Month: December 2021

Science Outreach Specialists

Bright Planets Dance on Moonless Evenings, A Reindeer Rides the North Pole, and Morning Mars Meets its Rival!

This image of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was taken by Rolando Ligustri (CARA Project, CAST) and Lukas Demetz, while the comet was in outburst, under dark Namibian skies on December 21. The image spans three finger widths, left to right.NASA APOD image for December 25, 2021. Happy New Year, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights…
Read more

Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of December 26th, 2021

As shown above, on Friday, January 1, 2022 from 7:16 am to 7:22 am EST, the International Space Station will fly high over the GTA in a very bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow over the northwestern horizon, and then flying through the Little Dipper before setting below the east-southeastern horizon near Vega. Artificial satellites are…
Read more

Six Evening Planets for Solstice Season, Meagre Meteors, the Early Waning Moon Stomps Stars, and Appreciating the Pleiades!

This image of the Pleiades star cluster from Stellarium shows the “sisters” shrouded by blue nebulosity – their stars’ light scattering from foreground dust. Their parent stars Atlas and Pleione are huddled at top left. The image spans about 2 finger widths of the sky, or 2 degrees. Happy Solstice, Winter Stargazers! Here are your…
Read more

Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of December 19th, 2021

As shown above, on Monday, December 20, 2021 from 7:09 am to 7:16 am EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-southwestern horizon, and then flying through the Big Dipper before setting below the northeastern horizon near Vega. Artificial satellites are visible…
Read more

Comet Leonard Leaps to Evening, the Moon Moves to Full, the Twins Shoot Stars, and Evening Planets Party!

This terrific image of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was captured by RASC member Paul Mortfield using RASC’s Robotic Telescope in the sierra Mountains of California on December 8, 2021 at 4 am PST. The green glow of the coma is apparent, and the ion tail points anti-sunward. Hello, mid-December Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights…
Read more

Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of December 12th, 2021

As shown above, on Saturday, December 18, 2021 from 7:08 am to 7:14 am EST, the International Space Station will fly over the GTA in a very bright pass, rising from the south-southwestern horizon, and then flying past the bright star Vega just before setting below the east-northeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they…
Read more

Comet Leonard Looms Larger, the Waxing Moon Poses with Planets, and Geminids Germinate!

On November 24, 2021 Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) passed between two well-known galaxies, the Whale (top right) and the Hockey Stick (lower left), otherwise known as NGC 4631 and NGC 4656, respectively. Gregg Ruppel of Tucson, Arizona captured this beautiful image of the rendezvous through his telescope-mounted astro-camera. This image, which spans 1 degrees of…
Read more

Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of December 5th, 2021

As shown above, on Tuesday, December 7, 2021 from 5:28 pm to 5:34 pm EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-northwestern horizon, and then flying past the bright star Deneb and through Pegasus’ square, before setting below the southeastern horizon. Artificial…
Read more