Bakersfield College Astronomy

Professor Strobel posted the September 1 Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0901.html . Topics include the Fall Schedule of shows at the Planetarium (including the Mesmerica shows in September), the free KAS public star party on September 14, and what's up in the sky for the first half of September.

Bakersfield Night Sky — September 1, 2024 We’re now in the second week of the semester for Bakersfield College and the Fall schedule of shows at the William M Thomas Planetarium is now posted. We’re doing something different this semester. In partnership with Worlds Ltd, we’re showing “Mesmerica” on the Saturdays in September and ...

Professor Strobel posted the August 18th Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0818.html . Topics include the Mesmerica show that I hope we'll be able to show in September (contracts still being processed), the structure of the Milky Way and galaxy clusters, and what's up in the sky for the rest of August.

Bakersfield Night Sky — August 18, 2024 Classes begin next week for Bakersfield College and faculty and staff have been eagerly preparing for a great new academic year. Next month I’m hoping to bring a new show to the William M Thomas Planetarium called “Mesmerica” in partnership with Worlds Ltd. The plan is to do three showings on ...

Professor Strobel posted the August 4th night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0804.html . Topics include the significance of the Nebra Sky disc (from my trip to Germany) and what's up in the night sky.

Bakersfield Night Sky — August 4, 2024 Today the moon is at new moon phase, so later this week we’ll see a crescent moon in the west after sunset. Venus is now becoming visible in the evening sky but just barely there low in the west in the twilight glow. It is right next to the brightest star of Leo, the star Regulus but you’ll need...

Professor Strobel posted the June 16th night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0616.html . Topics include a focus on Spica and Antares, the PREFIRE climate CubeSats, and the newest exoplanet discovery--Gliese 12b, the closest Earth-like exoplanet.

Bakersfield Night Sky - June 16, 2024 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 orbiting each other at about one-third the distance b...

After a week's delay, the May 19th night sky column finally got published on the Planetarium's website. See https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0519.html
Topics include the recent aurorae displays visible in most of the U.S. and what's up in the evening/morning skies.

Bakersfield Night Sky — May 19, 2024 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 the direction toward Earth from a gigantic sunspot...

Professor Strobel posted the May 5 Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0505.html . Topics include why dimethyl sulfide should no longer be used as a strong biosignature in exoplanet atmospheres plus the early morning planet display.

Bakersfield Night Sky — May 5, 2024 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 close to the sun on our sky that it is lost in the...

For those who want to view the total solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 on their screens, the "VIEWING THE GREAT NORTH AMERICAN ECLIPSE OF APRIL 8, 2024" page on the William M Thomas Planetarium's website at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/april-eclipse-viewing.html has the links to three sets of livestreams (NASA, Exploratorium, and SLOOH). Hopefully, one of them will have a clear view!

Viewing the Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024 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 eclipse at 11:13 a.m., and finish at 12:21 p.m.

Professor Strobel posted the April 7th night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0407.html . Topics include Monday's solar eclipse---viewing the partial from Bakersfield and viewing a livestream from the totality region, research of the corona during this eclipse, and the new polarization image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

April 7, 2024 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 of Canada. I’ve taken the advice from my previou...

March 17, 2024 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 night of March 24, so our schools will have their spri...

Professor Strobel posted the March 3rd night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0303.html . Topics include: Odysseus landing on Moon, neutron star confirmed in SN1987A, really big supermassive black hole in most luminous quasar, ultra-large-scale ring/arc structure, and what's up in the night sky.

March 3, 2024 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 Planetarium’s website for more details abou...

Professor Strobel posted the Feb 4th night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0204.html . Topics include the spring schedule of planetarium shows, magnitude system and the magnitudes for bright objects in the evening sky, Mars Ingenuity helicopter, and the PACE mission.

February 4, 2024 Night sky and astronomy news for early February 2024

Professor Strobel posted the January 21st night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/community/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/2024/0121.html . Topics include: Peregrine lander, NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services, AAS announcements: aurorae on a brown dwarf, atmosphere for a very hot super-Earth exoplanet, and a dark galaxy made gas without any stars. Plus what's up in the sky.

January 21, 2024 Astronomy research news and what's up in the sky for January 21, 2024

Webinar "Finding Aliens on Earth" January 25 at 6 PM. See https://astrosociety.org/get-involved/events/event/2024/01/25/free-live-nsn-webinar-series-finding-aliens-on-earth-with-dr-miguel-fern-ndez/462031 for the webinar link.
Dr. Miguel Á. Fernández
Microbial Ecologist. Finding life outside of Earth is one of the most interesting topics of Planetary Science. Is life possible on other planets? If so, on which ones? What would it be like, and what would they use as an energy source?

ASP Event Calendar - Astronomy Public Events and Education Courses Stay connected to Astronomy Education through the year. Register for free webinars, events, and online presentations as well as gain access to special events.

A preview of what's to come in the sky in 2024:

NICK STROBEL: Planets put on early 2024 display Happy New Year and a belated happy perihelion day! Earth was closest to the sun on Jan. 2 at just 91,404,000 miles (1.55 million miles closer than its mean distance

View of partial solar eclipse from Bakersfield.

The semester starts tomorrow (Monday)! Many thousands of students arrive on Monday, so parking and walking to class will take at least 10 minutes longer than you think it will.
8 AM and 9:35 AM classes: do the Pre-Term quiz on the Canvas homepage (see big "Start Here" link).
Online classes: do the Syllabus Quiz on the Canvas homepage (see big "Start Here" link).

In case you need some perspective...

Professor Strobel posted the Feb 5th night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-february-5-2023 . Topics include Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3), the magnitude scale, and the night sky.

Bakersfield Night Sky - February 5, 2023 | Bakersfield College How did observing Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) turn out for you? Comet ZTF passed closest to Earth last Thursday, February 2 at a distance of 26 million miles. Comets are notoriously unpredictable in the amount of the gas and dust that they will eject as they warm up when traveling through the inner solar....

Professor Strobel posted the January 1 Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-january-1-2023 . Topics include the astronomical definition of seasons (relation to Sun's position), evening sky line-up of the planets, astronomy-sky events for 2023, and space missions in 2023.

Bakersfield Night Sky - January 1, 2023 | Bakersfield College Happy New Year! On Wednesday, January 4, our home planet will be at its closest distance to the sun—just 91.4 million miles, in contrast to Earth’s average distance of 93.0 million miles and its farthest distance of 94.5 million miles in early July. All planets move fastest when they are closest...

Professor Strobel posted the December 18th Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-december-18-2022 . Topics include the successful Artemis-1 mission, winter solstice, buying telescopes, and the evening sky.

Bakersfield Night Sky - December 18, 2022 | Bakersfield College Bakersfield College is closed for the next two weeks. The William M Thomas Planetarium closed out a successful fall schedule of shows with a sold-out showing of “Season of Light” that has become a holiday tradition for several families at least. The spring schedule will be posted in mid-January ...

Professor Strobel posted the December 4th Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-december-4-2022 . Topics include: Artemis 1 mission, Mars opposition, Europa Clipper mission, Geminid meteor shower, and what's up in the sky.

Bakersfield Night Sky - December 4, 2022 | Bakersfield College Bakersfield College is now in the week of final exams. This Thursday, December 8, will be the last show of the fall season at the William M Thomas Planetarium: the popular holiday show “Season of Light”. 

Professor Strobel posted the November 20th night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-november-20-2022 . Topics include the evening sky for Thanksgiving and why we do astronomy.

Bakersfield Night Sky - November 20, 2022 | Bakersfield College On this Sunday of Thanksgiving week, I’m beginning to think of coming holiday celebrations with family and friends. On the two Thursdays after Thanksgiving (December 1 & 8), the William M Thomas Planetarium will present the popular holiday show “Season of Light” and Bakersfield College will ha...

Professor Strobel posted the November 6th Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-november-6-2022 . Topics include the total lunar eclipse on the early morning of November 8, detecting meteoroid impacts on Mars, and the Leonid meteor shower.

Bakersfield Night Sky - November 6, 2022 | Bakersfield College We’re now back to standard time, so hopefully you’ve moved your clocks back to gain an extra hour of sleep. Most folks don’t need to worry about changing their clocks because the clocks automatically take care of the change. The only ones I know of who have to worry about daylight saving time ...

Professor Strobel posted the Night Sky column for October 2 at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-october-2-2022 . Topics include the DART mission that hit the small asteroid Dimorphos, OSIRIS-REx at Bennu, and what's up in the sky.

Bakersfield Night Sky - October 2, 2022 | Bakersfield College The DART hit its mark! At 4:14 p.m. on September 26, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft successfully collided with the small asteroid Dimorphos that is orbiting the larger asteroid Didymos. It was a test of nudging an asteroid, which is a technique we may need to do in the future with s...

Professor Strobel posted the September 18 Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-september-18-2022 . Topics include the Sequoia Dark Sky Festival on Sept 24, first Planetarium shows of the fall, autumnal equinox, and the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission.

Bakersfield Night Sky -- September 18, 2022 | Bakersfield College Next Saturday, September 24, is the Dark Sky Festival at Sequoia and Kings National Parks. There will be events happening during the day starting at 10 AM, including a keynote presentation by Kate Gunderson, a mechanical and aerospace engineer now in training to be an astronaut. At night will be sta...

Professor Strobel posted the August 21st Night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-august-21-2022 . It's all about the cosmic connection to the elements.

Bakersfield Night Sky - August 21, 2022 | Bakersfield College A couple of days before the high school students arrived on campus my wife was wondering what she was going to do with her science students since her students were not getting their textbooks and chrome books until the fifth day of the semester. Most of the conversation at the Strobel dinner table c...

Professor Strobel posted the August 7th night sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-august-7-2022 . Topics include the Perseid meteor shower, Summer Triangle, Saturn's opposition, Curiosity's decade on Mars, the Mars Sample Return mission, and what's up in the night sky.

Bakersfield Night Sky - August 7, 2022 | Bakersfield College Just one or two weeks left before the schools start up again. Bakersfield College’s first day of instruction is August 22 with a whole array of instructional modes from purely online to Zoom to face-to-face to hybrid versions. Before schools starts, one favorite astronomy activity is to check out ...

The Californian allowed Professor Strobel to send in an updated column after the usual deadline, so that he could talk about Webb's first images. It's posted at

Bakersfield Night Sky - July 17, 2022 update | Bakersfield College Wow! What a difference a 6.5-meter telescope has over 2.4-meter telescope. The beauty and exquisite details we can see with the James Webb Space Telescope compared to the Hubble Space Telescope in the infrared is astounding. Intellectually, we knew, of course, what the difference would be but the fi...

Professor Strobel posted the July 17 Night Sky column at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-july-17-2022 . Topics include the LZ dark matter experiment, Delta Aquariid meteor shower, and the moon's conjunctions with the planets next week.

Bakersfield Night Sky - July 17, 2022 | Bakersfield College Last week, the LZ dark matter team released a report on their efforts to detect dark matter particles. Dark matter is a type of matter that has mass, responding to gravity, but it does not interact with electromagnetic radiation—the various forms of light (e.g., visible light, x-rays, infrared, ra...

Professor Strobel finally got the July 3rd night sky column posted. It's at https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/planetarium/bakersfield-night-sky/bakersfield-night-sky-july-3-2022 . Topics include aphelion day, Psyche asteroid mission, James Webb Space Telescope's first images, and what's up in the night sky.

Bakersfield Night Sky - July 3, 2022 | Bakersfield College Besides being Independence Day, tomorrow is also aphelion day when Earth is farthest from the sun at 94.5 million miles. There is a slight flexure in the Earth’s orbit from the gravitational interaction with the moon by a smaller amount, the planets, so the precise aphelion value changes. Tomorrow...