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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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An image of globular the star cluster Messier 10, also known as NGC 6254, by Höcherl. The cluster spans about 40% of the full moon’s diameter. At magnitude 6.4, it can be seen with unaided eyes at a dark location, and in binoculars and through any size of telescope. It is estimated to be 14,300…
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As shown above, on Thursday, June 30, 2022 from 4:20 to 4:25 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 west-southwestern sky, then flying close past the bright star Vega, and then setting in the northeastern sky…
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