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EYES TO THE SKY: Look west to Gemini’s Castor and Pollux and to Mars,...
May 17–May 30, 2021 MOUNT WASHINGTON — As twilight deepens tonight, beginning around 9 p.m., locate the crescent moon in the west, mid-way between zenith and the horizon. Below the moon, a juxtaposed...
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Time-based vs. proficiency-based learning has degraded education
A Berkshire County resident of the Gilded Age has his name attached to the systems under which students today, at most American public and private high schools, as well as most public or private...
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The power of choice: ‘Unschooling’ comes to Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD — In 1871, Lewis Carroll introduced a generation of American readers to the neologism “un-birthday,” a newly-coined term that, once made familiar, gave rise to “The Unbirthday Song” in...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Milky Way of summer stars, with streaming fireflies
June 14–27, 2021 MOUNT WASHINGTON — At nightfall, a cosmos of blinking earthly stars attracts and mesmerizes stargazers. Fireflies are connecting our joy in the celestial with breathtaking wonder close...
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EYES TO THE SKY: A rare event – Venus and Mars snuggle at dusk today and...
July 12–25, 2021 MOUNT WASHINGTON — This evening and tomorrow, the 12th and 13th, brilliant planet Venus and fainter planet Mars appear low in the west-northwestern sky about 45 minutes after sunset....
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EYES TO THE SKY: Perseid meteors fly mid-week; all-night planets
August 9–August 22, 2021 MOUNT WASHINGTON — The Perseid meteor shower, one of summer’s most alluring astronomical events, is known to rain 50 to 100 shooting stars per hour at peak, seen all over the...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Reach out to Jupiter, Saturn, Scorpius
September 6–19, 2021 “The space beyond Earth is so incredibly vast.”—NASA MOUNT WASHINGTON — Planet Jupiter shines with startling brilliance above the southeast horizon in evening twilight. The great...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Call to protect Earth’s night, essential to life on Earth
October 4–17, 2021 MOUNT WASHINGTON — “For millions of years, there has been a night shift at work pollinating flowering plants and fruit trees … If you look at the diversity and the sheer numbers of...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Darkest mornings brightest stars — crescent moons dawn then...
November 1–14, 2021 Mt. Washington — The week of November 1–6 is the best time all year to begin each day under heaven’s brightest stars and constellations — without waking up especially early. In...
View ArticleThe Body Scientific: How will the COVID pandemic end?
In an extraordinary 20 months, science has tackled the SARS-C0V-2 virus and made vaccines for adults and children. Scientists have developed monoclonal antibodies that help if given early; we now have...
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EYES TO THE SKY: ‘Under One Sky’— human voices from space
November 29 – December 12, 2021 MOUNT WASHINGTON — I heard the voices of sensitive humans from outer space. They spoke of living in awe of the beauty of a blue planet — Earth — hanging in the blackness...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Mars, Scorpius, Omicron, moon mornings; Mercury joins Venus...
December 27, 2021–January 9, 2022 MOUNT WASHINGTON — A boon for stargazers, the unusually long, dark mornings that follow the winter solstice reward the curious who venture outdoors at dawn. The...
View ArticleThe Body Scientific: Omicron, mutations, and medical updates
A few months ago, we were anticipating the reopening of civil society. But events intervened. First, the protection of two-dose vaccines started to subside. Second, unvaccinated patients, including...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Halfway to spring, be mesmerized by winter stars, captivated...
January 22–February 4, 2022 MOUNT WASHINGTON — Winter skies are the most inviting to naked-eye stargazers, and for including children when the brightest stars in the heavens appear in early evening,...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Leading the Sun at dawn: Eye-popping Venus, our solar...
February 19–March 4, 2022 Mount Washington — Wake up in morning darkness and, clothes at the ready, pick up the speed of a firefighter as you rush out to a spot on the southeastern skyline ablaze with...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Significant Sun day, Spring Star Arcturus rising, Solar...
March 19–April 2, 2022 MOUNT WASHINGTON — Tomorrow, March 20, the rising Sun marks due east on the horizon and the setting Sun marks due west, while tracing an arc in the sky that brings about equal...
View ArticleRICHARD KESSIN: Omicron, that’s enough
What have the scientific, pharmaceutical, and medical communities done to stifle SARS-CoV-2 infections? There are currently 18 advanced trials of different vaccines, 64 possible new treatments, and 23...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Venus and Jupiter meet, four-planet mornings, Full Moon...
April 16–May 2, 2022 MOUNT WASHINGTON — We begin with an adventure for two weeks of morning stargazing, referring to the diagram, above. Then, hurry to gather our thoughts around tonight’s highly...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Extraordinary: Supermoon Lunar Eclipse Sunday night
May 14–27, 2022 MOUNT WASHINGTON — Leading up to tomorrow’s (May 15–16) total eclipse of the moon, a few words of appreciation for beautiful skies to observe before and after the spectacular event...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Peak Sun, Full Strawberry Moon, celestial birds, morning...
June 11–24, 2022 MOUNT WASHINGTON — In early evening twilight, near the top of an azure sky, a singular golden point of light appears to the inquisitive sky gazer. It is Arcturus (-0.07magnitude), the...
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