There was a time when a solar eclipse was seen as an ominous sign, a warning that forces beyond our understanding had power over us and that the Sun itself might somehow be taken away. Today, solar eclipses are one of those internationally celebrated occasions where countries that have won the next orbital mechanics lottery […]
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Such a sight to see that silver sliver emerging from the new moon. Almost always near the horizon, that silver is deceptively hard to capture. With my eyes I could clearly see the full circle of that dark orb. A trick of our brain making us think we can see the dark and light of […]
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Every body seems to make a fuss when ever we experience a ‘Super Moon’, that full moon in which the perigee of its elliptic orbit brings it closest to the Earth and hence larger in the sky. Nobody pays any attention when the moon is at its apogee, when it’s 15% smaller, colder, lonely and […]
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Last Tuesday night over five hours we watched our moon transition from moon-rise in partial shadow, through full lunar eclipse to shining fully bright. As the moon rose above the horizon it glowed red due to light scattering both ways through the Earth’s atmosphere atmosphere. As it rose, the dark umbra crept across a lunar […]
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There is something both beautiful and terrifying about comet Leonard’s appearance in our evening sky. This time last year no one knew it even existed. For the last 40,000 years the comet has been hurtling inbound from the depths of our solar system on its 80,000-year orbit. Greg J Leonard discovered this expectant visitor back […]
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