Tag: Eta-Aquariids Meteor Shower

The Crescent Moon Moves from Morning to Evening, Planets Primarily in Pre-dawn, and the Lion Leads Spring Galaxies West!

This image of the Mice Galaxies (NGC 4676) obtained with the Hubble space Telescope. The two galaxies, 300 million light-years away from us, are in the process of merging, tugging on one another with gravity. Eventually, the stars will coalesce, likely into a far less interesting-looking elliptical galaxy. For now, the streams of stars extending…
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Jupiter Joins the Sun and the Morning Moon Posing with Planets Gives Us Galaxy-gazing!

The prominent galaxies Messier 81 or Bode’s Nebula (left) and Messier 82 or the Cigar Galaxy (right) are located near the Big Dipper’s bowl in the northern sky. This image by AstroDoc Ron Brecher of Guelph, Ontario from February, 2017 spans about 1.5 degrees, or three full moon diameters. Messier 81 is large and bright…
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Mid-Spring’s Full Milk Moon Spoils Stargazing and Attenuates the Eta-Aquariids, Evening Venus and Mars, and Ursae Musing!

This colour image of the moon during the penumbral lunar eclipse of September 16, 2016 was taken by Robin Lee in Hong Kong. It was the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for Oct 12, 2016. Welcome to mid-Spring, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 30th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan.…
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Planets Move in Morning While an Evening Moon Waxes, and Then Gets Eclipsed by Earth’s Umbra!

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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Meteors, a Supernova in Virgo, an Evening Moon Meets Star Clusters, and Pre-dawn Planets on Parade!

This terrific image by Benjamin Law of Stouffville, Ontario shows the Leo Quartet of galaxies, which is located in the neck of Leo, the Lion. Leo is visible high in the western sky in evening during May. Other names for this group are Hickson 44 and the NGC 3190 Group. The north-up image covers 20…
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The Mid-spring Morning Moon Joins Gas Giants, a Minor Meteor Shower, and an Inner Planets Dance Begins!

This image of the globular star cluster Messier 3 in Canes Venatici was captured by Adam Block at the Mount Lemmon sky Center, University of Arizona. The area of sky shown spans a little more than the full moon’s diameter. Hello, May Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of May 2nd, 2021…
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A Bright Comet, Appreciating the Moon when Super or Otherwise, Moon Phase Information, and Prominent Planets at Dawn and Dusk!

This image of the moon by Michael Watson of Toronto was taken 9 hours after it was full on February 22, 2016 – replicating how the May, 2020 full moon will appear on Thursday night. Note that the moon’s right-hand edge shows some shadowing – evidence that it is slightly past full. The many bright…
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