 1601 Brahe died and Kepler acquired his observations. The data collected on the planet Mars enabled him to discover the elliptical nature of its orbit. And all this from a shared carriage ride that ended 425 years ago today.
Thu Feb 5, 2026 SIRIUS
There are many bright stars in winter’s early evening sky. In the southeast, down and to the left of the constellation Orion, there’s a star called Sirius, a name derived from the Greek “seirios,” which means, scorching, or sparkling. So you could say Sirius is the star you meant when you recited “Twinkle, Twinkle” as a kid. This brilliant star does twinkle, owing to our earth’s atmosphere, which causes the star to flicker and flash. Sirius is also called the Dog Star, because it's supposed to mark the nose of the Big Dog in the sky, Canis Major. Stars have different brightnesses. Some are bright because they're close to us; others are bright because they're either hotter or bigger. With Sirius, it's a little of both - a big, white-hot star, very close to us, a mere 54 trillion miles away.
Fri Feb 6, 2026 JULES VERNE
The French science fiction writer Jules Verne was born on February 8th, 1828. He wrote about traveling in outer space, "From the Earth to the Moon.” In his novel Verne envisioned the launch taking place in Florida.After rounding the moon the three space travelers splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean, where a ship picked them up - all this a hundred years before we actually went to the moon. In a sense, traveling to our nearest neighbor in space has once again become an impossibility. The last manned moon mission was in 1972. In 2006, NASA’s Constellation project was established to return men, and women, to the moon by the year 2020, but in 2010 that mission was cancelled.Now, finally, it looks like we may be going back to the moon with project Artemis.