The early bird may get the worm, but the early astronomer gets the universe. August 2025 belongs to the early risers—when the Moon leads the dance and the planets shine their brightest in the hours before sunrise. Watch as our lunar guide sweeps across the sky, spotlighting celestial wonders along the way. Beginning around theContinue reading "August 2025 – Early Risers"
July 2025 – Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower
As summer unfolds over Prescott, Arizona, July brings two celestial events that promise to captivate both seasoned astronomers and casual skywatchers alike: the New Moon on July 24 and the Delta Aquariid meteor shower, peaking around July 30. These occurrences offer ideal conditions for stargazing, with dark skies and minimal moonlight interference. The New MoonContinue reading "July 2025 – Delta Aquariid Meteor Shower"
June 2025 – Solstice Mesa
Solstice Mesa, Prescott, AZ, aligned with Granite Moutain. Image by Edward Tucker. The celebration of solstices and equinoxes are documented in almost every culture worldwide. Varying types of events have become regional staples, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, where the date around June 20-21st each year represents the longest days and most sunlight, before theContinue reading "June 2025 – Solstice Mesa"
May 2025 – Life In The Cosmos
Mars 10-02-2020, courtesy Prescott Astronomy Club member Joel Cohen. Humans have likely always looked at the sky and wondered if we are alone in the universe. From the classical Roman god messenger Mercury to the angelic hosts of the Abrahamic religions, ancient belief systems often referred to Gods and other visitors as omnipotent beings capableContinue reading "May 2025 – Life In The Cosmos"
April 2025 – Clear Skies and Comet Tails
Astronomers love to get lucky. It’s a true art of patience, “waiting for the stars to align”, both metaphorically and physically speaking. Despite Arizona’s more than 300 days of Sun each year, a storm may roll over and obscure our view, as we experienced with the lunar eclipse in March, and also with the SolarContinue reading "April 2025 – Clear Skies and Comet Tails"
The Backyard Astronomer – March 2025 – An “Edgy” Perspective
By Adam England, The Backyard Astronomer Stuck on Earth, we essentially get one viewpoint of the cosmos. From a nearly fixed location in the universe, it doesn’t seem like other objects move very much, apart from the “wanderers”, as coined by the Greeks with the term “planētēs,” or planets. Due to the tilt of theContinue reading "The Backyard Astronomer – March 2025 – An “Edgy” Perspective"
February 2025 – Planetary Alignments
“The planets are aligned for the first and last time in 396 billion years!” Well, not quite. Headlines like the above have become common click-bait in the last few weeks, as most of our solar system’s planets have been visible in the night skies throughout this Winter. Enjoying this sight from our terrestrial vantage point,Continue reading "February 2025 – Planetary Alignments"
January 2025 – The Pleiades: 7 Sisters From 6 Stars?
Pleiades, Courtesy NASA. Most everyone on Earth can pick out a few basic star clusters, constellations, or asterisms, despite their respective language, culture, or even level of education. Orion’s belt is probably the most common of these, with the three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka forming a near perfect line in our Northern HemisphereContinue reading "January 2025 – The Pleiades: 7 Sisters From 6 Stars?"
December 2024 – Rockets, Satellites, and Acronyms
The media was abuzz in November with Congressional Hearings on UAPs. As governments do, this new acronym was created to better describe unknown objects as “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena” as opposed to our classic UFOs or “Unidentified Flying Objects”. One early “UFO” that was soon identified was the CCCP’s Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite toContinue reading "December 2024 – Rockets, Satellites, and Acronyms"
November 2024 – The Great Square of Pegasus
The ancients clearly had two things going for them: wonderfully dark skies and fantastic imaginations. It can often be difficult for the modern backyard astronomer to pick out constellations and imagine a Great Bear, a Hunter, or a horse with wings, just by connecting the twinkling dots in the sky. Light pollution certainly has anContinue reading "November 2024 – The Great Square of Pegasus"
The Backyard Astronomer 