Tag Archives: Climate

In the Sky This Week – March 19, 2019

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This entry is part 87 of 87 in the series In the Sky This Week

Third time’s the charm – under clear skies, I got to set up my telescope and show the Moon to attendees of the Astronomy Night event at my wife’s school… finally! As always, looking through my telescope was a first-time for several viewers, and I got the customary “Oh WOW!” from several people! Saturn, Jupiter and the star Antares are in the south-southeastern predawn sky all week. The image below is the same patch of sky above seen in infrared light – the disk and bulge of the Milky Way can clearly be seen! The waxing gibbous Moon can be seen setting in the western predawn sky on Mar. 19th. The full and waning gibbous Moon set a bit later each morning. The Moon will appear near the star Spica in the southwestern predawn sky on Mar. 22nd. The Moon joins Jupiter and Saturn in the south-southeastern predawn sky Mar. 25th. Mars continues to crawl slowly towards the Pleiades, high in … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – March 12, 2019

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This entry is part 86 of 87 in the series In the Sky This Week

Tonight, my wife Connie, who is also a volunteer NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, is running a huge Astronomy Night event at her school; she takes two days to transform the first floor into an astronomy wonderland with posters. We have a 100-foot “Walk the Solar System” down one hall with BEAUTIFUL 3-foot square color posters posters we just printed at the Macomb Intermediate School District’s teacher workshop. We were at the MISD for almost three days straight printing those posters… We’re having several lecturers from the Warren Astronomical Society give talks, and we’re opening up the computer lab where I’ll be showing a Virtual Reality fly-over of Saturn’s rings, and allowing attendees to play with space software like NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System and Kerbal Space Program. My wife will be at a table with meteorites, and we’ll hopefully have clear skies so we can set up telescopes outside. I also have a couple posters shamelessly plugging the Vatican Observatory … Continue reading →

California Wildfires: Reports of “Weird Skies” and a Red Gibbous Moon

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Last Friday evening, the western Michigan sky had a very unsettling hue to it. It had been cloud-covered and raining all day, but instead of typical shades of gray and red-orange of sunset, the sky was a sickly yellow. “That’s not right” I said, staring at it in confusion. Trails of smoke and carbon monoxide from massive wildfires in California have drifted eastward across the U.S., one branch moving toward Texas and the other forking toward upper Michigan and Canada. Carbon monoxide is a pollutant that can persist in the atmosphere for several weeks, and be transported long distances; it plays a role in both air pollution and climate change. There are several photos online showing an orange-red first-quarter Moon – which is just WRONG! A couple friends said they saw this… all I’ve seen for days is clouds and haze. The Blood Red Moon fighting her way through the Forest Fire Smoke and Haze in our Calgary sky last night. … Continue reading →