Another Snow Moon rises over ice shards on Lake Superior on Feb. 19, 2019. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Feb 25th 2021 - 1pm

Astro Bob: Take the Full Snow Moon observing challenge

The Full Snow Moon pokes it head above the horizon around sunset Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26-27. Join me in a fun observing challenge to see how many seas you can see.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft captured this image of Vesta, the brightest and also one of the largest asteroids. Look closely at the south polar region (bottom). Part of it appears to be missing. One billion years ago, an asteroid impact slammed into the region and excavated a crater 311 miles (500 km) across and 12 miles (19 km) deep now named Rheasilvia. Sometime after the pummeling, a peak of rock 14 miles (23 km) high rebounded from the crater's floor. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

Astro Bob Feb 23rd 2021 - 11am

Astro Bob: See Vesta, the brightest asteroid, in binoculars

The United Arab Emirates Al Amal (Hope) spacecraft took this early photo of Mars after it entered orbit around the planet on Feb. 9, 2021. The picture was taken at 15,500 miles (25,000 km) from the surface. (MBRSC)

Astro Bob Feb 21st 2021 - 1pm

Astro Bob: This is what you would sound like on Mars

This artist's view shows the Mars 2020 spacecraft heating up as it enters the atmosphere shortly before landing the Perseverance rover on February 18. (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

Astro Bob Feb 18th 2021 - 9am

Astro Bob: Ready, set, land! Watch live as Mars Perseverance rover touches down

This artist's depiction shows the moon in Earth's magnetic tail known as the magnetosphere. A wind of oxygen ions (gray) and hydrogen ions (bright blue) blows from the planet's polar regions into the tail and out to the moon where they can react with the lunar surface to create water. The Moon spends more than 75 percent of its orbit in the solar wind (yellow), which is blocked by the magnetosphere the rest of the time. (E. Masongsong, UCLA EPSS, NASA GSFC SVS)

Astro Bob Feb 16th 2021 - 12pm

Astro Bob: 'Earth wind' may generate water on the moon

The heart symbol has been part of human culture for thousands of years in everything from an extinct plant to candy hearts you can pop in your mouth. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Feb 14th 2021 - 1pm

Astro Bob: Celebrate Valentine's Day with a cosmic heart

Starting at the W of Cassiopeia, we'll use the star-hop method to find the Double Cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy and the star cluster NGC 752 in binoculars. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Feb 10th 2021 - 2pm

Astro Bob: Journey to the deep sky with Cassiopeia as your guide

This is an artist's illustration of the Hope spacecraft at Mars. (Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center — MBRSC)

Astro Bob Feb 9th 2021 - 3pm

Astro Bob: Mars Blitz! — China, UAE and US descend on the Red Planet

By 8 p.m. in mid-February, the Big Dipper asterism and constellation Ursa Major are back in view in the northeastern sky. To find the North Star (Polaris), shoot a line through the two stars at the top of the Bucket. Polaris is the same brightness as the stars in the Dipper. (Stellarium)

Astro Bob Feb 7th 2021 - 3pm

Astro Bob: Meet Ursa Major — the only bear that can stand on its tail

Looking up in the sky, we encounter the strange hot-and-cold realm of outer space. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Feb 5th 2021 - 5pm

Astro Bob: How cold is outer space?

This illustration shows the events that occur in the final minutes of the nearly seven-month journey that NASA’s Perseverance rover takes to Mars. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021. Click here for a larger view. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Astro Bob Feb 3rd 2021 - 9pm

Astro Bob: We land on Mars in just 15 days

This wide-angle photo captures the southern half of the winter Milky Way from Sirius (bottom) to the Pleiades in Taurus (center right). (Bob King)

Astro Bob Jan 31st 2021 - 3pm

Astro Bob: How to see the winter Milky Way

The nearly full moon rises over Lake Superior in Two Harbors, Minn. on January 27. The Earth's shadow is the gray band below the moon. It's topped by a pinkish-orange glow called the Belt of Venus from sunlight scattered by small particles in the stratosphere. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Jan 28th 2021 - 3pm

Astro Bob: Full Wolf Moon scores a bull's-eye!

Minute by the minute, the sun rises earlier and sets later this month. Have you noticed the difference in the amount of daylight yet? It's most pronounced in the evening. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Jan 26th 2021 - 4pm

Astro Bob: 52 minutes of extra sunshine and counting

The Winter Hexagon is the gem of the winter sky. (Stellarium)

Astro Bob Jan 24th 2021 - 2pm

Astro Bob: Stroll with the moon through the Winter Hexagon

The sharp dot in the middle of the picture is the Surveyor 2 rocket booster photographed during its close flyby of Earth on Dec. 1, 2020. The stars are trailed because the telescope tracked the fast-moving object. The inset at upper left captured a series of bright and faint flashes as the booster rotated (tumbled) during the 60-second exposure. (Gianluca Masi)

Astro Bob Jan 21st 2021 - 5pm

Astro Bob: Artificial mini-moon 2020 SO, says hello and then goodbye

The International Space Station orbits about 250 miles (400 km) above the Earth and travels at 17,100 mph (27,600 km/hour), completing one orbit every 90 minutes. (NASA)

Astro Bob Jan 19th 2021 - 7pm

Astro Bob: Evenings with the ISS

Sirius, also called the Dog Star because it's the brightest luminary in Canis Major the Greater Dog, is the most vividly twinkling star in the sky. It rises near the end of evening twilight in the southeastern sky. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Jan 17th 2021 - 9pm

Astro Bob: A Sirius look at twinkling stars

The young moon joins Mercury on Thursday evening, Jan. 14 at dusk. If you're lucky you might still catch a last glimpse of Jupiter. (Stellarium)

Astro Bob Jan 14th 2021 - 12pm

Astro Bob: Mercury warms up January nights

With the help of Mars we can find the constellation Aries the Ram, here depicted in Urania's Mirror by Jehoshaphat Aspin. (Public domain)

Astro Bob Jan 12th 2021 - 10am

Astro Bob: Hunt Aries and Triangulum with help from Mars

This is an artist's conception of Proxima Centauri b, a planet slightly bigger than the Earth, orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. Proxima and the Alpha Centauri binary are seen in the background at left. Last spring, an Australian radio telescope recorded an unexplained radio signal emanating from the Proxima system. (ESO, M. Kornmesser)

Astro Bob Jan 10th 2021 - 7pm

Astro Bob: Was the Proxima Centauri signal sent by aliens?

As the Earth spins, stars appear to move slowly from east to west across the night sky. At right a time exposure shows the trails of stars in Orion's Belt and Sword across the southern sky. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Jan 7th 2021 - 2pm

Astro Bob: How to sense Earth's rotation, revolution in real time

During an aurora, particles from the sun zoom down along Earth's magnetic field lines and strike the atmosphere to form an oval of glowing light called the auroral oval. It's centered on the north geomagnetic pole which is offset about 10° from the geographic pole. The oval is permanent fixture for Arctic and Antarctic observers, but during large solar storms it expands southward and becomes visible across parts of the U.S. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Astro Bob Jan 5th 2021 - 1pm

Astro Bob: Northern lights possible Tuesday night Jan. 5-6

The sun may be low and set early in January, but we're closer to it now than at any other time of the year. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Jan 3rd 2021 - 4pm

Astro Bob: Seasonal variations — why winter gets the short end of the stick

A ray of light called a sun pillar appears above the setting sun on Dec. 30 in Duluth, Minn. Pillars form when sunlight reflects off the flat sides of ice crystals suspended in the air parallel to the ground. They reflect the light downward to our eyes like tiny mirrors. (Bob King)

Astro Bob Dec 31st 2020 - 3pm

Astro Bob: 2020 night-sky superlatives and what's coming in 2021