In cosmic news, the recent eclipse had some Northlanders out of bed in the later hours of Thursday, August 27th. A little after 11pm, the shadow of Earth covered the vast majority of the moon for a lunar eclipse that we won't see the likes of for another 3 years.
Moving further into space, several planets are making their way to the horizons; some in the morning, and some in the evening. Venus can still be seen in the southwestern sky in the 8 o'clock hour, and Saturn is showing up a little later - around 10pm - in the southeastern sky. And if you're looking for Jupiter, the best time to locate our solar system's giant is in the early morning of September 8th when it can be seen directly below the crescent moon.
Continuing to move further away, we get to the rift in the Milky Way. Observers might notice a blotchy band cutting through the center of our visible galaxy. This band isn't an absence of stars, but rather a gigantic collection of cosmic dust that blocks our view of billions of more stars.
You can hear Astro Bob's Backyard Astronomy every other Tuesday at 8:20am on Northland Morning.
