Bob Drieslein

Meteorologists tell us that March 20 marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
For most of us, that’s good news because it’s been a long winter for those who live in the northern U.S. and we’ve been anxiously awaiting warmer temperatures.

Next to the Big Dipper in Ursa major, Orion is probably the best-known constellation in our night sky.
Named after a hunter in Greek mythology, Orion has the distinction of having more bright stars than any other constellation.

Artemis II, led by NASA, will be the first crewed mission to the vicinity of the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. It had a scheduled launch window from the Kennedy Space Center that began on Feb. 6, 2026. After a “dress rehearsal” earlier this month, NASA is now targeting March for the earliest launch date.

The Moon’s gravitational pull on Earth, combined with other forces, causes our surface water to be redistributed into bulges on the side closest and the side farthest from the Moon. These are the two high tides that occur at 12-hour intervals with low tides in between.

Our universe is a big place and it keeps getting bigger. Why is that?
For one thing, we keep building new and better telescopes that help us see farther into space.

The coming year promises to be an exciting time for amateur astronomers. So what are a few of the highlights we can expect to see from the northern United States?

If you can tolerate chilly nights, the next two weeks will be a great time to view eight of our brightest stars. Almost any night in mid December three to four hours or later after sunset will work, weather permitting.
The stars to look for include: Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Castor, Capella, Aldebaran, Rigel and Betelgeuse.

Back in October of 2023, I wrote a column about the International Space Station (ISS).
I was reminded of this a few weeks ago during an astronomy event at Fort Macon State Park in North Carolina. While waiting for the presenter, Brandon Porter, to begin his program on the night sky, he suddenly pointed to the sky and said “there goes the ISS!”

Watching the moon change its shape from night to night as it waxes or wanes is one of the more interesting things to see in our night sky, but understanding how this happens can be confusing.