View the August 2023 Nature Friend Magazine You’ve probably noticed that the Moon appears larger when it lies just above the horizon. This is just an optical illusion. However, the Moon actually...
Eclipses
2023 Annular Solar Eclipse Viewing
View the August 2023 Nature Friend Study Guide When?Saturday, October 14, 2023. Annularity reaches Oregon’s Pacific coast at about 9:13 a.m. PDT, and moves southeast, exiting into the Gulf of Mexico...
In Our Skies, March 2023: Hybrid Solar Eclipse
View the March 2023 Nature Friend Magazine One of the closest planetary conjunctions of the year will occur on the first evening of March. On this evening, the two brightest planets, Jupiter and...
In Our Skies, November 2023: Meteor Showers
View the November 2022 Nature Friend Magazine The second total lunar eclipse of 2022 will take place on the night of November 7–8. The eclipse will be most visible from eastern Asia, Oceania, and...
In Our Skies, September 2023: Planet Oppositions
About once a year, Earth passes between the Sun and Neptune. This event is called an opposition because Neptune is on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, rising around sunset and setting around...
In Our Skies, May 2022: Lunar Eclipse
Meteor activity is divided quite unevenly between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with the Northern Hemisphere getting a better view of nearly every meteor shower of the year. The Eta Aquarid...
In Our Skies, March 2022: Planetary Conjunctions
Where I live in Virginia, March brings the signs of a new season. The days are slowly warming, and the evenings, which were quiet all winter, are now enlivened by the calls of spring peepers and...
In Our Skies, November 2021: Comet Leonard
The last major meteor showers of 2021 will all be affected by moonlight. The Orionid meteor shower in October peaked on the night of Full Moon, and the Leonid meteor shower this month will fare...
The 2017 Solar Eclipse
One ordinary day, I noticed a Nature Friend magazine from March 2017 lying on the couch. I picked it up and started flipping through it. I soon noticed the article by Kevin Shank, “Story Starter for...
The Rainbow Eclipse of 2017
The Rainbow Eclipse of 2017
Eclipse Traffic Jam was a Godsend
Also, "The Influence of Absence" Solar eclipse excerpts from the November 2017 Nature Friend magazine.
October 2017 Study Guide – Solar Eclipse
October 2017 Study Guide 2017 Solar Eclipse. Photo © Kevin Shank, Nature Friend Magazine.
Thirty-nine Reasons NOT to Photograph the Solar Eclipse
The Photo Focus, March 2017