View the full issue in the Magazine Archive Diamond ring. Photo © Andrew Zimmerman. So amazing! How could such a tiny sliver left of the sun still yield so much light?! The temperature had been...
Eclipses
Creation Close-ups, June 2024
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From the Editor’s Quill, May 2024
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive As I write this, many of us are still anticipating the solar eclipse that is about to occur. For months our family has been planning a trip to Texas to...
In Our Skies, March 2024
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive March 14 Pleiades is very close to the moon—less than 2 degrees.March 24 Mercury is at its greatest eastern elongation from the Sun. Look for it low in...
To Photograph An Eclipse
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive Solar eclipse. Photo © Choosakdi Kabyubon|Dreamstime.com. I visualize several groups of solar eclipse observers. One group makes no effort to photograph...
In Our Skies, September 2023: Annular Solar Eclipse
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 does vary in its distance from Earth because...
2023 Annular Solar Eclipse Viewing
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 off the shores of Texas at 12:03 p.m....
In Our Skies, March 2023: Hybrid Solar Eclipse
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 Venus, will approach to about 0.5° from each...
In Our Skies, November 2023: Meteor Showers
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 western and central North America. The eclipse...
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