This image of the beautiful open star cluster around the bright star Mirfak in Perseus was taken by Martin Gembec of the Czech Republic in 2007. Mirfak dominates the centre, with the stars of the cluster, also known as Melotte 20, the Alpha Persei Moving Group, and the Little Cloud of Pirates, sprinkled mainly to…
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In this long exposure composite during the Geminids Meteor Shower by Yin HaoC, the bright “twin” stars of Castor and Pollux are framed by the meteors, which appear to radiate from that point in space. (NASA APOD for December 15, 2017) Hello, Early-December Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of December 8th,…
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This labelled map of Mars shows which features will be facing Earth-based telescopes around midnight EST on December 7-8, the night of Mars’ opposition. Mars’ northern polar cap will appear as a bright spot that the darge wedge of Syrtis Major points toward. Your telescope will probably mirror image and/or invert this view. (Starry Night…
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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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Bright stars can still be appreciated when the moon is full and bright, as it will be this week. This image from Stellarium shows the central part of the constellation Perseus, the Hero. His brightest star Mirfak, aka Alpha Persei, is at centre. Surrounding Mirfak is a large grouping of bright, young, hot stars known…
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