SkyCaramba

A meteor shower you might catch part of at dawn peaks this week. For the most part, it's a daytime event. Even though you don't get to see most of the meteors--up to 60 per hour--you might be able to detect them by listening to the radio! A far south full moon, Mars marching out of the Beehive and Venus heading toward it, and Mercury in the morning are among the other things to know about...

Mercury and Venus are approaching their greatest elongations--Mercury in the morning and Venus in the evening. That's when they're farthest from the sun in the sky and can be seen most easily. The two planets are also predicted to be at dichotomy around June 4. But an unexplained phenomenon is likely to make one appear to be in its semi-circle phase around the middle of this week and the other aro...

The moon passes by Venus and Mars. The moon goes through northern lunistice. Saturn rules the morning while Jupiter creeps in and Mercury tries. A Cambridge University student worked for two years helping build a radio signal detecting apparatus. She spent hours poring over the data it produced. And after she discovered the first known pulsar, two other people got a Nobel prize for it. Find out ho...

Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn are our morning planets. Venus and Mars are in the evening with Venus passing very close to Mebsuta. And hey, the sun emits radio waves. James Stanley Hey figured that out in World War II. But he couldn't talk about it for a few years. This is part two in the series on unexpected discoveries that advanced radio astronomy.

Mars and Venus straddle Gemini. The moon goes as far south as it can this month. Saturn and Jupiter greet us in the morning. Uranus goes through conjunction while Mercury emerges from it. Scientists tried for a few decades to detect radio waves from outer space. Their crude equipment didn't find any. After the discovery of the ionosphere, some concluded that radio astronomy would never be poss...

This week's full moon comes with a penumbral eclipse. Mercury goes through inferior conjunction. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks. Watch Venus and Mars continue a dual reign in the evening sky. Jupiter and Saturn share the morning.

Vanishing Mercury. The moon and Venus. Mars by Pollux. Saturn in the morning. And still no Jupiter. Virgo is a constellation of many identities. Just who she is depends on who's telling you. Astronomy Day is this week.

Mercury sinks sunward. Uranus goes with it. Venus plows past the Pleiades. Mars in Gemini. A Saturn-moon pairing. Jupiter still too close to the sun to see. A reminder about the hybrid solar eclipse. And a comet that last came close to the sun in 1861 provides the annual meteor shower called the April Lyrids. The shower peaks at the end of this week.

Mercury at greatest elongation with Uranus nearby. Venus slides by the Pleiades. Mars makes way through Gemini. Saturn stays in Aquarius. Jupiter greets the sun. Last quarter moon. A hybrid solar eclipse--annular in some places, total in others--happens next week. Learn why it's that way and where you can see it.

Mercury marches into the evening. Venus approaches the Pleiades. Jupiter heads toward the sun. Full moon. Do what you can to preserve dark skies. Light pollution isn't just ruining astronomy. It's bad for nature.

The James Webb Space Telescope captured an image of Neptune that some describe as ghostly. A chemical compound detected near the center of the Milky Way galaxy is partly responsible for a fruit's taste. Jupiter disappears into the sunset and has a close call with Mercury along the way. Venus passes by Uranus. Mars passes by Castor's feet.

Mercury joins Jupiter and Venus in the evening. Equinox is this week. The sun isn't entering Aries now, no matter what you've been told. A daytime occultation of Venus. And Ceres is at opposition.

Venus dominates the early evening. Mars remains up until around midnight. Jupiter and Vesta are close. Mercury's at superior conjunction. The anniversary of the first detailed picture of the moon is coming up. That was more than 180 years ago.

Mercury's already in retreat in the morning. Venus marches more into the evening. There's still time to see Jupiter while it begins a long goodbye to the evening sky. And learn what is meant by the different ways of measuring how close two objects are when they're in conjunction.

Venus and Jupiter will appear very close this week. Saturn relieves Mercury of morning duty.

Venus keeps climbing the evening sky. Cetus the sea monster sets. At the heart of Leo is a star shaped like an egg.

Venus has a super close conjunction with Neptune this week. This is a good time to look at them in a telescope. And a beast who appears in fables going back thousands of years somehow never got a constellation until somewhat recently. There's a unicorn on the celestial dome now.

Most of the planet watching is in the evening this week. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) passes by Mars in our sky. Learn about how someone discovered that the sun emits radio waves and why that was kept a secret for a few years.

Saturn sinks toward sunset. Venus climbs toward Jupiter. And a comet crosses the sky.

The brightest star in Canis Minor (the little dog) has some things in common with the brightest star in Canis Major (the big dog). This week is the anniversary of Clyde Tombaugh taking the pictures that led to the discovery of Pluto.

Venus climbs Capricornus for a close call with Saturn. Jupiter's at perihelion. Mars moves eastward again. The moon occults Zubenelgenubi and has its closest perigee in five years. Mercury moves to the morning. Pluto's in conjunction with the sun.

Venus climbs Capricornus toward Saturn, Jupiter reigns above them, Mars turns around, Mercury is coming out of inferior conjunction and moving to the morning.

Two planets are at perihelion this week. Some people have a hard time believing it about one of them. Mercury says so long to the evening sky. Venus climbs toward Saturn. And the moon occults Mars again.

Mars at equinox. Martian clouds. The asteroid belt isn't nearly as dense as shown on TV. Planets don't twinkle--usually.

Mercury's at greatest elongation and near Venus. Jupiter and Saturn are easy evening sights. So is Mars. Earth's at solstice. These are the longest days of the year as measured by high noon to high noon.