Only a few weeks ago, it seemed that the sun would be quiet and featureless when the Moon eclipsed it on Aug. 21st. Solar Minimum was in full swing. This weekend, however, the sun is welcoming the eclipse with a burst of renewed activity. "As the Moon approaches the sun, our nearest star is extending a friendly hand towards it," says Dave Eagle  who sends this picture from Higham Ferrers, England:

"There is a huge prominence on the sun's eastern limb. If you are in the total eclipse path set your clock to greet this awesome spectacle on Monday," he says.

And that's just for starters. In addition, a remarkably-long sunspot group is sprawling across the solar disk. AR2671 stretches 140,000 miles from end to end, almost twice as wide as the planet Jupiter. Bill Hrudey sends this picture of the behemoth from the Cayman Islands:

Amateur astronomers watching the eclipse through safe solar telescopes will have no trouble seeing the rugged edge of the Moon cut across this impressive sunspot, eclipsing one dark core after another.  If we're really lucky, the sunspot will explode. AR2671 has a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Free: Solar Flare Alerts
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On Aug. 21, 2017, every square inch of the USA will experience a solar eclipse.  In most places, the eclipse will be partial - that is, the Moon will cross the sun off-center, leaving a crescent shaped portion of the solar disk exposed. Is it really worth the trip to the path of totality when you can stay home and see the partial eclipse?  Pulitzer prize winner Annie Dillard, who witnessed both types of eclipses in 1979, compared them as follows:

"A partial eclipse is very interesting. It bears almost no relation to a total eclipse. Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him, or as flying in an airplane does to falling out of an airplane."

Indeed, during the minutes of totality, the whole world changes.  Saying that day turns into night barely scratches the surface of it. The shadow of the Moon lances down to Earth from a quarter million miles away. On one end is you; on the other end is a million square miles of dusty lunar terrain. You're connected, and you can feel the cold.

Darkness inside the path of totality has an alien quality. Because the shadow is only 70 miles wide, you can see daylight at the edges even while you stand in the dark core. This distant scattered light produces a slight reddish glow and unusual shadow effects. Many birds stop singing, daytime flower blossoms begin to close as if for the night, and bees return to their hives.

"What you see in an eclipse is entirely different from what you know," says Dillard, whose brilliant essay "Total Eclipse" is a must-read for anyone deciding whether to stay home ... or have their minds blown.
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured an incredible final image of Earth from 1.4 billion km away during its orbit of Saturn's rings.  The space probe was facing Earth's Southern Atlantic Ocean, some 870 million miles (1.4 billion km) away, when the image of earth was captured on April 12, says NASA.

In a zoomed-in version of the image, Earth's moon is also clearly visible, seeming to float alongside our bright planet in the dark vastness of space.

The image marks Cassini's last view of Earth as the spacecraft prepares to end its mission by dramatically plunging into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15.  The probe's 'Grand Finale' mission begins on Friday when the spacecraft will complete a close flyby of Saturn's moon, Titan - passing a mere 600 miles above its surface - before beginning its final set of 22 orbits between Saturn and its rings.

Cassini, a $3.2 billion mission from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, launched in 1997 and has delivered unprecedented data of Saturn and its moons.
You can see video from the mission here.

It's not a total eclipse, but it's the next best thing.  On Sunday, Feb. 26th, the Moon will pass in front of the southern hemisphere sun, covering as much as 99% of the solar disk.  Astronomers call this an "annular" solar eclipse. Observers in parts of South America and Africa will be able to witness a magnificent "ring of fire" in the sky as crescent-shaped sunbeams dance on the ground below.
Watch this cool animation from ShadowandSubstance.com.
www.spaceweather.com

There's a lunar eclipse tonight, Feb. 10th, when the Moon spends almost 4 hours skimming through the shadow of Earth. If you've seen a lunar eclipse before, you might be expecting the Moon to turn red--the color of our planet's inner shadow. But no. The eclipsed Moon will look more like this:

Matt Wastell of Brisbane, Australia, took this picture during a similar lunar eclipse in April 2005.  Earth's shadow darkens the upper left quadrant of the Moon, producing a gradient of luminosity across the lunar disk.  Overall, the Moon remains silvery gray.

Tonight's eclipse is "penumbral."  In other words, the Moon will pass through the pale outskirts of our planets shadow (the penumbra) rather than directly through its red core (the umbra). Graphic artist Larry Koehn has created an excellent animation of the event.

The best time to look is Friday night around 07:44 p.m. Eastern Time (00:44 UT Saturday).  That's the time of maximum coverage when Earth's shadow creates a clear gradient of light and shadow across the lunar disk. Check out this global visibility map to see if you are in the eclipse zone:

According to folklore, a full Moon in February is called the "Snow Moon."  For northerners, it often feels like the brightest Moon of the year as moonlight glistens off the white landscape. For a while on Friday night, the Snow Moon won't seem quite so bright.
www.spaceweather.com

If you think tonight's full Moon seems a bit bigger and brighter than usual, you're right.  It's a "perigee Moon," about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser full Moons we've seen earlier this year.  The Moon's orbit is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer than the other (apogee): diagram.  Perigee moons--a.k.a. "supermoons"--are not unusual.

This is the third month in a row we've had one. [photo gallery]
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Today's full Moon is the biggest and brightest in almost 70 years. The best time to look in North America is before sunrise on Monday morning, while in Europe the best time is after sunset on the same day."The last time we had such a close full Moon was January 26, 1948," says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory, "and it won't happen again until November 25, 2034."

Full moons vary in size because the Moon's orbit is not a circle, it's an ellipse: diagram. One side of the Moon's orbit, called "perigee," is 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other side, "apogee." This Monday's "supermoon" becomes full about 2 hours away from perigee, a coincidence that makes it as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons we have seen in the past.

But will we be able to tell the difference ... just by looking?  A 30% difference in brightness can easily be masked by clouds or the glare of urban lights.  Also, there are no rulers floating in the sky to measure lunar diameters. Hanging high overhead with no reference points to provide a sense of scale, one full Moon looks much like any other.

"I think that the hype over the term 'supermoon' is a bit overblown," says Chester.  "In my book every full Moon has something to offer!"

To get the most out of Monday's apparition, try to catch the Moon just as it is rising or setting. This will activate the Moon Illusion and make the perigee Moon of Nov. 14th look super, indeed.
www.spaceweather.com

There's a full Moon this weekend. That means it's time to be alert for moonbows. Ian Glendinning spotted this one arcing over a lightning bolt in Northumberland UK:

"The moonbow framed the lightning nicely--a rare and beautiful coincidence," says Glendinning.
Everyone knows what lightning is. But a moonbow? It's the same as a rainbow with the Moon playing the role of Sun. Raindrops falling in the Northumberland night caught the rays of the waxing full Moon and spread them into a fan of prismatic color.

Glendinning's exposure revealed something even more rare: a secondary moonbow. It's the faint 'bow arciing above the brighter primary. Primary rainbows are caused by single reflections inside raindrops; secondary bows are caused by double reflections. Watch for them both this weekend.
www.spaceweather.com

According to folklore, tonight's full Moon is the Harvest Moon. For many observers, the usual luster of the silver orb will be dimmed by a spooky shadow. It's a "penumbral lunar eclipse."

The animation below, created by graphic artist Larry Koehn, shows the eclipse unfolding for nearly 4 hours on Sept 16th:

A penumbral eclipse happens when the Moon passes through the pale outskirts of Earth's shadow. It is much less dramatic than a "blood moon" total lunar eclipse. In fact, when observers are not alerted beforehand, they often do not realize an eclipse is underway. Nevertheless, the subtle shadow of Earth is visible to the naked eye if you know it's there.

The eclipse will be visible everywhere except the Americas:

www.spaceweather.com

When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look up. There's a celestial triangle in the southern sky: the waxing full Moon, red Mars, and golden Saturn. Try to catch them before the sky fades completely black. The Moon and planets surrounded by twilight blue look extra-beautiful. [sky map]

Last night, for the first time in decades, the full Moon fell on the June solstice. Jeff Burkes of Chester County, Pennsylvania, watched the Moon herald the change of seasons, like so:

"It was an amazing sight to see," says Burkes. "And the filtering action of the clouds added a strawberry hue to the rising orb."  

According to folklore, this was the Strawberry Moon. It gets its name from June-bearing strawberry plants, which have a short harvest season that begins about now. 
www.spaceweather.com

Astronomers and stargazers are in for a treat this upcoming weekend with two big celestial events taking place; a full 'Blue Moon' and the opposition of Mars.

Blue Moon

May's Full Moon goes by several names, including the Full Flower Moon, the Full Corn Planting Moon and the Milk Moon. But this year, it will also go by the title of a Blue Moon.  A Blue Moon typically occurs once every few years (hence the term 'once in a Blue Moon') and is commonly the name of the second full moon in a calendar month. However, this weekend's Blue Moon gained its name a different way.

Normally, there are only three full moons in each season, but occasionally there is a season with four full moons. When this happens, like this spring, the third of the four full moons earns the name of a Blue Moon.  Despite their name, blue moons are not actually the color blue and will appear their typical color.  The next 'traditional' Blue Moon does not occur until January 31, 2018.

Mars Opposition

One day after the full moon, Mars will reach opposition, meaning that that Earth will be passing directly between Mars and the sun.  When this happens, Mars will be extremely bright, making it a great time for astronomers to observe the planet.

Mars will be one of the brightest objects in the sky on Sunday night after the Moon and will be visible from dusk to dawn.

According to EarthSky, by the time Mars reaches opposition, it will have quadrupled in brightness since the beginning of April. Additionally, it will shine nearly 80 times brighter than it does when the planet is at its faintest.  Even if clouds block your view of Mars on Sunday night, it should remain bright for several weeks before it slowly and steadily becomes faint.

About a week after opposition, Mars will make its closest approach to Earth in over 10 years.  At a distance of 46.8 million miles (75.3 million km), this will be the closest the Red Planet has been to our planet since 2003!

Although this is the closest the planets have been in years, it does not mean that Mars will be significantly larger in the night sky as some social media hoaxes might suggest. While it is true that Mars does give off a red glow in the night sky, you will not be able to see the planet like you would the Moon

There's a full Moon tonight, Monday Feb. 22nd. According to folklore, it has a special name--the "Snow Moon." On average, February is the snowiest month in the USA. Full moonlight reflecting from a snow-covered landscape can make the night very bright, indeed. Bonus: On Tuesday, Feb. 23rd, the waning Snow Moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter--a beautiful close encounter: sky map.     www.spaceweather.com

The Great Naked-Eye Planet Show of 2016 is reaching its peak. For the next week, the five brightest planets in the solar system can be seen, all at once, in a great line stretched across the pre-dawn sky. Denis Crute photographed the quintet on Feb. 2nd just before daybreak at Woolgoolga, Australia:

Crute took the picture using a Nikon D5200 digital camera set to ISO 3200 (f3.5) for a 2 sec exposure. Other photographers may wish to note those settings, because there are some excellent photo-ops in the mornings ahead. On Feb. 3rd, the Moon will pass by Saturn in the constellation Virgo: sky map. On Feb. 6th and 7th, the slender crescent Moon will form a lovely shape-shifting triangle with Venus and Mercury: sky map.

Set your alarm for dawn. There's a lot to see.     www.spaceweather.com

Brooks Hays : UPI : 12 Dec 2015

The last time a full moon rose on Christmas, the Bee Gees were on the radio and Saturday Night Fever was in the theaters.

A full moon rises every 29.53 days. That makes the chances of a full moon landing on a special day -- like your birthday, or Christmas -- rather slim.

But 2015 is a lucky year. For the first time in 38 years, Christmas Day will host a full moon. Christmas won't get another full moon until 2034.

A NASA spokesperson told ABC News the full moon will peak at just after six in the morning, Eastern Standard Time. According to the Farmer's Almanac, the last full moon in the month of December is called the "Cold Moon" or the "Big Moon."

The last time a full moon rose on Christmas, it was December 25, 1977 -- the Bee Gees were on the radio and Saturday Night Fever was in the theaters. J.R.R. Tolkien was a best-selling author, but none of his books had been made into movies yet.

Almost a decade prior to the last Christmas-borne full moon, a trio of NASA astronauts spent the holidays orbiting the moon -- the first time man orbited a body other than Earth.

In a live broadcast beamed back from Apollo 8, astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders read from the Bible's Book of Genesis as images of Earth flashed across the screen.

"We were told that on Christmas Eve we would have the largest audience that had ever listened to a human voice," Borman said in 2008, on the 40th anniversary of the feat. "And the only instructions that we got from NASA was to do something appropriate."

"The first ten verses of Genesis is the foundation of many of the world's religions, not just the Christian religion," explained Lovell. "There are more people in other religions than the Christian religion around the world, and so this would be appropriate to that and so that's how it came to pass."