The weekly sky maps and all other astronomical charts and information on this web site are centered on the location of Houston, Texas (latitude 29° 45' north, longitude 95° 21' west). This makes them more or less directly applicable to anyone in the southern United States and most of Mexico. With adjustments for time, they are also applicable to Northern Africa, the Middle East, northern India, China and Japan. In the northern United States, Canada, Europe and Russia, constellations will be shifted to the south. In Central America, central Africa, southern India, Thailand and the Philippines, constellations will be shifted slightly to the north.

Houston, Texas was chosen primarily because its skies are applicable to as large a portion of the English speaking world as possible, while maintaining the magic of the skies of Mexico.

It is also no coincidence that Houston is also the home of the heart and soul of space exploration, NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the astronaut corps, and mission control for both the Space Shuttle and The International Space Station are located.

The Mexican Skies Observatory is quite a bit further south at latitude 16° north, longitude 97° west, near the pueblo of Santa Elena, about 25 minutes south of the Mexican Pipeline at Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico.

A Brief History

It all started with Hawaiian Skies, back in 1985, in the days before the Internet. (Yes Virginia, there really was a time when there was no Internet, and it was not very long ago!) The medium for Hawaiian Skies became a weekly radio program on KAOI FM, Maui. A decade later, back in the Great White North, in the wide open spaces of the Cariboo, far from the things of Man, Hawaiian Skies became Cariboo Skies, and found a home on the world wide web.

Up on the Cariboo plateau, with 3,000 feet less atmosphere to blur things up, the winter skies are quite a sight. But they are also very cold, playing havoc with telescope mirrors, and subjecting stargazers to a serious case of the shivers, not to mention the joys of frostbite. Being addicted, I braved the adverse elements, but trying to inspire others to do so was not easy, and that, after all, was the whole idea. The warmer summer nights only lasted two months, and during that time the Sun never went far enough below the horizon for the sky to get really dark.

The Cariboo is one of the most magical places on the planet, and a piece of my soul will always be there, but the rest of me went back to the tropics, where star gazing is comfortable and warm, and fun for the whole family, all night long. Hence Mexican Skies. Down here people are quite used to spending a lot of time out under the stars in the relative cool of the evening, but surprisingly very few have any idea what they are looking at. Hopefully, that's where Mexican Skies will be able to help.

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HOME PAGE - Weekly map of the night sky, and current astronomical events.	OUR PLACE - Weekly article on things terrestrial.
SOLAR SYSTEM - All Things Held Captive By The Sun	KEEP MEXICAN SKIES FREE - Click on those ads!
CONSTELLATIONS - Everything Else In The Universe	MUSIC - "The food of love..." Original songs, and more...
PLANET WATCH - Weekly update of the planets in our sky.	GUITAR TUTORIAL - Learn the basics of playing the guitar.
E. T. WATCH - The scientific search for extraterrestrial life.	HIGHWAY 61 - An original novel about polar bears, suicide bombers, and God.
CLOSE ENCOUNTER WATCH - Comets and asteroids heading our way.	PHOTO GALLERY - A collection of original observatory photos.
SHUTTLE WATCH - The exploits of NASA's Space Shuttle.	HUMOUR GALLERY - A collection of humour from the web.
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The latest news from the first Human home in space.	THE FRANK GALBRAITH LEGACY - The legacy of a Cariboo musician.
FREE ASTRONOMY SOFTWARE - The best things in life really are free.	THE MEXICAN SKIES OBSERVATORY - Santa Elena, Oaxaca, Mexico.
ASTROLOGY - Astronomy's Evil Twin?	MEXICAN SKIES ARCHIVES - Selected articles from previous years.

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