The area around the small, bright crater Aristarchus (left of centre) in Oceanus Procellarum is one of the most colourful portions of the lunar surface. The large ragged ray systems at lower right surround the craters Copernicus and Kepler. (Rolf Hempel via Planetary.org) Hello, Mid-November Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of…
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This image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the fascinating Aristarchus Plateau. The crater Aristarchus at lower right is very prominent, and can be seen even with unaided eyes as a very bright patch. To its left is the similar-sized, but darker crater Herodotus. Vallis Schröteri, the largest sinuous rille on the moon, starts…
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Hello, Mid-May Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of May 19th, 2024 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are expressed in Eastern Time.…
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This Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image shows the major features of Mare Imbrium, the Sea of Rains. Oceanus Procellarum mare material appears along the far left side of the image. Welcome to August, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of July 30th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to…
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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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This image taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the fascinating Aristarchus Plateau. The crater Aristarchus at lower right is very prominent, and can be seen even with unaided eyes as a very bright patch. To its left is the similar-sized, but darker crater Herodotus. Vallis Schröteri, the largest sinuous rille on the moon, starts…
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This terrific image by Gabor Balazs shows the bright planet Mars (top centre) shining between the little Pleiades CLuster (right of centre) and the V-shaped Hyades Cluster, which forms the face of Taurus, the Bull in late December, 2022. The bright reddish star Aldebaran shines at the corner of the V. The image spans about…
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I took this unprocessed image of Saturn through the 74″ (1.88 metre) diameter telescope at the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario at 9:13 pm EDT on October 3, 2022. Note the bands on the planet, and the dark Cassini Division that separates the outer from the inner rings. The wedge of shadow cast…
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User Eberhard Stickel requested this north-up image of Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) through the luminance filter of the robotic Burke-Gaffney Observatory at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, NS. The dust tail extending upwards reveals the comet’s trajectory downwards. The sun is toward upper right. The double star below the comet is Struve 2122 in central…
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This beautiful image shows the glowing pink hydrogen gas of the Rosette Nebula (NGC 2237) in Monoceros (the Unicron) and its internal star cluster NGC 2244. It was captured by Stan Noble of Swift Current, Saskatchewan in 2017/18. The Rosette, which covers about a thumb’s width of sky, can be seen in binoculars in a…
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