This full disk image of the sun on April 23, 2021 was taken by Dave Hoskins. This view shows the sun through a special solar telescope that uses the Hydrogen-alpha wavelength in the red part of the visible spectrum. A large group of small sunspots sits just to the lower left of centre, surrounded by…
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This annotated image of the Lyrids Meteor Shower was captured by Petr Horalek when the Lyrids streaked over Seč Lake in the Czech Republic in April, 2020. The meteors appear to radiate from a point in the sky in Hercules near the very bright blue star Vega of Lyra (the Harp). Don’t watch the radiant…
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This amazing composite photo by my friend Bill Longo has it all! The arc of the International Space Station crossing the sky, the green glow of the Aurora Borealis, the northern Summer Milky Way, and numerous Perseids meteors! Hello, Spring Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 11th, 2021 by Chris…
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This image of the Whale Galaxy (top left) and the Hockey Stick Galaxy (lower right) was captured by AstroDoc Ron Brecher of Guelph on March 16, 2019. The image spans about 1 degree of sky. Ron’s galleries of images are at www.astrodoc.ca Hello, Galaxy-season Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April…
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This image of the LeoTrio of Galaxies was captured by Marcus Bauer. It was a NASA APOD for April 18, 2019. Top to bottom, the image spans one degree of the sky. The Hamburger Galaxy (NGC 3628) is at centre left. Messier 65 is at top centre and Messier 66 is at centre right. The…
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This beautiful photo of the Aurora Borealis was captured by my friend Yvonne Wong in Alaska recently. The aurorae are more frequent around the two equinox periods each year because the N-S component of the Earth’s magnetic field is reduced and less able to fend off the solar wind. Hello, Spring Stargazers! Here are your…
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This image of the waxing crescent moon was taken by Michael Watson of Toronto on March 2, 2014. It nicely shows the Earthshine phenomenon, and the way the position of the lit crescent on the young moon at this time of year resembles the Cheshire Cat’s smile. Michael’s gallery of images are hosted on his…
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This spectacular image by Petr Horalek od Institute of Physics in Opava shows reddish Mars (bottom centre) just below the blue Pleiades star cluster on March 3, 2021, and Mars’ “twin”, the reddish star Aldebaran above the “V” of Taurus at lower left. The red streak at the upper right is the California Nebula in…
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This image of Orion’s Sword by my friend John Deans includes the Great Nebula in Orion, also known as Messier 42 and Messier 43, at centre. The bright knot of stars in the centre of the nebula were born out of the gas around them and are illuminating the nebula. The patch of nebulosity at…
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This gorgeous image of the region of sky between Taurus’ triangular face and the bright orange star Aldebaran and the blue Pleiades star Cluster was taken by Amir H. Abolfath using his Canon EOS6D camera on a Star Adventurer mount. It covers a span of sky of about 19 degrees (two fist diameters) top-to-bottom, and…
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