Mirach’s Ghost aka NGC404 is the elliptical / lenticular galaxy sitting to the upper left of the bright star Mirach in Andromeda. Other smaller galaxies are scattered around the region. This terrific image by Kent Wood of Utah was the NASA APOD for Oct 27, 2017. Kent’s original image with details of his equipment is…
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This annular solar eclipse occured on June 6, 2021. Proper solar filters or image projection is required to view every part of an annular eclipse. It’s Solar Eclipse Time, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of October 8th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and…
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This image of the morning planet Venus showing its current crescent phase was captured through RGB and UV filters on a Celestron C11 telescope on September 22, 2023 by my friend Andrea Girones of Ottawa. Follow her as andrea_girones on Instagram and as @AndreaGirones on X/Twitter to see more of her fantastic images. Hello, end-of-September…
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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 North American Nebula was captured in 2018 near Thornbury, Ontario by my friend Sailu Nemana. Several of the surrounding bright stars and star clusters within it are highlighted. The Pelican Nebula (at right) is formed by the dark dust of LDN 935. The re/pink colour is produced by ionized hydrogen gas.…
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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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A Close-up view of Mare Crisium when the terminator will be directly to its west on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 at 10 pm EDT. (Starry Night Pro) Hello, Summer Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of June 18th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and…
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This image of Messier 13 in Hercules, the father of all globular star clusters visible from the Northern Hemisphere, was captured by Martin Pugh. Hundreds of thousands of stars, 25,000 light-years away from the sun, are arranged in a sphere by their mutual gravitational attraction. M13 is visible as a faint fuzzy patch to the…
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This gorgeous spiral galaxy named NGC 5248 and Caldwell 45 in Boötes is visible in medium-sized and larger telescopes on moonless evenings. Image by Adam Block of Mount Lemmon Observatory (Wikipedia) Hello, Moonless May Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of May 14th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this…
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