Welcome to part three of my trilogy on stars’ birth, life and death. In last week’s Starwatch column about the life of stars, I told you how stars cook up energy in their...
Last week in Starwatch, I described how stars are born in gigantic families in part one of the trilogy of a star’s birth, life and death.
Every phase is controlled mainl...
Every so often, I like to go into more detail about the life and times of stars we see night after night over Butler, provided clouds don’t get in the way. All of the sta...
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...
