SkyCaramba

Earth is passing through the dust stream that produces the April Lyrid meteor shower this week. There are sometimes bright fireballs. The full moon is interfering though.

What an exciting week that just ended with a total solar eclipse. Red prominences showed in the corona. Why are they that color? And what did scientists learn about the sun by analyzing the corona's spectum?

Several planets are lined up in the morning. The moon is with them at first. One more admonition to protect your eyes during the solar eclipse. Several planets appear close to the sun during the eclipse. Then the moon passes Mercury and Jupiter in the evening.

Mercury's leaving the evening sky. Jupiter is heading toward Uranus. Three planets are leaving the morning sky, but there's time for the moon to meet up with them. And here's some more advice on how to experience the total solar eclipse.

Legends abound about seven stars and why only six of them are visible. We review what the ancient Greeks said about the Pleiades and which Pleiad is missing.

As Comet Halley is at the halfway point between appearances, another comet with an orbit almost as long is showing in the evening sky. Find out about Comet Pons-Brooks.

And planets keep working their way out of the evening and morning skies.

Evening planet viewing isn't so bad right now. It's getting hard to see the morning planets. There will be a penumbral lunar eclipse next week.

There are a lot of things to think about if you will travel to see the total solar eclipse next month. Do you need a place to stay? Where will you eat while you're there? How will you keep everyone in your party occupied during the trip?

Maybe you should try to DX the eclipse. Listen for radio stations coming in from farther than usual during the daytime because of what darkness does in the upper atmosphere.

An asteroid is at opposition this week. It's one of the asteroids discovered by the "celestial police" who looked over areas of the sky for objects between Mars and Jupiter. And there's a reason they expected to find something there. But maybe it's just a coincidence that they did.

Jupiter still rules the evening. Venus and Mars are leaving the morning sky. The moon will soon pass in front of Antares. And part of a famous but long lost star catalog has been found.

An evening planet is heading into the sunset. Three morning planets are heading into the sunrise. And there will soon be a conjunction of two planets with each other and with the sun!