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 not even notice the shortening days or the crickets warming up in the grass. And yet… Continue reading
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 is profoundly important both for the astronomical community and for life on earth in general. The… Continue reading
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 to break out the astronomical HB one more time, because there’s a lunar eclipse coming in… Continue reading
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 as the colossal drifts of human stupidity, selfishness, and cruelty that were on display during February,… Continue reading
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 Telescope from French Guiana at 7:20 AM and the beginning of its long journey toward a… Continue reading
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 I did a few nights ago. Instead of gaining some insight into an awe-inspiring spectacle of… Continue reading
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 the first driveway you see, open the front door without knocking, and stroll in. To your… Continue reading
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, for all I know) points one leafy finger precisely south all summer long. This remarkable scholar… Continue reading
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 the entire universe. The claim seems inconceivable from the lofty perch of our current scientific understanding…. Continue reading
