Q-90.1's Backyard Astronomer

After three months of what people call the meteor drought, the annual Lyrid meteor shower comes to a peak this week.

For weeks we’ve been treated to the brilliant planet Venus piercing the western sky after sunset, but during the week of April 10, you’ll have a rare opportunity to glimpse the elusive planet Mercury.

If you look high into the northeast after dark, you can find the seven bright stars of the Big Dipper. This is the time of year when the dipper climbs to its highest point in the north, appearing almost directly overhead by month’s end.

The waxing of quarter to gibbous to full is a good time to see details on the lunar surface. With nothing more than a pair of binoculars, you can make out craters, mountains, and the dark colored plains called "maria," or "seas." Probably the best known maria is the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 made the first manned lunar landing in 1969.

While you may know Cancer the Crab as one of the constellations of the zodiac, chances are you’ve never seen it because it’s the faintest of the twelve. But Cancer contains one of the best star clusters for binoculars and small telescopes - The Beehive!

This month offers a unique opportunity to see an asteroid with your own eyes - the largest asteroid in the solar system, Ceres!

The sun is headed toward its peak storm activity and that is why there are more reports of Northern Lights right now. Get some tips on how to watch for the "Aurora Borealis"!

All this week, the phase of the moon grows larger and brighter as it moves from First Quarter toward Full. We call this period the “waxing gibbous moon” as the oval shape becomes wider and more rounded.

Look low in the west near the end of evening twilight and you should see two exceptionally bright stars. On closer inspection, you might notice that they don't twinkle very much. That's because you're looking at the planets Venus and Jupiter!

Three bright stars form a giant triangle in the southern sky known as the Winter Triangle. And like Orion’s Belt, it can make for an excellent pointer and guidepost to the winter night sky.

As the moon wanes and rises later each night, the early evening skies are dark again, allowing us to see the faint deep sky marvels of winter. One of the most famous is actually visible to the naked eye – the Great Orion Nebula.

The February Full Moon is often times called the Snow Moon because of the heavy snowfall typical in this month. But it’s also been referred to as the Hunger Moon or Bone Moon by Native Americans because of the lack of food.

You might have heard that there's a big green comet coming our way. But how bright is it really going to get?

As the planets slowly move among the stars, sometimes they appear close to each other in the sky – a meetup called a conjunction. The planets Venus and Saturn will be in just such a conjunction on January 23rd.

About two hours after sunset, look halfway up the eastern sky for two bright stars that are relatively close to one another. These are Pollux and Castor, the heads of Gemini the Twins.

Every year on or about January 4, the Earth reaches perihelion, its closest point to the sun in its elliptical orbit. Does that have any effect on the seasons?

Ushering in the new year is one of the best known constellations of all, Orion the Hunter.

Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn have been prominent targets for months, but now Venus and Mercury will join them as they reappear low in the southwest shortly after sunset during twilight.

One of the best meteor showers of the year comes to a peak on the evening of December 13 and 14. Known as the Geminid Meteor Shower, it rivals the famous Perseids in August in numbers and brightness.

A full moon might be the worst time to see details on the lunar surface due to the lack of shadows, but it’s the best time to see what are called “ray structures.”