Mrs. Holz' Earth Science

08/09/2025

🚨 Sky Watch Alert! 🚨
The Perseid Meteor Shower is back! 🌠
WHO: Northern Hemisphere stargazers
WHAT: One of the best meteor showers of the year - The Perseids! 💫
WHERE: Anywhere with dark skies (avoid city lights and clouds!) 🌌
WHEN: Aug 11–12, 2025 (best after midnight) 🕛
WHY: Earth is passing through debris from Comet Swift–Tuttle 🪐

⚠️ BUT… This year’s show comes with a major spoiler: the Moon. 🌕 On peak night, it’ll be 89% full (Waning Gibbous) and right near the constellation Perseus, flooding the sky with light. Faint meteors? Mostly gone. Bright Perseid fireballs? Still possible…. and worth watching for.

💡 Tip: Face away from the moon, watch after 11 p.m., and enjoy any meteors that blaze through. 2025 = low quantity, but maybe high quality. 🌌

📅 Mark your calendar for August 2026: New Moon + Perseids = epic skies. 🌑✨

For more details, visit:
LiveScience https://www.livescience.com/space/meteoroids/perseid-meteor-shower-2025-how-to-see-shooting-stars-despite-the-full-moon

Space.com https://www.space.com/stargazing/meteor-showers/will-the-bright-moon-ruin-the-perseid-meteor-shower-2025-or-is-it-still-worth-watching

One of the most prolific meteor showers of the year will peak overnight on Aug. 12-13, but a bright moon will reduce its visual impact.

06/27/2025

Early in July, Earth reaches aphelion, its farthest point from the Sun. This year it occurs at 5:55 PM CST July 3rd, 2025. 🌎☀️

At aphelion, Earth will be approximately 94,502,714 miles from the Sun. This is about 3 million miles farther than when Earth is at its closest point, perihelion, which is in January.

In July, it is Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Since Earth is at aphelion, further from the Sun than January, it can be understood that distance from the Sun is not the reason for the seasons. It is the 23.5° tilt of Earth’s axis as it revolves around the Sun that causes the season. This tilt changes the amount of direct sunlight, energy, and length of day at different latitudes throughout a year.

Happy Aphelion Day on July 3rd, 2025!

Sources:

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earth-farthest-from-sun-for-year-in-early-july/

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/aphelion-and-perihelion

EarthSky and The Old Farmers Almanac

06/20/2025

HAPPY SOLSTICE!
-Mrs. Holz

☀️ What Is Today’s Solstice?

**In the Northern Hemisphere (like in Minnesotata), today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
**In the Southern Hemisphere, it's the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

🌍 Why It Happens

* Earth’s axis is tilted about 23.5°, so as it orbits the Sun, different parts of Earth get more sunlight at different times of year.
* Today, the North Pole is tilted most directly toward the Sun, making the Sun reach its highest point in the sky at local noon.
* The word “solstice” comes from Latin for “sun stands still,” because the Sun appears to stop moving farther north.

🕒 Time of the Event (CST)

* The solstice moment occurs at 9:42 p.m. CST (which is 10:42 p.m. Eastern Time) on today (Friday, June 20, 2025).

🌟 Why It Matters

1. 📅 It marks the astronomical start of summer in the North and winter in the South.
2. ☀️ It gives the longest daytime of the year above the equator and the shortest below.
3. Many cultures built monuments aligned with the solstice Sun—like Stonehenge and pyramids—showing how important it’s been to humans for thousands of years.
4. While it’s the longest day, it’s not usually the hottest, because Earth takes time to heat up—so summer’s peak heat usually comes in July.

🧠 Fun Facts You’ll Love

* In 2025, Earth reaches aphelion, its farthest point from the Sun, on July 3rd (specifically at 3:54 PM)… therefore it’s the tilt of Earth’s axis that causes the seasons, NOT its distance from the Sun.
* At the Tropic of Cancer, the Sun shines directly overhead at local noon today.
* The eEarliest sunrise happened about June 15, and latest sunset will come around June 25–26… even though today has the most daylight overall.
* In really far-north areas, like near the Arctic Circle, this means 24-hour daylight—the “midnight Sun”.


📍 Extra for Minneapolis, MN

* Today in Minneapolis, the solstice moment is at 9:42 p.m. CST on June 20, 2025.
* The city gets about **15 hours and 37 minutes of daylight** today, its longest day of the year.

🌅 How Much Daylight Will You Get?

*Type in your city’s name to find out: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/

🎬 Video: What Happens During the Summer Solstice?
https://youtu.be/rDN__4yhH5I?si=9PfZnCdyABV3MGoQ

Happy Solstice wherever you are!
-Mrs. Holz

05/18/2025

45 years ago today - May 18, 1980 - Mt St Helens erupted 🌋 Eruption of ash and cinders. Flowing debris and lahars. 57 people dead. Ash fall as far East as Minnesota. Follow USGS Volcanoes for more images and videos of that day. USGS Video: https://youtu.be/Ec30uU0G56U?si=GATTzg8mJlBx0RDu

at , May 18, 1980, 8:32 AM: This is it!
USGS’ Coldwater II observation post is 1300 feet above the North Fork Toutle River on South Coldwater Ridge, 5.5 miles north-northwest of Mount St. Helens. USGS scientist David Johnston had taken over from Harry Glicken on the evening of May 17. Before 7 AM, Johnston is shooting laser measurements to the bulge, collecting data and relaying it to scientists in Vancouver (WA). Around 8:32 AM, David radios:

“Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!”
[Hiatus, probably less than a minute; the radio repeater clicks on.]
“Vancouver! Is the transmitter on?”
[Repeater clicks off.]

Vancouver did not receive his warning. Atmospheric disturbance caused by the eruption probably blocked the radio signals. Johnston’s message was received instead on the radio of a private citizen and recorded on a tape recorder.

The Columbian newspaper photographer Reid Blackburn controls two remote cameras from Coldwater I. He keeps a log. After an entry at 7:11 AM come these: 8:33 AM, 8:34 AM. The eruption is well underway when Blackburn punches off the cameras twice; then twice more. Unlike earlier entries, his handwriting is shaky, hurried, and no time to comment. He shuts the transmitter lid and snaps the latches—sealing in the notebook. He jumps into his Volvo and slams the door. The hot ash cloud smashes in its glass.

Neither Johnston nor Blackburn survive.

The USGS image of Mount St. Helens was taken at 9:45 AM on May 18, 1980.

Extract from In the Path of Destruction, Eyewitness Chronicles of Mount St. Helens by Richard Waitt. See also, Volcanic eruptions of 1980 at Mount St. Helens: The first 100 days. USGS Professional Paper 1249, https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/pp1249.

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03/16/2025

🌼🍃🌱☀️The March Equinox will be here soon - Thursday March 20th, 2025! 🌼🍃🌱☀️

Wherever you are on the planet, the equinox occurs at the same moment. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, the equinox marks the first day of Spring. For those South of the equator, the event will mark the first day of Autumn. In 2025 the equinox is on 20 March at 4:01am CST.

After this date, the Northern Hemisphere begins to be tilted more toward the Sun, resulting in increasing daylight hours, more direct sunlight, and warming temperatures as Earth’s revolution around the Sun brings us closer to the Solstice. ☀️🌎 In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the opposite: the Southern Hemisphere begins to be tilted away from the Sun decreasing the amount of daylight and direct sunlight, which then decreases temperatures as that hemisphere approaches Winter. ☀️🌎

The Earth's tilt is the reason for the seasons! Want to learn more? You can find some of the best diagrams, videos, and explanations from EarthSky: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-vernal-or-spring-equinox/

What is it? The March equinox – aka the vernal equinox – marks the sun’s crossing above Earth’s equator, moving from south to north. Earth’s tilt on its axis is what causes this northward shift of the sun’s path across our sky at this time of year. Earth’s tilt is now bringing spring a...

03/15/2025

This video from CBS News in Minnesota explains the eastward shift of Tornado Alley. https://tinyurl.com/5n8b2v85 While it’s focus is how Minnesota is affected (I’ll be using it with my high school students) and is from June 2024, I think it is timely given severe weather warnings in the SE United States today. Thinking of everyone who may be affected. Grateful for NOAA NWS Weather Prediction Center and NOAA NWS Storm Prediction Center and U.S. National Weather Service (NWS)

02/27/2025

Meteorological spring begins on Saturday March 1st, 2025 and runs through the end of May.🌱

The March Equinox (Astronomical Spring in the Northern Hemisphere) is Thursday March 20th, 2025.🌿

Why do meteorological and astronomical seasons begin and end on different dates? In short, it’s because the astronomical seasons are based on the position of Earth in relation to the Sun☀️, whereas the meteorological seasons are based on the annual temperature cycle.🌡️

Read more from AccuWeather 🌎
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/first-day-of-spring-the-difference-between-meteorological-and-astronomical-spring/335725

AccuWeather forecasters explain the difference and why meteorological spring is important.

01/03/2025

Saturday 01/04/24 is Perihelion!

occurs in January, when Earth is closest to the Sun [~91 million miles away]. Perihelion gets its name from the Greek roots peri meaning near and helios meaning Sun. At this point in the Earth’s orbit, we are ~3% closer to the Sun [by ~3 million miles] than we are during Earth’s aphelion (farthest point from the Sun).

occurs in early July when Earth is ~94 million miles from the Sun. The Earth’s orbit around the sun isn’t a perfect circle, it is an ellipse. Therefore the Earth is closer to the Sun one time a year.

This concept breaks a big misconception about how & why Earth has seasons. Remember it's the tilt of Earth’s axis at 23.5 degrees that gives us our seasons, not the distance from the Sun.

Resources for Images and Text

EarthSky
https://earthsky.org/tonight/earth-comes-closest-to-sun-every-year-in-early-january

The Old Farmers Almanac
https://www.almanac.com/content/what-aphelion-and-perihelion

12/21/2024

It is that time of year again! It is time for the December Solstice! 🌎For those in the Northern Hemisphere, the December Solstice marks the day with longest night of darkness and fewest hours of daylight in the year – while those in the Southern Hemisphere have the shortest night and most hours of daylight.

The 2024 December solstice moment – when the sun reaches its southernmost point in the sky – happened today, Saturday December 21, 2024, at 3:20 AM (CST). This date marks a changing of the seasons as the Earth revolves around the Sun. Solstices and equinoxes are a product of Earth's axial tilt (the degree to which the planet is tilted relative to the Sun) and Earth’s revolution around the Sun. The axis around which the Earth spins isn't straight up and down — it's ~23.5°. Because of that, different parts of the Earth get exposed to more or less direct sunlight rays as the planet revolves around the Sun. That's why we have seasons. The seasons are three-month periods separating the equinoxes (spring, autumn) and the solstices (summer, winter).

Check out https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-december-solstice/ for animations, images, and answers to the following “Big Questions”:
1. What is a solstice?
2. Why isn’t the earliest sunset on the shortest day?
3. The poles at the December solstice
4. Where should I look to see signs of the December solstice in nature?

For a great description and images of the seasons, solstices, and equinoxes (and a calendar of the dates for solstices and equinoxes from now through 2030), check out The National Weather Service: https://www.weather.gov/dvn/Climate_Astronomical_Seasons

For Sunrise/Sunset times, amount of sunlight, Twilight times, Moonrise/Moonset time, Moon Phases, and more astronomical events, checkout:
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/minneapolis You can choose your location and pick months and days into the future.

VIDEOS:
1. “What is a Solstice?” by National Geographic – a 2 minute video: https://youtu.be/btcTfor-j-c

2. “Why Do We Have Different Seasons?” by The California Academy of Sciences – a 3 minute video: https://youtu.be/WgHmqv_-UbQ

3. How the Movement of the Earth and Sun Cause the Days, Seasons, and Years - a 2 minute video:
https://youtu.be/kyE3Yd1_zDc?si=hTfACnYMocRsjW9-

A Special Thanks To:
EarthSky
U.S. National Weather Service (NWS)
timeanddate.com
National Geographic
California Academy of Sciences

10/16/2024

🌒 🌓 🌔 ✨Supermoon Alert✨ 🌖 🌗 🌘

The 3rd of 4 supermoons in 2024 will be Thursday at 6:26 am CST, but shine brightly and beautifully Wednesday night.

What's a supermoon? When a full moon happens at the same time the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth, you get a supermoon. A supermoon appears about 30% brighter and nearly 15% bigger than a full moon at its farthest point from Earth.

Love looking up at the stars? 💫🌟 Join Minnesota State Parks and Trails for an adventure after dark! Check out nighttime programs and events: mndnr.gov/state_parks/starter_kit/nightlife.html

🌒 🌓 🌔 ✨Supermoon Alert✨ 🌖 🌗 🌘

Will you catch the closest supermoon of 2024 tonight? 🤩🌕 The third of four supermoons this year will actually be Thursday morning at 6:26 am CDT, but should still shine brightly and beautifully tonight.

What's a supermoon? When a full moon happens at the same time the moon’s orbit is closest to Earth, you get a supermoon. To us earthlings, a supermoon appears slightly larger and brighter than a normal full moon.

The four supermoons of 2024 are as follows:
🌕 Sturgeon Moon, Aug. 19 (captured below by Sara Schley at Crow Wing State Park!)
🌕 Harvest Moon, Sep. 17
🌕 Hunter's Moon, Oct. 17
🌕 Beaver Moon, Nov. 15

Love looking up at the stars? 💫🌟 Join us for an adventure after dark! Check out our nighttime programs and events: mndnr.gov/state_parks/starter_kit/nightlife.html

10/16/2024

This week - October 14-20, 2024 - look to the Western skies to catch sight of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). Find a space without obstruction to the horizon and skies with limited light 25 minutes after sunset for the best chance to see the brightest comet in the last 13 years. It is visible with the naked eye. It’s a once in a an 80,000 year lifetime opportunity! ☄️ For details about what a is, how to view , and more facts about this specific comet’s details visit:

https://www.space.com/comet-tsuchinshan-atlas-bright-night-sky

Space.com

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is on its way to brighten up the night sky — and the best is yet to come.

10/13/2024

Earth Science is Everywhere! 🌎 Visit https://www.earthsciweek.org/ each day for resources related to the daily theme October 13th-19th. There are so many resources that are available to use year round for this year, and there are links to resources from previous years. Find information about 2024’s webinars, contests, lessons for students and educators, posters, websites, and more.

Thank you American Geosciences Institute 🌎

🌍🌱 Happy 2024! Explore "Earth Science Everywhere" with our FREE webinar series! From sustainability to space exploration, these sessions dive deep into our planet's most pressing topics. 🌑❄️

🗓️ Oct 14-18, 2024
🎙️ Experts from , , and more
📚 Perfect for students, educators, and science lovers!

Don’t miss out—register today and be part of the conversation on climate, plastic pollution, polar science, and regenerative agriculture. 🌿

👉 Learn more and register today: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=ZvqH4pL4lUqA_IPh9cNIPVCULk3i79NCmS4posSqVAdUNEMxOThTOVpYSEwxMTZZMjNMUTRTOEpTRy4u&route=shorturl