Posts

Fastest Equinox September 21

  at sunset – there’s a natural phenomenon you might never have imagined. That is, the sun actually   sets faster   around the time of an equinox. The fastest sunsets (and sunrises) occur at or near the equinoxes. And the slowest sunsets (and sunrises) occur at or near the solictices . This is true whether you live in the Northern   or   Southern Hemisphere. And, by the way, when we say  sunset  here, we’re talking about the actual number of minutes it takes for the body of the sun to sink below the western horizon. Why does the sun set so quickly around the equinoxes?  At every equinox, the sun pretty much rises due east and sets due west. That means – on the day of an equinox – the setting sun hits the horizon at its  steepest possible angle . Meanwhile, at a solstice, the sun is setting farthest north or farthest south of due west. The farther the sun sets from due west along the horizon, the shallower the angle of the setting sun. That me...

Moon Aldebaran Pleiades Sept 25

Waning gibbous moon  sweeps in front of the constellation Taurus the Bull . You’ll be looking at late evening or not much before midnight. The bright moon might make it tough to see the starlit figure of the Bull on these nights. But you should be able to make out Aldebaran Taurus’ brightest star, as well as the tiny, misty, dipper-shaped Pleiades Star cluster. Then, when the moon moves away, look for the V-shaped Face of the Bull itself. The bright star Aldebaran marks one tip of the V. Taurus, a far-northern constellation of the zodiac Taurus is a far-northern constellation of the zodiac. That fact causes these stars to rise at an earlier hour in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere. The farther north you live, the earlier Taurus climbs above your northeast horizon. The farther south you live, the later Taurus comes up. Also, if you’re not one to stay up late, know that you can view the moon in Taurus before sunup on September 26, 27 and 28. Then they will...

17 September

 Today, I saw The Star Vega towards the northwest sky (   the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. ). Jupiter and Saturn are also prevalent beside the moon.