Bob Berman
Verified
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Bob Berman
Guest column: Prop. 45 limits public input on parts of California Forever, data centers, more
For the last several years, Solano County residents have been working toward a shared vision for the future of our region. The appearance of California Forever on the scene has forced our communities, and our leaders, to grapple with hard questions about our economy and our way of life. The process has made it clear to many of us that there are no easy answers, and any change that may be coming must be approached with care and careful deliberation.
Fun at the zenith
In Spain last month, the Moon completed its eclipse of the Sun while low in the sky. No one in Europe or in the Hudson Valley can ever see either one straight overhead. Vega is the brightest object that can ever claim that distinction, and does so all this week at nightfall. (Photo by Anjali Bermain) That’s the idea. To have fun. To see amazing things, learn new stuff, but not be bothered with charts, apps, travel, or needing a telescope. I don’t mind a little effort.
The Night Sky | Figuring it all out
Next year marks the 200th anniversary of Isaac Newton’s passing. He announced that colors exist solely in our perceptions but not in the actual universe. Astronomers struggle to clarify deep mysteries, like what was before the Big Bang. But addressing such puzzles usually requires inconclusive speculation. Happily it’s easy to avoid such frustration, since upfront astrophysics can begin whenever a backyard astronomer simply looks through their telescope.
Summer Solstice
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Planetary Line-ups: Web vs Reality
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Night Sky | Strange universe
The Moon will actually get this big in the far future, as depicted in this pen and ink by Woodstock artist Alan McKnight. On social media, the Full Moon at the end of May was called a “micro moon” because it was then at the far point in its elliptical orbit. The New York Times said that observers would see it “appearing smaller.” That was flat-out wrong, since it looked no different from every other Full Moon.
When Venus Met Jupiter...
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Understanding The Universe
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Science Team
Can you imagine?
Unnamed cluster of suns lurking behind Orion’s belt. Are countless parallel universe also present? (Bob Berman, Willow Observatory) The most fashionable idea-du-jour may be the multiverse. It’s actually an old quantum notion from a century ago, with physical support on the atomic scale, that everything that can happen does happen. Extrapolating to our macrocosmic level leads to an almost infinite number of universes, of which we can only be aware of the one in which we exist.
Einstein & The Cosmos
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Venus Maximus
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Celestial charm with a twist
These illustrations by renowned Woodstock artist Alan McKnight first appeared in Secrets of the Night Sky by Bob Berman (Morrow, 1995). Illustration 1 — locate Venus right after the sun sets; Illustration 2 — connect the two; Illustration 3 — and you’re left with a view of Venus’ orbit as we see it from Earth. It’s happening now — a gorgeous alignment that introduces us to a new reality. The décor unfolds each evening between 7:30 and 8:15 p.m. It’s the glorious return of the Evening Star.
The Facts Of Nature
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
The limits of randomness — and where it leads
Is this the end result of random mutations, or does the universe have an underlying intelligence? The first postulate, at least, can be mathematically addressed. “Chance” is amazing. And almost invariably misunderstood. When we think of probability, what often comes to mind is the monkeys-and-typewriters thing. We’ve all heard it: Let a million monkeys type randomly on a million keyboards for a million years and you’d get all the works of Shakespeare. Is this true?
A new galaxy (far, far away).
Published April 13, 2026 at 8:23 AM EDT Researchers recently found the farthest-ever galaxy, a smudge at a distance of 13 billion light years. But when light travels a long time through an expanding universe, bizarre things happen.
Numbers & Stars
Published April 13, 2026 at 8:22 AM EDT ESA/Hubble & NASA / ESA/Hubble This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), a highly efficient wide-field camera covering the optical and near-infrared parts of the spectrum. While this lovely image contains hundreds of distant stars and galaxies, one vital thing is missing — the object Hubble was actually studying at the time! This is not because the target has disappeared.
Sun dogs and haloes
Halo and sun dog as seen last month from central Alaska’s Chena Highway. (Photo by Bob Berman) Don’t bother with a telescope. Some of nature’s coolest sky-things need no optical assistance. Chief among them are haloes and sun dogs. Around here, both phenomena appear every week or two and can range from glorious to peculiar. A quick tip-off to their presence is a blue sky with a milky veneer, or else a high layer of thin cirrus clouds.
The Gaia Hypothesis
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Very cool items - Hudson Valley One
Our galaxy looks very much like Andromeda shown here. It seems packed full of stars, but its true emptiness is breathtaking. (Prescott Observatory) Nothing’s more fun than sharing amazing facts. It dominates my life. The obsession started in my junior year of college, while studying for a physiology exam. Something in the textbook changed reality. It was a fact so basic yet so astonishing, I still sometimes bring it up for lecture audiences. Unfortunately, it no longer seems to have the same effect.
Uranus: Our 7th Planet
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and K. Luhman (Penn State U.) and C. Alves de Oliveira (ESA)
The Vernal Equinox
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Another Dimension
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Lunar Eclipse
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Finding Mercury
Published February 20, 2026 at 4:36 PM EST ESA/Hubble & NASA / ESA/Hubble This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), a highly efficient wide-field camera covering the optical and near-infrared parts of the spectrum. While this lovely image contains hundreds of distant stars and galaxies, one vital thing is missing — the object Hubble was actually studying at the time! This is not because the target has disappeared.
Other dimensions
“Other dimensions” are usually incomprehensible because they lie beyond human experience. Saturn was like that in the 17th century, since nobody had ever seen a ball surrounded by unattached rings. (Matt Francis, Prescott Observatory) We’ve explored this topic every decade or so, since new ideas continually arise. We’re also bombarded with this theme in sci-fi, where future astronauts encounter creatures materializing out of nothingness. Does science allow any wiggle room here? Could it be real?
An Asteroid Anniversary
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
¿Morirse duele? ¿Hay vida después de la muerte?
Vedado para muchos y evadido por otros, el tema de vez en cuando se aparece en nuestras conversaciones. A todos nos preocupa la muerte porque siempre hemos asociado nuestro cuerpo con la vida. Lo reflexionamos y nos hacemos la pregunta sobre qué sucede después de ella. Fue en una de esas pláticas que le dije a Sandra, mi esposa: “A mí no me vayan a cremar porque no sabemos si va a doler”. Ella me dio la respuesta lógica: “No te puede doler si ya vas a estar muerto”.
Mercury
Published February 6, 2026 at 4:46 PM EST Destina - stock.adobe.com / 67617292 Solar system with eight planets. Bob Berman discusses the first planet from the Sun and the smallest in the Solar System.
Sun's Polarity
0:00 0:00 Available On Air Stations
Preview of 2026
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and K. Luhman (Penn State U.) and C. Alves de Oliveira (ESA)
Does time exist? You decide
Most physicists doubt that time exists. On this page 40 years ago, we published scientific ‘proof’ of time being illusory. We pointed out that none of the equations of physics, from Newton’s laws to Einstein’s relativity to quantum mechanics have any place for time. They’d all work just as well in reverse, meaning they’re time symmetrical. When Einstein introduced spacetime as a mathematical matrix describing how all moving objects behave, it might have seemed to support time’s reality.
Mind-blowing backyard spectacles
On January 24, 1925, a cloudless, icy morning, the entire Hudson Valley south of Coxsackie went dark. It hasn’t happened since. (Photo by Anjali Berman) Exactly 101 years ago, on January 24th 1925, the Sun turned black. That total solar eclipse was the last time it happened over our homes. The Hudson Valley won’t see another until May 1, 2079. Having led eclipse expeditions around the world since 1970 when still in college, I’ve observed people’s reactions for a half century.
What Are Perigee and Apogee? When Are Perigee and Apogee?
Lunar Perigee and Apogee and the Moon's Orbit Body Ever heard the terms perigee and apogee? The Moon’s orbit periodically grows rounder and then more oval; it is never a perfect circle. Therefore, sometimes, the Moon is nearer to the Earth or farther from Earth. The news media will often use the terms “Supermoon” and “Micromoon.” Learn more. What are Perigee and Apogee? A simple definition: The point at which it is nearest Earth each month is called its perigee (this varies throughout the year).
Coming up for oxygen
Mars’ atmosphere is almost pure carbon dioxide with just 0.17% oxygen. Here on Earth it is CO2 that’s barely present, since it makes up just 1/25th of 1% of our air. (NASA/Jpl, Curiosity Rover) Oxygen is hugely meaningful when we hunt for extraterrestrial life. That’s because detecting such molecules floating in a planet’s air would be almost miraculous. Think about it: An iron prybar lying outdoors soon joins with oxygen to become iron oxide or rust.
The Winter Solstice
Published December 21, 2025 at 9:35 AM EST The winter solstice occurs on Sunday, December 21, around nightfall, when Earth’s south pole tilts most directly toward the Sun, giving the Northern Hemisphere its shortest day of the year; starting Monday, daylight increases slightly and the Sun climbs higher, bringing a hint of added warmth.
The darkest afternoon
1 of 1 — STRANGE UNIVERSE .jpg NASA On December 7 we get the year’s earliest sunset, followed by the shortest day on December 21 and the darkest morning in early January. This timing doesn’t match the solstice because Earth’s tilt and elliptical orbit make our solar day slightly longer than 24 hours as we move fastest near early January. That small shift moves sunrise and sunset milestones off the solstice, meaning the darkest-feeling afternoon of winter arrives now.
Packing it in - Hudson Valley One
We don’t usually think about the thickness of things, but it intrudes on us nonetheless. especially when our region gets clobbered by a passing hurricane every decade or two, and we experience destructive gales or floods. The damage we suffer is almost always worse from the water than from the winds. The reason is simply that water is 816 times denser than air.
Take it straight up
The universe contains more than 200 billion galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of suns and planets. Yet most people can name only one. The most famous: Andromeda! One reason for its renown is its fortunate overhead position each autumn. Probably another attraction is its mellifluous title. The galaxy M87 is bigger while Centaurus A is more mysterious. But none have the euphonious appeal of Andromeda, a name too lovely to forget.
A Cosmic Thanksgiving: Bob Berman on the Wonders of the Universe
Subhead Look Up in Thanks: Stargazing and Gratitude with the Old Farmer’s Almanac Are you a stargazer? After your Thanksgiving feast, in this season of dark skies, let’s look up—way up—at beautiful stars, planets, and the amazing universe around us. There are so many reasons to be grateful.
The rarest rhythm
1 of 1 — Screen Shot 2025-10-27 at 03.13.23.png NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI) Everything in nature comes and goes—stars, planets, even our bodies—but what truly endures is repetition. The universe moves to a rhythm: the Sun brings the year’s shortest day on December 21 and its earliest sunset on December 7; the Moon cycles through fullness every 29½ days and repeats its elevation pattern every 18.6 years, reaching an extreme this year.
Spooky sky
1 of 1 — Screen Shot 2025-10-20 at 01.29.36.png NASA/JPL-Caltech While childhood fears like nyctophobia—the fear of the dark—are common, even the Pleiades star cluster, traditionally linked to ominous folklore, adds to the eerie atmosphere as it rises each Halloween. But the real cosmic fright comes from science: in 1998, astronomers discovered that the universe’s expansion is accelerating—driven by a mysterious force called dark energy.
Sky colors
1 of 1 — STRANGE UNIVERSE .png NASA, ESA, and G. Piotto (Universita degli Studi di Padova); Image Processing: Gladys Kober As autumn colors reach their peak, it's natural to wonder if the sky can show vivid hues too. Stars emit blue, red, and green light, but our eyes usually see them as white due to the mix. Cooler stars appear redder, while hotter ones lean blue, but the difference is subtle. Stars like Antares (red), Arcturus (orange), and Vega (blue-white) show noticeable color shifts.
Straight overhead
It can be tricky to pinpoint the spot directly overhead in the sky, but, you can find it by looking for Deneb, a bright star nearly at the zenith. While not as brilliant as nearby Vega, Deneb is one of the most luminous stars in the sky, shining with the power of 58,000 Suns from 1,500 light-years away. If it were as close as Sirius, its light would outshine our streetlights.
Famous physicists’ takeaways
Big name physicists and astronomers gave us amazing revelations, which sometimes spun off profound takeaways in philosophy, metaphysics, and everyday existence. So let’s briefly look past the science to see how we may be influenced by these great minds.
Behold the cycles of astronomy and nature
Other than a universal consciousness, which is not yet widely accepted by astronomers, repetition seems to be the only form of permanence that nature can achieve. In our own beautiful patch of the planet, we periodically see this “rhythm” motif in the cicadas, which employ a prime number of breeding years that defy any predator’s pattern: No number divides into 17. In the sky, we’re accustomed to the sun’s repetitious behavior. Some of its patterns are familiar, like the annual shortest day on Dec.
Center of the action
1 of 1 — crecsent_moon_mountain.jpg NASA/Bill Dunford Until the 20th century, astronomers ignored the interiors of things. They had to. Telescopes only showed outermost layers.Scientists knew that a ball's "inside" constitutes virtually all its mass, but basic questions went unanswered: What, for example, lay below the dazzling solar surface? What mysteries might be found in the core of galaxies? Strange Universe NASAGalaxiescrescent moon
Shoot for the stars: A brief guide to cell phone astronomy
Having a cell phone means you’re never without a powerful astronomy tool. Despite thinking that celestial scenes are too difficult to photograph, the opposite is often true. That’s because, for the past 15 years, higher-quality phones have come with relatively fast lenses and the built-in ability to capture long exposures. This lets you experience some astronomical events with greater clarity and color than what you’d see with just the naked eye.
Closest point to Earth
1 of 1 — STRANGE UNIVERSE.png NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUE If you're hearing this on Sunday, Saturn is at its closest point to Earth, and its rings appear as a straight white line due to their edge-on alignment — a rare event that occurs every 15 years during its equinox. Earth’s own equinox arrives Monday at 2:10 PM, marking the start of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere.
A lunar standstill
1 of 1 — strange universe --.jpg Griffith Observatory This year brings a rare lunar event called the Lunar Standstill, which happens only once every 18.5 years. Due to the Moon’s wobbling orbit aligning with Earth’s tilt, the Moon is reaching extreme positions in the sky.
It’s dusty - Hudson Valley One
The most common solid in the cosmos? It’s dust. “Solid” is everyone’s preferred state, being the matter-phase possessed by dogs, money, motorcycles, lasagna, lilacs, and your other favorite items. Astronomers feel the same way, even if gases are awesome when they conjure ethereal modern art sculptures like the Orion nebula. And liquids are intriguing due to their extreme rarity: we only know a single extraterrestrial body with surface fluids.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Bob
Contact Bob, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack