SkyCaramba

What you've heard your whole life about day and night being of exactly equal length on the equinox is wrong. I'll tell you why. And remember that myth about eggs standing up on their ends only on the equinox? For some reason, the myth only considers the March equinox. Follow Venus into the evening sky and see Jupiter and Saturn nearly all night.

What would you think of a star that blinks? Maybe you'd think there's something sinister about it. That's how Algol got its name. It's from Arabic for the demon . To the ancient Greeks, Algol was a blinking eye of Medusa. Before that, the ancient Egyptians may have thought of the star as a bringer of luck--good or bad depending on when the eye of Horus looked upon them. Algol still...

This is the time of year to see the dawn before the dawn. Depending on the circumstances, this faint glow might make you think the sun is rising sooner than it is or that you're approaching a city when there's just open country ahead.

Mercury moves farther into the evening sky and Venus scoots along Virgo while Mars is elusive in the evening light. Jupiter and Saturn are retrograde in Capricornus. Neptune's at opposition. Earth's at equinox.

Mars is at its northern solstice. There's more to space than what we see orbiting stars. And between the stars, there's more than just nothing. Mars and Mercury start the week close. Venus voyages through Virgo. The moon with Jupiter and Saturn. And try to find Neptune.

A traditional blue moon is coming up. That's not the second full moon of the month. Mars and Mercury are close this week. And learn how to identify the satellites and space junk you see going overhead.

Venus passes by a star named Zavijava this week. The name is fun to say. Find out what it means. Viewing this year's Perseids meteor shower should be good. A celestial swan flies high in the August evening skies. Hear some of the old legends about how it got there.

There are a couple of close pairings this month--Venus and Zavijava and then Mars and Mercury. Saturn and Jupiter are both at opposition. Northern hemisphere viewers have a chance to see the northern and southern crowns. Several animal constellations feature well this month. And there's a meteor shower that produces what some call the tears of St. Lawrence.

In astronomy, the person who first sees an object isn't necessarily the person who gets credit for discovering it. The discoverer is the one who recognizes it as something new or different. If you think it's a star, but someone else figures out it's a planet, you'll be lucky to get a footnote for "precovery" in a chapter about someone else's discovery. Usually, only a few years pass between precov...

It doesn't make sense that stars shining at magnitude 31.5 are among the dimmest the Hubble Space Telescope can see, while one shining at 0 is one of the brightest in the sky. And objects with magnitudes below 0 are even brighter! How can the lower number mean a brighter body? It starts making sense when you understand how this measurement system got started more than 2,000 years ago. And find out...

A popular misconception says toilet water goes one way in the northern hemisphere and the other way in the southern hemisphere. Unless your toilet's a giant lake, its location doesn't make a difference. Follow Venus and Mars in the evening sky while Jupiter and Saturn continue rising earlier.

A half-man, half-horse crosses southern skies. Much of the world only gets a partial view of him. In the northern hemisphere, the visible part of this constellation looks like something we keep in our kitchens. And find out what to expect from Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury this week.

Venus meets Mars in the evening sky. Jupiter and Saturn continue their morning co-dominance. And they help out with identification of two meteor showers. Mercury moves into the morning. Also, there's an upcoming anniversary of a total solar eclipse associated with a hit song. Are people mistakenly thinking the song is about that event?

On the way from Earth to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, one would pass a bright orange star that happens to be the bright star in Scorpius. An arrow crosses the night sky this time of year. Several ancient legends tell who may have shot it and who might have been its target. And find out what to look for in the skies the week of June 20 to 26, 2021

An ancient world story tells us that when some priests were in a "hairy" situation, an astronomer saved their lives by pointing out a faint yet majestic patch of stars. It may be getting warmer where you live, but Earth is almost as far away from the sun as it gets. Astronomical sights for the week of June 13 to 19, 2021

Lucky people along a certain path from part of Russia, across the North Pole, to North America get to see an annular solar eclipse this week. Some people may be able to detect the eclipse, even though the sun won't be up, by its effect on the dawn's light. Also, watch Venus and Mars making their way into the evening sky. And next week, the moon will pass near the asteroid Vesta.

Mercury retreats from the evening sky. Venus pursues Mars through a beehive. Saturn and Jupiter share a morning reign. And Mercury reappears before dawn. Meanwhile, there's a solar eclipse and a daytime meteor shower.

The second most important star in the sky is up all night this time of year. And perhaps you've heard of the day length that's about four minutes short of 24 hours.

We have a total lunar eclipse this month. Find out if you have a chance to see it. The results of an astronomy survey done every ten year are being compiled. Some new space telescopes could be built because of astronomers' answers. And Wasat? Seriously, there's a star called Wasat.

Most of the stars we see in our night sky are within a few hundred light years of us. There's one in Cassiopeia right at the edge of naked eye visibility that's more than 16,000 light years away. And you don't see the individual stars in the Andromeda Galaxy, but it's more than two million light years away. Just how do astronomers know how far away any stars are when we can't travel to them, let a...

Two horses (one with wings), a dolphin, a pair of fish, an eagle, a wolf, and a swan are part of the celestial May morning menagerie. And find out where the M comes from in object names like M44.

In May 2021: Mercury and Venus are evening objects, Mars visits the twins, Saturn and Jupiter shine in the morning, and there's a total lunar eclipse.

A comet discovered about 150 years ago has left traces of its existence for us to see for thousands of years. Get ready for the April Lyrid meteor shower. And when you see the sun or moon rise or set, you're seeing it over the horizon.

The beliefs we cling to most are the ones we convince ourselves of. Percival Lowell's conclusions about canals on Mars and Venus are examples. What did he really see?

Many people, even some who like astronomy, do something that's harmful to it. Our modern lifestyles require lighting at night. But do we really need so many lights on in so many places casting so much light where it's not useful? Light pollution keeps us from enjoying the night sky--a most wondrous natural resource above us. And we don't talk about a full Venus or a first quarter Venus. But somewh...