Author – The Journal

In January, Earth moves fastest around the sun

Greetings, stargazers. January is the month that the Earth moves the fastest around the sun. Or looked at from our perspective, the sun moves faster through the sky in January. E...

DATE: Jan 15, 2021 | CATEGORY: Others Say

Jupiter, Saturn to converge in the ‘Great Conjunction’ on Dec. 21

Greetings, stargazers. Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard there will be a “Great Conjunction” between Jupiter and Saturn on Dec. 21. Jupiter and Sa...

DATE: Dec 21, 2020 | CATEGORY: Local News

Low orbit satellites reflect sunlight after sunset, before sunrise

Greetings, Stargazers. My May column is often a time I get to list upcoming summer star parties, but for another month, these will have to wait. I really do hope that we can get ...

DATE: May 8, 2020 | CATEGORY: Others Say

Find some of the oldest stars in globular clusters

Greetings, Stargazers. I need to make myself a set of cheat cards for my favorite objects in the sky so I can answer questions in more detail at the next star party. I have to ad...

DATE: Oct 12, 2019 | CATEGORY: Others Say

Gauge the temperature of a star by its color

Greetings, Stargazers. Last month, I began a discussion of how stars are classified by their brightness and color, or more technically, by their luminosity and spectroscopic clas...

DATE: May 11, 2019 | CATEGORY: Others Say

This asterism is a highlight of the winter sky

Greetings, Stargazers. I have to say that comet 46P/Wirtanen last month exceeded my expectations. By that, I simply mean I could see it with my naked eye, even if it was just bare...

DATE: Jan 12, 2019 | CATEGORY: Others Say

What’s in the sky: Mars lander, a comet, a meteor shower

Greetings, Stargazers. NASA’s Mars InSight lander is designed to study the interior of Mars. InSight stands for interior exploration using seismic investigations, geodesy and heat...

DATE: Dec 13, 2018 | CATEGORY: Others Say

Scorpius' stars put sting in summer sky

Greetings, stargazers. The late afternoon monsoon clouds finally parted and made for a few good observing evenings recently. Unfortunately for me, a couple of those nights were ...

DATE: Aug 18, 2015 | CATEGORY: Others Say

New Horizons will give best view of Pluto

Greetings, stargazers. I hope you enjoyed the recent planetary conjunction in the western sky. From our perspective, Venus and Jupiter are now slowly separating from each other ...

DATE: Jul 9, 2015 | CATEGORY: Others Say

More talk before action

As talk of U.S. military action against Syria escalates, let’s remember our history lessons. Recall that a decade ago, Congress and the American people were sold a story that Iraq...

DATE: Sep 2, 2013 | CATEGORY: Others Say

Don’t jump too quickly into Syria

There is little doubt now that President Obama is planning some kind of military response to what the administration says without equivocation was a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian gov...

DATE: Aug 29, 2013 | CATEGORY: Others Say

House delays farm measure

Political posturing about who or what is delaying action on a much-needed farm bill came into sharper focus when the Republican speaker of the U.S. House refused to appoint members to a conf...

DATE: Aug 15, 2013 | CATEGORY: Others Say