Florida Atlantic University Astronomical Observatory

Aug. 19th, 2026 – A Far Quarter Moon

A Total Solar Eclipse crossed northern Spain on Aug. 12th last week with the New Moon. If you were in the narrow path of totality, the view was spectacular and rather unearthly. This occurred because the Moon’s orbit crossed the Ecliptic plane exactly in alignment with the Sun.

The Ecliptic is the apparent path across the sky that the Sun and the planets seem to travel upon in their orbits. This exists because the Earth and the planets orbit the Sun in nearly the same orbital plane. So, to our point of view, they all look like they are traveling on a line. Imagine sticking your head inside the middle of a hula-hoop ring, if your eyes are in its plane, it will look like a thick line all around you. Shown here is the view of the Ecliptic passing south of Virgo, through the middle of Libra, passing through the left shoulder of Scorpio and north of most of Sagittarius. The month labels indicate the Sun’s position in the sky then and are at the midpoints of their tic marks that mark off where the weeks in each month occur.

If the Moon orbited in the same plane as the Ecliptic, then there would be a solar and lunar eclipse every month. But it doesn’t. Its orbital plane is tilted at 5° to the Ecliptic. The Ecliptic and Lunar Orbital planes intersect at a line, called the “Line of Nodes”, just like how a bicycle ramp touches the ground along its bottom edge. When the Moon and the Sun appear at those crossing points, we have an eclipse. Next week, Aug. 27-28th, will offer a Partial Lunar Eclipse with the Full Moon that we will show in the Observatory.

Aug. 19th is the midpoint between the New & Full Moon, so that's a 1st Quarter Moon then. Just like rolling a marble up on that tilted ramp, it reaches its greatest height & distance from that line of nodes, and the Ecliptic, when it reaches the top of its arched path. As shown above in red, we’ll see it achieve its greatest angular distance at 6° away from the Ecliptic then, after that, it heads back to the Ecliptic. The Moon only achieves a far distance from the Ecliptic at a quarter phase when it’s between eclipses that month. Hence, this little mnemonic rhyme:

Eclipses are soon, with far quarter Moons.

Shown at 7 pm on the 19th, the 1st quarter Moon will reach its maximal south of the Ecliptic, then. As night falls the constellations will become clearer, you can trace the Ecliptic in the sky to know where to find planets when they orbit that way and learn to recognize how far a quarter Moon is from it to know when eclipses will be.

A celestial peekaboo by Venus as it appeared after its occultation by the Moon at 5:25 pm on June 17th. 2026. I used a Moon filter to cancel out much of the daytime light and the brightness of the cloud/haze it appeared through. Then used some computer adjustments of brightness and contract to help it appear better in the view.

Had a big day today hosting a visit from Pine Jog Environmental School's Summer Camp. 120 kids came to learn about the Sun, saw demonstrations of physics that related to it and observed sunspots on the Sun as well.

The kids were great, eager to learn, had loads of questions, and patiently waited out the clouds that were not expected for the projected clear skies. Kudos to Gianna and all their chaperons and staff for making it happen for them. And kudos to our volunteers of Enzo, Nicholas, Kasra, Juliette, Ondre, and my daughter Hailey, too! I could not have done it without them!

FYI: a "Planet-less Summer"

During yesterday's night session, I was asked about the opportunity to see any planets in the telescope. Unfortunately, we are not going to see any as we are entering into a "planet-less summer". The generated image shows our solar system from a distance of 43 au north of the ecliptic plane looking southwards. The planets' orbits and positions of Mercury through Neptune are shown for June 6th, 2026.

The straight light orange line divides the directions of Earth's nightside on its upper right half from its dayside at its lower left. The straight blue line from the Sun over the Earth at their crisscross point shows the direction of our midnight, which the constellation Apus appears at. The constellations of Carina and Musca appear in Earth's evening hours, while Octans, Mensa and Hydrus would appear in the early morning hours. All of these "background" constellations appear farther southwards than we can see them in Florida.

All of the other planets currently appear on the far side of the solar system, in Earth's daylight directions. It will take Earth over 3 months before its midnight line swings towards Saturn. So, expect our summer months this year to be without planets to observe and instead, that we'll focus on deep sky objects as found in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Today, April 14th, 2026, Palm Beach County proclaimed that April 2026 is Dark Sky Awareness Month. The Proclamation will be held here at FAU's Astronomical Observatory. Alyson Fishbein spearheaded this effort.

The County's video of the Proclamation Announcement can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/pbcgov/videos/1658177305312339/ Watch from 49:30 until 56:42 for our little bit.

We won't get to see the whole thing here in S. Florida, but do try to go out and see it if you have a clear view of it in the western horizon. The 5:26 am time is key to observe evidence for the sphericity of Earth. Enjoy!

🌑🔴 Total Lunar Eclipse — March 3, 2026

A breathtaking Total Lunar Eclipse will grace the night sky on March 3, 2026, turning the Moon a deep copper-red during totality — the famous Blood Moon.

As Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon, our planet’s shadow will slowly cover the lunar surface. When the Moon is fully immersed in Earth’s umbra, it will glow in shades of red and orange due to sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere.

⏰ Totality lasts: About 58 minutes
🌘 Entire eclipse duration: Over 5 hours
👀 Safe to watch with the naked eye — no special equipment needed

🌓 Eclipse Timeline (EST):
• 4:35 AM – Deep Penumbral phase begins
• 5:26 AM – 50% Partial eclipse
• 6:04 AM – Totality begins
• 6:34 AM – Greatest Eclipse 🌕🔴
• 7:03 AM – Totality ends
• 7:41 AM – 50% Partial
• 8:33 AM – Deep Penumbral phase ends

This will be one of the most beautiful sky events of 2026 and the last total lunar eclipse visible worldwide until 2029.

Set your alarm, step outside, and witness the magic of the Blood Moon! 🌌✨

To counter a false promise of a "smiling conjunction" appearing on Feb. 28th, 2026, this is what people should expect to see in the skies. This one should be clearer.

Haven't posted much lately as I realized I had to plan for something big and it's taking time and meetings and . . . to work it out. And it's somewhat iffy, too.

BUT a big iffiness became less so after a particular rehearsal test was quite well done today. So I'm seeking volunteer astronomers to help out with this plan and will announce it soon as I get all my t's dotted and i's crossed! Promise!

There were loads of hair raising fun at the Observatory this first Friday of February's public viewing session!

We observed Saturn, Jupiter, Orion's nebulae, the Moon, and stellar spectra, through the clear and cold night sky. We taught about the winter evening constellations and how they help orient and place us on the globe. We discussed the origin of Earth's water, partially walked a "to scale model" of the solar system, invoked the magic of Lenzea Dawdlea Descendo, demonstrated the conversion of sound into electrical signals, explored magnetic fields, energized visitors to hair raising potentials so they could light gas tubes by hand, and even learned to manipulate lightning in a bottle!

There's so much to cover, that it's a good thing there are still more nights in the year!

Image credit: Brandon Welcher.