After a freakishly dry January and February (normally our wettest months), we have been blessed with a spring miracle of 9.42 inches of rain in the months March and April here in…
A series of gentle fall rainstorms have soaked into the chaparral to ease us into our 2019/2020 rain season, that started October 1, and has yielded a total of 3.79 inches of…
Our 2018-2019 rain season ended on September 30, 2019, with a flourish: .17 inches of rain was recorded here in Fernwood at the very end of the season. This concludes our season…
If our “star” of July’s night sky was Jupiter in last month’s Backyard Astronomer, then this month’s best supporting planet must certainly be Saturn. Steadily shining a mellow yellow color, The God…
Perhaps the most interesting planets in a small telescope are Jupiter and Saturn. These giant planets will be featured in our skies in the month of July and all summer. Both are…
The normally mild and mellow month of May has been the wild and wooley month of May in this unusual rain year. Wednesday, May 22, started out sunny and fair only to…
Other than Orion, The Big Dipper is probably the most recognizable constellation in the northern hemisphere. This asterism is among the oldest of constellations and its mythology extends into prehistory. It has…
Learning the constellations isn’t hard if you do it bit by bit. The idea here in The Backyard Astronomer is to introduce you to the big, bright constellations first, building one on…
In the 22 seasons that the Fernwood Rain Report has been keeping daily rain records, this year is the fourth rainiest season I’ve recorded with 27.33 inches of precipitation so far. We…
“My dear Kepler, what would you say of the learned here, who, replete with the pertinacity of the asp, have steadfastly refused to cast a glance through the telescope? What shall we…