Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! This beautiful object is called the Rosette Nebula (or NGC 2244). It’s located in the constellation of Monoceros (the Unicorn), just to the left (east) of Orion. The Rosette is a cradle of glowing Hydrogen gas that has birthed about 2500 young stars in its centre. This image…
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On Monday, January 27 from 5:51 to 5:58 pm EST, the International Space Station will fly over the GTA in a bright pass, rising from the western horizon, passing Vega, and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow over the northeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they are high enough to be bathed in sunlight while…
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This spectacular astrophotograph of Orion’s Sword by Michael Watson of Toronto has been annotated to highlight the many and varied deep sky objects in this part of the sky. The colourful Messier 42 nebula is glowing by the light of young stars formed within it. The area shown here covers about 2 finger widths of…
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On Saturday, January 25 from 5:47 to 5:54 pm EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in a very bright pass, rising from the west-southwestern horizon and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow over the east-northeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they are high enough to be bathed in sunlight…
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Alan Dyer of Calgary captured this spectacular image of a comet named Wirtanen passing the Pleiades star cluster on December 15, 2018. His gallery of incredible images can be found here and at AmazingSky.com. Hello, January Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of January 12th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to…
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This long exposure image by Bill Longo of Toronto shows the trail produced by the International Space Station when Expedition 41 flew over the David Dunlap Observatory in 2014. Bill’s gallery of beautiful images can be explored at https://interceptedphotons.com/ Artificial satellites are visible because they are high enough to be bathed in sunlight while the…
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This wide field image of Orion was captured on January 2, 2020 by Alan Dyer of Alberta, Canada. Orange-tinted Betelgeuse, which marks Orion’s shoulder (top centre), normally shines as bright as Orion’s opposite foot – the bright, blue star Rigel. In the last few weeks, Betelgeuse has diminished noticeably in apparent brightness – a possible…
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On Monday, January 6 from 6:37 to 6:42 am EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in a very bright pass, exiting from Earth’s shadow near the bright star Capella in the lower northwestern sky, passing the Big Dipper, and then setting at the east-southeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible…
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