This image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the fascinating Aristarchus Plateau. The crater Aristarchus at lower right is very prominent, and can be seen even with unaided eyes as a very bright patch. To its left is the similar-sized, but darker crater Herodotus. Vallis Schröteri, the largest sinuous rille on the moon, starts…
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As shown above, on Sunday, January 21, 2024 from 6:15 to 6:20 pm EST, the International Space Station will be visible flying past the GTA in a bright pass, rising from the western horizon, climbing through the Summer Triangle stars and then flying past Polaris before entering Earth’s shadow low in the northeastern sky. (courtesy:…
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On Tuesday evening, January 16, the lunar terminator will fall to the west of three prominent craters Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina and throw into stark relief many other craters in the lunar highlands. The features will be visible in quality binoculars and through any telescope. (from 2024 NASA Lunar Visualization tool) Hello, Mid-January Stargazers! Here…
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As shown above, on Friday, January 19, 2024 from 6:13 to 6:18 pm EST, the International Space Station will be visible flying high over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-southwestern horizon and then flying between Polaris and Cassiopeia before entering Earth’s shadow low in the northeastern horizon. (courtesy: Heavens-above.com) Artificial…
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Earthshine on the young crescent moon, captured by Michael watson on March 8, 2019. You can view more of Michael’s images on his Flickr page. Hello, Winter Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of January 7th, 2024 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me…
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This amazing composite image by Detlef Hartmann shows the continued expansion of the Crab Nebula Supernova Remnant (aka Messier 1) in Taurus over 10 years (Sept 29, 2008 through Sept 22, 2017). It spans about 0.1 degrees of the sky. In the heart of the nebula sits a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits radio…
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As shown above, on Monday, January 1, 2024 from 6:21 to 6:25 am EST, the International Space Station will be visible flying high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow high in the northwestern sky above the bright star Capella and then flying between the two dippers before setting below…
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This magical image of the sword of Orion was captured and processed by my friend John Deans when he was in Bancroft, Ontario on February of 2021. All three patches of light from top to bottom are visible to unaided eyes below Orion’s three-starred belt. Binoculars and backyard telescopes will reveal the spectacular details in…
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As shown above, on Sunday, December 31, 2023 from 7:07 to 7:13 am EST, 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-northwestern sky and then flying past the Big Dipper and the bright star Arcturus before setting below…
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My friend Alan Dyer of Alberta captured this spectacular image of a lone Geminids meteor streaking across an aurorae-filled sky on December 13, 2023. From Collingwood, Ontario I saw two terrific Geminids in one hour on December 14. Follow Alan’s @amazingskyguy account on X.com and visit his ww.amazingsky.com page for more. Hello, Start-of-Winter Stargazers! Here…
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