I must confess that I am puzzled by people who ask me if I am excited about a “blue moon”—commonly understood to mean a second full moon in the same calendar month. It’s nice and big and bright, but it means the worst possible conditions for stargazing. The full moon is so bright that it [...]
One of the key lessons of astronomy (and perhaps of life itself) is that what you see very much depends on where you are. Consider for example this image of the moon passing in front of Saturn. Saturn is of course very much larger than the moon and only appears smaller because it is much [...]
Early in the morning of Tuesday, December 21st (barring clouds), a total lunar eclipse will be visible to all of North America. This takes place when the Earth slides between the sun and the fully illuminated moon, casting its shadow on the moon. You can read about lunar eclipses in general here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_eclipse and about [...]
