Month: August 2023

Science Outreach Specialists

The Blue Moon is Super near Shiny Saturn, Medusa Blinks, Venus Gleams at Sunrise, and Info on Seasons!

The red ring on this simulated picture shows the size of an average full moon. The full moon on August 30 will be a lunar perigee syzygy, or supermoon – the largest for 2023. (Starry Night Pro 8) Hello, Late-Summer Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of August 27th, 2023 by Chris…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of August 27th, 2023

As shown above, on Sunday, August 27, 2023 from 5:01 to 5:05 am EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow halfway up the western sky, flying past Cassiopeia and Polaris, and then setting in the northeast. (courtesy: Heavens-above.com) Artificial satellites…
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The Half Moon Hides Antares, Algol is Active, Saturn Shines Brightest, Venus Revives, and Cygnus Sights!

This image of the North American Nebula was captured in 2018 near Thornbury, Ontario by my friend Sailu Nemana. Several of the surrounding bright stars and star clusters within it are highlighted. The Pelican Nebula (at right) is formed by the dark dust of LDN 935. The re/pink colour is produced by ionized hydrogen gas.…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of August 20th, 2023

The International Space Station illuminated by a 3.6-Watt 532-nm green laser, recorded by ESA’s Optical Ground Station. The video was taken at 7 frames per second on Oct 8, 2014. Artificial satellites are visible because they are high enough to be bathed in sunlight while the sun is below the horizon for earthbound observers. When…
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A Sun-Hugging Moon Lets Us See Subsiding Perseids, Planets Peak Overnight, and We Fly With Eagle Aquila!

This image of the Wild Duck Cluster, also known as Messier 11 and NGC 6705, was captured by the European southern Observatory. Note the blue and yellow stars, and the odd red one. The entire photograph covers about the size of the full moon in the sky, making M11 one of the easiest-to-see Summer Milky…
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The Mid-summer Waning Morning Moon Promotes Perusing of Perseids and Looking at Lyra!

Bill Longo of Toronto captured this amazing sequence of images on August 15, 2014. The International Space Station climbs the sky through the Big Dipper at left, while a Perseids meteor briefly streaks across the sky at right. Hello, Meteor Lovers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of August 6th, 2023 by Chris…
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