Month: March 2022

Science Outreach Specialists

The Thin Morning Moon’s Visit With Pretty Planets Lets Leo Lead Us to Spring Galaxies in Evening!

This terrific Wikipedia image by Hunter Wilson from March 28, 2008 shows the Leo Triplet of Galaxies, which is located south-southeast of the bright star Chertan in Leo. The photograph, with celestial north up and East toward left, covers 0.6 degrees of the sky left-to-right. The Hamburger Galaxy is at the top – do you…
Read more

Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of March 27th, 2022

As shown above, on Saturday, April 2, 2022 from 8:29 pm to 8:35 pm EDT, 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 stars Mirfak, Capella, and Regulus before disappearing into Earth’s shadow just above the…
Read more

A Post-Midnight Moon Multiplies Gemini Gems, and Pleasing Pre-dawn Planets!

The Open cluster Messier 35, also known as the Shoe-Buckle Cluster and NGC 2168 sits near the westerly foot of Castor in Gemini. The small open cluster NGC 2158 is to the lower right of it in this image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The area of sky shown here measures about one finger’s…
Read more

Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of March 20th, 2022

As shown above, on Monday, March 21, 2022 from 8:23 pm to 8:29 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly over of the GTA in a very bright pass, rising from the west-southwestern horizon, and then flying closely past Polaris before disappearing into Earth’s shadow just above the northeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible…
Read more

Pre-Dawn Planet Action, the Full Moon Passes Bees, Covers Stars, and Shows Rays, and Spring Begins!

On the early evening of Tuesday, March 15, 2022, the nearly full moon will occult the bright star Algieba in Leo. times vary by location. This scene shows the end of the event at 8:57 pm EDT, after the star has emerged near Mare Crisium. Hello, mid-March Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
Read more

Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of March 13th, 2022

As shown above, on Saturday, March 19, 2022 from 8:19 pm to 8:25 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the southwestern horizon, and then flying closely past the bright star Betelgeuse before disappearing into Earth’s shadow above the east-northeastern horizon. Artificial…
Read more

The Terminator Returns, Peering at Pre-dawn Solar Neighbours, Peeking at Polaris, and Saving Daylight!

The southeastern sky, shown here at 6 am local time at the latitude of Toronto, hosts the bright planets Venus and Mars, with Saturn to the east (lower left). Before the sky brightens too much, observers can try to spot fainter main belt asteroid Vesta near Venus and Mars. Hello, March Stargazers! Here are your…
Read more

Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of March 6th, 2022

As shown above, on Monday, March 7, 2022 from 5:46 am to 5:52 am EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow above the northwestern horizon, and then flying through the Big Dipper and the Summer Triangle before setting below the east-southeastern horizon…
Read more