Q-90.1's Backyard Astronomer

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.

Jupiter and Saturn both recently made close approaches to Earth, which makes them prime for observing.

We begin the week of July 27 with the moon at First Quarter, which looks half illuminated in the south after sunset. That sets the stage for an excellent week of lunar observing.

Even though NEOWISE is fading after its close approach to the sun on July 3, it makes its closest approach to earth on July 23 which should keep it near naked eye visibility this week.

All of the five naked-eye planets will be visible in the morning this month.

After dusk, look about a third of the way up the eastern sky for Altair, the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila the Eagle.

This year, from the end of June through mid-July, you can see a perfect example of the Waxing Moon changing into a Waning Moon. There is a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on July 5 which is extraordinarily challenging to see.

About 30 minutes after sunset, the sky is still quite bright, but this is a good time to start watching for the brightest stars to appear first.

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of summer officially begins on June 20 at 5:44 pm Eastern Time.