This image of the beautiful Pleiades open star cluster, also known as the Seven sisters, Subaru, and Messier 45 was captured by Stuart Norman of Toronto from a dark sky location near Georgian Bay, Ontario on October 19, 2017. The blue nebulosity is light from the sibling stars being reflected off interstellar gas and dust.…
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This image of Mercury transiting the sun on November 8, 2006 was taken using a Hydrogen-alpha telescope. To see tiny Mercury on the sun during the 5.5 hour event, a properly solar filtered telescope will be required. Or watch the event online, if you get cloudy skies! Hello, November Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights…
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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. The ISS (International Space Station) is visible gliding silently over the GTA this week. The best passes at (mostly) convenient times are listed below. (Note:…
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While we’re used to looking for the Lunar X that appears every few months near the first quarter phase, a group of Japanese astronomers decided to add a little LOVE to the half-illuminated moon. This image by Masaru Takeo and Junichi Watanabe was NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for November 3, 2018. See if…
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On Saturday, November 9 from 5:58 to 6:04 am EDT, the International Space Station will fly high over the GTA in a very bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow low in the west-northwestern sky, and then setting in the southeast. The ISS (International Space Station) is visible gliding silently over the GTA this week. The best…
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The Witchhead Nebula in Orion is very large, but dim. It’s best seen in long exposure astrophotos – like this image taken by Jeff Signorelli in the NASA APOD for October 30, 2015. The name is a misnomer. The blue colour is produced when light from the bright star at centre left reflects off nearby…
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On Tuesday, October 29 from 6:13 to 6:17 am EDT, the International Space Station will fly over the GTA in a very bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow high in the northwestern sky, and then setting in the east-northeast. The ISS (International Space Station) is visible gliding silently over the GTA this week. The best passes…
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The Double Cluster in northwestern Perseus makes a fantastic target for binoculars at this time of year. This wide field image was taken by Volker Wendel and was NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day on December 7, 2007. Hello, October Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of October 20th, 2019 by Chris…
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On Saturday, October 26 from 6:59 to 7:05 am EDT, the International Space Station will glide high over the GTA in a very bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow over the west-northwestern horizon, passing through the Big Dipper, and then setting below the east-northeastern horizon. The ISS (International Space Station) is visible gliding silently over the…
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This image of the full moon was captured by Michael Watson of Toronto hours after it was full in September, 2017. Notice how the craters along the right-hand edge show some shadowing while the rest of the moon is “flat”. Michael’s gallery of wonderful astro-images are here. Hello, October Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights…
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