This image of the Messier 13 globular star cluster in Hercules was taken by Martin Pugh. The cluster is composed of thousands of old, blue and yellow stars collected into a spherical ball orbiting our galaxy’s core. It’s located about 25,000 light-years from our sun. This image spans about 30 by 40 arc-minutes, slightly larger…
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A photograph of the multiple star Asellus in Boötes, from Stellarium’s digital sky survey (DSS). Hello, June Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of Jue 7th, 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…
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NASA’s Moon Phase and Libration visualization tool will generate hour-by-hour annotated views of the moon, such as this one for 10 pm EDT on May 31, 2020. You can find more at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4768. There is also an option to generate south up views for use at your telescope eyepiece. Hello, Moon Lovers! Here are your…
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This inverted picture of the crescent Venus was taken by holding my smartphone over the eyepiece of my telescope at 9 pm on Thursday, May 21, 2020. The crescent was also visible in binoculars. If you have clear skies after sunset in the next several days, have a go! Hello, Late-May Stargazers! Here are your…
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This image of globular star cluster Messier 13 was captured by Martin Pugh of New South Wales, Australia. Left to right, it spans 40 arc-minutes, or 1.3 times the full moon’s diameter. The cluster, which could hold up to million yellow and blue stars, is approximately 23,000 light years away from our solar system. NASA…
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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. M65 is at top centre and M66 is at centre right. Happy Mother’s Day!…
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This image of the moon by Michael Watson of Toronto was taken 9 hours after it was full on February 22, 2016 – replicating how the May, 2020 full moon will appear on Thursday night. Note that the moon’s right-hand edge shows some shadowing – evidence that it is slightly past full. The many bright…
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On Sunday evening, April 26, the young crescent moon will sit beside the bright planet Venus in the western sky after sunset, as shown here at 9 pm local time. The sight will make a lovely photo opportunity. Hello, Moon and Venus Lovers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 26th, 2020…
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This image taken by Ron Brecher of Guelph, Ontario on March 16, 2019 shows the bright, narrow appearance of the Whale Galaxy (or NGC 4631) at top left and the dimmer Hockey Stick or Crowbar Galaxy (or NGC 4656) at bottom right.These galaxies are about 25 and 30 million light years away from us, respectively.…
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This simulated view of Venus shows the shape it will appear when viewed through a backyard telescope this month. Galileo was the first to note that Venus changed in apparent size and shape. Hello, April Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of April 12th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to send…
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