This image by Michael Watson from September, 2017 shows the sliver of shadow that appears along its right-hand (eastern) limbs just hours after it is officially full. Hello, February Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of February 5th, 2023 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and…
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The circumstances for Tuesday’s partial solar eclipse, which will occur during the new moon syzygy. The eclipse will only be visible with protective solar filters across parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. This scene shows the position of the moon’s shadow on Earth at 11:01 GMT on October 25, 2022. (Starry Night) Hello, Late-October Stargazers!…
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During evening in early October, the Great Square of Pegasus is visible in the eastern sky. the horse’s nose star, Enif, shines about two fist diameters to the right of the square. Orange-tinted Enif has a tiny companion star visible in binoculars and backyard telescopes. The spectacular globular star cluster named Messier 15 (upper right)…
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Getting ready for Monday’s close Jupiter opposition, Chris Curwin of Astronomy by the Bay in Saint John, NB recently captured the gas giant planets in evening with his Hauwei smartphone. Chris is very active in astronomy outreach in Southern New Brunswick. Find out about his events at http://sjastronomy.ca/ or watch his streams on YouTube at…
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Wayne Parker captured this terrific image of the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31) and its small, bright elliptical companions Messier 32 (to the left of the main core) and Messier 110 (to the lower right of the main core) during the annual Starfest Star Party near Mt. forest, Ontario in August, 2022. The image covers about…
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This terrific Wikipedia image by Hunter Wilson from March 28, 2008 shows the Leo Triplet of Galaxies, which is located south-southeast of the bright star Chertan in Leo. The photograph, with celestial north up and East toward left, covers 0.6 degrees of the sky left-to-right. The Hamburger Galaxy is at the top – do you…
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The Open cluster Messier 35, also known as the Shoe-Buckle Cluster and NGC 2168 sits near the westerly foot 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…
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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 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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This Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image shows Sinus Iridum, the Bay of Rainbows, on the northwestern edge of large Mare Imbrium, the Sea of Clouds. The “Golden Handle” is the curved Jura Mountains, the remains of an impact crater that has been flooded by basalt magma flows. The feature, which is easy to see without a…
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