This image of the LeoTrio of Galaxies was captured by Marcus Bauer. It was a NASA APOD for April 18, 2019. Top to bottom, the image spans one degree of the sky. The Hamburger Galaxy (NGC 3628) is at centre left. Messier 65 is at top centre and Messier 66 is at centre right. The…
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As shown above, on Thursday, April 1, 2021 from 8:54 to 8:59 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly over the GTA in a very bright pass, rising from the northwestern horizon, flying past the bowl of the Big Dipper, and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow over the east-southeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible…
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This beautiful photo of the Aurora Borealis was captured by my friend Yvonne Wong in Alaska recently. The aurorae are more frequent around the two equinox periods each year because the N-S component of the Earth’s magnetic field is reduced and less able to fend off the solar wind. Hello, Spring Stargazers! Here are your…
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As shown above, on Monday, March 22, 2021 from 8:43 to 8:49 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly over the GTA in a bright pass, rising from the western horizon, flying through the “W” of Cassiopeia, and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow over the northeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they are…
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This image of the waxing crescent moon was taken by Michael Watson of Toronto on March 2, 2014. It nicely shows the Earthshine phenomenon, and the way the position of the lit crescent on the young moon at this time of year resembles the Cheshire Cat’s smile. Michael’s gallery of images are hosted on his…
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As shown above, on Saturday, March 20 from 8:39 to 8:44 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-southwestern horizon, flying closely past Mars and then through the bowl of the Big Dipper, and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow over the…
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This spectacular image by Petr Horalek od Institute of Physics in Opava shows reddish Mars (bottom centre) just below the blue Pleiades star cluster on March 3, 2021, and Mars’ “twin”, the reddish star Aldebaran above the “V” of Taurus at lower left. The red streak at the upper right is the California Nebula in…
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As shown above, on Monday, March 8 from 5:58 to 6:05 am EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow above the west-northwestern horizon, flying past the tip of the Big Dipper’s handle, and then setting below the southeastern horizon near Saturn. Artificial…
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