Clear Skies

By Scott Levine People often say astronomy is like a time machine. The objects we love are so enormously far that we talk about them in terms of how long their light has traveled to us. When we say the

By Scott Levine I know what you’re going to say. “It’s summer. The skies are no good for watching the stars.” It’s true, just after the summer solstice, which is the shortest night of the year, true nighttime darkness doesn’t

by Scott Levine When we were together last month, we found Jupiter and Venus in the western dusk. Let’s head out again, but this time, look to the north’s skies. Maybe you’ve noticed most of the night’s familiar star patterns

By Scott Levine Last month, we looked to the south to find some of the brightest stars we can see. Sirius is the brightest star in our nights, but is it the brightest object? Let’s start in the west this

By Scott Levine The last time we were together was just after the winter solstice, the very start of winter. Time flies, the world still spins, and as if by magic, we’re about halfway through. There’s already more daylight in

By Scott Levine With all the celebrations and merriment as we wind down these last few days of the year, I thought it’d be fun to take a break from all the rushing around. Instead, let’s see what magic is

By Scott Levine Earlier this year a famous astronomy communicator, who sometimes has a reputation for being a wet blanket, shook the conversation up by saying he felt lunar eclipses were “un-spectacular” and not something most people would notice. While

By Scott Levine A friend grabbed me a few weeks ago to ask about a headline he saw saying an asteroid the size of the Empire State Building was heading our way. Run for your lives! These headlines, which stop