Beyond Bones

Mars is still low in the west—visible right as night falls.  Venus remains in the evening sky this month. It overtakes Mars on July 12; the two planets appear about one half degree (the size of the Full Moon) apart that night. Venus outshines everything except the Sun and the Moon, so it is unmistakable low in […]

Mars remains almost as bright as the stars around it in May 2021. And Mars is low in the west—still visible right as night falls.  Jupiter and  Saturn are the morning sky this month, low in the south. Venus also slowly emerges into the evening sky this month. Venus outshines everything except the Sun and the Moon, so […]

On December 21, 2020, the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn appear only one tenth of one degree apart in our sky. They have not appeared that close since July 10, 1623. Of course, Jupiter is not really next to Saturn.  Saturn is in fact about 4.3 astronomical units (AU)–about 400 million miles–behind Jupiter.  (One AU […]

  Constellations in the November southern sky are almost entirely devoid of bright stars.  They represent beasts and gods related to water, indicating that they are part of the ‘Celestial Sea’.  Examples are Aquarius, the Water Bearer and Pisces, the Fish.  Even Capricornus, the Goat, has a fish tail because he’s originally Ea, Babylonian god […]