Even faint shooting stars may be visible in dark skies in locations away from artificial light. The peak of the Eta Aquariids is predicted to be before dawn Sunday morning, May 5.
Below and left of Jupiter, relatively faint planet Mercury twinkles close above the skyline while, to the right of Mercury, red star Antares, also pale in the dawn light, rises into the winter morning sky.
This week December’s Geminid shower is predicted to peak Thursday the 13th after 10 p.m. into Friday the 14th before dawn, with 2 a.m. as optimum observing.
At the first sight of the clearing, I was wonderstruck by an aerial display of countless blinking golden lights and dipping, curving, white gold lines streaking all over the meadow from the ground up to the treetops.
Venus and Mercury appear in evening twilight, about half an hour after sunset, and sunset will be an hour later–artificially changed from 5:47 p.m. today to nearly 7 p.m. on the 11th.
Like preserving natural landscapes for biodiversity, preserving access to clear skies that allow human contact with the cosmos is crucial to quality of life.
For those of us who, two weeks ago, witnessed the total solar eclipse in faraway locations and those of us who observed the partial eclipse locally, this full moon is especially charged.
“Hidden Figures is a history lesson, a math and science lesson, a social lesson, a moral and ethical lesson, and [the Monument community] came together to share these lessons.”
-- MMRHS Principal Marianne Young
On this, the vernal equinox, let’s pause together to notice sunrise due east on the horizon and the higher arc our star draws as it climbs and then descends to its due west position on the skyline.
