Tag: Stargazer / Stargazing
Stargazing – The Last of the Summer Fireballs
For anyone involved in public education, August is a strange month. The weather is still warm, flowers are blooming, and summer’s unrelenting cacophony of lawnmowers, chainsaws, and assorted internal-combustion engines continues unabated. One might…
A Picture from the Heart
The object depicted below may look like a flaming nightmare doughnut and the picture itself may seem fuzzy and indistinct, but the image is actually one of the sharpest ever made and the object…
Earth to Swallow Moon May 16
Readers of these pages may recall being asked to sit in a swivel chair and spin around with a pencil stuck through a Styrofoam ball in order to visualize the earth-sun-moon relationship. Well, time…
Crabby Thoughts
How wonderful to be on the cusp of March. March can be a deceptive month, it’s true, and many an April has arrived knee-deep in snow, but that snow has never lain so deep…
One Weird Trick to Make You See Through Time
A miracle occurred near dawn on December 25, a miracle that united all the world in a spirit of hope, peace, and cooperation. That event was the successful launch of the James Webb Space…
Strange Lights Seen in Sky Over Millbrook
If you Google the word “aurora” to find out whether the Northern Lights—the Aurora Borealis—might be visible in the Millbrook area on a particular night, make sure not to type in “aura” accidentally, as…
Goldilocks and the Bowl of Just-Right Stars
Imagine this scenario: You’re walking down a random street and suddenly feel tired, hungry, and thirsty. So, since you live in a safe and friendly neighbourhood where everyone trusts each other, you turn up…
There’s a Certain Slant of Photons
A quiet, green astronomer lives in my garden. She’s about 7 feet tall, thin as a pencil, and says almost nothing that I can understand. One message, however, is clear enough: she (or he,…
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
It may be hard to believe in this age of scientific wonders, but barely 100 years ago the best astronomers in the world were debating whether the Milky Way, our home galaxy, might be…