Dr. Sky

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com Since ancient times, planets have been viewed by mankind with great interest and awe. To many of us in the modern world, that same fascination continues today. This is a special week in my mind, as many of the major planets of the solar system will align in the eastern sky […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com For a week or so, something has been brewing on the far side of the sun. With sunspot cycle 25 now underway, the activity on the far side has been producing X-level solar flares and powerful coronal mass ejections. As the new sunspot group moves into view, expect more in the […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com A most amazing celestial event is now less than two years away! The event is probably the most amazing sight in nature and that is a total eclipse of the sun. Mark your calendar for April 8, 2024, and make sure you have prepared well in advance for this special date. […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com The 11-year sunspot cycle is well underway. At the end of 2021, former sunspot cycle 24 finally ended, ushering the next cycle, No. 25. The change of cycles is known in the world of solar physics as a termination event and changes the view on just how strong or weak the […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com The year seems to be flying by! As the Earth makes its way around the celestial racetrack, we welcome in month No. 4, April, with some very interesting sights to see. April gets its name from a Latin word aperire, which means “to open,” just like the many plants and flowers […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com With the spring season upon us, we look to the next dark of the moon or new moon, for some exciting objects to view in the telescope. For many of us new to the science of visual astronomy, we may not have heard of the amazing clusters of galaxies which lie […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com Like a bolt out of the blue, a small asteroid the size of a refrigerator exploded over Iceland last Friday. While this may not be major news to many out there, the fact that this object was discovered only two hours before it lit up the skies there and over southern […]

  BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com With just days till the annual vernal equinox, or start of the spring season on March 20, we look to the skies for some interesting sights. The month of March in Arizona is a time of real changes in the weather and the sky. As much of the nation goes […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com As the conflict in the Ukraine continues, the world sits on edge as to what may happen in that part of the world. The Russian forces have met with stiff resistance from the Ukrainian military and the general citizenry at large. Details on the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. The Ukrainian […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com Where were you on Feb. 20, 1962? Sixty years has gone by real fast, with the launch of astronaut John Glenn on that date in 1962. He was the first American to orbit the Earth, as there were many eyes on that historic launch. I remember the launch very well: as […]

    BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com As we move deep into February and the weather returns with more moderate temperatures, many will ease outside and look up at our amazing Arizona skies! These cool February nights offer some stargazing for all. With the winter constellation of Orion high up in the south at sunset, we […]

BY STEVE KATES KTAR.com As we move into the second full week of February, a very special Apollo mission was conducting some very unique science on the surface of the moon! Welcome to the Apollo 14 (AS-509) mission, 51 years later. The crew of Alan Shepard, Dr. Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa made their way […]