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 August 23nd, 2010. You can view the complete show script, or download an iTunes/iPod video of the show.

Find the False Dawn of Omar Khayyam

A couple of hours before dawn in late August or through September, get out into the wilderness with a jug of wine and a loaf of bread and your favourite thou. Look east along the ecliptic (the plane of the solar system) and look for the 'false dawn' or zodiacal light. It's the glow of sunlight shining on interplanetary dust.