Q-90.1's Backyard Astronomer

This year, the week of December 21st offers a variety of celestial happenings to help celebrate the season.

If you look low in the southwest at dusk, you can’t help but notice two bright stars that appear close to one other. These are actually the planets Jupiter and Saturn, and they’ll get so close on December 21 that it’ll seem like they're touching.

The peak of the Geminid Meteor Shower is Dec 13-14 and there is no moon to interfere this year!

We call the next two weeks the period of the “waning moon,” as its illumination decreases from our vantage point on Earth.

The Algonquin People called the November Full Moon the "Beaver Moon" but it had many other names as well.

Look low the east after dark and you should see a pretty little cluster of stars that looks like a miniature Little Dipper - it's actually the Pleiades star cluster!

This week offers up a morning rendezvous of planets, bright stars, and the crescent moon.

Also called the “sister spiral” to our own Milky Way Galaxy, Andromeda is the most distant object you can see in the entire night sky without a telescope.

A second Full Moon falls on Halloween this year, maybe inspiring thoughts of werewolves and other "lunacy." How often does this happen?

The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks in the post-midnight hours this week, and there won't be any moonlight to interfere this year.

When twilight ends around 8:30 pm, look about halfway up the northeast sky for a group of bright stars that look like a big "W" tipped on its end.

The Red Planet Mars is at its closest approach to Earth this month, shining like a bright orange beacon in the east after dusk.

The Harvest Moon is the Full Moon closest to the September Equinox and its meaning goes back thousands of years.

The waxing moon passes by Jupiter, Saturn and Mars over the next week.

The Summer Triangle is a useful guidepost to many interesting deep sky objects, but it’s also a way to find other constellations nearby. For example, a popular little pattern is Delphinus the Dolphin.

As we head into fall, and with solar activity on the upswing, the chances of catching a display of Northern Lights increases.

Look to the east an hour or two before sunrise and you’ll be rewarded with “the morning star,” actually the planet Venus, visible well into the dawn.

Away from city lights and bright moonlight, this is the time of year to see the faint band of the Milky Way stretching right over the top of the sky.

As we move farther into August, one of the most notable summer constellations comes into its prime.

The famous annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its maximum this week. While peak activity occurs on the evenings of August 11 and 12, the shower will remain active for the entire week.