Seeking Summer Solstice | June 2023 Sky Happenings

Editor’s Note: We are looking up as HMNS Astronomer James Wooten explains the sky happenings for the month of June and the upcoming Summer Solstice. Venus remains high in the evening sky this month. It is high in the west at dusk each evening. Mars is now high in the west at dusk. As Earth […]

Stinky Meg | Corpse Flower to Bloom

The Cockrell Butterfly Center has a plant that’s about to make a big stink! Her name is Meg, named after the prehistoric Megalodon shark featured at the museum’s new SHARKS! exhibit. Meg is an Amorphophallus titanum, also called the Titan Arum but more commonly known as the corpse flower. You might remember our most famous […]

Milky Way Evenings | May 2023 Sky Happenings

Editor’s Note: We are looking up as HMNS Astronomer James Wooten explains the sky happenings for the month of May and the collision of our Milky Way against the horizon. Venus is even higher in the evening sky this month.  It is slightly higher in the west at dusk each evening.  Mars is now high […]

New Moon Marks End of Ramadan | April 2023 Sky Happenings

Editor’s Note: We are looking up as HMNS Astronomer James Wooten explains the sky happenings for the month of April and a New Moon that helps mark the ending of the celebration of Ramadan. Venus is even higher in the evening sky this month.  It is slightly higher in the west at dusk each evening.  […]

Indigenous Cowboys: The Living History of Native Americans in Rodeo

Editor’s Note: Anna Dean, Collections Technician, highlights the Indigenous influences found in a cultural phenomenon known as the rodeo. It’s Rodeo season in Houston, which means that dozens of athletes from across the United States and Canada will be competing in events like steer wrestling, barrel racing, and bull riding. Among these contestants are three […]

Daylight Savings Time | March 2023 Sky Happenings

Editor’s Note: We are looking up as HMNS Astronomer James Wooten explains the sky happenings for the month of March with a reminder that Daylight Savings Time is upon us. Jupiter is still in the evening sky as March begins.   However it appears a little lower in the west at dusk each evening as Venus […]

Cockrell Butterfly Center Emerges this Spring

Written by Cockrell Butterfly Center Manager Lauren Davidson The Cockrell Butterfly Center is best known for its, well, butterflies. Throughout history, the life cycle of the butterfly has been a symbol of rebirth and transformation. As many of you know, we have been closed since last September to allow the building to have a metamorphosis […]

Comet ZTF Remains | February 2023 Sky Happenings

Editor’s Note: It is a new year and we continue looking up as HMNS Astronomer James Wooten explains the sky happenings for the month of February, including Comet ZTF that remains in the sky. Jupiter is still in the evening sky; look for it in the southwest at nightfall.  Jupiter is brighter than any star […]

Look Up | Comet ZTF Nears Earth

As January ends and February begins, a comet enters the northern evening sky, and it may become bright enough to see with the unaided eye! The comet is C/2022 E3 ZTF. ZTF is the discoverer, the Zwicky Transient Facility, an astronomical survey of the sky using a camera attached to a telescope at Palomar Observatory […]

What to do with leftover holiday plants

Editor’s Note: Not quite sure what to do with those holiday plants? Jeff Cummins of the Cockrell Butterfly Center lends a few suggestions. The winter holiday season has ended, the decorations are packed up for next year, the house is more or less back to normal, and we’ve [mostly] recovered from the festivities… but what […]


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