Backyard Astronomer - Delta College Public Radio

After dusk, look about a third of the way up the eastern sky for Altair, the brightest star in Aquila the Eagle and part of the Summer Triangle.

Now is a good time to see the dark round plains called “maria,” and bright splashes of lighter material called “rays.” The southern maria offer some interesting sights in a small telescope.

Hercules, the strong man of ancient mythology, rides high overhead in early summer. While its stars are not particularly bright, its most distinctive shape are the four stars in its center known as the Keystone. Within its borders lies one of the most famous globular star clusters of the entire night sky.

As twilight ends around 10:30 pm, look low in the southeast for a bright reddish star – this is Antares, the heart of the Scorpion.

Now that summer has arrived, the famous “Summer Triangle” of stars has returned to guide us around the evening sky.

Even to the unaided eye, the moon reveals round dark regions called "maria." Before the age of telescopes, people imagined these dark stretches as oceans of water. In reality, they are vast lava plains left behind by asteroid impacts.

At the beginning of the week of June 10, the moon appears as a crescent in the west after sunset. But each night, the moon will appear to slip a little farther back or eastward among the stars.

If you follow the arc to Arcturus and keep the curve going even farther down into the south, you’ll come to a fainter bluish star, Spica.

Observe the night sky long enough and you’re bound to see something strange that’s hard to identify. It’s easy to think of a UFO, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s an alien spaceship.

In binoculars, look near the very center of the lunar disk for a large crater that seems to have a dark, smooth floor. This is Ptolemaeus, named for Claudius Ptolemy, an astronomer of ancient Greece. Two more large craters in a line below Ptolemaeus, Aphonsus and Arzachel, complete the chain.

The moon is "new" this week, which keeps the night sky dark enough to see more stars and deep sky wonders. One distinctive little springtime constellation to look for in the south is called Corvus, the Crow.

Each season has that one constellation that serves as a signpost to the sky. In spring, many stargazers use the zodiacal constellation of Leo the Lion.

Mid-April to mid-May is a good time to see a collection of bright stars in the west called "The Arch of Spring."

As the phase of the moon grows steadily from Crescent to First Quarter to Full, it’s a good opportunity to explore the contrasts of light and dark on its surface.

This is the time of year when the Big Dipper climbs to its highest point in the north, appearing almost directly overhead by month’s end.

There's a fuzzy glow in the constellation of Cancer the Crab that's barely visible to the naked eye, but binoculars will reveal a pretty little star cluster called the Beehive.

One of the most amazing spectacles in nature is coming on Monday, April 8 – a total eclipse of the sun! Here's how you can make the most of it.

Mercury is rarely visible because it never wanders far from the sun in the sky, but we're approaching the opportunity to see it now. As a bonus, Comet Pons-Brooks is visible in binoculars in the west at dusk!

Whenever the crescent moon is thin, the nighttime side of the moon can look faintly illuminated. This effect is called Earthshine.

If you’ve heard reports of increased Aurora activity, there’s a good reason for it! The sun is approaching the peak of its 11-year sunspot cycle, and that can trigger solar storms that effect the Earth.

Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse form a giant triangle in the southern sky known as the Winter Triangle. And like Orion’s Belt, it can make for an excellent pointer and guidepost to the winter night sky.

All this week, the phase of the moon grows larger and brighter as it moves from First Quarter toward Full. It’s also a good time to look for the 'Man in the Moon'.

No matter the time of year, under a clear dark sky you can expect to see four or five little streaks of light each hour. Sometimes called shooting stars or falling stars, these are meteors that burn up in our atmosphere.

About two hours after sunset, the distinctive constellation of Orion the Hunter is almost due south. You can use the three stars in Orion's belt as a guidepost to the sky.

About two hours after sunset, look halfway up the eastern sky for two bright stars that are relatively close to one another. These are Pollux and Castor, the heads of Gemini the Twins.