One of the great ironies of the year is the fact that in the heat of the summer in the northern hemisphere, the Earth is much farther away from the sun than it is in the ...
This past weekend was the swan song for spring 2026 as summer astronomically kicked off very early Sunday morning, June 21, at 4:24 a.m.
It’s formally known as the Summe...
Last week in Starwatch, I attempted to explain the tricks for finding Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Big Bear and the Little Bear. What complicates things a bit is that t...
One of the best shows of the year over Butler is this week in the evening twilight in the western sky. The bright planets Jupiter and Venus are in a tight celestial embra...
June stargazing is definitely a late show, with true darkness not setting in over Butler until after 10 p.m.
Mercifully, the best celestial show this month happens durin...
Over the many years I’ve been writing this column, I’ve rattled off the distances to many celestial objects.
I don’t often use miles to express stellar and galactic dist...
Even in the worst areas of light pollution, you can’t miss Venus. After hiding out in the morning sky most of the last half of 2025, it has finally entered the Western ev...
I hope you enjoyed the full moon on Friday night to kick off May. It’s considered by many cultures as the Flower Moon for obvious reasons.
We're not done with full moons...
We’re approaching another full moon this week on Friday to kick off May, but that’s just the first full moon in May. There’ll be another full moon to end the month over B...
When you ask the average person what the brightest star in the night sky is, there’s a good chance many will say it’s Polaris the North Star.
For sure it’s a moderately ...
