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: Aurora, Uranus, and James Webb

The North 103.3 | By Luke Moravec

Published July 26, 2022 at 10:31 AM CDT

The waning crescent moon and Venus leave glitter trails on Lake Superior Tuesday, July 26 at dawn. The moon will be new on Thursday and then return to the evening sky this weekend. Look low in the west starting about a half-hour after sunset for the young crescent.

When speaking about the cosmos, it can be difficult to conceptualize our universe, and it often beckons more questions.

Such is the case with the James Webb telescope. Recent images have revealed the most distant galaxy in the universe. It was formed 300 million years after the Big Bang and it's located 13.4 billion lightyears away. What will the James Webb reveal next? How much further can we peal back the layers of history?

Closer to home, Venus was in conjunction with the crescent moon this morning, the space station has been making evening passes across the northern sky, and Uranus will be visible (with the aid of any pair of binoculars) just above Mars. Depending on the forecast, Saturday night could bring a good opportunity for viewing the Northern Lights.