Recent Astronomy Articles at Cosmic Pursuits

Small Telescope Tour of the Winter Stars

December 30, 2021 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

If you’re looking for something good to see in the northern-hemisphere winter sky, my recent article at Sky & Telescope magazine will give you plenty of ideas. From the star clusters of Perseus down to the rich fields of Canis Major and Puppis, this tour includes a couple of dozen deep-sky sights and collections of sights that look better in a small telescope than in a big one.

You can access a PDF of the article at this link.

And, in the video below, I walk through the article with Dr. Frank Timmes of the University of Arizona as part of the American Astronomical Society’s video series. Take some ideas from this article, dress warmly, and head outside your your scope!

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Comet Leonard, a Meteor, and Messier 3

December 16, 2021 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Solar System

Comet Leonard, Messier 3, and the brief flash of a meteor captured on December 3, 2021 from Grand Mesa Observatory in Colorado. Image credit and copyright Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson.

Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) has been putting on quite a show, at least for astrophotographers, low over the southern horizon late in December through early January. The faint tail has grown to an immense length and clearly appears to be breaking into pieces as this spectacular image reveals. In early January it remains an elusive object and one better positioned for southern-hemisphere observers.

But if you haven’t managed to see it, you can still enjoy plenty of online images. One of the most spectacular was captured by the expert imagers Terry Hancock and Tom Masterson as the comet passed the globular cluster Messier 3 in Canes Venatici in the early-morning sky on December 3. As they processed this once-in-a-lifetime image, they discovered a pleasant surprise – a meteor trail blazed through the field of view! Here you see the mesmerizing yellow-orange glow of the meteor trail left by sulfur and iron atoms left in the trail of the burnt-up meteor. The image was captured with a QHY367 Pro C one-shot color CMOS camera and a Takahashi E180 Astrograph using the System 4a telescope at Grand Mesa Observatory.

Bob King has a recent update and more images of the comet at the Sky & Telescope website.

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Auroral Activity Kicks Into High Gear

November 16, 2021 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Celestial Events, Stargazing

An early-morning auroral display as seen from Calgary, Canada on Nov. 4, 2021

The sunrise comes late this time of year, especially for those who like me wake at 5 a.m. But on November 4, the man on the morning radio show announced, along with the standard traffic and weather reports, that a brilliant display of aurora borealis was underway and was visible from nearly anywhere in the city. So, despite a temperature well below freezing, I grabbed camera and tripod to head behind the house to see what all the fuss was about [Read more…] about Auroral Activity Kicks Into High Gear

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The Crescent Nebula

September 17, 2021 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Deep Sky

Of the many deep-sky sights in the constellation Cygnus along the rich band of the northern Milky Way, the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888) isn’t the biggest or brightest, but it still finds its place on the target list of many astrophotographers and visual observers. This shimmering and intricate arc of glowing gas presents a rare example of a massive star in its end stages as it ejects mass at a furious rate on its way to a violent demise as a supernova.

[Read more…] about The Crescent Nebula

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Hard Sun

July 31, 2021 by Brian Ventrudo Filed Under: Atmospheric Sightings

A smoke-reddened sun setting over the western prairie of Alberta, Canada.

Our planet’s atmosphere, fragile and proportionately thin as the skin of an apple, is not living its best life right now. In my part of the world – western Canada – hundreds of wildfires have filled the air with grey-orange smoke for over a month, and the hot and bone-dry conditions show no sign of letting up. The only star I see these days is an angry red Sun. It’s an ominous sight, but still strangely beautiful as the fine smoke particles strongly scatter blue light out of the line of sight. Others have bigger problems than I, of course, but I do have a long list of astrophotography projects on hold. A good night of stargazing may still be weeks away. Is this the new normal?

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