NGC 457, better known as the Owl Cluster, ET Cluster, and Dragonfly Cluster, was imaged by “Astrodoc” Ron Brecher of Guelph, Ontario. The bright stars are the eyes. The body and feet extend down to the right. Squint to see the upswept, curving chains of stars for the wings.This image covers a finger’s width of…
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This image of the Lunar Straight Wall or Rupes Recta in Mare Nubium was captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. While the feature can be seen through binoculars, a backyard telescope will reveal more detail. (Adapted from NASA LRO) Hello, October Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of October 22nd, 2023 by…
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This image of the large, faint, and spectacular Helix Nebula was taken through the 16″ telescope owned by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and operated remotely from its location in Sierra, California. Ian Barredo re-processed the raw images to produce this award-winning result. The planetary nebula is the corpse of a star of mass…
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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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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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This image of the Wild Duck Cluster, also known as Messier 11 and NGC 6705, was captured by the European southern Observatory. Note the blue and yellow stars, and the odd red one. The entire photograph covers about the size of the full moon in the sky, making M11 one of the easiest-to-see Summer Milky…
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This simulated 3D model of the solar system shows the position of Earth on July 30 while it is crossing through the debris field dropped along the orbit of comet P/2008 Y12 (SOHO), producing the peak of the Southern Delta-Aquariids Meteor Shower. You can manipulate the model at the website https://www.meteorshowers.org/ Hello, Summer Stargazers! Here…
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This image of Messier 13, the Great Globular Star Cluster in Hercules was imaged by Claudio Oriani in Richmond Hill, Ontario on May 30, 2023 using an 8″ SCT telescope. The cluster, also known as NGC 6205, is 24,000 light-years away from our sun. The cluster appears as a faint fuzzy patch in binoculars, and…
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This terrific image by Amir H. Abolfath was featured in NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for October 14, 2020. The bright star inside the orange zone at lower left is Antares in Scorpius. The big and bright globular cluster Messier 4 sits to its lower right. The pink region is glowing hydrogen gas…
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On Saturday, June 3, the full Strawberry Moon will rise at sunset. This simulation shows the moon at 10 pm local time. The bright reddish star to its upper right of the moon will be Antares, the “Rival of Mars” and the brightest star in Scorpius, the Scorpion. They’ll be cosy enough to share the…
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