Starry Night This Week

Each week most PBS stations air "Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer", the world's first and only weekly TV series on naked-eye astronomy. The Starry Night images on this page illustrate the show for the week of Monday September 22, 2008. You can view the complete show script, or watch a RealPlayer video of the show.

The Return Of The False Dawn Of Omar Khayyam,
And How To Find It

Right around the autumnal equinox, September 22, you can watch for the false dawn or zodiacal light by getting up and looking east about two hours before sunrise. To the right of this view you can see the Milky Way pointing up from the southeast horizon; don't be fooled! Watch for a second spike to appear in the east.