Night Sky

Stargazing highlights for 2003: May 15: Total eclipse of the moon begins at 10:03 p.m., the first visible here in more than three years. Aug. 27: Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in 50,000 years and appears as bright as Jupiter. Nov. 8: The year's second lunar eclipse begins at 6:32 p.m. Totality will last 25 minutes. Dec. 25: Venus is the Christmas "star," gleaming in the western sky beside a thin crescent moon.

Jason Kalirai doesn't just reach for the stars. He pulls them close and studies them — and encourages others to do so as well. Kalirai, 35, is an award-winning astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. For two years, he worked with the Hubble Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope in history, and for the past 2 1/2 years has been the deputy project scientist developing Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be 100 times more powerful than Hubble.

Opportunities to watch the International Space Station fly over Maryland arise in the coming days. Viewing opportunities only occur sporadically, based on the spacecraft's orbit route and its position relative to the sun and Earth. They often occur during daylight hours or when most of us are asleep, and the space station's appearance is often too faint to be seen. When it is visible, the space station zips across the sky, appearing as a bright, steadily moving light.  Here are three viewing opportunities this week that fall during normal waking hours: Look to the southwest at 9:54 p.m. tonight.

Spot the International Space Station moving across the night sky this week. Chances arise the next three nights, but the best viewing opportunity Wednesday is possible to coincide with rain and thunderstorms. Look tonight at 8:59 p.m., Tuesday at 9:45 p.m. and Wednesday at 8:54 p.m. In each case, the space station will appear brighter than a star moving steadily across the sky, first appearing on the northwestern horizon. Wednesday's will be the best chance, with the spacecraft taking a path directly overhead and at its brightest.

The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks next week, but a few of the "shooting stars" may be visible as early as Tuesday night, before a nearly full moon outshines the show. The meteors are expected from about April 16 to April 25, with a peak around April 22. But given that the full moon arrives April 25, some of the meteors may be too faint to see during the peak. The show isn't the most dramatic of the year to begin with. The Lyrids are known to show up at a rate of 10-20 per hour at the peak, though that's on a moonless night, according to EarthSky.org . Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the paths of rubble left behind by comets.

The Sunday sky is deepening into dark blue; the breeze is turning bitter. A crowd a dozen thick and growing is huddled around the eastern corner of Thames and Broadway. In the middle is a man in drooping corduroys, black Reeboks and a tattered sweater. Herman Heyn is in his glory.The self-named Street Corner Astronomer, a neighborhood fixture in Fells Point since he first set up his 8-inch Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope a decade ago, is basking in the hype of Hale-Bopp, one of the brightest comets to streak through the sky in recent history.

ISLAND IN THE SKY, Utah - We are sprawled flat on our backs on a sandstone slab, soaking in darkness this August night with the satisfaction of Iditarod dropouts basking in a wintertime tropical sun. Above us, the sky pulsates with 11,000 visible stars. We can pick out the Pleiades, Andromeda and Perseus' double cluster as shooting stars whisk by, the last of the Perseids meteor shower. Mars burns feverishly. The Milky Way, thick with stars, forms a wide silver arch over our heads. We are deep inside Canyonlands National Park at an outlook called Grand View Point, one of the darkest spots in the United States: 57 miles from the Interstate 70 headlights, 33 miles from the nearest stoplight, 27 miles from a gas station sign, 12 from an electrical outlet.

Maryland's Fire Marshall has banned sky lanterns, the increasingly popular paper balloons that are sent aloft by the heat of a candle or fuel cell suspended from the bottom. "They're made with oiled rice paper and bamboo - it's almost kindling," said Deputy State Fire Marshal Bruce D. Bouch. "They have to land somewhere, and sometimes they're still partly on fire when they hit the ground. They've been known to ignite dry vegetation. " Bouch said the fire marshal's office frequently gets calls from people interested in using sky lanterns in weddings or other celebrations who want to know if they are legal in Maryland.

Jason Kalirai doesn't just reach for the stars. He pulls them close and studies them — and encourages others to do so as well. Kalirai, 35, is an award-winning astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. For two years, he worked with the Hubble Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope in history, and for the past 2 1/2 years has been the deputy project scientist developing Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be 100 times more powerful than Hubble.

Our long stretch in a slammer of gray, drippy skies appears to be over, at last. Look for sunshine today, and brilliant winter constellations in a cold January sky tonight. It's a good time to get acquainted with Venus and Jupiter again as these naked-eye planets leave the sun's glare and return to the night sky. That's Venus shining low in the southwest just after sunset - the first star-like object to appear as darkness falls. Up before sunrise? Don't miss giant Jupiter, the brightest object gleaming in the southeast.

The annual Lyrid meteor shower peaks next week, but a few of the "shooting stars" may be visible as early as Tuesday night, before a nearly full moon outshines the show. The meteors are expected from about April 16 to April 25, with a peak around April 22. But given that the full moon arrives April 25, some of the meteors may be too faint to see during the peak. The show isn't the most dramatic of the year to begin with. The Lyrids are known to show up at a rate of 10-20 per hour at the peak, though that's on a moonless night, according to EarthSky.org . Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the paths of rubble left behind by comets.

The moon reaches its “fullest” phase at 3:26 p.m. today, so when it rises at about 6:05 p.m., it will be shining brightly, with clear skies expected. The International Space Station will meanwhile make a few passes over Maryland this week, but clouds could block it. You might call it the "Full Snow Moon," which is the name the Farmer's Almanac and Old Farmer's Almanac call February's full moon. February was often the snowiest month of the year for  Algonquin American Indian tribes from New England to the Great Lakes.

Maryland's Fire Marshall has banned sky lanterns, the increasingly popular paper balloons that are sent aloft by the heat of a candle or fuel cell suspended from the bottom. "They're made with oiled rice paper and bamboo - it's almost kindling," said Deputy State Fire Marshal Bruce D. Bouch. "They have to land somewhere, and sometimes they're still partly on fire when they hit the ground. They've been known to ignite dry vegetation. " Bouch said the fire marshal's office frequently gets calls from people interested in using sky lanterns in weddings or other celebrations who want to know if they are legal in Maryland.

There is no Transit of Venus to be watched in 2013, or any major eclipses visible for long from Maryland, but local sky watchers say there is still plenty to look forward to seeing in the night sky. There could be a few opportunities to see rare objects like comets and asteroids, as well as good chances to see some of our closest neighbors in the solar system. One of those is Mercury, one of the most elusive of Earth's neighbors because it orbits so closely to the sun, making it rare to see on the nighttime horizon.

One of several meteor showers to take place around the same time each year, the Orionid meteor shower is best seen in the early mornings this weekend. The best time to see them is between midnight and dawn, according to EarthSky.org, and in a place far enough from the city lights that you can see some stars in the sky. That includes the stars of Orion's belt. That's because, like other annual showers, the Orionids are named from the point from which they appear to radiate in the sky. Orion is one of the easier constellations to find, but nevertheless, watching the shower doesn't require locating Orion.

Earlier this year, Venus and Jupiter adorned the western sky alongside the waxing crescent moon. Now, Mercury and Mars can be spotted alongside it. The closest planet to the sun will appear as a bright star in the sky this month. Mercury will rise above the horizon to the right of the moon around dusk Thursday and Friday nights. Further to the right will be the bright stars Pollux and Castor, according to EarthSky.org. Then, the moon will pass by Mars, too, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Marj Ashcroft's mom lives in Towson, with a fine view of the night sky. "Looking southeast on clear nights about 9:15, she sees a bright object in the sky. ... I thought it might be a police helicopter. ... But through binoculars, they say it appears white, round and flat like a paper plate. They are very curious about what it is." Nothing so dull as a chopper. It's Jupiter, just past its brightest appearance of the year, drifting slowly each night from southeast to southwest.

Many people think you have to travel to Florida to see a space shuttle launch, but last night the metro area got its own taste of shuttle history. Stargazers led by the Howard County Astronomical League of Central Maryland traveled to Carrs Mill, a wooded area off Carrs Mill Road in Ellicott City, to watch history take off. At 6:11 p.m., the space shuttle Atlantis carried three of Baltimore's own: Thomas D. Jones, Robert L. Curbeam and Marsha S. Ivins....