Month: July 2022

Science Outreach Specialists

Moon Doings on Mid-Summer Evenings, Planets Party from Dusk to Dawn, and Meteors, in Moderation!

This fantastic image of the Lion Nebula, also known as Sharpless-132, was imaged and processed by Tammy Foley. She gathered 19 hours of exposure time through various filters for it. During evening in early August, the lion is prowling the northeastern sky between the W of Cassiopeia and the bright star Deneb in Cygnus, but…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of July 31st, 2022

As shown above, on Sunday, July 31, 2022 from 9:55 to 10:00 pm EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying over the GTA in a bright pass, rising from the west-northwestern horizon, and then flying below the bright star Arcturus and above reddish Antares before finally disappearing into Earth’s shadow low in the…
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The Missing Moon Brings More Meteors and Comet Views, Mars Nears Uranus, and Summer Triangle Treats the Animals!

The Dumbbell Nebula, imaged by Steve McKinney, is a large planetary nebula in Vulpecula (the Fox). It’s visible (without colour) in a backyard telescope. Planetary nebulae are the corpses of stars with mass similar to our sun. This one resembles and apple core! This image covers a patch of sky about as wide as a…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of July 24th, 2022

As shown above, on Friday, July 29, 2022 from 9:55 to 10:00 pm EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-northwestern horizon, and then flying past the Big Dipper’s handle before finally disappearing into Earth’s shadow low in the southeastern…
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Early Aquariids Meteors, Daytime Moon Joins Jupiter, Space Telescope and Summer Milky Way Sights to See!

A comparison of images of Stephan’s Quintet of galaxies in Pegasus, taken in infrared by the James Webb Space Telescope in 2022 (left) and the visible and near-infrared wavelengths by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 (right). The spiral galaxy at left is NGC 7320. It is only 40 million light-years away. The rest of…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of July 17th, 2022

As shown above, on Sunday, July 17, 2022 from 9:55 to 10:01 pm EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying over the GTA in a bright pass, rising from the western horizon near Spica, then flying past Polaris before finally setting in the northeast. (courtesy: Heavens-above.com) Artificial satellites are visible because they are…
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Wednesday’s Raspberry Supermoon Won’t Belittle the Brightest Lights of July, But it Will Cramp the Comet Near Messier 10!

User Eberhard Stickel requested this north-up image of Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) through the luminance filter of the robotic Burke-Gaffney Observatory at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, NS. The dust tail extending upwards reveals the comet’s trajectory downwards. The sun is toward upper right. The double star below the comet is Struve 2122 in central…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of July 10th, 2022

As shown above, on Monday, July 11, 2022 from 11:31 to 11:37 pm EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-southwestern horizon near Spica, then flying past Arcturus and above the three bright stars of the Summer Triangle before finally…
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Away with Aphelion, a Comet for Binos, the Evening Moon Earns Looks, and Planets Aplenty!

In celebration of July 1 in Canada and July 4 in the USA, here is a photo of the Firecracker Galaxy, also known as NGC 6946 and Caldwell 12. The magnitude 9.6 face-on, type SAB spiral galaxy, 25 million light-years distant, is visible in good binoculars and backyard telescopes under dark skies. It straddles the…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of July 3rd, 2022

As shown above, on Monday, July 4, 2022 from 2:47 to 2:50 am EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying over the GTA in a bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow nearly overhead in the northwestern sky, then flying through the stars of Cassiopeia and finally setting in the northeastern sky. (courtesy: Heavens-above.com) Artificial…
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