Harold Meckler

Throughout December, almost directly overhead, is a star that has puzzled many from across the globe.

If nothing else, this election season has caused me to look even more at the sky for answers.

Sometimes, the big picture really is more impressive than the parts that lead to its sum.

With some luck, you’ll be reading this before a binary star system in Corona Borealis goes nova. If not, well, here’s an afterword on what, as of right now, promises to be a fascinating celestial event.

Want to study astronomy without looking all over the night sky? Try the Summer Triangle.

April did not disappoint. Between its solar eclipse and the return—after 71 years—of Comet 12P Pons-Brooks, it gave us all we could ask for. It made us all kids again and turned kids into teachers.

Halfway across the galaxy is a small, rocky planet orbiting its sun much like we do our own. I call it Pilfer, because it has stolen my heart. 

Shiny objects, if we allow them, can pull us away from the bigger picture.

There is, it seems to me, a symmetry in space. There are checks and balances. There is a hierarchy that recognizes the absolute necessity of every member in the chain of cosmic evolution.