Driftless Dark Skies: Solstice Sunsets

Driftless Dark Skies, Uncategorized

  Time seems to slow down around the solstice. It takes an extra half minute for the face of the sun to slip below the horizon on the June 20th summer solstice than it did on the March 19th vernal equinox. There is the slowest change in the time of the sunset. It...

Driftless Dark Skies: Lunar Time

Driftless Dark Skies, Uncategorized

When I was a high school teacher, we sometimes had the ritual of starting class with a student letting us know the phase of the moon and when it would rise and set. We spent too much of the day cut off from fresh air and sunlight, and it seemed that such a custom...

Driftless Dark Skies: Wandering Worlds

Driftless Dark Skies

When the moon is in the Seventh HouseAnd Jupiter aligns with MarsThen peace will guide the planetsAnd love will steer the stars The 5th Dimension “Age of Aquarius” (1969) Not sure about the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, but I am looking...

Driftless Dark Skies: Moon Occults Mars

Driftless Dark Skies

Mars will be glowing like an ember all night long in the December sky as we end 2022. It rises in the northeast at sunset, passes high across the southern sky, and sets in the northwest at sunrise. The Red Planet will be brighter than any star and almost as bright as...

Driftless Dark Skies: A Resolution to Look Up

Driftless Dark Skies

Most people don’t like to make resolutions, but I actually look forward to them. In 2012, my resolution was to learn about the stars in the night sky. However, shortly after the flip of the calendar, I encountered my first obstacle–I bought a telescope.Now, you...

Driftless Dark Skies: Evening Star

Driftless Dark Skies

Our sister planet, Venus, is back in the evening skies of the Driftless! All planets have their season as they orbit around our sun at different speeds and wander in front of the fixed stars and constellations. Jupiter and Saturn will be easiest to spot in the summer...