This image of Orion was taken by Alan Dyer on January 2, 2020 in the moonlight from a first quarter Moon, with orange Betelgeuse (top left) much dimmer than usual, a little brighter than Bellatrix at right. Enjoy more of Alan’s terrific work at https://www.amazingsky.com/ Hello, mid-February Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
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This amazing composite image by Detlef Hartmann shows the continued expansion of the Crab Nebula Supernova Remnant (aka Messier 1) in Taurus over 10 years (Sept 29, 2008 through Sept 22, 2017). It spans about 0.1 degrees of the sky. In the heart of the nebula sits a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits radio…
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This image by Martin Gembec of the Czech Republic shows the rich starfield of the Alpha-Persei Moving Group stars surrounding Mirfak (above centre), the brightest star in Perseus (the Hero). The photograph spans about 3.5 degrees of the sky, nearly filling the view in binoculars. Mirfak is the very bright star shining about halfway up…
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This is a portrait of the two groups of half-sisters related in mythology as daughters of Atlas: the Hyades, at left, and the blue Pleiades, at right, two nearby open star clusters in Taurus, imaged by Alan Dyer from Quailway Cottage in southwest Arizona, December 15, 2017. The bright, orange star at far left is…
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In this image captured by Michael Watson on September 24, 2017, the Elephant’s Trunk Nebula in Cepheus protrudes upwards into the red hydrogen emission region, from below centre. Herschel’s Garnet Star, also known as Mu Cephei, is glowing brightly orange-red at upper right. This image spans about five degrees of sky, from left to right.…
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This beautiful natural image of the Hyades and the Pleiades clusters in Taurus, was captured and processed by Alan Dyer while he was travelling to Arizona in December, 2017. He used a Canon 5D MkII camera on a tracking mount and a total of eight minutes of exposure. The bright star Aldebaran at left is…
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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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This colour-composite image of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) was created from images obtained using the Wide Field Imager camera on the 2.2-metre ESO telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The colours arise from a shell of gases energized by the radiation of the tiny central star. This image spans the same diameter…
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This amazing composite image by Detlef Hartmann shows the continued expansion of the Crab Nebula Supernova Remnant (aka Messier 1) in Taurus over 10 years (Sept 29, 2008 through Sept 22, 2017). It spans about 0.1 degrees of the sky. In the heart of the nebula sits a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits radio…
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The Open cluster Messier 35, also known as the Shoe-Buckle cluster sits near the feet of Castor in Gemini. The small open cluster NGC 2158 is to the lower right of it in this image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The area of sky shown here measures about one finger’s width of the sky,…
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