Meteors

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

In Our Skies

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

In Our Skies

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...

Cool Night, Cozy Blankets, Hot Cocoa, &…

Cool Night, Cozy Blankets, Hot Cocoa, &…

Once upon a cool August evening, our family happened to be camping in a dark, open area near Jasper, Alberta, Canada, where we had an amazing view of the sky.One evening, something caught our dad’s...

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...

Our Lunar Adventure

Our Lunar Adventure

Lunar eclipse. Photo © Kevin Shank. It was November 16, 2021, and excitement was high for us siblings. Tonight was a lunar eclipse!It was cloudy, and we were a bit worried. But, it was windy, and we...