Author Archives: The Backyard Astronomer

If you happen to be around the Four Corners area on October 14th, make sure to have your solar eclipse glasses with you.  After that day, you will be able to tell your friends that you saw an eclipse from four different states!  An annular solar eclipse will grace our skies that morning, with theContinueContinue reading “October 2023 – Annular Eclipse”

From double full super moons to ringed giants at opposition, August was full of local events in our Solar System, whereas September takes us back to some amazing deep sky objects.  Many of the best clusters and nebulae lie along the galactic plane, easily identifiable in the sky as the Milky Way.  While one canContinueContinue reading “September 2023 – Archers, Teapots, and the Milky Way”

August hosts a plethora of lunar and planetary events, perfect for the Backyard Astronomer.  Even the most basic binoculars or telescope will allow one to enjoy our celestial neighbors as they put on quite the display this month. August 1st starts off the month with a Full Supermoon.  The second Supermoon this year, this eventContinueContinue reading “August 2023 – Celestial Neighbors”

By Adam England, the Backyard Astronomer The Greeks coined the term planetes – meaning “wanderer” – to describe the objects they saw in the sky that regularly moved against the background of the other, fixed stars.  Over time, this included many bodies that wander across the night sky, including the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter,ContinueContinue reading “Stories in the Stars”

By Adam England, The Backyard Astronomer One of my personal favorite constellations is Scorpius.  It is very easy to identify in the summer months when it rises in the Southeast and sways above the Bradshaw Mountains like the traditional scorpion promenade à deux pairing dance.  The red supergiant Antares defines the head of the ScorpionContinueContinue reading “Scorpions and Rabbits”

IAU Selects Names for 20 Exoplanetary Systems — The NameExoWorlds global contest names the next set of exoplanets and host stars The International Astronomical Union’s NameExoWorlds 2022 contest has selected 20 pairs of names for exoplanets and their host stars. The contest was organised within the framework of the celebrations of the 10th anniversary ofContinueContinue reading “NameExoWorlds2022 Winning Submissions Press Release”

Spring also brings with it the pollinators that make our world possible, and the Beehive Cluster shines prominent in the sky this month.  You may be able to spot these industrious little lights “buzzing” around Mars on the night of June 2nd, when the Red Planet will be centrally located among this open cluster.  MarsContinueContinue reading “Buzzing Bees Birthing Planets”

Spring has sprung in Northern Arizona, and with it comes the return of budding flora and emerging fauna.  In like fashion, the sky also graces us with clusters in bloom, and the slithering serpents that herald their homecoming. Messier 5 through the eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope. The constellation Serpens is often depicted asContinueContinue reading “Spring Serpents and Clusters”

When I was growing up, we remembered the names of the planets in order with the mnemonic My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine Pizzas.  However, on August 24th, 2006, the International Astronomical Union voted on a stricter definition of what it means to be a planet.  You see, Pluto had become a problemContinueContinue reading “Planetary Demotions”