Ed Ting offers his well-considered views on the trends in amateur astronomy, especially the advent of powerful and easy-to-use smart telescopes and the decline of visual observing.
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Where is Amateur Astronomy Going?
Recent Astronomy Articles at Cosmic Pursuits
Contemplating the “Harp Star”
“Out on the lawn I lie in bed, Vega conspicuous overhead…” -W.H. Auden
All stars are good stars. But if I had to choose a favourite, it would be the dazzling star Vega, the jewel of the tiny constellation Lyra, the Lyre. Intensely bright and blue-white in colour, Vega conjures memories of pleasant summer evenings spent stargazing and offers astronomers a remote stellar laboratory to help understand how stars evolve [Read more…] about Contemplating the “Harp Star”
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Touring the Tiny Constellations of Summer
In my latest article in Sky & Telescope magazine, we take a tour of deep-sky sights on a side road off the summer Milky Way. Through the tiny constellations Sagitta, Vulpecula, Delphinus, and Equuleus, we find star clusters, nebulae, and fine double stars that make for splendid summer viewing with a small scope.
Click on the thumbnail to read the article (PDF format, 12MB). And consider getting your own subscription to the magazine to stay up to date on developments in the latest equipment, techniques, and research in astronomy.
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IC 4665, the “HI” Star Cluster
One of the best targets for a quick stargazing session this time of year is the pretty but underappreciated open star cluster IC 4665. It’s a snap to find, beautiful to behold, and like most sky sights on Cosmic Pursuits, it’s visible from the northern and southern hemispheres.
IC 4665 is spread out over a full degree, more than twice the diameter of the full Moon, so it looks fainter than its integrated magnitude of 4.7. In dark sky, IC4665 is just barely visible to the unaided eye roughly 1° NE of the star Celebrai in the constellation Ophiuchus. Celebrai, or β (beta) Ophiuchi, is one of the stars in the distinctive asterism called Taurus Poniatowski, the “little bull”. If you’re battling light pollution, you’ll need binoculars to spot the cluster [Read more…] about IC 4665, the “HI” Star Cluster
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Noctilucent Clouds – Marvels of the Mesosphere
At higher latitudes, on some midsummer nights, long after the sun has dipped below the horizon, a ghostly silver-blue lacework appears low over the northern horizon. These ethereal wisps are noctilucent clouds — the highest clouds on Earth – and among the most visually striking phenomena in the night sky. Their name comes from the Latin for “night-shining,” and they appear exactly as that: illuminated clouds light shimmering in the dark where no light should be [Read more…] about Noctilucent Clouds – Marvels of the Mesosphere
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