Month: October 2023

Science Outreach Specialists

A Mid-Autumn Moon Leaves Evening, Planets Dance, Jupiter Peaks and the Demon Fades While the Bull Shoots Stars, and the Owl Hoots!

NGC 457, better known as the Owl Cluster, ET Cluster, and Dragonfly Cluster, was imaged by “Astrodoc” Ron Brecher of Guelph, Ontario. The bright stars are the eyes. The body and feet extend down to the right. Squint to see the upswept, curving chains of stars for the wings.This image covers a finger’s width of…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of October 29th, 2023

As shown above, on Saturday, November 4, 2023 from 6:41 to 6:46 am EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow in the west-northwestern sky, then flying past the moon and Venus before setting in the east-southeast. (courtesy: Heavens-above.com) Artificial satellites…
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Shadows Join Jupiter, Reading the Rings, Diminishing Meteors, a Mounting Moon Sips Earth’s Shadow, and Venus Gleams at Dawn!

This image of the Lunar Straight Wall or Rupes Recta in Mare Nubium was captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. While the feature can be seen through binoculars, a backyard telescope will reveal more detail. (Adapted from NASA LRO) Hello, October Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of October 22nd, 2023 by…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of October 22nd, 2023

As shown above, on Monday, October 23, 2023 from 6:37 to 6:42 am EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow in the western sky near Jupiter, then flying closely past Polaris before setting in the northeast. (courtesy: Heavens-above.com) Artificial satellites are visible…
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Spotty Jupiter, an Attractive Evening Moon, Hunting Orion’s Meteors, and Seeing Double!

Andrea Girones of Ottawa captured this amazing image of Saturday’s annular solar eclipse from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She used a Lunt 40mm solar telescope, an ASI 174MM camera on a Skywatcher Star Adventurer tracker. Hello, Autumn Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of October 15th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of October 15th, 2023

As shown above, on Saturday, October 21, 2023 from 6:33 to 6:39 am EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow low in the southwestern sky, then flying close to Betelgeuse in Orion and Gemini’s twin stars before setting in the…
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New Moon Brings an Annular Solar Eclipse, Brightest Planets Bracket the Pre-dawn Sky, and Pegasus Points to the Celestial Centre!

This annular solar eclipse occured on June 6, 2021. Proper solar filters or image projection is required to view every part of an annular eclipse. It’s Solar Eclipse Time, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of October 8th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and…
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The Waning Moon Moves Post-midnight, Leaving Lucky Aquarius and Plenty of Planets to Shine!

This image of the large, faint, and spectacular Helix Nebula was taken through the 16″ telescope owned by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and operated remotely from its location in Sierra, California. Ian Barredo re-processed the raw images to produce this award-winning result. The planetary nebula is the corpse of a star of mass…
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