Meteors

In Our Skies, September 2023: Annular Solar Eclipse

In Our Skies, September 2023: Annular Solar Eclipse

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...

In Our Skies, July 2023: Perseid Meteor Shower

In Our Skies, July 2023: Perseid Meteor Shower

View the July 2023 Nature Friend Magazine The Perseid meteor shower is the most popular meteor shower of the year. This is partly because it always peaks during the warm nights of summer, and partly...

My “Star”

My “Star”

View the May 2023 Nature Friend Magazine Meteor. Photo © Dreamstime.com. It was late in the day when I remembered. Weeks before, I had checked our November Nature Friend. The Geminid meteor shower...

In Our Skies, May 2023: Eta Aquarids

In Our Skies, May 2023: Eta Aquarids

View the May 2023 Nature Friend Magazine The Eta Aquarid meteor shower will peak on the night of May 5–6. Unfortunately, that’s also the night of Full Moon, so any faint meteors will be washed out...

In Our Skies, March 2023: Hybrid Solar Eclipse

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, January 2023: Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

In Our Skies, January 2023: Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

View the January Nature Friend Magazine Comet Neowise 2020. Photo © Cheryl Shank. If you look over a list of the year’s best meteor showers, the Quadrantid meteor shower will likely catch your...

On a Starry Night in December

On a Starry Night in December

View the December 2022 Nature Friend Magazine “Papa! May Joshua, Michaela, and I sleep outside on Tuesday night to watch the Geminid meteor shower?” I questioned eagerly, looking up from the...

Many, Many Meteors

Many, Many Meteors

View the December 2022 Nature Friend Magazine My brother and I stepped excitedly out of the darkened house into the exhilarating night air. The sky showed no sign of dawn, but in the west an...

457 Falling Stars

457 Falling Stars

View the November 2022 Nature Friend Magazine Geminid meteor shower. Photo © Dreamstime.com. The December night was clear and bitterly cold. The freezing winter air burned my lungs as I stepped...

In Our Skies, November 2023: Meteor Showers

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

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, July 2022: Planets

In Our Skies, July 2022: Planets

Moon. Photo © Shaphan Shank. This month, nearly all the bright planets are strung across the early morning sky. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all easy to find, thanks to their brilliance....

Of Bolides and Birds

Of Bolides and Birds

Bolide with Tau Herculid meteor shower and fireflies. Photo © Cheryl Shank. I didn’t know birds talk in their sleep, but they surely must. About 12:30 a.m. an Ovenbird began to talk. Before long, a...