A portion of a frame from NASA’s Lunar Visualization Tool, showing the northwestern quadrant of the moon at 9 pm on January 14, 2022, annotated. The Dial-A-Moon page is at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4955 Hello, January Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of January 9th, 2022 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along…
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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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This terrific image of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was captured by RASC member Paul Mortfield using RASC’s Robotic Telescope in the sierra Mountains of California on December 8, 2021 at 4 am PST. The green glow of the coma is apparent, and the ion tail points anti-sunward. Hello, mid-December Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights…
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On November 24, 2021 Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) passed between two well-known galaxies, the Whale (top right) and the Hockey Stick (lower left), otherwise known as NGC 4631 and NGC 4656, respectively. Gregg Ruppel of Tucson, Arizona captured this beautiful image of the rendezvous through his telescope-mounted astro-camera. This image, which spans 1 degrees of…
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An image of the moon by Michael Watson of Toronto, taken five hours after reaching first quarter on November 7, 2016 . More of Michael’s moon images can be enjoyed at https://www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/albums/72157634160736057 Welcome to the Darker skies of November, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of November 7th, 2021 by Chris Vaughan.…
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This Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image shows Sinus Iridum, the Bay of Rainbows, on the northwestern edge of large Mare Imbrium, the Sea of Clouds. The “Golden Handle” is the curved Jura Mountains, the remains of an impact crater that has been flooded by basalt magma flows. The feature, which is easy to see without a…
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When Callisto’s round, black shadow crosses Jupiter on Friday night, September 17 between 6:15 pm and 11 pm EDT, it will be on, or near, the Great Red Spot – as shown in this simulated view for 8 pm EDT. The shadow will gradually slide to the left of the spot as Jupiter’s rotation outpaces…
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This amazing composite image by my friend Bill Longo of Toronto was captured in 2015. The International Space Station pass was part of his imaging plan. But the Perseids Meteor shower peak also delivering an aurora borealis (greens and purple) was pure luck! Hello, Perseids Enthusiasts! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of…
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This simulated view of Saturn for this month shows how the rings are closed enough now to reveal a bit of Saturn’s southern polar region. Hello, mid-July Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of July 11th, 2021 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me…
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This mosaic of images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is centred on Mare Imbrium, the huge and ancient impact basin that covers much of the moon’s northern Earth-facing hemisphere. The mountains around its right (lunar west) edge are highlighted around the first quarter phase. Sinus Iridium and the curved Montes Jura are prominent about…
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