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…
Read more
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…
Read more
As shown above, on Monday, October 5 from 7:47 to 7:52 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly high over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-northwestern horizon, flying close to the bright star Vega, and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow above the southeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they are…
Read more
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…
Read more
As shown above, on Friday, October 2 from 8:31 to 8:35 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the northwestern horizon and then disappearing into Earth’s shadow high in the east-northeastern sky. Artificial satellites are visible because they are high enough to be bathed in…
Read more
This image of the young crescent moon by Dylan O’Donnell shows Earthshine – sunlight reflected off of Earth that slightly illuminates the dark portion of the moon’s Earth-facing hemisphere. Watch for it early this week. NASA APOD for March 20, 2015. Hello, Autumn Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of September 20th,…
Read more
As shown above, on Sunday, September 20 from 8:16 to 8:22 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly high over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-northwestern horizon, and then passing Vega before disappearing into Earth’s shadow just above the northeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they are high enough to…
Read more
The autumn Zodiacal Light (at centre left) tilts upwards to the right in this image of it captured by Stu McNair of Richmond Hill, Ontario in October, 2018. Hello, End-of-Summer Stargazers! Here are your Astronomy Skylights for the week of September 13th, 2020 by Chris Vaughan. Feel free to pass this along to your friends…
Read more
As shown above, on Sunday, September 20 from 8:16 to 8:22 pm EDT, the International Space Station will fly high over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, rising from the west-northwestern horizon, and then passing Vega before disappearing into Earth’s shadow just above the northeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they are high…
Read more
As shown above, on Wednesday, September 9 from 5:47 to 5:54 am EDT, the International Space Station will fly high over the GTA in an extremely bright pass, exiting Earth’s shadow just above the northwestern horizon, and then skimming past Venus before setting below the east-southeastern horizon. Artificial satellites are visible because they are high…
Read more