This month there are several astronomy events involving the moon. Next week on September 17 the moon will briefly hide the planet Saturn. This event called an occultation will happen in the early morning. It will be visible from the Western United States, southwestern Canada, and northwestern Mexico. Saturn will disappear behind the moon between […]
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What’s In My Backyard? Meet the Neighbors: Queen Meet Her Majesty the Queen!! She is of course closely related to the Monarch. This big beautiful butterfly lays eggs on milkweed just like the Monarch. If they are so similar, how can you tell the difference? If you look at the butterflies in the pictures, you
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What’s In My Backyard? Meet the Neighbors: Blinded Sphinx moth This big beautiful moth is called the Blinded Sphinx Moth. Blinded? Does that mean it can’t see? Surprisingly this name has nothing to do with the moth’s eyes. The moth has perfectly functional eyes. Instead, the name refers to the bright blue eyespots on its
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Why is summer hotter than winter? Summer is hotter than winter because Earth is tilted on its axis. The northern hemisphere is tilted toward the sun in summer and away from the sun in winter. The same is true for the southern hemisphere except that summer and winter come at different times of year than
What’s In My Backyard? Meet the Neighbors: sunflower beetle This brightly colored beetle eats sunflower plants. Its Latin name is Calligrapha Exclamationis. Exclamationis means exclamation. If you look at the side of this beetle, you will see a mark that looks like an exclamation mark! In areas where sunflowers are grown, these handsome beetles can
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What’s In My Backyard? Meet the neighbors: Dainty sulphur For the introduction to this series, see here This tiny, delicate butterfly is in the same family as the white cabbage butterflies that are pests in the garden but these butterflies are not usually pests. Their wingspan is only 2–3.2 cm (0.7 to 1.2 in)! For
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What’s In My Backyard? Lake Friends: snowy egret For the introduction to this series, see here Look at this well-dressed bird! This is a snowy egret looking for lunch on a local pond. These small herons hunt fish, crustaceans, and frogs in shallow water. Sometimes the birds use their bright-colored feet to stir up prey
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What’s in my Backyard? Project: leaf prints For the introduction to this series, see here. Maybe at some point, you have made an art project using construction paper and put it on a wall in your room. After a few weeks, you may have noticed that the colors of the construction paper have faded. Ultraviolet
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What’s In My Backyard? Lake Friends: Painted Turtle For the introduction to this series, see here Here is a young painted turtle. He has some dirt stuck to him as he just popped out of an underground nest. He was found walking across a trail at a local living history museum. I put him in
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