The red ring on this simulated picture shows the size of an average full moon. The full moon on August 30 will be a lunar perigee syzygy, or supermoon – the largest for 2023. (Starry Night Pro 8) Hello, Late-Summer Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of August 27th, 2023 by Chris…
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Wayne Parker captured this terrific image of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31) and its small, bright elliptical companions Messier 32 (to the left of the main core) and Messier 110 (to the lower right of the main core) during the annual Starfest Star Party near Mt. forest, Ontario in August, 2022. The image covers about…
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I’ve annotated this image of the full moon taken by Michael Watson of Toronto. The dark maria are labelled in yellow with their Latin names. Major craters and those with ray systems are in blue. the red numerals show the Apollo landing sites, although the equipment is not visible from Earth. Hello, Autumn Harvest Stargazers!…
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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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This simulated view of Venus shows the shape it will appear when viewed through a backyard telescope this month. Galileo was the first to note that Venus changed in apparent size and shape. Hello, April Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 12th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to send…
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The beautiful Triangulum Galaxy, also known as Messier 33, dim because it is oriented nearly face-on to Earth, spans 1.5 full moon diameters in the sky. Some people have been able to see it with unaided eyes. At 2.75 million light-years from Earth – that’s the farthest object a human eye can see! This image…
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