Tag: earthshine

The Solar Eclipse Hits and the Evening Moon Appears, Comet Pons-Brooks Passes Jupiter in Evening, and Morning Mars Kisses Saturn!

Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn captured this amazing shot of the August, 2017 partial solar eclipse. Hello, Spring Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 7th, 2024 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. You can also follow me…
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Comet Pons-Brooks, Our Clocks Click Forward, the Moon Appears Pretty, Eyeing Australe, and Stars Guard the Pole Star!

Malcolm Park captured this terrific widefield image of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks on March 4 2024. The Andromeda Galaxy is prominent at the upper right, and the triangulum galaxy is fuzzy at top left. This week the comet will travel between the two widely separated bright stars Mirach (above centre) and bluish Alpheratz (below centre). Enjoy more…
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Romantic Night Sights While the Waxing Moon Dances with Jupiter, Shows Some L-O-V-E, and Finds the Football!

Adrien Klamerius took this image of the Heart (upper left) and Soul (lower right) nebulas in Cassiopeia, also known as IC 1805 and IC 1848, respectively. The Double Cluster as at top centre. The area of sky covers about 10 degrees, or a fist diameter. NASA APOD for Sep 24, 2016 Hello, Night Sky Lovers!…
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The Crescent Moon Cruises Post-sunset Planets, Pluto Peaks, and Admiring the Summer Milky Way!

This beautiful annotated image of the summer Milky Way arching over the Great Wall of China was captured by Steed Yu. The bright star at centre far right is Antares. It’s little claw stars shine to its upper right. The dark dust patches and lanes are apparent. It was the NASA APOD for July 3,…
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Pretty Planets Kiss and Dance at Dawn, and Some Dark Sky Delights Til the Librated Cat Comes Back!

The Sword of Orion imaged by John Deans in Bancroft, Ontario on February 2021. This image covers about a thumb’s width of sky, top-to-bottom. The trapezium cluster lies in the heart of the nebula (above centre). Hello, March Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of February 27th, 2022 by Chris Vaughan. Feel…
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Merry Perihelion, Max Sized Venus and Maximum Mercury, Dual Lunar Phases, Meteors from a Fossil Constellation, and Three Deep Sky Tours!

With unaided eyes, three patches of light make up the sword of Orion, which hangs below his famous 3-starred belt. My friend John Deans of Toronto captured this image of Orion’s Sword while in Bancroft during February, 2021. Even binoculars will reveal that the central patch of light is the splendid Orion Nebula, also known…
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Northern Autumn Arrives, the Evening Moon Clips the Scorpion’s Claw and Jumps Past Jupiter, and Venus Veers by Vesta!

This image of the young crescent moon by Dylan O’Donnell shows Earthshine – sunlight reflected off of Earth that slightly illuminates the dark portion of the moon’s Earth-facing hemisphere. Watch for it early this week. NASA APOD for March 20, 2015. Hello, Autumn Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of September 20th,…
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