The next few days will find families and friends gathering together for the Thanksgiving holiday and pondering what they are thankful for. There is another group that will be close together over the next few days, and they won’t be this close again for another 44 years. This group includes Jupiter, Venus and the Moon. These three celestial objects will gather in the night sky on Monday. Stargazers will need to look to the southwest around twilight to see the three brightest objects in our night sky. Venus and Jupiter are already making an appearance there over the next few days as they wait for the moon to join them.

NASA made the news this week, although they probably would like to have the current shuttle mission remembered for something other than a lost bag of tools worth $100,000. The bag has become a superstar, and the lost tools are currently being tracked by several stations. The tools turned space junk are being tracked to make sure that they don’t threaten satellites in orbit around Earth.

If your family of stargazers has a telescope on their Christmas list this year, check out OpticsPlanet.com for a full line of astronomy products including unique dobsonian telescopes. OpticsPlanet.com offers free shipping, a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and a special return policy for the holiday season.

Now that summer is finally here, everyone will be spending a lot more time outdoors. If your time outdoors includes stargazing, birdwatching, or hunting, OpticsPlanet offers you all of the best ways to see the planet. The world’s premier retailer of optical products offers a full line of binoculars for birding, and the web site also includes a buyer’s guide to help you decide on the right choice for your needs. If warm nights find you outside gazing at the sky, then a telescope might be just the thing you need to get a close up of the moon or to see the rings around Saturn. For hunters, OpticsPlanet offers scopes from all of the major manufacturers with product reviews to help you make your choice. OpticsPlanet can even take care of your everyday needs for eyeglasses, as well as prescription sunglasses and goggles. With a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and free shipping, OpticsPlanet is the place to shop for everything you need to see the planet.

As the winds gust around the Delmarva Peninsula, the old saying about the month of March comes to mind. In like a lion, out like a lamb. According to the Farmers’ Almanac, people throughout history believed that bad spirits could affect the weather, while others reasoned that there must be some sense of balance in weather, as in life. If March comes in like a lion, then the natural balance will bring calm at the end. The month of March often brings weather extremes to our area as we begin the transition from winter to spring.

Another theory about the origin of ‘In like a lion’ is offered by the U.S. Naval Observatory. At the beginning of March each year, the constellation of Leo the Lion can be found overhead crossing the meridian, which is a line perpendicular to the horizon running north to south. So as Leo crosses the meridian around midnight, March comes in like a lion. The planet Saturn is in close proximity to Leo at this time, and the constellation also contains the blue star Regulus, known as the lion’s heart.

The month of March is also host to the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, which starts this year in the early morning hours of March 9th. Prior to the year 2007, DST began on the first Sunday in April, but the Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed the start date to the second Sunday in March. DST will end on the first Sunday in November.

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.
Henry David Thoreau

For all of you stargazers out there, February 20th is a date to mark on your calendar. According to Space.com, the continents of North and South America, including those of us on the Delmarva Peninsula, will be able to see a total eclipse of the moon beginning at 10:01 PM EST. We will have to hope that the weather cooperates by giving us clear skies on this night. The eclipse will take about 51 minutes from beginning to end, and other celestial wonders including the planet Saturn and the star Regulus will add to the show with their proximity to the moon.

According to a recent article in USA Weekend magazine, the month of August, 2007, “will be a month to remember for sky watching.” The month will be memorable due to a number of celestial events including:

a unique combination of shooting stars, a total lunar eclipse, enchanting formations and other highlights that may not be seen again until the next decade.

One of these events will be the Perseid meteor shower which will peak on the nights of August 12th and 13th. The shower will be enhanced by the occurrence of a new moon on the 12th. A total lunar eclipse will occur in the early morning hours of August 28th. Another lunar eclipse will occur in February. The USA Weekend article also describes other sky high events including Mars in the constellation Taurus and the travels of the asteroid Vesta. Several online resources were noted including NASA, Space.com, Sky & Telescope, Astronomy Magazine, and Heavens Above.
Happy stargazing.