The starry skies are out there, but the haze of wildfires has been looming overhead, cloaking the stars and coloring the moon orange. "I want it to all go away," says Bob King who went out this past week to count the stars. The final count after half an hour of searching; 27.
Something not entirely impeded by the smoke is the moon. It's still glowing brightly through the haze. On August 1st, the Full Sturgeon Moon will be the first of two super moons in August. The Super Blue moon will rise on the 29th of August.
If the skies clear, stargazers can also spot the moon and Jupiter in conjunction on August 8th, the Northern Lights on July 26th, and a comet that will be telescopically visible soon. "This comet is approaching the Earth and it should become a very nice, naked-eye comet, low in the western sky come next April."
You can hear Astro Bob's Backyard Astronomy every other Tuesday at 8:20am on Northland Morning.