Bakersfield Night Sky 2024

Last Thursday was Earth’s aphelion day, its farthest distance from the sun at 94.51 million miles.  Did you feel the difference in the middle of summer? Well, probably not since our temperatures are determined by the angle of sunlight and the length...

Tonight (June 16) the waxing gibbous moon will be about a couple of knuckles at arm’s length to the left of the bright star, Spica, on the east (left) side of Virgo. Spica is actually a binary system with both stars much hotter than the sun and...

This morning a thin waning crescent moon was about half a fist-width at arm’s length to the right of Mars. This beautiful pairing was first visible in the east by about 3:45 a.m. with the moon rising about 20 minutes before Mars. This time was about...

We had a record number of students walking across the stage at the BC Commencement two Fridays ago with a spectacular fireworks display at the end. It seemed like the sun joined the celebration by sending out several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in...

We’re now in finals week at Bakersfield College and the Planetarium will be closed for the summer. During May those looking for planets will need to get up early before sunrise. Although Jupiter is technically still an evening planet, it is now so...

We’re now in the home stretch for spring semester at Bakersfield College. Just two weeks to go before we reach final exams week. The William M Thomas Planetarium gave its last evening public show for the spring season with the premier of “Moon Base:...

Bakersfield’s view of the April 8 solar eclipse will be a partial solar eclipse. The maximum eclipse for the metro Bakersfield area is shown in the image above: 45% coverage at 11:13 a.m. The sun will begin to be covered at 10:09 a.m., reach maximum...

Tomorrow, April 8, is the Great North American Solar Eclipse—a total solar eclipse visible in a strip starting in southern Mexico, going through the middle of the eastern half of the U.S. from Texas to New York, and ending in the southeastern part...

The Spring Equinox is at an earlier date this year, March 19, because of the leap year. The sun will cross the Celestial Equator heading northward at 8:06 p.m. Pacific time, officially beginning our season of spring. The full moon will be on the...

March is named after the Roman god of war, Mars, and the William M Thomas Planetarium is celebrating the month of Mars with our two Mars future missions shows “Mars 1001” and “Destination Mars” being shown on March 7 and 14, respectively. See the...