This long exposure image by Steve Cannistra covers 4 degrees (8 full moon diameters) left-right. It shows the rich nebulae that lurk in the centre of Auriga’s ring of bright stars, especially the Flaming Star Nebula (top left). This image was APOD for Feb 24, 2012. More of Steve’s images can be viewed at http://www.starrywonders.com/…
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Bright stars can still be appreciated when the moon is full and bright, as it will be this week. This image from Stellarium shows the central part of the constellation Perseus, the Hero. His brightest star Mirfak, aka Alpha Persei, is at centre. Surrounding Mirfak is a large grouping of bright, young, hot stars known…
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Ian Wheelband of Ashburn, Ontario captured this pre-Great Conjunction image of Jupiter and Saturn through his telescope on Friday evening, December 18, 2020. The planets will be far closer together on Monday, December 21, 2020. Happy Solstice, Winter Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of December 20th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel…
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A composite image by Yin Hao of 37 frames spanning 8.5 hours of time on Dec 12/13 of the 2017 Geminids Meteor Shower. The meteors, streaks of ionized gas in Earth’s upper atmosphere, appear to be radiating from the twin stars Castor and Pollux at upper left – while Orion at lower right looks on.…
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The glowing red hydrogen in the Heart and Soul Nebulas, and the bright stars of the Double Cluster above them, are featured in this image by Adrien Klamerius, which spans about 10 degrees (or a fist’s diameter) of the sky. NASA APOD for September 24, 2016 Hello, December Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for…
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Ron Brecher captured this image of Messier 31, plus Messier 110 and Messier 32 on December 5, 2016. Ron’s original image is and more information are at https://astrodoc.ca/m31/ Hello, Evening Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of November 29th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends…
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This spectacular image by “AmazingSky” guy Alan Dyer of Calgary, Alberta, taken on November 15-16, 2020, captured the fuzzy green blob of comet C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) as it passed the bright, bluish star Bellatrix in Orion (the Hunter). The red nebulosity at top left is glowing Hydrogen gas surrounding Meissa, aka Lambda Orionis, the head…
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This all-sky image from November, 1998 by Juraj Toth of Modra Observatory, operated by Comenius University in Bratislava, shows about 100 Leonids meteors emanating from the region of sky near Leo. It was compiled during a 4 hour period. NASA APOD for November 4, 2001 Hello, mid-November Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
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The Double Cluster, imaged here by Volker Wendel, is about 6,800 light-years away from our sun. The area shown spans about one degree, or a thumb’s width, of sky. NASA APOD for December 7, 2007 Hello, Dark-Sky Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of November 8th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free…
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This terrific image of Mars this week was taken by my friend Rick Foster at 1:43 am EDT on Sunday, November 1, 2020. Hello, November Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of November 1st, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments,…
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