You can find Cassiopeia the Queen in the northwest in the evening around the month of February. It’s one of the easiest constellations to spot! It has the shape of an M or W. If you have a dark sky, you can also look above Cassiopeia for a famous binocular object, the Double Cluster in … Read more
Taurus the Bull contains 2 star clusters that are easy to spot, the Pleiades and the Hyades. Taurus the Bull The constellation Taurus the Bull is visible during the fall through spring in the Northern Hemisphere (or spring through fall in the Southern Hemisphere). It sits in the evening sky close to the easy-to-see constellation … Read more
To date it has been a superb winter for viewing the queen of the planets, Venus. February marks the pinnacle of the evening visibility of Venus as it stands like a sequined showgirl nearly halfway up in the western sky at sunset. Currently shining at its greatest brilliance for this current apparition, this dazzling evening … Read more
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Richard Witkowski captured the aurora storm on May 10-11, 2024, from Indiana Dunes National Park. It was surely one of the best night sky events of this past year. Thanks, Richard! So how about 2025? We can’t predict the next auroral display, but we can provide a preview of … Read more
View larger. | The shortest day is at the solstice. But many are surprised to learn that the latest sunrises come days or weeks after the solstice. This map shows the number of days between earliest sunset and latest sunrise, for various latitudes. And it shows the dates of these events. When is your latest … Read more
Sundial at Adler Planetarium in Chicago. A sundial can be used to measure the interval from one solar noon to the next. Earth’s longest days, from noon to noon, happen in December. Image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). What is a day? You might casually talk about a day as a period of daylight. … Read more