Pat Shingleton:"A Guide to the Sky..."
Over the last two days we have enjoyed all that the Supermoon has offered. It wasn't this
close to the Earth since 1948. Typically the moon is 248,000 miles away and the recent
episode positioned it within 222,000 miles. Your backyard last night was "lit-up" with maximum
illumination at 99.6% at moonrise and 99.9% at moonset at 6:22 AM this morning. Access to
weather related items and issues are certainly more accessible than years ago.
Search engines readily provide immediate answers and references. For many years I have
used Roger Mansfield's Skywatcher's Almanac for everything celestial and received the 2017
version on Monday. It's a computer generated local Sun and Moon calendar in addition to
serving as a quick reference guide to the predictable phenomena of the night sky. The Table
of Contents includes Eclipses, Occultations, Planetary Phenomena, Visibility, Explanations
and a Skywatcher's Timetable. The "Phone-App" - Night Sky readily identifies astrological
objects. Roger's Almanac is all inclusive, also available on-line at http://astroger.com.