Environment & Outdoors

Smiling man next to a large home telescope

After a little break (of 25 years or so) Bob King is celebrating his retirement with a return to The North 103.3's airwaves!After almost 40 years with the Duluth News Tribune, Bob is now retired. But scratch a print guy and you'll find a radio guy; King and then-UMD Planetarium Director Glen Langhorst hosted Startalk on KUMD for several years in the early '90s.Listen for Astro Bob every other Tuesday at 8am on Northland Morning.

Astro Bob's Backyard Astronomy: "Earth is a night light in the lunar sky"

The North 103.3 | By Lisa Johnson

Published October 5, 2021 at 6:24 PM CDT

"This view shows the thin crescent Moon setting over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. As well as the bright crescent the rest of the disc of the Moon can be faintly seen. This phenomenon is called earthshine. It is due to sunlight reflecting off the Earth and illuminating the lunar surface. By observing earthshine astronomers can study the properties of light reflected from Earth as if it were an exoplanet and search for signs of life. This picture was taken on 27 October 2011 and also records the planets Mercury and Venus."

Plus Comets Lenny and BB, and if everyone around you seems dimmer, you're probably right

Astro Bob King spent some time looking for Comet Leonard (Lenny, to its friends) this week, Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is 100 times bigger than your average comet but sadly, it will not be visible in a neighborhood near you unless you live on Saturn, and Venus has been spotted hanging out over Highway 61 between Two Harbors and Duluth.

Plus a moon-Venus conjunction this weekend, climate change is making us dimmer, and the chances of a "Comet King" are dwindling but not altogether lost.