SUNSET: 
A Fine Year for the Icy Quads
One of the best — but briefest — annual meteor showers should be active in the hours before dawn on the morning of Wednesday, January 4th.
Sky at a Glance | December 23rd, 2011
Venus and the crescent Moon highlight Christmas Week twilights. And after ringing in the New Year, step outside for Sirius at the meridian.
Sky at a Glance | December 16th, 2011
As fall finally turns to winter on the Longest Night this week, Venus and Jupiter light the evening sky and Orion shines through the many hours of darkness.
Geminids in the Moonlight
With an average of 100 meteors per hour radiating from near the bright star Castor, this end-of-the-calendar shower is usually one of the year’s best. However, this week's performance will be spoiled by a just-past-full Moon that rises not long after the radiant clears the northeastern horizon.
Sky at a Glance | December 9th, 2011
Venus is easier to spot in twilight. Jupiter dominates the night. And the Geminid meteors peak on the nights of the 13th and 14th, though moonlight interferes.
Sky at a Glance | December 2nd, 2011
Venus and Jupiter both continue moving higher in the evening. And will you be positioned to see the eclipse of December's full Moon?
A Dawn Eclipse of the Moon
The Moon will become totally eclipsed for much of North America before sunrise on December 10th.
Cygnus X-1, Exactly
Astronomers have pinned down the distance, mass, and spin rate for the first black hole candidate discovered, information that points to a birth sans supernova.
Sky at a Glance | November 18th, 2011
Venus stays up throughout twilight now. Jupiter blazes high all evening, the Mars-Regulus pair is up by midnight, and the Saturn-Spica pair shows at dawn.
Sky at a Glance | November 18th, 2011
Venus shines low in the twilight, Jupiter blazes high all evening, the Mars-Regulus pair is up after midnight, and the Saturn-Spica pair is up at dawn.
Sky at a Glance | November 11th, 2011
Jupiter is still close and big, and it's shining high in the southeast earlier now. The Mars-Regulus pair is up after midnight. And the Saturn-Spica pair has emerged from the dawn.
Sky at a Glance | November 4th, 2011
Jupiter is still essentially as close. big, and bright as at opposition last week. Watch the full Moon pass by it.
Sky at a Glance | October 28th, 2011
Jupiter is at an unusually close opposition, as big as you'll ever see it. Venus and Mercury show themselves together briefly after sunset. And Comet Garradd glows on.
Sky at a Glance | October 21st, 2011
Venus and Mercury briefly peek into view after sunset. On the other side of the sky, blazing white Jupiter has nearly reached its unusually close opposition — and is as big as you'll ever see it.
Sky at a Glance | October 14th, 2011
Jupiter is as big and bright as it will appear this year, and getting higher all the time.
Draconid Meteors Arrive As Forecast
Chalk up another win for the meteor-shower modelers. Europeans saw a display of up to a couple hundred Draconid meteors per hour on Saturday evening.
Sky at a Glance | October 7th, 2011
Jupiter is about as big and bright as it will appear this year. Look well to its lower right to catch Mira still in an unusually bright maximum. And the waning gibbous Moon passes Jupiter in the second half of the week.
Past Meets Future at AAVSO's Centennial
Variable-star observers gathered to celebrate astronomy's most successful citizen-science organization. But old ways are ending, and a very different next century lies ahead for the AAVSO.
Sky at a Glance | September 30th, 2011
The waxing Moon returns to the evening sky. The supernova in M101 is reddening now as well as fading. And there's always action at Jupiter.
Sky at a Glance | September 23rd, 2011
Venus and Saturn offer a challenge after sunset. Bright Jupiter shines high by late evening. And the M101 supernova has begun to fade.
