The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of November 8, 2025

Saturday: The Northern Taurid meteor shower peaks tonight after midnight. These are slow moving meteors that result in the occasional fireball. The Taurid meteor showers produce a few bright meteors every hour. The Waning Gibbous Moon will obscure the dim meteors. These meteors appear to come from a point in Taurus the bull, near the open star cluster called the Hyades. This point is about six and a half fists held upright and at arm’s length above the southern horizon at midnight. You can follow this point throughout the night, as it will remain one and a half fists to the right of the V-shaped Hyades Cluster with its bright star Aldebaran (pronounced Al-deb’-a-ran). In case you miss them tonight, there will be increased meteors until December 2. Meteors are tiny rocks that burn up in the atmosphere when the Earth runs into them. The source of this shower is the asteroid 2004 TG10. Go to https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/taurid-meteors-all-you-need-to-know/ for more information.

Sunday: While Stonehenge is an ancient burial ground visited by religious people for thousands of years, MIThenge is an 825-foot-long hallway on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology visited by the Sun’s rays twice a year. Every year in November and January, the setting Sun lines up with a narrow window at the end of the long hall and the light shines down to the opposite end. This season’s alignment is from November 9-11 at about 4:20 pm. For more information, visit http://goo.gl/0hwFQf or visit MIT. While you are at it, challenge yourself to find a similar alignment in your neighborhood.

Monday: Jupiter and the moon are about six fists above the southwestern horizon at 6:15 a.m. Jupiter is to the lower right of the moon. Venus is half a fist above the east-southeastern horizon at this time.

Tuesday: Are you planning to open your Martinmas gifts today? Martinmas is a holiday in many parts of the world commemorating Saint Martin of Tours. He was buried on November 11, 397. What does this have to do with astronomy? Not much except that the celebration on November 11 often doubles as a cross-quarter day celebration, a day that is halfway between an equinox and a solstice. Also, according to an agricultural calendar, November 11 marks the practical beginning of winter.

Wednesday: Lieutenant Worf, the Klingon Starfleet officer on Star Trek: The Next Generation, might say “Today is a good day to die.” But Deneb, the bright supergiant star in Cygnus the Swan would say “two million years from now is a good day to die.” This may seem like a long time. But, compared to the lifespan of most stars, two million years from now is as close as tomorrow. For example, the Sun will last about five billion years. Small stars known as red dwarfs may last trillions of years. Prepare your astronomically short goodbyes to Deneb tonight at 7:00 o’clock when it is seven fists above the western horizon.

Thursday: Saturn is three fists above the southeastern horizon at 6:00 p.m.

Friday: Along with the not-so-subtle drug reference in their name, The Doobie Brothers could have made an astronomy reference in their song lyrics if they would have written: “Old Earth water, keep on rollin’, Mississippi moon won’t you keep on shining on me.” Astronomers now think that some of the water on Earth may be older than the Solar System. The chemical signature of the water indicates it came from a very cold source, just a few degrees above absolute zero. The early Solar System was much warmer than this, meaning the water came from a source outside the Solar System. For more information about the old Earth water, go to https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/earth-water-formed-billions-years-ago-before-sun.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of November 1, 2025

Saturday: Happy Celtic New Year! Many historians think that November 1, known for the festival of Samhain, was the ancient Celtic New Year’s Day. Samhain, Old Irish for “summer’s end”, was a harvest festival that may have contributed to some of the customs of our current “holiday” of Halloween. Celebrate the Celtic New Year by observing Saturn in the southeastern sky, about a half fist held upright and at arm’s length to the lower left of the moon at 7:00 p.m.

Before you fall back on your bed tonight, set your clock back one hour to the real time. Daylight Saving Time ends early Sunday morning at 2:00 a.m. This means one more hour of sky watching in the evening because the Sun will set one hour earlier. Ben Franklin proposed the idea of “saving daylight” by adjusting our clocks way back in 1784. Daylight Saving Time was first utilized during World War I to save electricity. After the war, it was abandoned. It was reintroduced during World War II on a year-round basis. From 1945 to 1966, some areas implemented daylight saving and some did not. Also, it was not implemented with any uniformity as to when it should start and stop. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 codified the daylight saving rules. It also banished the “s” as the correct term is daylight saving time, not daylight savings time.

Sunday: Jupiter is one and a half fists above the east-northeastern horizon at 11:00 p.m. That means that Jupiter’s moons can be seen tonight, as well. In 2022, NASA’s Juno spacecraft sent back some of the most detailed images of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. For more about the images and the rest of Juno’s mission, go to https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-juno-gets-highest-resolution-close-up-of-jupiters-moon-europa.

With a small telescope, you will be able to see all four of Jupiter’s largest moons tonight. Europa is about two Jupiter diameters to the upper right of Jupiter. Io, the closest of the bright moons to Jupiter, is about one Jupiter diameter to the lower left of Jupiter. Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, is about another Jupiter diameter beyond Io. Callisto, the farthest of the bright moons from Jupiter, is another three Jupiter diameters beyond Ganymede. Depending on the orientation and design of your telescope, these directions may be flipped. If your viewing conditions are excellent, you can see some of the moons with binoculars.

Monday: The two meteor showers centered in the constellation Taurus peak this week and next. That means there will be increased meteor activity in western Taurus.

The Southern Taurid meteor shower peaks for the next three nights. These are slow moving meteors that result in the occasional fireball. The Taurid meteor showers produce a few bright meteors every hour. The bright moon will obscure all but the brightest meteors through the end of the week. These meteors appear to come from a point in Taurus the bull, about two fists held at arm’s length to the right of the open star cluster called the Hyades. This point is about five fists above the south-southeast horizon at midnight. The “V” of the Hyades cluster points at the center of the Southern Taurid shower. Meteors are tiny rocks that burn up in the atmosphere when the Earth runs into them. These rocks are broken off parts of Comet 2P/Encke. Go to https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/taurid-meteors-all-you-need-to-know/ for more information.

Tuesday: You’ve seen all the top 100 lists: top 100 ways to squat, top 100 Indonesian astronomers, etc. Now get excited for this week’s full Moon by reading about and finding some of the lunar 100. Go to http://goo.gl/ldGvH6. This list describes 100 interesting landmarks on the Moon that are visible from Earth. They are listed from easiest to see, starting with the entire moon itself at number 1, to most difficult (Mare Marginis swirls, anyone?). Stay up all night to binge watch the moon or just make a few observations a month. It’s your decision. It’s our moon. Start your viewing tonight at 7:00 p.m. when the Full Moon is three fists above the eastern horizon. I suggest starting with Mare Crisium, the circular, dark, basaltic plain in the upper right-hand portion of the moon. Items such as Crisium were named "Mare" by early astronomers who mistook them for seas, instead of the hardened lava beds that they really are.

Wednesday: Venus is a half a fist above the east-southeastern horizon at 6:00 a.m.

Thursday: Fomalhaut is one and a half fists above due south at 8:00 p.m.

Friday: Procyon, the brightest star in Canis Minor, the smaller dog, is one fist above due east at 11:00 p.m. Procyon means “before the dog” in ancient Greek, a fitting name because it always rises a few minutes before Sirius, nicknamed “the dog star”.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of October 25, 2025

Saturday: Halloween is this Friday. If you need costume ideas, look low in the sky at 7:15 p.m. Arcturus is about one fist held upright and at arm’s length above the western horizon. In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Arcturus is home to giant ships called Arcturan Megafreighters and oversized megafauna like the Arcturan Megaleech and Arcturan Megacamel. Capella is about one fist above the northeastern horizon. In the second season episode of Star Trek: The Original Series called Friday’s Child, the Enterprise goes to Capella IV to negotiate a mining contract for a valuable mineral. While there, they get tangled up with warring factions and a Klingon. Inspiration from these two stars might help you win the costume contest as you go dressed as Captain Kirk, a Klingon, or an Arcturan Megaleech. For more about stars and planets featured in popular fiction, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_and_planetary_systems_in_fiction.

Sunday: Saturn is three fists above due southeast at 8:00 p.m.

Monday: According to the “One world, group hug, love everyone” philosophy, political borders are human-made and can’t be seen from space so why can’t we all just get along. According to real world pragmatic discoveries, some human-made political borders CAN be seen from space. Since 2003, India has illuminated its border with Pakistan to prevent illegal crossings. In 2011, astronaut Ron Garan took a picture of that border from the International Space Station. For more information, including the photo, go to http://goo.gl/mY8xG.

Tuesday: Did you know that moons and dwarf planets share some similar features? The five largest moons of Uranus have the same heat signatures as the largest dwarf planets such as Pluto and Eris. That means they are relatively dense and don’t immediately radiate away all their daytime-absorbed heat at night. Read more about Uranian moons at https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/uranian-moons-are-like-dwarf-planets/. Uranus can easily be seen with typical binoculars. It is about a half a fist to the lower right of the open star cluster called the Pleiades. Move the Pleiades to the upper left of your binoculars field of view. Uranus will be on the lower right. Uranus is the object that will have moved over the course of a few nights.

Wednesday: Mercury will be as far away from the Sun in the sky as it will get this orbital cycle. This "farthest away" point is known as the planet's greatest elongation. Since Mercury is in the evening sky, it is east of the Sun, so this occurrence is called the greatest eastern elongation. Mercury is right above the southwestern horizon at 6:15 p.m. Over the next two weeks, Mercury will move toward the Sun in the sky. By late November, it will be visible in the morning sky.

Thursday: At 7:00 a.m., Venus is about half a fist above the east-southeastern horizon and Jupiter is six fists above the south-southwestern horizon.

Friday: Halloween weekend is a great time to celebrate the dead. Dead stars, that is. Black holes and neutron stars are the end of life for super massive stars. But intermediate mass stars such as our Sun end up as white dwarfs. After fusing hydrogen into helium for most of its life and fusing helium into heavier elements for a brief period at the end of its life, the Sun will end up with a core of heavier elements that can no longer produce energy through nuclear fusion. Without the outward radiation pressure from fusion energy resisting the inward pull of gravity, the Sun will end up as a super-dense sphere of atoms in which the electrons are squished onto the nuclei. It will be an object with nearly all its mid-life mass but in a volume about the size of the Earth. The easiest white dwarf to see is in the triple star system called Keid, from the Arabic word “qayd” meaning eggshells. Learn more about Keid, also called 40 Eridani, including map of how to find it at

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/trick-or-treat-with-white-dwarfs/. At midnight (scary), Keid is two and a half fists above due southeast. You’ll need a small telescope to see it. First find Rigel, the brightest star in the constellation Orion. It is one and a half fists above the east-southeastern horizon. Then use binoculars to find the right area. With Rigel at the bottom of your field of view. There should be a star near the top of your girls of view that is about one sixth as bright. This star is called Cursa. Next, move your binoculars up and to the right about one and a half field of view diameters. Look for two stars close together, each about one third as bright as Cursa. Finally, move your binoculars straight over to the right about one and a half field of view diameters. The lower of these two stars is Keid or 40 Eridani A. You’ll need a telescope to see the white dwarf, called 40 Eridani B.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of October 18, 2025

 Saturday: Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) is still shaping up to be one of the brightest comets of the year. At 8:00 p.m., it is to the left of the star Cor Caroli, about one and a half fists above the northwestern horizon. You can also follow along the curve of the Big Dipper handle with binoculars. When you get to the end of the handle, move your binoculars downward towards the northwestern horizon. There is an interactive sky map at https://theskylive.com/c2025a6-info.

Sunday: The constellation Vulpecula, the little fox, stands nearly six fists held upright and at arm’s length above due southwest at 9:00 p.m. It is in the middle of the Summer Triangle, which is defined by the bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair. First find Deneb, the bright star nearly straight overhead. It is at the tail of the constellation Cygnus the swan. Move your eyes down towards the horizon and through the long neck of the swan. The fox is so faint that you need very dark skies to see it. While dim, it has a lot to offer astronomers. The first pulsar ever discovered is in Vulpecula. So is one of the closest extrasolar planets with water in its atmosphere.

Monday: The Orionid meteor shower consists of the Earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail. This shower peaks after midnight tonight until dawn tomorrow. This is not a meteor shower that typically results in a meteor storm. There will be about 15-20 meteors per hour, many more meteors than are visible on a typical night but not the storm that some showers bring. The Moon will be new, meaning dark skies and good viewing for the entire night. Meteor showers are named after the constellation from which the meteors appear to originate. These meteors appear to come from a point in Orion, the hunter. This point is about one fist held upright and at arm’s length above due east at midnight. You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain one fist above the prominent reddish star Betelgeuse (pronounced Bet'-el-jews). The Orionid meteors are fast - up to 40 miles per second. If you fall asleep tonight, you can catch the tail end of the shower every night until early November. For more information, go to https://earthsky.org/?p=27937.

Tuesday: Saturn is three fists above the southeastern horizon at 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday: Venus is about a half a fist above the eastern horizon at 6:30 a.m. Jupiter is six fists above the southern horizon at this time.

Thursday: What time is teatime? Certainly not during an autumn evening. The constellation Sagittarius the archer, with its signature teapot shape, is sinking into the southwestern horizon. By 8:00 p.m., the handle is on top, and the spout is touching the horizon ready to pour that last cup of tea.

Friday: Halloween is a week from today so make sure you load up on peanut clusters, almond clusters, and open star clusters this week. That last one will be easy (and cheap… actually free) because two of the most prominent open star clusters in the sky are easily visible in the autumn sky. The sideways V-shaped Hyades Cluster is two fists above due east at 10:00 p.m. Containing over 300 stars; the Hyades cluster is about 150 light years away and 625 million years old. The Pleiades Cluster is a little more than three fists above due east. It has three times as many stars as the Hyades Cluster and is younger. Compared to our 5-billion-year-old Sun, the 100-million-year age of the Pleiades is infant-like.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of October 11, 2025

Saturday: “I’m a little teapot, short and stout. The galactic center, I pour it out.” (I’m a Little Teapot, astronomy version, 2025.) Despite its enormous size and importance, the center of our Milky Way galaxy and its giant black hole remain hidden to the naked eye behind thick clouds of gas and dust. By plotting the orbits of stars near the middle of the galaxy, astronomers have determined that the black hole’s mass is equal to about 4.5 million Suns. While you can’t see the actual galactic center, you can gaze in the direction of the center by looking just to the right of the teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius. This point is about a half a fist above the south-southwestern horizon at 8:00 p.m., in line with the moon in the sky.

Sunday: It is good to plan ahead so start thinking about the Orionid meteor shower. This shower, which consists of the earth colliding with pieces of the remains of Halley's Comet's tail, peaks on the morning of October 21 but produces meteors from early October until early November. These meteors appear to come from a point in Orion, the hunter. This point is about one fist above the eastern horizon at midnight. You can follow this point throughout the night as it will remain near the prominent reddish star Betelgeuse (pronounced Bet'-el-jews). The Orionid meteors are fast - up to 40 miles per second. For more information about the Orionids, go to https://earthsky.org/?p=27937.

Monday: Saturn is three fists above due southeast at 9:00 p.m.

Tuesday: Jupiter is to the upper right of the waning crescent moon in the southeastern sky at 6:00 a.m. At this same time, Venus is half a fist above the eastern horizon.

Wednesday: Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a dolphin. A dolphin? The constellation Delphinus the dolphin is nearly six fists above due south at 8:00 p.m. The constellation’s two brightest stars are called Sualocin and Rotanev, which is Nicolaus Venator spelled backwards. Venator worked at the Palermo Observatory in Italy in the mid nineteenth century. He slipped these names into Giuseppe Piazzi’s star catalog without him noticing. Sort of like when you would sneak cookies into your parent’s shopping cart, hoping they would not notice.

Thursday: Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) may be one of the brightest comets of the year. At 6:00 a.m., it is near the star Cor Caroli, about two and a half fists above the northeastern horizon. First, find the star at the bottom of the Big Dipper handle. Cor Caroli is about one fist to the right of that star. Comet Lemmon will be a little above Cor Caroli. Comet Lemmon will be closest to Earth on October 21. Read more about it at https://earthsky.org/space/comet-lemmon-best-comet-of-2025-finder-maps/.

Friday: Rho Cassiopeiae is the most distant star that can be seen with the naked eye by most people. It is about 8,200 light years away. That means that the light that reaches your eyes from that star left over 8,000 years ago, before the beginning of time according to the Byzantine calendar. Rho Cassiopeiae is nearly straight overhead at 11:00 p.m., just above the zigzag line that marks the constellation Cassiopeia.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of October 4, 2025

Saturday: Tonight is International Observe the Moon night. Hopefully, you can go outside and look up between 6:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. If not, there are many virtual activities. For more information, go to https://moon.nasa.gov/observe-the-moon-night/

Sunday: At 8:00 p.m., the moon and Saturn are two fists held upright and at arm’s length above the east-southeastern horizon. Saturn remains below the moon throughout the night.

Monday: Tonight’s full moon is the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Usually that occurs in September. Approximately every three years, it occurs in October, replacing the Hunter’s Moon.

Tuesday: The Draconid meteor shower peaks for the next three nights with tomorrow night being the best. The meteors appear to come from a point in the head of Draco, the dragon constellation. This point is nearly straight overhead at 7:00 p.m. tonight. This point remains near the trapezoid-shaped head of Draco throughout the night. Unlike most meteor showers, this one is best observed in the early evening rather than after midnight. Call this the “early to bed” meteor shower. Draconid meteors are slow moving which means you will have an easy time differentiating true Draconid meteors, from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, from the stray grains of dust that happen to enter the Earth’s atmosphere every day and night. Unfortunately, the moon is full, meaning most of the dimmer meteors will be obscured. For everything you need to know about the Draconid meteor shower, go to https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-draconid-meteor-shower

Wednesday: Mars is just above the west-southwestern horizon at 7:00 p.m.

Thursday: In 2020, astronomers announced that they detected phosphine, a possible biosignature of life, in the upper atmosphere of Venus. Although the surface of Venus is inhospitable, astronomers have long speculated that the upper atmosphere could harbor life. Not Cloud City life from The Empire Strikes Back but maybe microbial life. In 2022, astronomers concluded that the original scientists found the signature of sulfur dioxide, not life. In 2023, the private company Rocket Lab published details about the first privately funded mission to another planet - their trip to Venus. The launch has been delayed until at least 2026. This Venus storyline is an excellent example of science at work. In less than two years, science went from “we may have found a marker for life on Venus” to “it is unclear if we found a marker for life” to “we probably didn’t find a marker for life” to “let’s visit Venus to closely study the thing we thought was a marker for life”. Do an internet search of the words Venus and phosphine and read the articles to follow the story. To get yourself in the mood, go outside at 6:15 a.m. Venus is a fist above the eastern horizon at this time. Read more about the potential mission at https://www.space.com/the-universe/venus/the-1st-private-mission-to-venus-comes-together-ahead-of-possible-2026-launch-photos

Friday: The Milky Way makes a faint white trail from due northeast, by the moon, through straight overhead to due southwest at 9:00 p.m. Starting in the northeast, the Milky Way “passes through” the prominent constellations Auriga the charioteer, Cassiopeia the queen, and Cygnus the swan with its brightest star, Deneb, nearly straight overhead. After Cygnus, you’ll see Aquila the eagle with its brightest star Altair about four and a half fists above the southwest horizon.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.

The Ellensburg, WA sky for the week of September 27, 2025

Saturday: Mars is right above the west-southwestern horizon at 7:30 p.m. Antares, which means “rival of Mars", is less than a half a fist to the right of the moon, low in the south-southwestern sky.

Sunday: You learned about Cassiopeia last week. Over 200 years ago, the astronomer Caroline Herschel discovered an open star cluster that looks like a rose. This cluster, called Caroline’s Rose, is about 6,500 light years away and consists of about 1,000 stars that are one third the age of the Sun. Through binoculars, it looks like a fuzzy patch. At 10:00 p.m., find the star at the top of the sideways “W” known as Cassiopeia. It is six fists held upright and at arm’s length above due northeast. When that star is in the lower left portion of your field of view, Caroline’s Rose is in the center to upper right. For more information about Caroline’s Rose, go to https://stardate.org/radio/program/2020-09-09.

Monday: Saturn is three fists above due southeast at 10:00 p.m.

Tuesday: Since Halloween is a month away, the stores are filled with bags of candy clusters. Use this reminder to take time to look at a star cluster. The Hyades cluster is an open star cluster that represents the V-shaped face of Taurus the bull. It is one of the biggest and nearest star clusters with about 200 stars 150 light years away. The Hyades cluster was the first cluster to be the subject of detailed motion studies. These studies allowed astronomers to pinpoint the distance to the Hyades and provide important information about the scale of the universe. Aldebaran, about one fist above the east-northeastern horizon at 11:00 p.m., is a foreground star and not a part of the Hyades cluster.

Wednesday: Need a caffeine pick-me-up? Make it a double. Need an astronomy pick-me-up? Make it a double double. Find the bright bluish star Vega, in the constellation Lyra the lyre, five and a half fists above due west at 10:00 p.m. Less than half a fist above Vega is the “star” Epsilon Lyra. If you look at Epsilon Lyra through binoculars, it looks like two stars. If you look at Epsilon Lyra through a large enough telescope, you will notice that each star in the pair is itself a pair of stars. Each star in the double is double. Hence, Epsilon Lyra is known as the double double. The stars in each pair orbit a point approximately in the center of each respective pair. The pairs themselves orbit a point between the two pairs.

Thursday: At 6:00 a.m., Venus is one fist above due east and Jupiter is five and a half fists above the southeastern horizon.

Friday: In 1987, the rock group Def Leppard sang “Pour some sugar on me, in the name of love. Pour some sugar on me, come on, fire me up”. In 2012, some European astronomers “found some sugar near stars, they were very young. Found some sugar near stars, out where planets formed.” Astronomers observed molecules of glycolaldehyde, a simple form of sugar, in the disk of gas and dust orbiting young binary stars. This is the first time astronomers have found this simple sugar so close to a star indicating that organic molecules can be found in planet-forming regions of stars. For more information, go to http://goo.gl/tfwy1.

The positional information in this column about stars and planets is typically accurate for the entire week. For up-to-date information about the night sky, go to https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/planner.cfm. All times are Pacific Time unless noted.