This image of Orion’s Sword by my friend John Deans includes the Great Nebula in Orion, also known as Messier 42 and Messier 43, at centre. The bright knot of stars in the centre of the nebula were born out of the gas around them and are illuminating the nebula. The patch of nebulosity at…
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As shown above, on Saturday, March 6 from 5:57 to 6:03 am EST, the International Space Station will fly overhead of the GTA in a very bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow above the northwestern horizon, flying past Polaris, and then setting below the eastern horizon near Jupiter and Mercury. Artificial satellites are visible because they…
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This gorgeous image of the region of sky between Taurus’ triangular face and the bright orange star Aldebaran and the blue Pleiades star Cluster was taken by Amir H. Abolfath using his Canon EOS6D camera on a Star Adventurer mount. It covers a span of sky of about 19 degrees (two fist diameters) top-to-bottom, and…
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As shown above, on Monday, February 22 from 5:45 to 5:50 am EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow above the southwestern horizon, flying past the bright stars Spica and then Vega, and then setting below the east-northeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are…
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NASA’s Perseverance Rover is scheduled to land in Jerzero Crater on Thursday, February 18 at about 3:55 pm EST, joining the Hope orbiter of the United Arab Emirates and the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission that arrived on February 9 and February 10, respectively. (Image from NASA https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/) Hello, Valentine’s Day, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights…
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As shown above, on Sunday, February 21 from 6:30 to 6:37 pm EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow low over the west-southwestern horizon, flying past bright Arcturus, and then setting below the east-northeast horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they are…
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This gorgeous patch of sky spans 6 by 11 degrees, or about a palm’s width by a fist’s diameter, held at arm’s length. The red nebulas at right are the Heart and Soul (IC 1805 and IC 1848) in Cassiopeia, 2500 light-years distant. The two bright star groups at left, in next-door Perseus, is collectively…
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