Beyond Bones

    The Big Dipper is above the North Star, with its handle pointing up.  From that handle, you can ‘arc to Arcturus’ and then ‘speed on to Spica’; those stars are in the west at dusk.  Leo, the Lion, is also in the west at dusk.  Jupiter is to the left of Spica in […]

    The Big Dipper is above the North Star, with its handle pointing up.  From that handle, you can ‘arc to Arcturus’ and then ‘speed on to Spica’; those stars are in the south at dusk.  Arcturus is the fourth brightest star in the night sky, but the brightest one we see from Houston […]

  Jupiter is almost due south at dawn; it outshines all the stars we ever see at night.   Mars is in the south-southeast at dawn.   It brightens a little each morning as moves away from Jupiter and towards Saturn.    Saturn is in the southeast at dawn this month.     Venus is lost […]

This time of year, most planetariums (including ours) are offering shows explaining what the Christmas Star might actually have been.  Of course, to have this conversation we must make two assumptions, each of which many dispute: 1) the star was a true historical event and 2) it has a natural scientific explanation and is not […]