This beautiful image of Gemini’s Messier 35 and the smaller, but denser open star cluster NGC 2158 (below right of centre) was captured by “Mr. Eclipse” himself, Fred Espenak. Two more small open clusters shine at the far right – squint to see them! The image spans two thumb widths, or 2.5 angular degrees, left…
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The moon at its first quarter phase, imaged by Michael Watson of Toronto in mid-twilight on April 22, 2018. The nights surrounding first quarter on Saturday, April 9 are the best ones for evening views of the moon through binoculars and any size of telescope. Welcome to International Astronomy Month, April Stargazers!l Stargazers! Here are…
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This image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the entire Mare Imbrium region. On Thursday and Friday this week, the terminator will bisect the huge region, casting in stark relief the ringed mountain ranges to the east: Montes Alpes, Montes Caucasus, and Montes Apenninus. On Saturday night, the terminator will highlight the curved Montes Jura…
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This full disk image of the sun on April 23, 2021 was taken by Dave Hoskins. This view shows the sun through a special solar telescope that uses the Hydrogen-alpha wavelength in the red part of the visible spectrum. A large group of small sunspots sits just to the lower left of centre, surrounded by…
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This amazing composite photo by my friend Bill Longo has it all! The arc of the International Space Station crossing the sky, the green glow of the Aurora Borealis, the northern Summer Milky Way, and numerous Perseids meteors! Hello, Spring Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 11th, 2021 by Chris…
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This spectacular image by Petr Horalek od Institute of Physics in Opava shows reddish Mars (bottom centre) just below the blue Pleiades star cluster on March 3, 2021, and Mars’ “twin”, the reddish star Aldebaran above the “V” of Taurus at lower left. The red streak at the upper right is the California Nebula in…
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NASA’s Perseverance Rover is scheduled to land in Jerzero Crater on Thursday, February 18 at about 3:55 pm EST, joining the Hope orbiter of the United Arab Emirates and the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission that arrived on February 9 and February 10, respectively. (Image from NASA https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/) Hello, Valentine’s Day, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights…
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This image of Messier 35, also nick-named the Shoe-Buckle Cluster, was captured by Fred Espenak on March 29, 2011 from his home in Arizona. He affixed his Canon EOS 550D camera to a Takahashi 180mm Astrograph telescope. The photo spans about a thumb’s width top to bottom. Messier 35 is about 2800 light-years away from…
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On Sunday evening, April 26, the young crescent moon will sit beside the bright planet Venus in the western sky after sunset, as shown here at 9 pm local time. The sight will make a lovely photo opportunity. Hello, Moon and Venus Lovers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 26th, 2020…
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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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