Beyond Bones

    April is the last month to see the full set of brilliant winter stars which now fill the western evening sky.  Dazzling Orion is in the southwest at dusk.  His three-starred belt is halfway between reddish Betelgeuse and bluish Rigel.  Orion’s belt points rightward to Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull.  To Orion’s upper […]

  The Summer Triangle now shifts towards the west as the Great Square of Pegasus appears higher, approaching the zenith.  As the autumn ‘intermission’ in between the bright stars of summer and winter continues, Houstonians with a clear southern horizon can try to find a star that few Americans get to see.  Due south and […]

    The Summer Triangle is high in the east.  This consists of the brightest stars in Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila.  Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the south, with the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius to his left.  Leo, the Lion, sets in the west.  From the Big Dipper’s handle, ‘arc to Arcturus’ and ‘speed on to […]

The New Moon of Monday, August 21, 2017, aligns with the Sun and the Earth well enough to cast its shadow onto the Earth. The umbral shadow, where the Moon completely blocks the Sun, passes across the center of the USA, causing a total solar eclipse on a path from central Oregon to Charleston, SC. […]