Author: AstroGeo

Science Outreach Specialists

See Solar System Sparkles, Valentine’s Night Delights, and Full Snow Moon Features While the Love Goddess Gleams at Dawn!

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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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of February 13th, 2022

As shown above, on Sunday, February 20, 2022 from 6:28 am to 6:34 am EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow above the west-southwestern horizon, and then flying past the bright stars Arcturus and Deneb before setting below the east-northeastern horizon. Artificial…
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Cold Temp Telescope Tips, Pre-dawn Planets, Lunar Libration Shows Seas, and the Waxing Moon Passes the Football!

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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Groundhogs Have a Happy Lunar New Year, Young Moon Meets Jupiter, Mars Moves Past Messiers, and Winter Way Wonders!

This amazing image of the young crescent moon, which triggered the Lunar New Year, was captured by Michael Watson from mid-town Toronto on February 19, 2015 at 6:37 pm EST, when the Moon was 23 hours 48 minutes past its new phase. Such moons are difficult to see it and to photograph. Happy Lunar New…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of January 30th, 2022

As shown above, on Thursday, February 3, 2022 from 6:31 pm to 6:37 pm EST, the International Space Station will fly overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-northwestern horizon, and then flying past Aldebaran, Orion’s Belt, and the very bright star Sirius before disappearing into Earth’s shadow above the…
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A Lonely Evening Jupiter Misses Mars and Venus Partying at Dawn, and Moonless Evenings Invite Peeks at Perfect Perseus!

This image of the Fossil Footprint Nebula NGC 1491 in Perseus was captured by Adam Block at Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona. This image is nearly one degree wide, or about finger’s width. Wikipedia Hello, Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of January 23rd, 2022 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of January 23rd, 2022

As shown above, on Sunday, January 30, 2022 from 6:27 pm to 6:31 pm EST, the International Space Station will fly over the GTA in a bright pass, rising from the northwestern horizon near the bright star Vega, and then flying between the dippers before disappearing into Earth’s shadow in the northeastern sky.  Artificial satellites…
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A Mini Full Wolf Moon, Saturn Slips Away at Sunset, Venus Joins Morning Mars, and a Peek at Perseus!

This image of the Alpha Persei Moving Group, also known as Melotte 20, was captured by Martin Gembec of Czechoslovakia in 2007. Mirfak is the very bright star above centre. The scattered bright stars are stellar siblings. The golden star to lower left is Sigma Persei. The entire image spans several finger widths left-to-right, or…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of January 16th, 2022

As shown above, on Thursday, January 20, 2022 from 6:25 pm to 6:29 pm EST, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the southwestern horizon near Jupiter, and then flying close to the bright star Capella just before disappearing into Earth’s shadow in the…
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The Terminator Tips Over, a Lonely Lunar X, and the Gibbous Moon Greets Ceres in the Winter Football!

A portion of a frame from NASA’s Lunar Visualization Tool, showing the northwestern quadrant of the moon at 9 pm on January 14, 2022, annotated. The Dial-A-Moon page is at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4955 Hello, January Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of January 9th, 2022 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along…
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