Stelliferous - Jeff Rodgers' Star Blog

In today’s hyperconnected world, you’ll hear about pink moons and other not-to-be-missed celestial events via the local news, a forwarded email from a friend, a repost on Facebook, or a retweeted tweet on Twitter. Really, the only thing astronomical about these iffy sources of information is their sheer number....

April brings us Arcturus and Spica, two stars that aren’t hard to find, being the only two bright stars in the eastern sky this time of year. But it’s still fun to tour the skies by “star hopping” from place to place, so let’s do that. We’re going to follow the arc to Arcturus and speed on to Spica.

The Green Flash, that elusive green light that flickers on the horizon just at the moment the sun drops below the horizon, may seem as rare as the Leprechaun. But despite the fact that it is seen most often over happy hour cocktails, the Green Flash is, unlike little green men, real.

In honor of our mini-month, I thought we’d focus on February’s notable diminutive, second-rate and vitiated night sky objects. We’ll look at the smallest planet, the second brightest star and a constellation broken by a degenerate “hero.”

With a Blue Moon coming on August 31st, Saturn and Mars hanging out in the western sky, the bright stars of the Summer Triangle high overhead and the full stretch of Scorpius in the southern skies, I gotta say, “It’s a zoo up there.”