Ed Park, Pippa Garner, jaimie branch, Black Holes, Ghost Streams, and more.

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In the 1990s, astronomer Joe Patterson self-published a zine he called "Big Apple Astronomy." In this column, Patterson brings back his beloved daily guide to sky-viewing with a new calendar every month.

In the 1990s, astronomy professor Joe Patterson wrote and illustrated a seasonal newsletter, in the style of an old-fashioned paper zine, of astronomical highlights visible from New York City. His affable style mixed wit and history with astronomy for a completely charming, largely undiscovered cult classic: Big Apple Astronomy. For Broadcast, Joe shares current monthly issues of Big Apple Sky Calendar, the guide to sky viewing that used to conclude the seasonal newsletter. Steal a few moments of reprieve from the city’s mayhem to take in these sights. As Oscar Wilde said, “we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

On this date in 1942, the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved by the “Manhattan Project” scientists—in an underground squash court at the University of Chicago. Working under the direction of Enrico Fermi, the team found that by bombarding uranium with neutrons, the uranium would fission into lighter elements, together with more neutrons, which would immediately find more uranium to fission—each time with energy released (because mass is lost, and E=mc2). This was the basis of the atomic bomb. They basically knew this would happen, but needed to find a way to control the reaction—otherwise you couldn't build a bomb without blowing yourself up. After the tense but successful experiment, the team cabled to the super-secret agency, “The Italian Navigator has discovered the New World.” The cryptic reply came: “How were the natives?” And the answer: “Very friendly.”

The gibbous (slightly greater than last quarter) Moon passes through Gemini and Leo on these nights. It’s a good time to get acquainted with Leo, the famous “backwards question mark” in the sky. The bright star Regulus, the heart of the Lion, is the dot of the question mark.

Death of Omar Khayyam in 1148. Perhaps the last of the great Persian astronomers… and my favorite.

Up from Earth's center through the Seventh Gate,
I rose, and on the throne of Saturn sate.
And many knots unravell'd by the road
But not the knot of Human Death and Fate.

Earliest Sunset for NYC (4:35 pm). This might be surprising—why isn't it the December solstice, which is always the shortest day, at nine hours and 15 minutes? It's because the exact time of “solar noon” (when the Sun is directly south) wanders by as much as 15 minutes during the year due to the Sun's inconstant motion (owing to the slight eccentricity in the Earth's orbit). Also, it's only “earliest” by a gnat's eyelash. NYC sunsets only vary by ten minutes for EVERY December day.

The waning crescent Moon is just three degrees south of Venus in this morning’s sky. A gorgeous sight if you have a clear southeastern horizon.

New Moon at 6:31 pm. Exactly four lunations (lunar periods) from now, the New Moon will line up exactly with the Sun… and the great total solar eclipse of 2024 will occur. Have you made your eclipse plans yet (April 8th)? Practically anywhere in the Adirondacks or near Lake Champlain would be excellent (weather permitting). NASA has a great 

No matter where you view it, a good solar filter (ND 5, or neutral density five) would be a mighty good investment. They cost only a few bucks now; but near eclipse day, the supply vanishes and the price skyrockets.

Also worth emphasizing: this is mainly a 

 spectacle. If you’re actually in the path of totality, don’t invest any (or much) of the precious two minutes in viewing through a telescope.

The Geminid meteors. Roughly after midnight on these nights, the Earth passes through the orbit of the asteroid Phaethon, and a large supply of tiny particles burns up in our atmosphere. These are called Geminid meteors, because they appear to come roughly from the vicinity of the constellation Gemini. It’s the most prolific of the annual showers (~one hundred meteors per hour)… but the timing (after midnight, when Gemini is reasonably high in the sky) means that you should expect cold weather. A sleeping bag and a companion to keep your spirits high (“There’s one!”) are highly recommended. And perhaps a reclining chair; human necks are not naturally designed for this activity.

And for gaps between meteors, savor the majesty of Orion, a tad south of Gemini:

“Thou splendid soulless warrior,
Ghost of the shimmering summer dawn,
King of the winter nights!”


The crescent Moon passes just south of Saturn tonight. Get thee to a telescope!



The gibbous Moon passes north of Jupiter on these nights.

December (winter for us borealites) solstice at 10:28 pm EST.

The “gibbous” (roughly three-quarter) Moon passes close to the Pleiades star cluster tonight.

Isaac Newton was born on this day in 1642. Isaac's father had died a few months earlier, and his mother soon remarried, leaving the young Isaac to the care of his grandparents. René Descartes, the other intellectual giant of the seventeenth century, had a similar childhood.

Christmas. The exact timing of Jesus's birth is highly uncertain. Neither the day, month, or year is known. Early Christians may have favored a day near the winter solstice, because that signifies the seasonal rebirth of the Sun's gifts (warmth and light). And some Christians celebrate January 6th; that might be the origin of the “twelve days of Christmas.” Some astronomers have tried to find an astronomical event (planetary conjunction, nova, comet, etc.) around that time, and link it to the story of the Magi “who saw a star in the east.” These are favorite themes in planetarium shows. But none of those events occur in the year zero (most are in the range 2-6 CE). Also, it’s hard to understand how an astronomical sighting can indicate a particular place on Earth, as stated in the Matthew gospel, the only source for the story. Everything in the sky 

Johannes Kepler was born on this day in 1571. Kepler's derivation of the precise orbit of planets (ellipses) was the first to establish that the planets moved in a precise geometric pattern. Arthur Koestler wrote a great popular book about Kepler—

. It was part of an equally great popular book about the Scientific Revolution—

Prof. Joe Patterson is a professor of Astronomy at Columbia University, an observational astronomer, and a baseball enthusiast. (He was also our editor-in-chief’s first astronomy professor.)

Big Apple Sky Calendar: December 2023

In the 1990s, astronomy professor Joe Patterson wrote and illustrated a seasonal newsletter, in the style of an old-fashioned paper zine, of astronomical highlights visible from New York City. His affable style mixed wit and history with astronomy for a completely charming, largely undiscovered cult classic: Big Apple Astronomy. For 

, Joe shares current monthly issues of Big Apple Sky Calendar, the guide to sky viewing that used to conclude the seasonal newsletter. Steal a few moments of reprieve from the city’s mayhem to take in these sights. As Oscar Wilde said, “we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Mars and Venus are very close together tonight, visible low in the evening sky 40-50 minutes after sunset. They’ll stay there for around a week, before being swallowed by the solar glare around the month’s end.

Full Moon at 7:39 am EDT. Of course, the full Moon is opposite the Sun. And since the noontime summer Sun is as high as it ever gets, the midnight full Moon is basically as 

 as it ever gets—just 25 degrees above the horizon. 

(1054) The traditional date for the appearance of the most famous supernova in history. What we know for sure is that in the early summer of the year 1054, a very bright “guest star” (the Chinese word) appeared suddenly, and was closely observed by Far Eastern astronomers (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean). It was described as “visible in daylight” for 23 days, and in the night sky for over a year. It must have been amazing to stargazers everywhere—but strangely enough, no definitive record exists for its visibility in Europe or the Americas.

There is today a little elliptical nebula in the sky, the 

, which is the remnant of the 1054 explosion. Virginia Trimble, an American astronomer famous for her quick wit and insightful astrophysics, found that the nebula is rapidly expanding, such that it must have originated from a single point around the year 1100. This proved that the Crab Nebula originated in an explosion from a tiny, faint star at the center of the Nebula, or perhaps the ancestor of that star. A few years later, it was found that this star is a 

—a solid star, made entirely of neutrons and spinning at a rate of 30 times a second.

This star is 6,500 light years away—and if you do the math, you find that in the summer of 1054, this object was about as luminous (intrinsically) as an entire galaxy. Holy mackerel! This was basically the beginning of modern stellar astrophysics. Two years later, the first black hole was discovered—and we were off and running.

But what's this “July 4th” business? That's mainly a U.S. obsession. The ancient Chinese were exacting at dates, but not that exacting! (Or at least our 

 of their dates is not that precise.) We do know three things that underlie the modern myth: (1) On the morning of July 5th, 1054, as viewed from the western U.S., the waning crescent Moon was just northwest of the Crab Nebula's position; (2) several cave paintings/carvings from that region and era seem to show a round object (the supernova?) next to a crescent-shaped object of equal size (the Moon?); and (3) the Pueblo Indians of that era commonly made early-morning observations of the sky, perhaps to mark the seasons.

Despite this ultra-thin reed of evidence, few U.S. astronomy teachers can resist the retelling of the patriotic supernova story. I certainly can't.

Earth at aphelion. Today the Earth is 1.017 AU (95 million miles) from the Sun—as distant as it ever gets. Yet it's the hottest time of year for us borealites. The reason is that the Sun's local heating of the Earth depends not on distance, but on the 

 of the noontime sun (now nearly overhead for us) and on the length of sunlight (now 15 hours).

Birthday of John Archibald Wheeler in 1911. Wheeler was probably the most important American physicist of the twentieth century. (OK, Richard Feynman fans; you'll have your say later.) Wheeler became a teacher and mentor to nearly all American scientists working on general relativity, or Einstein's theory of gravity. He invented the terms “

.” And he came up with a single, short sentence that perfectly expresses the basic idea of Einstein's theory, and which 

 Newton's theory: “Space-time tells matter how to move, and matter tells space-time how to curve.”

Last quarter Moon. Also solar observing (open to the public) at Pioneer Works, from 1-4 pm at 159 Pioneer Street in Brooklyn.

On these four nights, there are excellent overpasses of NYC by the International Space Station (ISS). On each occasion, the object first appears low in the west, then moves roughly overhead three minutes later, and then disappears roughly in the east another three minutes later. On July 10th, the spectacle starts at 10:12:55 pm EDT and concludes six minutes later. On July 11th, it starts at 9:20:26 pm. (This one is a real beauty—super bright, and passing exactly overhead at precisely 9:23:46 pm.) On July 12th, it starts at 10:12:16 pm. On July 13th, it starts at 9:20:26 pm. Unless you have a really clear western horizon, you probably won’t see these events at the exact start time; but one minute later, they should be obvious. As you watch it, imagine: it’s as big as a football field, and moving at 18,000 miles per hour!

From 8-10 pm tonight, weather permitting, the New York Amateur Astronomers Association will hold a telescopic observing session at Lincoln Center (near the fountain). These events are for the public, so questions are welcome/solicited. But be warned: to astronomers, “weather permitting” generally means “clear sky required.” It's not a baseball game!

New Moon. A few days later, the evening twilight shows a beautiful conjunction of Venus and the crescent Moon—“the old Moon in the New Moon’s arms.”

On this famous day in 1969, two astronauts landed and walked on the Moon. The story has been told a thousand times. Less well known is exactly what happened right after the quite dangerous landing. The original schedule called for the astronauts to catch some sleep before attempting the famous walk. But after all the excitement of the trip and peril of the landing, sleep was the last thing on their minds. Even though they had landed on... the Sea of Tranquility.

So NASA changed the plan and said “OK, do the walk.” Then it was “one small step for a man....” The most-watched live event in television history. Until, of course, the 2006 FIFA World Cup final between Italy and France, ending in a shoot-out. Now 

Interesting side note. Of the six American flags planted by the six Apollo missions to the Moon, all are still standing (photographed by Lunar Orbiters) 

 the first, which was immediately and ingloriously blown down by the exhaust from the rockets during take-off. (The take-off rockets were quickly re-designed to correct this egregious violation of flag etiquette.)

excellent apparitions of the ISS on these nights: centered on 9:51:12 pm (roughly overhead on the 28th) and 9:01:09 pm (overhead on the 29th). Virtually all satellites orbit west to east, because they're 

 west to east, to take advantage of the Earth's 1000 km/sec rotational speed.

Reprise of the July 14th stargazing event for the public at Lincoln Center (8-10 pm).

July 2023

Big Apple Sky Calendar: July 2023

On every clear night in June, Venus and Mars will be staging a
tête-à-tête low in the western sky after sunset. About one to two hours
after sunset should be a good time. Venus is always the brighter (and
more westerly, meaning LOWER) of the two. On June 30th (see below), the two will appear in the same binocular field.

On this day in 1966, Surveyor I made the first American soft landing on the Moon (a few weeks after the Soviets). In addition to the 11,000 pictures it relayed, Surveyor established that it was even possible to

a conventional “landing.” It had been feared that the lunar surface might be covered with a meters-thick layer of dust. Because of low lunar gravity and frequent bombardment, that was in the realm of possibility. But we got lucky, and the Surveyor missions picked out a real peachy spot for the historic landing three years later, on the Sea of Tranquility.

Venus (or Aphrodite, as the Greeks called it) is now at “greatest eastern elongation.” This means “farthest eastward from the Sun.” Because Venus is an inner planet, it’s always seen pretty close to the Sun. That’s why it’s commonly known as “the Evening Star”—a name richly deserved in spring 2023, when it has graced the western sky every evening. On any clear night, if you have a half-decent western horizon, you can see this beautiful planet in the early evening, no matter how you observe it: naked-eye, binoculars, telescope.

On these nights, Venus passes through the Beehive star cluster. Great view with binoculars or a telescope, 50-80 minutes after sunset

Birthday of Thomas Young in 1773. Young is most famous for his wave theory of light—the first to explain 

 phenomena. He made many discoveries in diverse fields: vision, mathematics, Egyptology, history, music, energy, and the theory of matter. And these were just his hobbies! His main job was as a physician—a doctor—and he went to some lengths to prevent his amazing scientific work from interfering with his medical practice. With good reason, he is frequently described as “the last man who knew everything.”

New Moon at 12:39 am EDT. With all that unwanted moonlight out of the way, this week is a great time for summer stargazing. Mars and Venus in the west in early evening (see also June 30th), the Summer Triangle (Vega, Deneb, Altair) nearly overhead at 1-2 am, and the center of the Galaxy (Scorpius-Sagittarius) in the south around midnight-2 am.

Summer (or June) solstice. Longest day of the year at all northern latitudes. At our latitude, it’s 15 hours and five minutes. At 67 degrees latitude, it’s 24 hours; no darkness—not even close. In Fairbanks, Alaska, they have an annual golf tournament where you tee off at midnight. And finally, at the North Pole, it’s “noon” all day; the Sun rose on March 21st and won’t set til’ September 23rd. No golf tournaments, though. The “land” is pack ice, and you’ll be repeatedly penalized two strokes for lost balls.

On the other hand, it’s the darkest (and perhaps coldest) of nights at the South Pole. The Sun hasn’t been seen in three months, and they (the technicians and scientists who are wintering over) have a “300-degree club.” You’re supposed to wait for a day when the outside temp is -100 °F… then strip, enter a sauna at +200 °F, run (about a hundred yards) to the monument that is the 

South Pole, and return. Apparently there’s not a whole lot to do for fun in winter at the South Pole.

Bertolt Brecht said it perfectly on a large curtain which opened the Inquisition trial scene, in his play 

On this day, Galileo was convicted of heresy by the Roman Inquisition, and sentenced to lifetime house arrest. Brecht’s play beautifully captures the subtleties and tensions leading up to this moment, which mostly extinguished science in Italy and much of the Catholic world for centuries (the offending book,

Dialogue Concerning Two Great World-Systems

, remained on the official Index of Prohibited Books until 1835). Even at the time and within the Catholic hierarchy, the controversy of the verdict was recognized. Three of the ten Inquisitors did not sign the Oath—possibly members of the Jesuit order, which supported Galileo and has always been known for scholarship (plus, more recently, basketball).

There is a story that Galileo, after guilt was pronounced and the proceedings were finished, said quietly but audibly, “

” (And Yet It Moves), presumably referring to the Earth. In his book 

, historian Giorgio di Santillana discusses the question, did he really say it? For a man just convicted by the Inquisition, it would have been a pretty snarky comment. Di Santillana eventually concludes: 

… but if he did, the Inquisitors “would have done their best not to hear.”

First quarter Moon. High in the south at sunset, and setting in the west around midnight. True of all first quarter Moons; but for the casual observer, it’s worth noting, since it’s now easy to notice the Moon’s motion over a few hours.

On these nights, Mars and Venus will be very close together in the sky—in astronomical parlance, a “conjunction”. A beautiful sight, low in the west about 40-80 minutes after sunset. Grab your binoculars and find a clear western horizon. Even an NYC park is probably good enough. ♦

June 2023

Big Apple Sky Calendar: June 2023

Full Moon at 1:36 pm EDT. The Moon is almost exactly opposite the Sun today, so a penumbral lunar eclipse will occur. But it’s of little interest to us, for two reasons: (1) “almost” isn’t quite good enough; and (2) it occurs in 

, so “opposite the Sun” means below our horizon!

In this morning’s sky (night of May 4th-5th), the Earth intersects the orbit of Halley’s Comet. The comet has been shedding debris, especially when it nears the Sun and heats up, for at least 1500 years. That debris—little dust particles—stays in orbit around the Sun. Like the character “Pig-Pen” in the 

 cartoons, the dust just follows the comet around. And the Earth intersects that orbit every May 4th-5th…causing a meteor shower (called the Eta Aquarids, named for the star they appear to emanate from) as the dust burns up in the atmosphere. But despite the two impressive names (“shower” and “Halley”), this shower is usually a yawner. Late April and early May mornings can be cold, and don’t usually offer much reward for the discomfort (except for one April morning in 1775). But if you happen to be stargazing this morning, you might see some meteors from that famous old comet.

Birthday of Cecilia Payne in 1900. Payne was a young student of Arthur Eddington, the English astronomer whose writing brought awareness of modern physics to the audience of astronomers (not then well trained in physics). Payne could not pursue graduate study in England (Cambridge did not grant degrees to women until 1948), so Eddington arranged for her admission to Harvard. A few years later, she produced what Otto Struve called “the most outstanding thesis the USA has ever produced.” Payne knew much more physics than most astronomers…and was able to show that the Sun was made mostly of 

—an idea much doubted by astronomers at the time, since there is practically no hydrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere. She went on to a long career at Harvard, as the world’s top expert on 

On these nights, the International Space Station (ISS) makes evening overpasses of New York City. On May 12th, look generally southeast (SE) from 9:17 to 9:23 pm EDT. On May 13th and 14th, the ISS pops up near your western horizon, passes nearly overhead, then disappears in the east five to six minutes after first appearing. First appearance is at 10:05 pm on May 13th, and 9:14 pm on May 14th. Unlike airplanes, the ISS shines with a 

light—it’s just reflecting sunlight. At 18,000 mph, it’s hard to believe where it is in space. When you first see it, it’s roughly over Kentucky; when it disappears five minutes later, it’s somewhere south of Greenland.

Even apart from the ISS, these are three great nights for evening observing. Venus is the brilliant object in the west—as it has been for many weeks. To its right is the bright star Capella, and above Venus is the red planet Mars. To the right of Mars are the famous twins in Gemini (Castor and Pollux). Get away from buildings and enjoy the spectacle. Since the 

 are fixed in position on the celestial sphere, you can watch the planets’ motions (with respect to the fixed stars) from night to night.

On this day in 1836, Francis Baily discovered the phenomena known as “Baily’s Beads”—the last bursts of sunlight shining through lunar valleys, visible only a few seconds before (and after) the totality phase of a solar eclipse. But remarkably, he observed it during an 

eclipse—an eclipse which just fails to be total, usually by a few percent. I hope he had good filtration! …because it can be dangerous to mess around with solar eclipses during the partial phases.

Thought to be the birthday in 1048 of Omar Khayyam, the great Persian astronomer, mathematician, and poet. Omar designed the Jalali calendar, still used today in the Middle East for religious purposes, since it’s slightly more accurate (one day error in 5000 years) than our modern Gregorian calendar (one day error in 3300 years). But he is best known for his beautiful poetry—the 

. It has been published in many versions and many languages. In 1865 Edward Fitzgerald published an English translation which became a literary tornado, spawning hundreds of re-printings and translations into yet more languages. It even enchanted me at age 15, when my (voluntary) reading was mostly about baseball and war.

On these nights, the waxing crescent Moon glides through the assemblage of planets (Venus and Mars) and stars (the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux) in the western sky during evening twilight. A really beautiful sight, about an hour after sunset.

The total solar eclipse on this date in 585 BCE was perhaps the most consequential in history. According to several famous (but not necessarily independent) sources—Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, and Cicero—it stopped a long-running war between two Greek city-states, AND was predicted in advance by the Greek astronomer Thales. Most modern historians do not accept either claim, but scolding Herodotus (“The Father of History”) is usually not a good idea.

As if to challenge the ancient eclipse for pre-eminence, that of May 29th in the year 1919 is a worthy candidate. It was predicted long in advance, and the British launched an expedition, led by Arthur Eddington, to a West African island to photograph the field of stars right around the Sun during totality. Eddington had calculated how much the Sun’s gravity would bend the starlight, according to Einstein’s recently published theory of gravity (“general relativity”). Careful measurement confirmed the amount of bend predicted by Einstein’s theory. At the meeting of the Royal Society when this result was announced, it was described as the “greatest scientific achievement since Copernicus,” and the next day’s London 

 was headlined “Newton’s Ideas Overthrown.”

Eddington himself, another fan of Omar Khayyam, adopted Khayyam’s classic quatrain form to describe the event at the post-conference party. It ended:

Five minutes, not a moment left to waste.

Five minutes, for the picture to be traced.

Streams from the Orb of Darkness—oh, make haste!

Oh, leave the wise our measurements to collate,

One thing is certain, and the rest debate:

On this day in 1971, NASA launched Mariner 9, the first spacecraft to reach and orbit Mars. Mars was the great hope for finding alien life in the solar system, and that life was the subject of many science-fiction novels. Even 

 (hero of the African jungle) got into the act, conquering Mars at one point. There was great excitement that year about the expected close-up photographs. The spacecraft arrived in August, and the first photos looked pretty much like the views I got through my homemade six-inch telescope. Blurry! Mars was in the grip of a planet-wide dust storm, and hardly any detail could be seen. A few weeks later, the dust subsided and we got some great photos: of a giant Martian volcano, and the first hint of long-dried-up Martian river valleys.

May 2023

Big Apple Sky Calendar: May 2023

Until the year 1582, when Pope Gregory made his famous calendar reform in all of Catholic Europe, April 1st was considered the beginning of the year. Or to purists, March 25th, the traditional date for the vernal equinox. That's how many of the months get their names: September was the seventh month, October the eighth, November the ninth, December the tenth.

, a film by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. Usually ranked as the greatest science fiction film of all time, and often as one of the ten best films of all time. I think I've seen it ten times, including the opening night in Boston, and couldn't count the number of hours spent discussing it with friends. Clarke's imagination and knowledge coupled with Kubrick's subtlety and use of imagery produced an absolute masterpiece.