Plan your dark-sky gazing around the deep nights shown on this page: The calendar at right shows the hours of "deep night" -- without the Moon in the sky -- for the night beginning on the date indicated. Please note: asterisk * indicates Friday evenings, Friday and Saturday nights are in bold, [  ] = New moon, ) = First Quarter, (--) = Full Moon and ( = Last Quarter. These circumstances are calculated for Tuckahoe State Park, MD at 38° 59' N and 75° 56' W.

Shading reflects the hours of deepnight. At the start of this year, dark nights run in the second week of the month. As the Moon's phases gradually advance, deepnight runs shift to the beginning of the month by year's end. For example, the March column shows that Friday and Saturday nights, the 8th and 9th, will have 8.8 and 9.4 hours of deepnight, respectively, with a New Moon following on the 13th. This year, Messier Marathon-ers will have to work around the Full Moon (on the evening of the 26th) in the last week of the month.

At Tuckahoe: Latest sunrise, 5 and 6 January; Latest beginning of twilight, 8 and 9 January; Shortest twilight, 1.5 h on 5 and 6 March; Earliest sunrise 14 June; Earliest beginning of twilight 17 June; Shortest nights: 14-26 June at 5.1 h; Longest twilight, 2.9 h on 20 and 21 June; Latest end of twilight, 24 and 25 June; Latest sunset, 27 and 28 June; Shortest twilight (again), 1.5 h on  7 and 8 October; Earliest end of twilight, 3 and 4 December; Earliest sunset, 6 and 7 December; Longest nights, 14-27 December at 11.4 h; Longest deep nights, 4, 5 and 31 December at 11.3 h. Eastern Standard Time is 5 hours behind Universal Time; Daylight Time, between 7 April and 27 October 2002, is 4 hours behind.

Everywhere on Earth: Perihelion, 2 January; Equinox, 20 March; Solstice, 21 June; Aphelion, 6 July; Equinox, 23 September, Solstice; 22 December 2001. Eclipses of the Sun: 10 June (annual), 4 December (total). Eclipses of the Moon: 26 May (penumbral), 24 June (penumbral), 20 November (penumbral). (All times in UT.) Also, a graphical Moon Phase Calendar for 2002 is available in bitmap format.

Favorites from the World Wide Web: What time is it in Auckland? Surf to www.timeanddate.com for world times and customizable calendars. What time is is exactly? It's official at the US Naval Observatory Master Clock: tycho.usno.navy.mil/what.html. Need to calculate rises, sets and twilights? Try the UNSO's Data Services page, aa.usno.navy.mil/data/. All about eclipses? Check NASA's Eclipse Home Page (sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/eclipse.html) or just ask Mr. Eclipse (www.mreclipse.com/MrEclipse.html).

Moondark is written by Doug Miller and published on the web and in the Delmarva Star Gazers'Star Gazer News. Please address comments and suggestions to dcmiller@dmv.com. This document was last revised on 20 December '01. All text and images copyright © 2002 Douglas C. Miller, All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without prior permission.