View the full issue in the Magazine Archive Comet NEOWISE II. Photo © Morris Yoder. Comets are nicknamed “dirty snowballs.” That nickname should give you a pretty good idea of what they are—big...
The Heavens Declare God’s Glory
Distant Starlight
Leo Triplet. Photo © Morris Yoder. As always when we learn more about God’s wonderful creation, we face mysteries that are hard to explain. It reminds us that the larger the sea of knowledge, the...
Measuring the Universe—How Astronomers Try
Stellar parallax diagram. The claims that modern-day astronomers make about the size of the universe seem almost unbelievable. To better understand the tremendous distances they’re describing, we...
Rocket Signs
The January 2022 article for this column showed ways to tell the difference between meteors, airplanes, and satellites in the night sky. This month we are explaining some of the phenomena associated...
The Enlightenment of Light
Double slit experiment—see article below. We often tend to think of our vision as reaching out to observe things. However, in reality, views flow the other direction—to us, at the speed of light....
The False Dawn
False dawn. Photo CC-SA 4-0. We consider air to be invisible, but, in reality, it is filled with molecules of air and vapor that fog our vision. When we were in Alaska, we were able to see Mt....
The Rosette Nebula
Rosette Nebula. Photo © Morris Yoder. For most observers in the United States at this time of the year, the Rosette Nebula rises in the east at sunset and crosses high in the southern sky, then sets...
A Webb of Discovery
Outer space features. Photo © James Webb Space Telescope and the NIRCam instrument. Engineers have built telescopes that can see far across the universe. Each time a bigger and better telescope was...
Black Hole Photography
M87 is a huge galaxy over 50 million light years away with approximately one trillion stars, but these facts are not the most interesting part about the galaxy. A photo taken through the 10”...
Dusty, Milky—Beautiful
Milky Way over Matterhorn. Photo © iStock. Our home galaxy is called the Milky Way because people have long had the idea that it looks like spilled milk drifting across the sky. It’s believed the...
The Horsehead Nebula
Horsehead Nebula. Photo © Morris Yoder. If you’ve ever found the constellation Orion, there’s a good chance you looked right through this complex cloud of dust and gas without realizing it. The...
The Big Dipper
Most people who can pick out at least two constellations in the night sky can point out the Big Dipper. As it turns out, the Big Dipper is not a constellation. It’s an asterism within the...
Satellites
I enjoy relaxing and watching the darkness of night extinguish the distractions of daytime, as the tranquil beauty of the silent stars appears. We’re used to those stars holding still, but at times...
Two Are Better Than One!
Binoviewer. Photo © Morris Yoder. A contractor once told me to always wear safety glasses when appropriate because life with only one eye is difficult. He was talking from experience; he’d lost an...
The Unequal Equinox
I’ve heard it’s possible to balance an egg, or even a broom, on its end on the date of the equinox. There’s a good chance you’ve heard the same thing. It sounds incredible, but it’s true.There’s...