This image of Messier 13, the Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules was imaged by my friend Claudio Oriani in Richmond Hill, Ontario on May 30, 2023 using an 8″ SCT telescope. The cluster, also known as NGC 6205, is 24,000 light-years away from our sun. The cluster appears as a faint fuzzy patch in…
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As shown above, on Saturday, July 6, 2024 from 4:49 to 4:55 am EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying past the GTA in a very bright pass, rising above the northwestern horizon and then passing between the Dippers and then between Jupiter and Mars before setting in the east. (courtesy: Heavens-above.com) Artificial…
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This view of the southern evening sky at 11 pm local time for the latitude of Toronto shows how the Milky Way rises from the southern horizon and arcs across the eastern sky at this time of the year. The coloured symbols and labels are a selection of the brighter deep sky objects sprinkled available…
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As shown above, on Monday, June 24, 2024 from 4:47 to 4:53 am EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow above the southwestern horizon and then passing the bright star Altair before setting in the east-northeast near Jupiter. (courtesy: Heavens-above.com)…
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When the moon is full, and within hours on either side of that phase, there are no shadows cast anywhere. All of the variations we see are due to changes in the moon’s geology. This image by Michael nicely shows the numerous rays systems emanating from the younger craters, the various types of dark basalt…
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I captured this handheld smartphone image of the young crescent moon and the strong auroral display of May 10, 2024 behind my home in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. Conditions are again favorable for another spectacle if the sun sends a mass ejection in our direction over the next few days, before the moon brightens too much.…
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This Digital Sky survey image shows the Antenna Galaxies aka NGC 4038, 4039 in the constellation of Corvus, which shines brightly in the lower part of the southern sky on early June evenings. The bright segments are the cores of two galaxies in the process of merging by mutual gravitational attraction. Curved streams of stars…
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