December 2025 Sky-Watch By Dennis Herrmann
The Annual Planetarium Christmas Program presented by the Kent County High School Planetarium and Radio Station (WKHS – FM 90.5) will return for its 37th year on six nights in December (December 11, and 12; and then the following week December 15, 16, 18, and 19) at 7:00 o’clock pm. No admission is charged and seasonal […]
November 2025 Sky-Watch By Dennis Herrmann
Daylight Savings time officially ends at 2 am on Sunday November 2nd. Most of us set our clocks back one hour when we retire for the night on November 1st so we are on time the next morning. Darkness descends an hour earlier on November 2nd, so sky-watchers can start looking at the night sky at […]
Fall Planets October 2025 Sky-Watch By Dennis Herrmann
October opens with Saturn, just about a week past opposition, high up in the eastern sky after dark and visible all night. Look for it just below the nearly Full Moon on October 5th. Full Moon is one night later. This month the tilt of Saturn’s rings narrows so that only larger telescopes will reveal […]
Planet Conjunctions and Meteors August 2025 Sky-Watch by Dennis Herrmann
Another opportunity to see Neptune with help from Saturn presents itself in August, following the conjunction of the two planets at the end of June. This month Neptune and Saturn will appear very close on August 6th in the eastern morning sky between 4 an5 am. Neptune is 1.9 billion miles beyond Saturn in the solar system and […]
July 25 Sky-Watch Planets and Meteors by Dennis Herrmann
This July Mars appears low in our western sky for an hour or two after sunset. Spotting it will be made easier if binoculars are used. Mars’ orbital motion against out skies is taking it across southern Leo and towards Virgo. On July 1st Mars is just right(west) of Regulus, brightest star in Leo, while a […]
June 2025 Sky-Watch Neptune May Be Seen by Dennis Herrmann
Neptune, the farthest planet out from the Sun at 1.9 billion miles, cannot be seen without optical aid, and then only when one knows exactly where to look. But on the morning of June 29th we will have a unique opportunity to be able to spot Neptune with binoculars. On that morning in the eastern sky […]
May 2025 sky-watch by Dennis Herrmann
Planet highlights are somewhat reduced this month although Mars makes a nice addition to the dim Zodiac constellation, Cancer the Crab. On May 1st use binoculars to find Mars quite close to M44, the “Beehive Cluster;” an open cluster of stars found in Cancer. Cancer lies in the western sky between the Gemini twins and Leo […]
Lyrids and morning planets April 2025 sky-watch by Dennis Herrmann
The annual Lyrid meteor shower, which peaks the night of April 22nd, is one of the main April highlights for sky-watchers. This meteor shower, caused by debris left behind from a Comet with a 416 year orbit, will be best seen from 2 to 4 am looking East. With 20 to 25 meteors per hour be likely, […]
March 2025 sky-watch: A lunar eclipse and springtime by Dennis Herrmann
The biggest deal in the night sky this month is a total eclipse of the Moon on the night of March 13/14. A total lunar eclipse happens when the Full Moon passes directly into the shadow cast by the Earth. This doesn’t happen every month because of the Moon’s 5-degree orbital tilt around the Earth. The Moon […]
February sky-watch 2025: Bright winter stars and planets by Dennis Herrmann
Any clear winter night this month, look due south between 8:00 and 10:00 pm to spot the large “hour-glass” shape of Orion the hunter. In its middle 3 equally bright stars mark the belt around the waist of this hunter. Using those 3 stars as a pointer through them down and left to spot Sirius, the […]