This terrific image by Amir H. Abolfath shows a deep exposure of the sky surrounding the bright reddish star Antares, the heart of Scorpius, which shines over the southern horizon on late June evenings. Antares is within the bright orange region at lower left. To its right is the enormous globular star cluster Messier 4.…
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A triangle of dark ash deposits left by long-extinct volcanoes are easily visible in the crater Alphonsus using any size of telescope when the moon is fully illuminated. Hello, Moon in June Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of June 12th, 2022 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to…
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A high resolution image of the moon’s Imbrium Basin, captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. From Monday to Friday this week, the lunar terminator will march across this huge feature in the moon’s northern hemisphere, showing off its best aspects. Hello, June Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of June 5th, 2022…
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The scene viewed from Mexico City on Sunday, June 5 at 10:37 pm CDT, just before the moon begins to move in front of the bright star Al Jabhah, aka Eta Leonis. Timings vary by latitude and the hour varies with time zone. (From Stellarium) Hello, Stars and Planets Fans! Here are your Astronomy Skylights…
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As shown above, on Sunday, May 29, 2022 from 10:01 to 10:06 pm EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying high over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-northwestern horizon, flying in front of the bright star Arcturus for some observers, and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow low in the southeastern…
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This image of spiral galaxy NGC 5248 (also known as Caldwell 45) in southwestern Boötes was captured by Adam Block’s team at Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, University of Arizona on March 3-4, 2011. The image spans 16 arc-minutes of sky, measuring left-to-right, or half the moon’s diameter. Hello, Spring Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for…
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As shown above, on Thursday, May 26, 2022 from 10:49 to 10:53 pm EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying high over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the northwestern horizon, flying between the Big and Little Dippers overhead, and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow while in the eastern sky near Hercules. (courtesy:…
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This image of the big and bright globular star cluster Messier 5 in Serpens was captured by Adam Block at Mount Lemmon Sky Center, University of Arizona. The image covers about 20 arc-minutes of the sky, left-to-right. Note the old yellow stars sprinkled throughout. Hello, Mid-May Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week…
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As shown above, on Tuesday, May 17, 2022 from 9:54 pm to 10 pm EDT, the International Space Station will be visible flying over the GTA, rising from the western horizon near the very bright star Procyon, flying past twins stars of Gemini and Polaris, and then sinking below the northeastern horizon near Cygnus, the Swan. (courtesy:…
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This beautiful composite image, taken by Michael Watson of Toronto during the Total Lunar Eclipse of April 15, 2014, closely resembles what observers in most of the Americas will see starting on Sunday night, May 15, 2022. Michael has arranged the images to show the round shape of Earth’s shadow, as expressed during the partial…
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