Astronomy
Northern Lights and Coronal Mass Ejection: Existential Threat from Methanogenic Cattle
Reading Time: 3 minutesNORTHERN LIGHTS AND CORONAL MASS EJECTION: METHANOGENIC CATTLE OAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has announced a G2 geomagnetic storm watch for tomorrow, August 28, which could potentially boost aurora activity. Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are plasma and magnetic field explosions from the Sun’s corona. When aimed at Earth, they trigger geomagnetic storms that affect…
Read MoreScience of the Buck Moon
Reading Time: 2 minutesScience of the Buck Moon onight’s full moon is called the Buck Moon. This full moon is so called for the antlers that grow annually from the forehead of a buck (male deer), around this time of year. Alternate names include Hay Moon, Wyrt Moon, and Thunder Moon. I’ve written previously about the Sturgeon Supermoon,…
Read MoreHistory of the 1st Moon Landing – Apollo 11: 57 Years Ago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE 1ST MOON LANDING: APOLLO 11 ifty-seven years ago today, at 4:17 Eastern Time, July 20, 1969, the American lunar module touched down on the Moon, and about seven hours later, at 10:56:15 pm EDT, the first human stepped out of the Apollo 11 lunar module onto the Moon. With the immortal words…
Read MoreMovie Review: Project Hail Mary (no plot spoilers)
Reading Time: 4 minutes Movie Review: Project Hail Mary (no plot spoilers) he most anticipated movie of 2026 has been Project Hail Mary. Amazon has spent about $200M on the film, and I think it’s going to be money well spent. It has grossed an estimated $33.1 million on its opening day, including $12 million from Thursday previews…
Read MoreScience of The Spring: What is the Vernal Equinox?
Reading Time: 5 minutesSCIENCE OF THE SPRING Podcast version n Colorado, we have a saying: “We begin the first day of Spring like we began the Fall: with snow.” This symmetry is relevant because the beginnings of Spring and Fall coincide with the Equinox. This word consists of two Latin root words, aequus and nox, meaning…
Read MoreHistory of March: Why in like a Lion and out like a Lamb?
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF MARCH Podcast version he month that can come “in like a lion and out like a lamb” is named after Mars, the Roman god of war (and agriculture). Indeed, in French, the month is called Mars. It shares the name with the fourth planet in the Solar System, the blood-colored “Red Planet,”…
Read MoreScience of the Harvest Supermoon
Reading Time: 2 minutesScience of the Harvest Supermoon When we talk about a Supermoon, we’re not referring to Clark Kent’s secret identity. A “super” moon occurs when a full moon coincides with the Moon’s orbit around the Earth, which is closest in its elliptical orbit, known as perigee. This means the Moon’s appearance in the sky is…
Read MoreScience of the Blood Full Moon
Reading Time: < 1 minuteScience of the Blood Full Moon This Sunday, September 7th, we’ll experience a dramatic Blood Full Moon as the Earth experiences its second total lunar eclipse of the year. What do these words mean?
Read MoreScience of the Sturgeon Full Moon: Once in a Blue Moon?
Reading Time: 2 minutesScience of the Sturgeon Full Moon You may have noticed we’re presently experiencing a full moon. But it is not your typical, ordinary, usual full moon. It’s a Sturgeon Full Moon.
Read MoreScience of Blue Moon
Reading Time: 2 minutesSCIENCE OF BLUE MOON “Do you see that full moon in the sky tonight? That happens once in a blue moon.” Scientifically, this happens 7 times in 19 years or about once in 3 years. A blue moon occurs today, August 19, at 2:26 PM EDT (18:26 GMT). It’s also a supermoon. I first wrote…
Read MoreScience of the Strawberry Moon
Reading Time: 2 minutesScience of the Strawberry Moon Strawberries emerge in May and ripen in June, giving their name to June’s Full Moon. This Strawberry Moon, which often coincides with the Summer Solstice, will reach peak illumination in the United States on Friday, June 21, at 9:08 p.m., E.T. It also goes by other names: Green Corn Moon,…
Read MoreFuture of the Moon
Reading Time: < 1 minuteFUTURE OF THE MOON As a follow-up to my article commemorating landing on the moon in 1969, there is an interesting site here that shows what it will look like in the future: In honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969, we’ve added some NASA imagery to the…
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