Category: Skylights

Science Outreach Specialists

A Waning Moon Gives Early Geminids, and We Tour Pretty Princess Andromeda!

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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Lingering Leonids, the Evening Moon Meets Mars while Wading through Water Stars, then dips into Earth’s Penumbra!

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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A Comet in Orion, and an Early Evening Crescent Moon meets Gas Giants, and Shows Morning Meteors from Leo!

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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Telescope-Shopping, A Comet in Orion, the Bull Bellows Meteors, Glimpse a Globular near Saturn, and the Pretty Moon meets Venus with Maximum Mercury on Mid-week Mornings!

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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Maximum Mercury and Uranus, Earth’s Celestial Side-kick Leaves Evening, and November’s Brightest Lights!

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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A Puny Blue Blood Halloween Moon marks Mid-Autumn, and Bright Planets on View from Evening to Dawn!

These images of the full moon by Michael Watson of Toronto perfectly illustrate the size difference between a perigee “supermoon” and an apogee “punymoon”. The image on the right will very closely conform to the appearance of the full moon on Halloween night – when the moon will actually be about 10 hours past full…
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A Mid-Week Meteor Shower from Orion, and an Evening Moon Jumps under Giant Planets and then Exhibits an X and L-O-V-E on Friday!

Hello, mid-October Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of October 18th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are expressed in Eastern Time.…
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Mars at Max Brightness, the Old Moon meets Venus at Dawn, and Pegasus Flies across the Sky!

Mars will reach maximum brightness at opposition on Tuesday night, October 13. During the nights around opposition, the planet will show surface details in amateur telescopes. Hello, Mars Fans! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of October 11th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends and send…
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Tips for Viewing MARS at Maximum Size, the Waning Moon Rides the Bull, and the Dragon Spits Stars!

This amazing image of Mars was taken on October 2, 2020 at 11:13 EDT by my friend Claudio Oriani of Richmond Hill, Ontario through his Celestron C8 SCT and a ZWO AS1224MC camera. The southern polar cap and the dark Syrtis Major regions are obvious. Hello, October Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the…
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The Bright Harvest Moon wades through Water Constellations, then Mambos with Mars, Venus Kisses Regulus, and Bright Baubles for Your Bubble!

This spectacular photograph of the pre-dawn zodiacal light was captured on September 25, 2020 at 5:37 am by Malcolm Park of Prince Edward County, Ontario. The bright point at centre is the planet Venus. The knot of stars above Venus is Messier 44, also known as the Beehive Cluster, in Cancer. Malcolm’s gallery of beautiful…
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