Skylights – Page 15

Maximum Mercury in Evening, Morning Moon Passes Planets as Venus Kisses King Jupiter, and a Galaxy Facts Blast!

April 24, 2022

A sampling of galaxy forms. Clockwise from upper left: Messier 87 “Virgo A” (elliptical), Messier 102 “Spindle” (lenticular), NGC 1365 (barred spiral), NGC 4656 “the Crowbar” (irregular), and Messier 81 “Bode’s Nebula” (spiral). All except NGC 1365 are visible on spring evenings from mid-northern latitudes. Hello, late-April Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
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Lyrids Lights, Galaxies Glow Brighter as the Bright Moon Exits Evening, Mercury Moves Up, Pre-dawn Planets on Parade!

April 17, 2022

The glorious face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, is located near the bright star Alkaid, at the tip of the Big Dipper’s handle. Visible even in binoculars, it is nearly overhead on April evenings. (Deep Sky Survey image from Stellarium) Hello, mid-April Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
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Bright Pre-dawn Planets Align, Mercury Mounts After Sunset, and the Brightening Moon Brings Easter!

April 10, 2022

The western portion of the moon is largely covered by the dark Oceanus Procellarum. Major craters Copernicus and Kepler are surrounded by blankets of ejecta and ray systems. Under magnification, look for small craters with dark haloes around Copernicus. The Reiner Gamma Swirl and Aristarchus regions are interesting, too. Hello, April Stargazers! Here are your…
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Morning Mars Kisses Saturn, A Waxing Moon Travels Taurus, and Some Bright Delights!

April 3, 2022

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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The Thin Morning Moon’s Visit With Pretty Planets Lets Leo Lead Us to Spring Galaxies in Evening!

March 27, 2022

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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A Post-Midnight Moon Multiplies Gemini Gems, and Pleasing Pre-dawn Planets!

March 20, 2022

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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Pre-Dawn Planet Action, the Full Moon Passes Bees, Covers Stars, and Shows Rays, and Spring Begins!

March 13, 2022

On the early evening of Tuesday, March 15, 2022, the nearly full moon will occult the bright star Algieba in Leo. times vary by location. This scene shows the end of the event at 8:57 pm EDT, after the star has emerged near Mare Crisium. Hello, mid-March Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
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Greater Toronto Area Space Station Flyovers for the week of March 13th, 2022

March 12, 2022

As shown above, on Saturday, March 19, 2022 from 8:19 pm to 8:25 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly high overhead of the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the southwestern horizon, and then flying closely past the bright star Betelgeuse before disappearing into Earth’s shadow above the east-northeastern horizon. Artificial…
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The Terminator Returns, Peering at Pre-dawn Solar Neighbours, Peeking at Polaris, and Saving Daylight!

March 6, 2022

The southeastern sky, shown here at 6 am local time at the latitude of Toronto, hosts the bright planets Venus and Mars, with Saturn to the east (lower left). Before the sky brightens too much, observers can try to spot fainter main belt asteroid Vesta near Venus and Mars. Hello, March Stargazers! Here are your…
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Pretty Planets Kiss and Dance at Dawn, and Some Dark Sky Delights Til the Librated Cat Comes Back!

February 27, 2022

The Sword of Orion imaged by John Deans in Bancroft, Ontario on February 2021. This image covers about a thumb’s width of sky, top-to-bottom. The trapezium cluster lies in the heart of the nebula (above centre). Hello, March Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of February 27th, 2022 by Chris Vaughan. Feel…
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Category: Skylights