“If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we put a man on the moon?” goes the old joke. Fact is, we probably can put someone on the moon but without the threat of Russia getting there first (as was the case in the 1960s), the motivation just isn’t there anymore. Today, […]
Moon
Posted inNews
Up in the Sky: Moon Drifts Through the Winter Circle
Look up in the sky tonight to watch the moon finish sashaying its way across the so-called Winter Circle — a ringed array of six stars — as it heads toward becoming full by Feb. 27. According to NASA, the circle of stars — also called an asterism — includes Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux (and Castor), […]
Posted inNews
North Coast Night Lights: Snow Moon over Carson Mansion
As one of the most photographed Victorian buildings in California, if not the United States, the Carson Mansion has crept beyond Humboldt’s borders to seep into our popular culture. Certainly it has added its unique presence to the horror genre; I’ve periodically encountered the mansion’s distinctive form as the architectural basis of haunted houses in […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Lunar Boondoggle?
We are in the middle of another space race, according to Vice President Mike Pence, “just as we were in the 1960s.” No, not with those Sputnik-launching Ruskies this time. Today’s race is with the Chinese. In his speech to the National Space Council earlier this year, Pence cited, as evidence of China’s lunar ambitions, […]
Posted inNews
Celestial Trifecta Wednesday: A Super Blue Blood Moon
In case you haven’t heard, a rare celestial event known as a “super blue blood moon” — try saying that three times fast — will be unfolding overhead Wednesday morning, if the North Coast’s notoriously gray skies don’t get in the way. Despite the somewhat ominous name, a super blue blood moon is basically a […]