A triangle of dark ash deposits left by long-extinct volcanoes are easily visible in the crater Alphonsus using any size of telescope when the moon is fully illuminated. Hello, Moon in June Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of June 12th, 2022 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to…
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A high resolution image of the moon’s Imbrium Basin, captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. From Monday to Friday this week, the lunar terminator will march across this huge feature in the moon’s northern hemisphere, showing off its best aspects. Hello, June Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of June 5th, 2022…
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The glorious face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, is located near the bright star Alkaid, at the tip of the Big Dipper’s handle. Visible even in binoculars, it is nearly overhead on April evenings. (Deep Sky Survey image from Stellarium) Hello, mid-April Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
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The western portion of the moon is largely covered by the dark Oceanus Procellarum. Major craters Copernicus and Kepler are surrounded by blankets of ejecta and ray systems. Under magnification, look for small craters with dark haloes around Copernicus. The Reiner Gamma Swirl and Aristarchus regions are interesting, too. Hello, April Stargazers! Here are your…
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On the early evening of Tuesday, March 15, 2022, the nearly full moon will occult the bright star Algieba in Leo. times vary by location. This scene shows the end of the event at 8:57 pm EDT, after the star has emerged near Mare Crisium. Hello, mid-March Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
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This north-up image of the Little Beehive Cluster, Messier 41 in Canis Major, shows the hot blue and cooler golden stars. It covers a thumb’s width of sky, measuring top to bottom. The green circle represents the field of view in a telescope at low magnification, 1.5 degrees. Hello, Winter Astronomers! Here are your Astronomy…
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This image of the Pleiades star cluster from Stellarium shows the “sisters” shrouded by blue nebulosity – their stars’ light scattering from foreground dust. Their parent stars Atlas and Pleione are huddled at top left. The image spans about 2 finger widths of the sky, or 2 degrees. Happy Solstice, Winter Stargazers! Here are your…
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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 image of the Iris Nebula in Cepheus was captured through a RASA 11-inch f/2.2 Astrograph telescope and a ZWO ASI294MC Pro CCD camera by Gary Colwell at the North Frontenac Dark Sky Preserve northeast of Toronto, Canada. It shows both the reflection nebulosity and the surrounding dark dusty regions. The image spans 1.5 degrees…
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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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