Moon near Aldebaran on February 5
Residents of North America will see the moon to the east of Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus the Bull. As always, the dark side of the waxing moon points eastward while the lit side points westward.
Today in science: Quasar mystery solved
In 1963, Maarten Schmidt suddenly realized that quasars are exceedingly distant and unimaginably luminous. His revelation changed our notion of what the universe is like.
Circumpolar stars never rise or set
Circumpolar stars always reside above the horizon, and for that reason, never rise or set. All the stars at the Earth’s North and South Poles are circumpolar. Meanwhile, no star is circumpolar at the equator.
Groundhog Day has roots in astronomy
Groundhog Day is tied to the movement of Earth around the sun. It’s the year’s first “cross-quarter” day.
Opportunity Rover celebrates 13 years on Mars
On January 24, 2017, NASA’s Opportunity rover celebrated 13 Earth years exploring Mars. She’s officially a teenager. Here are 6 ways she’s behaving like one
See a faint star cluster near bright Sirius
Tonight, look for the sky’s brightest star, Sirius, and the faint star cluster near it. Sirius is easy to see because it’s so bright and because the three prominent Belt stars in the constellation Orion – three stars in a short, straight row – always point to it.
Your new moon is January 27 or 28
This new moon is January 28, 2017 at 00:07 UTC … just after midnight by clocks in England. It’ll be the evening of January 27 for us in the Americas, or January 28 for Asia.
