planet

The full moon is of course the most celebrated lunar phase, and for good reason. It’s the brightest, and it’s the only phase that’s out all night long.

You probably can’t see it from your backyard. Since all the amazing stuff happens only during totality, definitely drive into the published path if the weather forecast looks good.

A few weeks ago came the puzzling discovery of a huge, fully formed galaxy at the edges of the observable universe. Since looking far into the distance means looking way back in time, thanks to the long interval it took for that galaxy’s light to reach us, we’re seeing one of the earliest galaxies. This week: The Big Bang.

We can perceive more shades of green than any other color, but red is actually the universe’s most common hue. Tune in this week to hear about the colors of the universe!

Now that the film “Oppenheimer” has earned awards, more people than ever are aware of the intense atmospheric nuclear bomb testing in the 1950’s.

Right now we’re seeing the waning moon, the moon lit up on its left side. When you notice a moon in the blue sky in the morning, that's always the waning moon. And speaking of day sky, though it surprises a lot of people, the moon appears in the daytime just as much as it’s out at night. Tune in to see where the moon is located in the sky.

Now that it’s just six weeks before the great total solar eclipse on April 8, many are planning where they’ll be, within the 150-mile-wide path of totality. Going online shows the eclipse path, and you must simply make sure you don’t pick a spot near the edge of that ribbon, where the eclipse’s length will be short. Tune in to heart the best eclipse viewing spots!

Statistically, the year’s coldest week is now nearly a month behind us. But it’s still darn cold, which, in this world full of gray areas, reminds us of a single absolute we can count on. That take-it-to-the-bank certainty is absolute zero. Hear what weird things occurred when temperatures drop too low.

Radiation penetrates our bodies 24/7. Most is natural, with background cosmic ray doses proportional to your home’s elevation. These broken pieces of atoms zooming in from space, give you 30 millirems of annual radiation if you live near sea level, like in L.A. But you get much more if your home is up high. People in Denver get 80 millirems yearly.

Do you still keep your old binoculars in the same drawer as your socks? And are you psyched to glimpse the green planet Uranus?